If you must growld, condemn and eternally find fault Why! resign your position. And when you are outside, Damn to your hearts content. But as long as you're a part of the institution, Do not condemn it. If you do, the first high wind that comes along will blow you away And probably you'll never know why.

It read to me more like the blood oath of a criminal enterprise than the pledge of a law enforcement organization. But this was before I fully grasped how easily, in the right conditions, the two could sometimes come to resemble one another.

After some coaxing by Almendral in Tagalog, an officer named Abigail Del Monte agreed to pull the case file for us. She returned from a back room and proceeded to flip through it idly at her desk, as if trying to discern why I had flown eight thousand miles and then driven three hours to visit a crime scene nearly four years after the fact.

Finally another detective showed up, a friendly guy in a jean jacket. He introduced himself as George Arada. Suddenly every- one shifted into action. “You’re here for the Catherine Lee case?” he said. “Okay, let’s go.” We offered our slightly beat-up van and driver for transportation, and Del Monte decided to join as well. Along the way we picked up the local watchman who had called the cops after Jimena’s discovery. Then we drove over to the va- cant lot.

At the site, the watchman showed us where the body had been positioned, and how he’d marked off the area back in February 2012. “The body was moved a little bit by the guy who picked up the blanket,” he said. “I didn’t find out anything about who she was.”

We walked over to an older woman selling drinks at a roadside