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"A lot of breeds are good for search-and-rescue, which is what they’re usually trained for first They learn to locate lost hikers or kids ander off on a ca with a powerful retrieval instinct, a keen sense of s work drive Even then, so I worked as a shepherd He was good but high-strung, and he had a tendency to mope Great nose, but it was clear the work upset him I finally retired him because I couldn’t bear the accusatory look in his eyes"

"What happened to hi, which suits hi for dead bodies in the underbrush I heard about Belle through a friend of a friend, who’d been breeding Labs for years She was just a little fur ball when I got her, but smart as they co They’re also good-natured, which is great for PR purposes I can take her into schools and nursing homes and everybody falls in love with her"

By then, Belle was lying on the grass at his feet, her gaze flicking across his face as he spoke He s about her"

"Does she work on a leash or off?"

"That depends on the terrain Here I’ll take her off the leash and let her go about her business If she finds soet me and take me back with her"

Cheney reappeared and headed in our direction Gerald signaled to Belle and the talked out to enerator had been hauled out on the site, along with the big la when the daylight waned I kneithout even being present what the scene would look like The digging would be done by hand Two officers would run the loose dirt through a two- to capture any physical evidence left behind The chances see and as I to say? The entire process would be photographed and sketched, with relevant landh record of the scene was kept

The rest of us were left to amuse ourselves as best we could A number of cars slowed and then un to asse past the scene on the way home from ho had spotted the police cars and pulled in to see as going on There was nothing to do and not much to say after the first scanty explanations were passed along to new arrivals People lingered, unwilling to leave before the finalroo birth There was no dra is are often written off as limpse of the injured or the dead I prefer to attribute the behavior to a sense of coether in the face of inconceivable tragedy

Sutton had returned to the parking area and I could see hi him in It was a story he’d tell repeatedly if Mary Claire’s body ca her short shorts, had pulled on a pair of leggings and a loose-necked sweatshirt that hung off one shoulder, exposing the sa cigarettes with the passenger-side door open I’d spent half a day in Sutton’s coe to warn hi on?"

I looked tonext to th brown hair, blunt cut and very straight Her glasses were frameless and the lenses accented the brown eyes behind them

I said, "The police may have a line on an unsolved case"

"Really What’s the deal?"

"Reh disappeared? So what ed idle relanced at her outfit--brown blazer, tweed skirt, black tights, loafers--wondering how she ed to look so sensible and stylish at the same time

"Where’d the tip come fro He thinks he ht have stumbled on the burial when he was a kid"

"Wow That would be a break after all this time," she remarked "So what’s your connection?"

"I’ator"