The first thing Val noticed, other than the fingerprint powder and signs the crime scene crew had been through here, was that the bed had been made. Part of the bedding had been moved away, suggesting the crew looked under the mattress. “Either he made his own bed before leaving for school the morning he disappeared or Gabrielle did it before she left the house for work.” Val glanced around. There was a desk in the corner. Books lined three shelves to the right of the desk. Harry Potter, Goosebumps, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, The Fault in Our Stars. Posters on the wall were of Spiderman, The Avengers; bedding was simple blue checked. Val pulled open drawers and looked in the closet. Everything was just as tidy as the living room. But it was more than that. This room was organized. “He was a neat kid. Not all of them are messy, Jack.”

“I agree. So, I vote that he made his own bed. Maybe he was the one to keep the house in order too?” Jack asked. “Depressed mother, bipolar according to her ex-husband Perry; the son keeps the household together.”

“Of course, that’s possible.” Val searched around a few more times, a little upset she didn’t see the obvious Jack just pointed out.

“Anything else?”

Val crossed her arms, and walked around the room, examining everything carefully. Dammit, she saw nothing. But she knew Jack did.

After a few moments, Jack sighed. “There’s a lot to take notice of here, and not just a neat kid with a made bed, who may have been taking care of his suicidal, bipolar mother.”

“Then what is it, Jack?” Val couldn’t help but snap.

“Val, you have to look at this room not only for evidence but also as a means to illustrate who your victim was. You have to look for things that allow you to understand what your victims would have cared about. That will tell you a lot about a person. Or child. Understand what people do. How they live their lives. People are all different but there are trends in commonality. For example, an eight-year-old, like Adam, would have been developing social and physical skills. What type of kid was he? Artistic? Athletic? Studious? What do you see here that exemplifies these things with him?”

“He liked books. So, he was a loner?”