Saint goes to Quartz Mountain State Park, where a sheriff’s deputy meets her at Cedar Creek Trail and silently leads her through sun-beaten scrubland near Black Jack Pass Trail. As Baldy Point rises in the distance, Saint feels a growing dread because the deputy is experienced and offers no early conclusions.

At the burial site, the deputy explains that workers from the Wichita Mountain Climbers Coalition were setting new anchors when a dog found the remains. Authorities had protected the area as best they could, but the remote, rocky terrain made access difficult and prevented trucks from reaching the site.

Saint kneels beside the skeletal remains and studies the scene. The deputy observes that the body was probably not buried deeply because the ground was rocky and hard. There are no clothes, bag, or other litter left behind.

One item remains intact beside the bones: a set of beads with a pardon crucifix. When the deputy asks whether this means the remains are tied to the same perpetrator, Saint calmly confirms that they are. The object gives Saint the certainty that another victim has been found and that the same killer is responsible.