I kept the language neutral and, in the process, forced myself to separate my opinions from the specifics of what I’d learned. My beliefs about Ned Lowe had to be deleted even if it grieved me to do so. What I was defining, in narrative form, were the dots that I hoped to connect when all the bits and pieces were in place.

The phone rang and I picked up the handset, tucking it between my shoulder and my ear while I rolled the paper out of the carriage and placed it on my desk. “Millhone Investigations.”

A gentleman with a powdery voice said, “Miss Millhone, this is Stanley Munce, formerly with the Burning Oaks Police Department. An acquaintance by the name of Clara Doyle told me you’d spoken to her about a case here some years ago. Is that correct?”

“Yes, sir. Absolutely. Thank you so much for calling. I was asking about Lenore Redfern Lowe.”

“That was my understanding. I’m afraid I don’t have much to offer on the subject, but I will tell you what I can. I was the coroner’s investigator at the time of that young girl’s death. In order to complete a death certificate, the coroner has to determine the cause, mechanism, and manner of death. If you’re familiar with the distinctions, I won’t go into it . . .”

“No, please do,” I said. “I can always use a refresher course.”

“Simply put, cause of death is the reason the individual died, as would be the case with a heart attack or a gunshot wound. The mechanism of death would be the actual changes that affect the victim’s physiology, resulting in death. Death from a fatal stabbing, for instance, might be extreme blood loss.

“The manner of death is how the death came about. Five of the six possibilities there are natural, accidental, suicide, homicide, and undetermined. The sixth classification would be ‘pending’ if the matter’s still under investigation, which is obviously not the case here. There was no question about her ingestion of Valium and alcohol. The generic, diazepam, is a central nervous system depressant, the effects of which can be intensified by alcohol. The problem arose because when the toxicology report came in, it appeared there wasn’t a sufficient quantity of either to say with any certainty death resulted from the combination of the two.

“What seemed questionable, at least in my mind, was the presence of petechiae, which are tiny broken blood vessels, like pinpricks visible in the area of her eyes. Hard coughing or crying are common causes; sometimes even the strain of childbirth or lifting weights. Petechiae can also be a sign of a death by asphyxiation.”

“You mean she might have been suffocated?”

“Smothered, yes. There were no fractures of the larynx, hyoid bone, thyroid or cricoid cartilages, and no areas of bruising, which ruled out manual strangulation. Mrs. Lowe had been under doctor’s care. With her history of mental problems, absent any other compelling evidence, Dr. Wilkinson felt a finding of suicide was appropriate. I put up what objections I could, but I have no formal medical training, and his experience and expertise prevailed. For my part, I was never fully persuaded.”