I picked up and studied a pamphlet that listed the part numbers, cut size, UPC codes, and weights of various twelve-ounce olive-drab tarpaulins. The twenty-by-thirty weighed seventy-nine pounds-tough to tote around, I thought. The tan ten-ounce tarps seemed to be lighter, but I was already worried they wouldn't hold up as well.

The second clerk came out of the back room. Glancing up, she spotted me and crossed to the counter. "May I help you?"

She was probably in her fifties, with heavy eye makeup and dyed black hair that she'd pulled up in a swirl on top. She wore jeans, a sweatshirt, and a pair of black spike-heel boots. Her fingernails were long, perfect ovals, painted dark red with a thin white stripe across each. I was reminded briefly of Iona and I wondered if she'd developed an expertise in nail art.

I said, "I know this is a weird request, but I hope you'll bear with me." I told her about Jane Doe and the tarp that was found when the body came to light. I did a quick summary of our reasons for believing the victim was local and our suspicion that the murder and/or abduction might have taken place down here. "I keep thinking if we could find out about the tarp, we might get a line on the guy."

"You mean what kind of work he did?"

"Something like that. If he did painting or drywall..."

"Not drywall," she said. "Those guys usually use a big roll of paper."

It would help if I knew the material the tarp was made of. Are you talking about duck, cotton, acrylic, or a blend?"

"Well, I don't really know and that's the point. Looking at this brochure, I can see you make hundreds of tarps, so the question's probably absurd."

"Not really. Many of our products fall into other categories, like cargo control-lumber tarps and steel haulers. I don't think you'd mistake either for a painter's drop cloth. They're too big. Too bad you don't have it with you. At least I could tell you if it's one of ours."

"Sorry. They've got it in the property room up north, under lock and key."

"In that case, let's think how else we might help. Most drop cloths are standard, though we do make two grades – eight-or ten-ounce natural. If I showed you, do you think you'd recognize the difference?"

"I could try."

"My name's Elfreida."

"I'm Kinsey. I appreciate your time."

I followed as she came out from behind the counter and clip-clopped across the bare concrete floor to a big worktable where two stacks of folded canvas tarps were sitting side by side. She grabbed a tarp from each stack and opened both across the tabletop, flapping them like bedsheets to shake the folds loose. "Look familiar?"

"It's that one, I think," I said, pointing to the lighter of the two.