ANNIE WAS sweating by the time they reached the spot where Stefan’s officer waited. It was about half a mile south from the girl’s body, and despite the light breeze and some shade from the leafy trees, the heat was getting to her. She felt out of shape and realized that, despite the yoga and meditation, she hadn’t got back to working out again yet. She made a mental note to rejoin the small fitness center in Harkside, where she lived, as she was far more likely to use that than go after work—or, god forbid, before—to the larger one in Eastvale, despite its advantage in having more fit males around. She glanced at Gerry, who didn’t seem to be showing any effects whatsoever from the walk. Well, she is in her twenties, Annie thought, a willowy, redheaded thoroughbred, though she herself was just in her early forties, and willowy enough. Plenty of time to shape up. Only Banks seemed never to have to bother with all that. No matter what he ate and drank, he stayed as lean and agile as ever. Still, it will catch up with him eventually, Annie thought, with a grim sort of satisfaction.

“Signs of activity” was all Stefan had said when Annie had asked him what they’d found. When she and Gerry finally reached the spot, she saw that another area of the roadside had been cordoned off with police tape, and there were three white-suited CSIs kneeling and swabbing the ground nearby, collecting samples in plastic or paper bags. There was also another faint skid mark in the road, as if a car or van had slowed down quickly, swerved, then speeded up again.

Even before Stefan pointed out the finer details, Annie could see that the long grass edging the ditch had been flattened and was crusted with dried mud. The dirt along the edge of the road surface was similarly disturbed, and a track continued, almost recognizable as muddy footprints, for several feet in the direction where the body lay.

“So she was hurt before she got to the place where we found her, where she was killed?” said Annie.

“Be careful,” Stefan said as Annie squatted and leaned toward the ditch. “We found barbed wire and a broken bottle in there. Both were submerged, so we don’t expect anything in the way of trace evidence, but they’ve gone for testing. Some of the cuts on the girl’s side might have been caused by the wire or broken glass.” He gestured to the fencing above the drystone wall. “It was obviously discarded when this was added. No doubt one of the farmers had problems with kids getting in scaring his sheep or whatever.”