Callaway shook his head. Medical Examiner IDed the victim just yesterday. That file Newbury gave you was hot off the press.

A sign Newbury is desperate, Harley thought. Or just an opportunist.

So what are you doing here instead of comforting the poor girls family? she said.

Callaway took a deep breath and let it out slowly through his nostrils. I just cant figure out how the killer got her body down there.

Harley stood, frowning. She was about to state the obvious that it would have been easy just to push Lisa Powell over the edge when something she had read in the file came back to heror rather, something she hadnt read.

No broken bones, she murmured.

Callaway nodded. Not even bumps and bruises from the fall.

So the killer brought her in another way, another tunnel.

The paramedics who went down thereI asked them point blank, and they said No tunnel. No other way in.

Harley slipped her phone back into her pocket and stared at the shaft, considering. No burn marks on her body.

Nuh-uh.

Not that it would have made much sense to lower her by rope anyway.

Nope.

So there must have been a cave-in, she concluded. You saw the condition of her fingers. She must have been clawing at the dirt for hours, pounding the walls as she screamed herself hoarse. Thats a lot of vibration.

Its a possibility, Callaway admitted grudgingly.

She sure as hell didnt take the elevator, Harley murmured, beginning to get that familiar thrill as the pieces of a case came together. Someone went to a lot of trouble to hide this girl, and my bet is this isnt where the killer intended for her to end up.

Thats a big assumption.

She raised her eyebrows, up for the challenge. Did you find any recent tracks on your way in?

Callaway pushed his hat back and scratched his forehead. Harley had the impression he had misjudged her and was unsure now what to make of her.

Cant see much in this hardpan, he observed.

No, she agreed, but theres sand, too, and sand remembers. Sand remembers, wind forgets, as my dad used to say. And the killer sure didnt bring her out this far on his bicycle.

You know, Callaway said, I can already tell youre going to be a terrific pain in my ass.

Harley smiled. Im glad we understand one another. Now are we going to talk to the girls family or let them hear about it on the news?

CHAPTER SEVEN

A chorus of barking dogs greeted Callaway as he drove through the trailer park, which sat at the back of a dead-end road close to the highway. His tires kicked up a cloud of dust, shrouding the Corolla following him.

So much the better, he thought.