A Simple Lie Page 11

  “Julia, I’ll do what I can.”

  13

  Val glanced down the hall. The door to Julia’s office was still shut. “Damn,” she muttered. She needed Julia to sign some paperwork and had been looking for her all morning. Howie came around the corner and she grabbed him, asking, “Have you seen Julia anywhere?”

  “She hasn’t come in yet.”

  “Do you know when she’ll be in?”

  “No idea. I tried calling her but she’s not answering her phone or returning my messages. She has a budget meeting this afternoon with Dr. Blythe and Candace so she’ll eventually show up.”

  “Valentina, can I see you?” Dr. Blythe asked, though it was more of a demand. She hadn’t even heard him walk up behind her.

  Howie didn’t reply. He simply waved and continued on his way.

  “You’re handling the Samantha Ritcher case, right?” Blythe asked.

  “Yes, I am,” she said.

  “The cause of death was not drug overdose. She died from anaphylaxis. That’s a pretty severe allergic reaction.” The tone was condescending and somewhat insulting.

  Val knew very well what anaphylaxis was. She often prescribed medications when she was in practice and had to make sure she wasn’t giving patients anything they were deathly allergic to.

  It all made sense now. She couldn’t help but picture Samantha Ritcher, on the floor with her swollen tongue and blotchy skin. A severe allergy would have easily produced these symptoms. She should have immediately suspected the possibility and listed it prominently in her report. The way Dr. Blythe was staring at her made her feel like an idiot for not doing so. But a drug allergy and not overdose as the cause of death for an addict like this? It almost seemed outlandish.

  “I’m surprised someone with your dental background didn’t pick up on the obvious signs,” he scoffed. “Zoe’s going to need a list of all the drugs Samantha Ritcher was taking.”

  “So, this was an accident?” she simply asked, preferring not to talk about her mistake.

  Dr. Blythe crossed his arms. “Zoe should have the toxicology results finished. I want you to get them and follow up with the drugs that were in the house. I need to know which one she was allergic to.” He handed her a copy of the autopsy report, and walked away briskly, not taking any time, or really seeming to care to hear if she had any thoughts on the matter.

  Val watched Blythe’s back as he moved down the hall. She was furious, thinking the whole time what a prick he was, making sure he schooled her on protocol. After she calmed down she glanced at the autopsy report, her new top priority chore for the day, and headed towards the toxicology lab. When she entered the room, Zoe was seated at her desk and looked up when the door opened.

  “Hi, Zoe. I need the toxicology report for the Samantha Ritcher case,” Val said. Zoe’s jet-black hair was cut into an angled bob with short bangs. It contrasted nicely with her watery blue eyes and pale skin. Several tattoos could be seen on her arms, peeking out of the ends of her T-shirt sleeves. Her right eyebrow was pierced, along with her left nostril.

  “Yep, have it right here. I was just going through this earlier. The results were pretty strange.” Zoe shuffled through several folders and picked up the one of interest. “Drug levels were high for pain medication Percocet, but not high enough to kill her.”

  “Dr. Blythe said the cause of death was anaphylaxis. Not a drug overdose.”

  “And he would be right. She definitely had an allergic reaction. Her post-mortem serum levels of the enzyme tryptase are elevated. This lets us know that histamine has been released. Histamine triggers the swelling that we see with cases of anaphylaxis. So, this test is a marker for the reaction. Her levels of the antibody IgE are also high. It’s all telltale.”

  “She was allergic to the Percocet then?”

  Zoe shook her head. “No, not to that. She had another drug in her system, but I haven’t been able to determine what it is. Do you have a list of everything you found in her apartment?”

  “What I found is listed in my report. I noted that she had a needle mark on her arm, but there were no traces of any other drugs in the apartment.”

  “Dr. Blythe documented the injection site too. My guess is that whatever this is, this is what she was allergic to. Standard tests aren’t giving me any answers as to what it is, but so far I only tested for routine street drugs. It doesn’t appear to be anything typically used for recreational purposes. I’m going to have to do a bit of detective work to figure out what it is.”

