Chapter 21 #2
But toward the end of the year, things seemed like they were turning around for her, despite her mood swings.
She moved into a new studio apartment in Union Square, started getting her hair and nails done and buying designer clothes.
To Naomi’s shock, when she eventually asked Faye how she was affording her new lifestyle, she said she had sold a song to a record label.
“What the hell, that’s huge!” Naomi said. “Why didn’t you tell me!?”
“Didn’t wanna jinx it,” Faye replied, cheeks red.
“I hoped you wouldn’t notice and I could just surprise you when it came out.
It may not even get made, they just bought the rights.
But hopefully I can keep writing some more good ones and one of them will hit or I can bag a longer-term contract and get paid yearly advances. ”
Naomi tried to get more details from her, on both the song and who she had sold it to, but Faye stayed uncharacteristically secretive.
It worried Naomi at first, when she started disappearing for days and weeks on end after that, especially considering only a year before Naomi had received a call telling her Faye was in the hospital.
But Faye was no longer with that guy and had promised Naomi she was doing much more exciting things, that she was doing well.
“I’ve been off working with some songwriters and producers,” Faye told Naomi when they eventually caught up one day for dinner. “Good things are happening, I promise!”
Naomi struggled to read her, though. She seemed happy and, judging by the restaurant she had picked and the hefty tip she left, she also seemed to be doing well financially.
But she also seemed on edge. Looked tired and stressed.
Her collar bones and hip bones were more prominent than ever before, jutting out from her cashmere sweater dress.
“And they’re paying you for that? Have you sold more songs?” Naomi always thought songwriters got most of their money off royalties or major contracts. She still couldn’t work out how Faye was affording her new lifestyle.
But once again, Faye was evasive, just nodding and then changing the subject.
Naomi chalked it up to Faye just being desperate for things to work out that time, something Naomi also deeply wanted for her, so she let it go, figuring she could press her for more details some other time.
She had no idea her window for questions would close so soon.
A sinking feeling takes root in Naomi’s stomach.
Knowing what she knows now, she’s surer than ever that she was right about Faye’s story not adding up.
That she wasn’t telling the whole truth.
That the money wasn’t just coming from songwriting.
Naomi wonders what Faye could have gotten involved with.
Drug dealing? OnlyFans? Escorting or some other kind of sex work?
There were endless possibilities, from good to bad to fatal.
Because, as smart and witty as Faye was, she could also be reckless and impulsive, often letting her ambitions and desires get in the way of rational thinking, making her put her trust in the wrong people.
She was the sort of kid who would have most certainly followed a stranger into a van if he told her he had candy, with tunnel vision for her prize.
“I’ll worry about the consequences later,” she’d say.
Naomi imagines her investigation revealing answers she doesn’t want. But she needs the truth. She puts the songbook on top of the photos, deciding to take it with her so she can pore over it later.
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, 1998 Death 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
Naomi,
Nice to hear from you.
Re: the skull fracture, I often see injuries like this with drug overdoses or house fires from people passing out/falling over. Sometimes an old injury. Most likely it was looked into and I would trust the coroner’s decision to not highlight that.
Now in regard to the drug levels, I would say that is uncommon, especially if the deaths took place months apart. Only time you see similar matches in levels of fentanyl/heroin is when drugs come from same source.
Hope that helps,
Glen