“Thank you.” Decker took a deep breath and let it out. “I’ll call Cindy when I get back. Also, you call Kev. Ask him to start contacting tollbooths from Baniff to Greenbury and see if we can take a peek at their cameras. Elsie Schulung lived here; she’d know how to avoid the cameras. But Baer is not from this area and just might not be so clever.”

“Okay.” McAdams sighed.

“I know,” Decker said. “It’s hot and we’re not finding anything. We’re almost at Elsie’s place. Let’s just finish up there.”

“Sure,” McAdams said.

When they arrived at Elsie’s, Decker said, “Thanks for putting up with my crazy ideas.”

“No stone unturned,” McAdams said. “Want to cross over and look at the other side of the road?”

“No, I want to retrace our steps on the same side and look again. If they pulled over it would be on the right side going to Elsie’s house. Keep your eyes on the ground, Tyler. Your eyesight is better than mine.”

McAdams paused. “What am I looking for exactly?”

Decker said, “Old dried blood that hopefully hasn’t been washed away.”

“Or a knife?”

“That would be too lucky.”

McAdams said, “Got my eyes glued to my feet.”

They walked for ten minutes in silence, looking up and down and sideways. The earth did not give up her secrets happily. As they were nearing the finish line, under the protective canopy of a big oak, McAdams felt something wet and squishy underfoot, something that caused his heel to slide forward. “Damn it. I think I stepped in shit!” He stopped and looked at the underside of his right shoe, the sole covered in brown. “Damn!”

Decker was about twenty paces ahead. “Just wipe it off on the ground.”

It smelled, but not the smell he expected. More like metallic. McAdams took off his sunglasses. The color was more reddish brown than turd brown. “Peter?”

Decker stopped and pivoted around. McAdams rarely called him by his first name. “What is it? What’d you find?”

McAdams said, “Not sure, but I may have just stepped in your evidence.”

WITHIN AN HOUR, the spot was crawling with officials from Baniff. Already found, before any cars pulled up, was some rust-stained clothing that leaked liquid of the same color. The discarded apparel appeared to be a shirt. Hard to tell whether it belonged to a man or a woman. A few yards away was a hunting knife, the blade discolored with spots and blotches. Lady Luck had kissed the ground. No bodies found, but the area was still being searched.

To McAdams, Quay said, “I thought you were leaving.”

“When the boss gets an idea into his head, there’s no stopping him.” McAdams looked at Decker, who was ten yards away, meticulously searching the ground. “Turns out we found something. Not sure what, but it is something.”