“Of course not. But since you called, I’ve taken some time to review the case and refresh my memory. The case against Victoria Ford was airtight. It had to be, due to the media coverage at the time. It wasn’t circumstantial. It wasn’t speculative. It was based on physical evidence collected from the scene—DNA, fingerprints, a really damning video, and much more. It was a slam-dunk. If you sift back through the details of the case, you’ll see what I’m talking about.”

“Okay,” Avery said, nodding her head. “That’s what I was hoping to do. Would you be willing to sift through those details with me? Take a deep dive back into the case so I can piece together how you came to suspect Victoria Ford as Cameron Young’s killer?”

Walt pouted his lower lip and nodded. “That’s why I’m here. I still know people at the BCI, and I took the last couple of days to review the case. Crime scene photos, logged evidence, interview transcripts, recordings and videos of the intake interviews and follow-ups. There are thousands of pages of reports, warrants, phone records, e-mails. Plus, all the evidence collected.”

“That’s exactly what I’m looking for.”

“I’d have to check with the bureaucrats to make sure they don’t mind a journalist viewing the file, but this many years later I don’t think it’ll be an issue. If I get the okay, I’d be happy to share it all with you.”

Now Walt paused.

“But to what end? So you can twist things around and convince a few skeptics that Victoria Ford might have been innocent? Turn her into the victim, falsely accused and all the crap true-crime documentaries push these days? Then tie that speculation in with her remains having just been ID’d?”

Avery took another sip of vodka, buying time to collect her thoughts and organize a pitch.

“I originally came out here from LA because I wanted to do a story on the latest 9/11 victim whose remains had been identified. That victim turned out to be Victoria Ford. I wanted to come out here and learn about the new technique used in the identification process, and maybe speak with Victoria’s family, which I did. I met her sister, and she tells a pretty compelling story about Victoria.”

“Let me guess. She believes her sister was innocent and there’s no way she could have killed someone.”

Avery nodded. “Yeah, something like that.”

“Do you have siblings?”

Avery paused, glancing at the cubes in her vodka briefly before looking back at Walt Jenkins. This, right here, was why it was so difficult to meet new people—figuring out how much of the truth to reveal about herself, and how much to hide. Every detail she offered was a trail to her past.

“I had a brother,” she finally said. “He died.”

“Sorry. Not a great example.”