  “Do you think you’ll be able to do it?” she asked hopefully, feeling that Dr. Blythe would probably hold her responsible for this even though it was Zoe’s job to figure it out.

  “I’ll try. Her post-mortem serum can be tested for several weeks yet. I’ll let you know what I find.”

  Val thought for a minute. No other drugs were found in the house. No needles either. Someone had obviously gotten rid of them. Though Samantha died from an allergic reaction, she couldn’t have done it on her own. She needed to talk to Gavin ASAP. He needed to know about this.

  14

  It was just after 6pm and despite leaving messages about the Samantha Ritcher case all afternoon for Gavin to call her, Val had yet to hear from him. But she really wasn’t all that concerned with Samantha Ritcher’s death right now. Samantha could wait. Something else was bothering her more.

  Julia hadn’t come into work that day and no one could reach her by phone.

  Val was supposed to meet her for dinner tonight and planned on keeping that date, if for nothing more than to see if Julia was all right. She pulled into Julia’s driveway and looked around before getting out of the car.

  The houses in the development were huge. Manicured lawns and neatly-trimmed shrubs lined the walkways and front garden beds. A woman with a straw hat and pink gloves stood along the flagstones carefully tending to her bushes, trimming ends with a pair of shears. She looked up at Val, studying her briefly. Then returned to her pruning. Moments later she glanced up at her a second time.

  The evening was warm and voices and music carried through the open windows. Several teenagers were outside bouncing a basketball around a hoop.

  Val looked to her right and left, watching what was going on. Nothing seemed out of place in this affluent community. People went about their everyday lives. With the door shut and windows closed, Julia’s house had an odd stillness to it. Val couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right. She’d feel better once Julia answered the door.

  She rang the bell and waited.

  No answer.

  She rang again, waited several more seconds, and then tried knocking. She was about to knock again when a woman’s voice made her jump. Startled, she turned around quickly and stared at the lady with the hat from next door.

  “I’m Marnie Horvath, Julia’s neighbor. Are you a friend of hers?”

  “I work with her,” Val said, her answer abrupt. She was worried about Julia and really didn’t care to be interrogated by her neighbor right now. But the more she looked at Marnie it became apparent that she was worried too. That’s why she was here.

  “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to bother you. It’s just that I’ve been trying to call Julia all day,” Marnie said.

  “She was home today?” Val asked.

  “I thought she was. I didn’t see her leave this morning. I usually do.”

  In a matter of seconds Val’s worried feeling began to churn. Her chest tightened and a sinking unease ratcheted in the pit of her stomach. She immediately went around the side of the house and started looking in the windows. Something definitely wasn’t right. Where the hell was Julia? She wasn’t at work and she wasn’t at home. Marnie was at her side, trying to peer inside too.

  “Last night the lights were on for a really long time. They were still on when I went to bed and that was after midnight. Julia’s never up that late,” Marnie said. “I wouldn’t be so concerned but she had an awful fight with her husband yesterday eveni
ng.”

  “Her husband was here?” Val questioned quickly. Julia had mentioned a meeting with her lawyer but said nothing about her husband.

  “Yes,” Marnie said. “They were loud. It was hard not to hear.”

  Val peered through each window, putting her hand above her eyes to shield the glare on the glass. From what she could see, nothing seemed out of place in the house and nothing was amiss outside. That was, until she arrived at the back door, which was unlocked and easily swung open.

  “That’s not like Julia to leave her door unlocked. The alarm system must be off too, otherwise we’d be hearing it right now,” Marnie said.

  Val’s heart pounded and her legs felt rubbery as she cautiously stepped inside. Marnie followed her.

  The two women walked through a utility room and entered the kitchen. Val called to Julia. Her voice echoed in the large room. There was no response.

  “Do you think we should be doing this?” Marnie asked, putting a hand on Val’s arm, trying to pull her back. “I think we should call the police.”

  Common sense told Val to leave Julia’s house and call Gavin, but she felt compelled to keep going. It was the food on the countertop that made her move forward.

