Val quickly glanced over at the photographs on the board. None were recent shots of Gabrielle and Adam. Val wasn’t surprised. The Morgans hadn’t had a strong relationship with their daughter in several years. No photo opportunities for this family. But there were no photos of any little girl, or teenager, that could have been Melinda either. All of the childhood photos, right through early womanhood, were of Gabrielle with only one other girl, Bethany. Looks like the Morgans had no problem expelling Melinda from their lives.

All conversation stopped as a bell chimed several times. Val looked towards the sound, to the casket. A priest stood in front of it, a Bible open in his hands. Val glanced at her watch. Eleven o’clock on the nose. “We’d better get seated. The priest is ready to start the service.”

Val’s phone vibrated. She took a look at who was texting her. Zoe Beauchamp, the toxicologist for the medical examiner’s office wanted to see Val as soon as she got back to the office. Zoe had finished the drug testing on Gabrielle and Adam Morgan.

10

“So, when did you do that?” Val asked Zoe.

“Last night. What do you think?” Zoe Beauchamp turned around so that Val could get a good look at her platinum blonde hair. It was cut short, cropped with long angled bangs, purposely maintaining black roots. The low-lighting effect was pretty cool. Since Val had known Zoe, she always styled her hair in a jet-black bob. Its color was a nice contrast to her pale skin and watery blue eyes. Zoe didn’t need a look, though, to define herself, especially not at work. When it came to drug analysis, Zoe was brilliant. With her PhD, numerous awards, articles in journals, and invited presentations about how drugs work, Zoe simply made the medical examiner’s office shine.

“I love it!” Val then squinted and pointed to Zoe’s eyebrow, getting closer to inspect the small silver braided ring. “The piercing is new too?”

“Glad you noticed. No one else did today.” Zoe laughed. “I’m glad you’re at least happy with my appearance because you’re not going to be happy with the news I have for you.”

“Oh no.” Val cringed and sat back in the chair, bracing herself. “Give it to me.”

Zoe’s face straightened, serious now. She picked up a pair of glasses that sat on the counter and put them on. “First, Adam Morgan has no drugs in his system that I can find, so he wasn’t sedated before his throat was slashed. This kid was wide awake when this happened.”

“Holy crap! How do you hold an eight-year-old down and cut his throat, then? He should have fought like hell.”

“I agree, but maybe he didn’t see it coming?” Zoe tried.