“She panicked,” Walt said with certainty. “Maybe she assumed it would be linked to Cameron. It came from his own kitchen. If we’re arguing that she was thinking logically at this point, we’d also ask why she would leave a wineglass with her fingerprints on the nightstand. Or her urine in the toilet. But we never claimed she did any of this perfectly. Quite the contrary. Victoria Ford was very bad at murder. At least, she was at covering it up.”

Avery continued to shuffle through the photos. She lifted the image of Cameron Young’s bloated body hanging in the backyard.

“Victoria weighed one hundred twenty pounds. The argument was that she dragged a dead man who weighed a hundred pounds more than her across the bedroom, lifted him up, and dropped him over a four-foot balcony. Not an easy task.”

“But not impossible. Especially for someone supercharged with adrenaline.”

Avery watched Walt as he spoke. She thought there was something about his tone, or in his demeanor, that suggested he was less convinced with the case and its conclusions today than perhaps he had been twenty years ago. She doubted that it was her first few questions that caused his skepticism, and Avery wondered if there was something else he knew about the case.

She pointed at the box. “Let’s go through the rest of it.”

CHAPTER 38 - Manhattan, NY Saturday, July 3, 2021

CHAPTER 38

Manhattan, NY Saturday, July 3, 2021

IT WAS AFTER 9:00 P.M. WHEN THEY DECIDED TO TAKE A BREAK. AVERY’S eyes were burning and a dull headache had formed at the base of her skull from reading through so many documents, police reports, and interview transcripts. They rode the elevator to the lobby and pushed through the revolving doors into the evening warmth. Neither had eaten lunch so they headed to Public House where they sat at the bar and ordered burgers and beers. Saturday night and the place was empty.

“Have you ever seen the city like this?” Walt asked.

“Never. I’ve heard stories about how empty it gets over the Fourth. Some of my friends used to love to stick around while everyone else flooded out of the city. When I was a kid I spent my summers in Wisconsin.”

“Wisconsin?”

“Yeah. My parents sent me to camp each summer. Eight weeks of sailing camp in northern Wisconsin. So as a kid, I was always gone over the Fourth. When I was older we used to go . . .” Avery caught herself, her two worlds colliding again. “We had a house in the Hamptons. We always spent the Fourth of July there.”

“Your parents?”

Avery nodded.

“Do they still have it?” Walt asked. “I mean, if you have access to a house in the Hamptons it begs the question why you’re spending the weekend with me.”

Avery smiled. “I’m working. But, no, that house is, uh . . . long gone.”