  On the counter sat a box of spaghetti and a jar of sauce. Two bottles of Merlot were next to the jar. A bread maker looked poised and ready for action. Everything was there to make the dinner Julia was supposed to cook. She couldn’t be far with dinner ingredients left on the counter. The only thing missing was Julia.

  She yelled Julia’s name several more times.

  Again, there was no response.

  “We should call the police,” Marnie said, tugging on Val’s arm harder this time.

  “Let me try calling her once more,” she said, struggling with a decision on what to do now. “I wouldn’t want to call the police if she just went to the store for something.”

  Val pulled out her cell phone, punched in the numbers and waited. In the distance, in another room, she heard ringing. Confused, she pulled the phone from her ear. A ring could clearly be heard on her cell followed by an immediate ring coming from down the hallway.

  “It’s coming from inside the house,” Marnie said, her eyes wide.

  Julia’s voicemail came on and the ringing stopped.

  “Where is that coming from?” Val asked frantically.

  “I don’t know. It sounded like it came from upstairs.”

  “I thought it was down the hallway.” Val immediately hit redial and the ringing started again. Every time the voicemail came on, she hit redial. Following the sound, the two went up the stairs, where it began to grow louder.

  “It’s coming from in there.” Marnie pointed to a door, which was ajar.

  Val took the handle and pushed the door open just as the voicemail came on. The women walked into what appeared to be Julia’s bedroom. The bed was at the far end of the room, but the dresser on which Julia’s cell phone rested was close to the door. Val picked it up.

  “What’s that smell?” Marnie choked. “It’s burning my throat.”

  Val agreed and began to cough. “Smells like strong laundry detergent. Something must have spilled. Does Julia have a washer and dryer up here?”

  “I’m not sure if she has a second-floor laundry.”

  Val looked around the room, her gaze lingering on the bed. What is that? She walked closer, focusing on the pillow now. Then she stopped just a couple of feet from the bed. It couldn’t be real. Was this some type of joke?

  Then she saw one of the photos.

  Marnie looked too and shrieked loudly before running out of the room.

  On the pillow were numerous human teeth. All were covered in blood.

  Horrified, Val wanted to scream but no sound would come. Breathing in panic-stricken gulps, she dropped to her knees. Her gaze remained glued on the pillow.

  15

  By the time Gavin and Warren arrived at Julia’s house it was surrounded by the media. Every neighbor on the block must have been outside too, all huddled in groups, staring at Julia’s house. Val stood in Julia’s hallway, trying not to look at them. Once she heard Gavin’s voice she turned her head, relieved he was finally here.

  He went up to her as soon as he entered and put his hand on her shoulder. “I need to ask you some questions, but I need to talk to the neighbor first. Okay?”

  Val nodded, her response automatic. She felt as if she were standing somewhere outside of herself. How could this be happening? Nausea overwhelmed her as the images on Julia’s bed seared into her mind. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t stop replaying them.

  Gavin quickly returned and called her over and instructed her to sit in one of the chairs in the living room. Marnie was already seated on the couch.

  “I have questions for both of you, but Mrs. Horvath, I’d like to start with you first. Can you tell me what happened last night when Julia’s husband arrived?”

  “I was working outside in the garden and I could hear them arguing. It got loud. She screamed at one point,” Marnie told Gavin stoically.

  “Did you call the police?”

  “No. He left right after that, within minutes. I went over after I saw him drive away. I asked her if there was anything I could do. She said that she was all right. I could tell that she was embarrassed about the fight. I didn’t press her much more after that.”

  “Did they fight frequently?”

  “The last couple of months that he lived here, it was bad. Then Julia found out that he was cheating on her and it got worse. He moved out shortly after that. This was the first time that I’ve seen him back.”

  Gavin wrote a few things down. “Let’s get back to last night. You can confirm that she was alive after he left?”

  “Yes,” Marnie said. “Well, after he left the first time.”

  Gavin looked up from his notepad, his eyes wide. Val stared at Marnie too. “You mean he came back?”

  “Yes, he came back about a half hour later.”

  “Did they argue again?”

