Part 19 (1/2)

Annja shook her head. ”I'm trying to figure out what the h.e.l.l is going on, like why we have three armed men roving around, warning you off an expedition to prove the existence of big foot. Doesn't that strike you as slightly out of the ordinary?”

”Of course it does. Don't insinuate that it doesn't.”

”And David? What's his role in all of this? Did you two have an understanding? Was there something there?”

”Like something romantic?” Jenny asked angrily.

Annja nodded. ”A lot of people hook up on the Internet. It's no big thing. I'm just wondering if there was a spark between you two. Maybe something that led you out here, even if the promise of discovering some real evidence wasn't as convincing as it could have been.”

”Now you're questioning my motives. That's nice. You think I deliberately defrauded the university so I could come on the trip? What, that I'm too poor to come out on my own if I wanted to?” Jenny turned and stormed away.

”That didn't come out right,” Annja said.

”It didn't sound good, that's for sure.”

Annja rushed ahead. ”Jenny, neither of us come from money. But I didn't mean to imply that you're financially hard up.”

”No, just that I would willingly lie to my superiors so they could bankroll this little camping trip. What's worse? I wonder.”

Annja sighed. Jenny picked up speed and Annja let her catch up with Joey, who was navigating his way over a tangle of fallen logs. Overhead, the moon peeked out from behind a cloud and showed a fair expanse of the forest.

Annja could make out the lay of the land. Joey seemed to be leading them uphill on a very slight slope. Probably he would make camp someplace where they were surrounded by trees. Annja knew the best hidden campsites always took advantage of natural surroundings to blend in. And she was sure that Joey would know how to make best use of the environment to guarantee that they wouldn't be disturbed.

After they'd rested and gotten some much-needed sleep, they could trek into town and see the sheriff. Annja wanted to ask him some questions and get his take on this David guy. She still didn't trust the story. It seemed far too strange to believe, even if Jenny was determined to do so. She'd obviously lost all sense of objectivity on the situation.

And then there was the matter of the three riflemen. The sheriff definitely needed to know that he had those guys prowling around, looking to scare folks off for some unknown reason.

Joey stopped up ahead. He gestured that this was where they would make camp, and Jenny immediately sank down onto a log, resting her head in her hands.

Annja came up next to her. ”Look, I'm sorry, okay? Not necessarily for what I said but for how I said it. I should have waited until you felt better to explain how I was thinking things through.”

Jenny looked up at her. ”You've always been somewhat impatient.”

Annja smirked. ”No argument there. Time, I've found, is a pretty crazy thing. I don't like to waste it.”

”And sometimes-”

Annja nodded. ”Sometimes it gets in the way of my good manners. Absolutely.”

Jenny nodded. ”All right. I don't agree with you, per se, but I appreciate the apology.”

”We've known each other too long to let this come between us.”

”Fair enough.”

Joey came back into the small clearing carrying armloads of pine boughs. He dropped them into a big pile and then left to go for more.

”I could sleep for a day,” Annja said. ”I've been all over this forest for the past day.”

”Me, too,” Jenny said. ”I don't think I'll ever look at pine trees in the same way again.”