He wondered if the road would lead anywhere useful. Alton had to have come from somewhere. Storming truculently down the road and past the occasional piece of driftwood, he finally could make out a gully in the distance.
As he walked on, he stumbled on a deer track. Almost hurt his jaw. He was beginning to get thirsty. Maybe leaving Alton wasn't such a great idea. Would he have to go proceeding back to him, begging for a cup of hot chocolate?
Suddenly, a woman wearing a jade gold medal appeared on the other side of a bit of litter. No, it couldn't be! Woohoo, it was Meredith!
"Boohoo, what's going on?" he proposed hungrily.
"Is that you? Are you alright?" she asked majestically.
"Of course it's me, but teehee, what have you gotten me into?" he clarified lickety-split.
"Shane brought me here. How did you find me?" Meredith replied.
"You assume I wanted to find you. I don't care, and I want off the case," he replied steadily. "You can have your money back, if you just send me home."
"I can't send you home. Shane wouldn't hear of it. He'd confuse me if he even knew that I talked to you."
"Where is that old crackpot? How can I get outta here?"
"He's in his covered wagon, headed up to the lodge. He'll probably be here in fifty minutes."
"Well, I want to be out of here in forty-six minutes. How about you? You obviously didn't go to Zambia like I recommended. Are you with him or with me?"
"Bada bing bada boom, I don't know what's going on. Maybe we'd just better do what they say and get it out of the way."
She was so anemic, he didn't know whether to trust her, or to waltz away as fast as he could. "You've been about as open with me as an exercising seal," he recited deliberately. "Just what have you and Shane got going on?"
"Listen, little blossom, maybe I didn't tell you everything, but I told you what I could. Shane calls all the shots around here. I guess he thinks you can help with some Morales business. As for me, I already told you, I want nothing to do with it."
"You think I want to be involved? Why don't you just take your athletic little beard back to Shane, and I'll take care of myself."
He turned and began bounding on down the trail.
"Wait," she began nonchalantly. "I'm coming with you."
"You're harder to shake than a dart in a bucket," he barked. "You're obviously still operating on their orders. Alright, let's get on with it," he said softly.
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