  “If they did, it wasn’t anything loud enough that I could hear.”

  “How long did he stay the second time?”

  “I’m not sure.” Marnie hesitated for a moment, recalling. “My son played soccer yesterday evening. We left for his game shortly after Colin arrived.”

  “How long were you gone for?”

  “About three hours.”

  “Was Colin still here when you got home?”

  “I don’t know. He pulled into the garage when he came back. Lights were on in the house when we returned. They were still on when we went to bed. I didn’t see or hear the garage door open.”

  “You didn’t call or check on her the second time?”

  “No. It was quiet over here. There was nothing to be alarmed about.” Marnie wrung her hands together. “Julia looked so embarrassed when I checked on her earlier. There was no reason to do that to her again, not last night. If I thought something was wrong, of course I would have done something.” She stopped talking. Tears streamed down her face. “I was planning on seeing how she was doing today. I called several times.”

  “Thank you, Mrs. Horvath. I’m going to give you my card, could you call me if you remember anything else. We might like to ask you questions again, at another time, if we need to.”

  “Of course,” she said before getting up to leave.

  Val watched Marnie walk to the door, the whole movement seeming to go in slow motion.

  “Are you okay?” Gavin asked.

  “No, I’m not okay,” Val said bluntly. “I just spoke to Julia yesterday. Jesus, I was coming here for dinner tonight. What she planned to make is sitting on the kitchen countertop. I should be having a drink with her instead of standing here answering questions about her…” Val choked. “Oh, my God, she’s dead!”

  “We can do this another time,” Gavin said gently.

  “No, I want to do it now,” Val said. Gavin looked at her doubtfully. “Really, I can
do this. She was my friend. I want to help her in any way that I might be able to.”

  “Did she ever say anything to you about her husband? Anything personal. I know some things about him but that’s mostly gossip.”

  “She was kind of private about that. But you’re right. There was a lot of office gossip. She did open up to me yesterday. He sounded like a real bastard. She was happy. She said she’d figured it all out and he wasn’t going to win.”

  “Figured what out? He wasn’t going to win in what way?”

  “I don’t know. She was running out of work, to see her lawyer.”

  “I’m going to bring her husband in. With the neighbor’s statement and what you told us about him, we have enough to do that. I also need to track down this lawyer. Why don’t you go home and get some rest. I’ll call you if I think of anything else I need.”

  “No, I want to stay. I want to know what happened to her.”

  “Val, this isn’t a good idea. In fact, it’s a really bad one. Your memories of Julia should be of her alive. If you see what’s in that bedroom, that’s what you’ll see whenever you think of her.”

  “Too late. I’ve already seen what’s in the bedroom. I’ve moved on from that. I want to help catch her killer.” She looked straight at him, her decision firmly made.

  Gavin got up. Val rose too and went with him to the bedroom. Blythe was on his way and Val knew that as soon as he arrived, she would be asked to leave. Now, this moment, was her chance to help Julia. But Val knew it couldn’t end here. She wouldn’t stop until Julia’s killer was caught.

  Val walked up to the bed. Julia’s teeth lay on the pillow, just like Francine Donohue’s had. Suddenly her legs felt weak. She glanced around, looking anywhere but the pillow, trying to collect herself. Her gaze stopped on a lamp that sat on the nightstand next to the bed. It was a pretty shade of aquamarine accented with brass fixtures and a wide butter-colored shade. She concentrated on the lamp, managing to distract herself. Then she saw something reddish brown on the ceramic surface and her jaw dropped as she realized what it was. Blood spatter was streaked across the front of the lamp. Julia was ripped apart and part of her was on this lamp. Val took a few steps back, and steadied herself by leaning on the wall. Gavin came towards her, but she waved him away. “I’m fine,” she said and straightened herself up. Glancing back at the teeth now, she leaned over, getting closer, looking carefully. She had no gloves with her and couldn’t touch them. She’d contaminate the evidence if she did. But she didn’t need gloves to see that not one root was broken. Her gaze shifted a few inches and she noticed the pattern of the pillowcase. It was different from the sheets.