He conceded that might be an issue. “Still, there are others like me who were freshmen then and are still on or near campus. They may not have thought about the case or even realized it’s still open. Professors. Staff. The show is broadcast live from the campus studio and reaches Flagstaff city limits and part of the county. It’s also streamed on our website and then archived as a podcast, and anyone can listen through podcast apps. Another student, Lizzy Choi, is helping me. She knows everything about the campus radio station and is acting as my producer. We’re hoping to grow our audience through word of mouth. The first two episodes aired last week. I’m running the next one tomorrow night, at eight. I’d like to interview you on air. After listening to you today, I think you’ll be able to shed light on criminal procedure and help me frame questions, maybe even spur more call-ins.”

Regan looked from Lucas to Henry. “This was your idea.”

“It was Lucas’s idea when he heard you were coming to lecture on campus. I thought it was a good one and told him so.”

“I was a US Marshal, Lucas. We don’t run murder investigations. We primarily transport prisoners, protect witnesses and courthouses, and find wanted felons. We run the WitSec program. I don’t know how I can be of any help.”

“But you do look for missing persons,” Lucas pushed. His whole body leaned forward, as if physically urging her to commit. “I want to get the word out about this unsolved case right here in our backyard but worry that I’m not asking the right questions. Those days she was missing could be critical. Don’t you think the killer should face justice? Isn’t that why you went into law enforcement at some point? To help right wrongs?”

Her reasons for being a marshal, she thought, were simple: law enforcement was in her blood. Her father had been a cop, then elected sheriff; her oldest brother was a deputy in Maricopa County; her grandfather had been a US Forest Ranger.

But the reason she had chosen the Marshals Service was complicated. Partly ego, partly to do something different from the rest of her family, partly to escape Flagstaff. She loved her hometown—hiking, skiing, kayaking, camping—there was no more beautiful place in the country than northern Arizona. The staggeringly tall mountains, the deep Grand Canyon, the rivers for kayaking, the land for hunting, the clean air and down-to-earth people. But it could also be claustrophobic. Being a Merritt in a long line of service-oriented Merritts, you always had to be on your best behavior.

Yet here she was, back home for a while, wanting to make changes in her life and licking her raw wounds...wounds she doubted would ever heal.

After Regan provided no answer to Lucas’s question, Henry filled in the awkward silence.