Seeing as she only has ten minutes before she needs to leave, Naomi throws the photos and songbook into a nearby empty IKEA bag before sifting through the remaining contents, hoping to find any bank statements or contracts that could point to where the money came from.
She adds a stack of paperwork, a few more notebooks, and a yellow envelope to the bag before heading upstairs to order an Uber.
*
On the train back to the city, after picking at a container of cold baked ziti her aunt insisted she take, Naomi pulls out the yellow envelope.
Her stomach churns, marinara sauce and bile rising in her throat as she reads the letters on the top of the stack of papers.
Dutchess County Medical Examiner’s Office
AUTOPSY REPORT
Name of the deceased:Faye Prudence Barnes
Birth Date:March 14, 1998Death Date:March 3, 2022
Following Faye’s death, police ordered an autopsy to ascertain the official cause of death and make sure there wasn’t anything suspicious. And while neither the police nor the medical examiner were able to provide answers for everything, nothing was deemed suspicious enough to warrant opening an investigation.
But Jade Dutton’s family was told the same thing.
Heart thumping, Naomi pulls Emily’s email up on her phone and opens the attachment. She’s unsure what she’s looking for as she compares Faye and Jade’s autopsy reports. Jade’s autopsy doesn’t mention bruising around her neck, so if Faye’s death was also a cover-up, it’s not like her report would reveal anything.
Naomi sighs, wondering if these are just meaningless pieces of paper full of lies. But as she scans the cause of death section, something catches her eye. She glances to and from both reports, over and over again, sure she hasn’t misread the small details.
According to the documents, Faye and Jade died by poisoning from almost exactly the same amount of fentanyl.
Naomi glances over her shoulder, feeling the same uneasiness she felt in the car. Could someone still be following her, watching what she’s doing? She angles herself toward the window as she rereads Faye’s report, taking in every gruesome word.
She covers her mouth, gasping when she sees something even more alarming than the matching drug dosage. How could she have possibly missed this before? Did she ever even look at the autopsy report? She thought she did but maybe she didn’t. Everything was such a blur, never thinking to question what the police told her.Cause of death: Smoke inhalation and/or drug overdose.But they never mentioned the minor detail that Naomi is staring at now.
SKULL: Possible fracture on the right parietal bone. Difficult to determine severity due to third-degree burns.
From: Naomi J. Barnes
Subject: Question
Date: Sept 29, 2024 09:58:09 PM EDT
To: Glen M. Hill
Hi Glen,
Hope you’re well! I’m investigating a case and have a couple questions I need your expertise on. I have two young women who died of apparent overdoses, months apart. Autopsies list nearly identical dosage of fentanyl in their system. Is it common for unrelated overdoses to match like this?
Also, one of the reports notes a possible skull fracture. Wondering why something like this wouldn’t be deemed suspicious? (For reference, this woman was found deceased of an apparent overdose after a house fire.)
Thanks,
Naomi
From: Glen M. Hill
Subject: Re: Question
Date: Sept 29, 2024 10:33:57 PM EDT
To: Naomi J. Barnes
