He took Highway 166 east out of Cromwell and after three miles, turned right onto New Cut Road, which was laid out on a diagonal that intersected Highway 1 to the south. Before September of 1953, when New Cut was finished, drivers were forced to go miles out of their way when heading from Santa Maria to Silas, Arnaud, or Serena Station. The old Tanner homestead appeared, its Tudor facade jarring now that I saw it again. The acreage across the road had been planted and harvested, leaving a pale haze of wispy stalks interspersed with lush weeds.

Winston pulled into the Tanner driveway and we got out. I left my shoulder bag in the car but carried the map with me.

“Somewhere along in here,” he said, gesturing vaguely. “I remember the heavy equipment and big mounds of dirt. The road was being graded, and there was this line of big orange cones and a temporary barricade across the unpaved portion to discourage through traffic, not that there was much. Now that I’m looking at it though, it’s hard to pinpoint the spot.”

He crossed the road and I followed, watching as he pivoted. He walked backward for a few steps, trying to get his bearings. “I didn’t realize the road ran so close to the Tanner property. I’m almost sure the barrier was off in that direction, like a big detour, but I might be wrong.”

I said, “Maybe it’s like a house under construction. When all you have is the slab, the rooms seem so small. Then the walls go up and everything suddenly looks much bigger.”

He smiled. “Right. I never have figured out how that works. You’d think it’d be the other way around.”

“Any chance you passed her on the road? If she had car trouble she might have tried walking to the nearest phone.”

“Oh no. There’s no way I’d have missed her if she’d been out there. I did keep an eye out, but you can see for yourself, she’d have had to hike for miles. Funny thing is, until now I put the incident out of my mind because I felt guilty and I didn’t want to deal with it. I should have stopped to see what was going on.”

“Don’t do that to yourself. It’s probably not important in the overall scheme of things.”

“I suppose not. She was going to do whatever she did regardless of me. I just wish I’d been a gentleman and done the right thing.”

“On the other hand, she didn’t do you any favors.”