“One of the neighbors heard a loud thud, looked out from his balcony and saw Bethany lying on the concrete. He called 911 immediately. The snowplow driver confirmed no body was here when he cleared the walkway an hour ago. So we have a timeline. She’s been dead less than an hour,” Warren informed her. “The neighbor reported that he heard no screams.”

No screams? This was important. It confirmed a suicide or an unconscious victim.

Val knelt down next to Bethany. “There’s no rigor or lividity yet.” Val continued to examine the body. There was only so much she could do at a crime scene with a body in this condition. Time of death was strongly established. The rest of Bethany’s exam would occur at the morgue. Cause of death would be confirmed after a toxicology screen because no means, other than trauma, could be seen. No strangulation marks, stab wound or gunshot holes were present. Manner would be pending, depending on the result of the autopsy as well. “Do you really think this was a suicide?”

“We have the surveillance tapes.” Gavin walked over to a table where a laptop computer sat. “Take a look. There’s no other possibility, but like so much with the Gabrielle Morgan case, there’s odd inconsistencies.”

Val stripped off her latex gloves and quickly moved to where Gavin was standing.

He pointed at the screen. “Here we see a staggering Bethany Arias, long coat open and unbuttoned, both high heels on, walking across the plowed parking lot, she stumbles a few times and falls in a snowbank once. She finally makes it to the door and pushes the numbers on the keypad and gets through the front door.” Gavin paused the footage. “She’s not in the house for long before she’s dead on the pavement.”

Val squinted at the screen. “She seems drunk. Or drugged.” This woman was definitely not in a state of sobriety before her death. “Do you know where she was before this? Who she was with?”

“We’re checking on that,” Warren said.

“But there’s a problem here, with Bethany’s arrival home.” Gavin reset the video to the beginning and pressed play. “Look where she parked. It’s outside of the view of the camera.” He tapped the screen. “We see her staggering but we don’t see her park. Her car is pretty far out there in the lot. It’s a cold, snowy night. Why park so far away? There are plenty of spots right next to the building.”

“She’s obviously drunk or on something. Maybe she just stopped the car and got out,” Val suggested.

“Possibly.” Gavin didn’t sound convinced. He stared at the screen. “She’s fairly inebriated. I don’t know how she would have driven herself anywhere.”

“Okay. So someone brought her here?” Val suggested. “And knew to stay outside of the view of the camera?”