“Thank you for taking time on a Sunday morning, especially over a holiday weekend. And sorry to text you like a lunatic in the middle of the night. I was in a weird place.”

“No worries. I was up. I’m on call this weekend, and bored to death. The Fourth is a notoriously slow time at the morgue. No one really dies when the city is so empty, which sounds like a good thing unless your life revolves around people dying. Besides, some of our strangest thoughts and ideas come in the middle of the night. I’m curious to know what’s on your mind.”

Avery was curious, as well. A revelation had come to her, and she needed Dr. Cutty to confirm it.

“Let’s head inside,” Livia said.

Avery followed Livia through the front entrance of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. It was Sunday morning and the building was dark, other than the scattered overhead lights that remained permanently aglow. Livia touched her ID card to the sensor in the lobby to unlock the door. Inside, they rode the elevator to the bottom floor where Livia again scanned her card key to gain access to the long corridor that led to her office. She flicked the wall switch when she walked into the windowless office.

“Have a seat,” Livia said. “So what did you find out about Victoria Ford that had you up so late at night?”

Avery sat in one of the chairs in front of the gunmetal desk. She pulled a single page from her purse and handed it to Livia. She had taken it from the Cameron Young file before sneaking out of Walt’s room earlier. It was the crime lab’s analysis of the DNA found at the crime scene.

“It turns out Victoria Ford was involved in a high-profile murder investigation in the months before she died. My story about her has taken an unexpected turn from her remains being identified to the details about the homicide investigation. I need some help with some specifics about it.”

“The woman identified was a suspect in a murder?” Livia said.

“She was. And I’ve managed to hook up with . . .” Avery stopped herself and shook her head. “. . . To get in touch with the detective who ran the investigation. We’ve been reviewing the evidence and I’m having trouble with the blood that was found at the crime scene.”

“What sort of trouble?”

“Well, I’m stuck on it. I’m working hard to figure out if there’s another explanation of the crime scene. If there’s any chance things happened differently than how the prosecution presented them. My biggest issue is that droplets of blood recovered from the scene were matched to Victoria Ford through DNA analysis. I need to know how accurate the science is that made that match.”