Welcome to Case Closed.

You're listening to Dirt Creek by Haley Scrivener, narrated by Sophie Lockren.

Let's pick up where we left off last time.

Sarah.

Saturday, 1st of December, 2001.

The owner of the horse in Kane Motel kept his dog chained up behind the rooms,

a kelpie the colour of an old car left to rust.

Detective Sergeant Sarah Michaels had brought the animal some of the dry petrol station muffin

she hadn't managed to choke down for breakfast.

The dog had a narrow, sand-coloured face and a roiling, restless energy.

The chain around its neck was thick and showed black where the plating had worn off.

It wolfed the muffin down, but took several steps back when it was done eating. It had the

low-eyed weariness of an animal used to a swift kick for no reason. Its eyes followed Sarah as she sat

going over the day's interview schedule.

The air was dry.

The yellow scrub and pastel orange dirt stretched out from the motel veranda,

thrown into relief by a completely blue sky.

No sound but the clinking of the dog's chain.

Her mobile rang.

Plenty of your girl's skin and hair,

said the forensics person on the other end of the phone,

a woman Sarah hadn't worked with before.

...