After the victim was unclothed, Dr. Maddox made the Y incision. Val picked up a set of long handled garden loppers. Starting under the bottom of the last rib on the left side she placed the blade around the bone and cut up. She repeated the motion on the right. One of the first things she learned at the medical examiner’s office was that other than the skull, which required a Stryker saw, most bone removal was done with the loppers. Cheap. Easy. No mess.

“What kind of job did she have?” Val asked of Gabrielle Morgan.

“She was a fundraising manager for The Next Step, a non-profit organization that helps those recovering from drug and alcohol addiction,” Gavin said.

Val set the loppers down and lifted off the rib cage. It detached in one piece. “And no one she worked with knew who she was? Her background? Her parents are known for donating to all the major charities. They’re philanthropists.” She set the ribs on the counter. Gabrielle’s organs were now fully exposed.

Warren took a step back from the body, his face, pale. “Gabrielle lived in a modest house in the Buffalo suburb of Amherst, and evidently told no one—not even co-workers or neighbors—about her background. They wouldn’t describe her as secretive. She just didn’t talk about herself that much and never volunteered information when asked. No one suspected she was part of that Morgan family.”

“None who admitted it, you mean?” Val said.

“Not so hard to believe, Val,” Gavin said. “Morgan is a common name and there is no online presence for a Gabrielle Morgan. No pictures, no stories. No mention of her in the media makes no obvious connection to her wealthy family. Plus, she’s estranged from her parents. They didn’t talk about her.”

“I’m not surprised that she didn’t tell anyone who she was.” Dr. Maddox came over to the body, scalpel in hand, and began removing organs. “Maybe she didn’t want a label of where she came from to complicate her new life. Coming from an extremely wealthy, prominent family wouldn’t have helped her at all while she lived in a middle-income suburbia. In fact, it would have worked against if she was trying to fit in.” Dr. Maddox placed Gabrielle’s heart and spleen on a metal table, then moved to the lungs. “She was estranged from her parents. No sense in bragging about them to those who are far, and I do mean far, out of her milieu. It would’ve killed her socially, or made her very vulnerable to unwanted attention. She would have lost all the way around.”