“That’s not true,” she said. “We just like to see men suffer.”

They watched for another half hour—then Nick saw the trainer remove one of the two red flags from the ground.

“That’s it,” he said. “I’ve had it.”

He took out his cell phone and dialed.

“Whiners Anonymous,” Donovan said. “What’s wrong now?”

“Send me another dog,” Nick said. “A bloodhound, a poodle, one of those little Taco Bell dogs that talks with a Spanish accent—I don’t care, as long as it has all five senses.”

“Look—I checked this woman out after the last time you called. The Bureau uses her all the time. This is a FEMA-certified cadaver dog team—you should see their credentials.”

“You should see mine,” Nick said. “I can’t smell either.”

“Nick—”

“I’m telling you, Donovan, this just isn’t working out. Maybe it’s the dog or maybe it’s the trainer; all I know is, I’m standing here with six forensic specialists on your payroll who can’t do their jobs because some dog has a sinus condition.”

“C’mon, she can’t be that slow.”

“Two graves,” Nick said. “In twenty-four hours this woman has managed to find two graves—and she just changed her mind about one of them.”

“Maybe there aren’t any more—maybe that’s what the dog is telling us.”

“Then I can go home and you can call the backhoe boys and tell them to dig in—but I guarantee they’ll find more graves when they do, and I’ll be back a day later—and we’ll still need a new dog.”

“Is the dog really that bad?”

“I’m standing here with Dr. Kegan Alexander, forensic anthropologist and professor of physical anthropology at the University of Virginia. If you like, I’ll put her on the phone and she can give you a second opinion.”

“Okay, I believe you,” Donovan said. “I’ll see what I can do—but cadaver dog teams are hard to find, and it won’t be easy to find one with better credentials than hers. I’ll put in another request, but it could take a couple of days.”

“A couple of days?”

“It’s the best I can do, Nick. Look, I gotta go—I’ve got an appointment with Senator Braden in about two minutes, and these people don’t like to be kept waiting.”

“Neither do I.”

“Then get yourself fifty million bucks and call me back—that’s what Braden did. Money talks, Nick—the rest of us have to listen.”

“Tell the senator something for me, will you?”

“What’s that?”

“Tell him his entire construction project has ground to a halt because of one dog—see what he has to say about that.”

“Yeah, I’ll do that. In the meantime I suggest you let this woman keep working.”

“Why?”