The reefer trucks were gone from the grounds of the Alarka Fire Department. The lot held only the company's displaced engines and the vehicles of those assisting me. A single deputy guarded the entrance.

Crowe was there when I arrived. Seeing me, she climbed from her cruiser, colected a smal leather case, and waited. The sky was pewter, and a cold wind was tearing through the gorge. Gusts teased her hat brim, subtly reshaping it around her face.

I joined her, and we entered what was now a different type of incident morgue. Stan and Maggie worked at autopsy tables, arranging bones where crash victims recently had lain. Four tables held unopened cardboard boxes.

I greeted my team and hurried to the cubicle I was using as an office. As I exchanged my jacket for a lab coat, Crowe took the chair opposite my desk, zipped open the case, and withdrew several folders.

'Nineteen seventy-nine came up zilch. Al MPs accounted for. There were two from 1972.'

She opened the first folder.

'Mary Francis Rafferty, white female, age eighty-one. Lived alone over in Dilsboro. Her daughter checked on her every Saturday. One week Rafferty wasn't in her home.

Never seen again. It was presumed she wandered off and died of exposure.'

'How often have we heard that?'

She went to the next folder.

'Sarah Elen Deaver, white female, age nineteen. Left home to go to her job at a convenience store on Highway 74. Never got there.'

'I doubt we've got Deaver out there. Anything from Tommy Albright?'

'George Adair's positive,' Crowe confirmed.

'Dental?' I asked.

'Yes.' Pause. 'You know that first alcove burial was missing its left foot?'

'Albright phoned me.'

'Jeremiah Mitchel's daughter thought she recognized some of the clothing. We're getting blood from a sister.'

'Albright asked me to cut bone samples. Tyrel's promised to rush them through. Did you check the other dates?'

'Albert Odel's family provided the name of his dentist.'

'He's the apple farmer?' I asked.

'Odel's the only MP stil out from eighty-six.'

'Many dentists don't keep records past ten years.'

'Dr. Welch didn't sound like the brightest bulb in the marquee. I'm driving over to Lauada this afternoon to see what he has.'

'What about the others?' I knew what her answer would be even as I asked the question.

'The others wil be tough. It's been over fifty years for Adams and Farrel, over forty for Tramper.'

She withdrew three more folders and laid everything on my desk.

'Here's what I've managed to dig up.' She stood. 'I'l let you know what I get from the dentist.'

When she'd gone I spent a few moments perusing the folders. The one for Tucker Adams contained only the press items I'd already seen.