"I thought I'd go back over and see if anything new comes to light," I said.

"Pants and a blousy shirt – you know, big sleeves."

"Belt?"

She feigned irritation, giving me a mock cross look. "You get right down to the nitty-gritty, don't you? Scars, moles, other identifying marks? What do you want? I only saw the girl up close once."

"Sorry. I take it she wasn't wearing a belt."

"Don't think so."

I could feel her withdraw and knew I needed to pull her back. "What about her shoes?"

"I'd say boots if I had to guess."

"It's not multiple choice. Just whatever comes to mind. Take the pants. Were they patterned or plain?"

She brightened. "Now, that I do know. It's what I told the cops back then. Daisies."

"You remember the color?"

She shrugged. "Daisy-colored. You know, yellow and white. Probably some green in there someplace. Is that important?"

"I'm just groping around. What about the shirt?"

"Plain. I hope you don't intend to ask me every little thing." I smiled.

"Really, I don't. Was the shirt dark or light?"

"Dark blue voile."

"Which is what? Sorry, but I don't know the term."

"I'm not sure myself, but I know that's right because I went back and looked it up."

"You kept notes?"

"I kept the clipping from the paper. It's in the other room."

I could hear a dim alarm bell ring. What I was getting was rehearsed. "Did you get the impression she was local or on the road?"

"Traveling, definitely. I saw her hitchhiking earlier when I was coming in to work. I'm sure she hadn't eaten in a while. She wolfed her food right down."

"She could have been stoned," I said.

"Oh. I hadn't thought about that. She probably was, come to think of it. That might explain where her money went. She spent it all on dope."

"Just a possibility. I wonder how far she managed to travel without funds. Or do you think she had the money and just didn't choose to spend it on food?"

"Hard to say. If I hadn't volunteered to pay, she'd have tennis-shoed the place so I'd've been stuck either way. Bet she panhandled, too. Your age, you probably don't remember those days."

"Actually, I do. I was in my late teens."

"Point is, all those hippies hung out, cadging any change you had. Smoking these big fat joints. I forget now what they called 'em. Thumbs, I think. Me, I wasn't into that. Well, maybe a little grass, but never any LSD."

I murmured a response and then said, "Was she wearing jewelry?"

"Nope. Don't think so."

"No watch or bracelet? Maybe earrings?"

"Oh. I remember now. No earrings. Her left earlobe was torn through. Like somebody'd grabbed a hoop and ripped it right off."

"Was the injury recent?"

"Nope. It was all healed up, but it was definitely split."

"What about her fingernails ?"