"I'm not too afraid of that. Even getting it repaired, they'd have to know how to use it, the idiots."

She petted the horse's nose, then gently rested her forehead against it.

"Oh, and did I mention--that's a popular meeting place for groups to rejoin."

"Forget about the walker, if we don't know where they are, this whole discussion is moot. We need to locate their hiding place first." Whomever was leading this gang must of had a good sense of direction. It was just about as easy to get lost in those lowlands as it was to lose a pursuer.

"We need to run a scouting mission."

The Marshal shot a glare in Jed's direction.

"It's not that bad," she snapped. "And there will be no scouting on your part unless I can trust you to keep a cool head."

"This coming from the girl who can't keep her head on straight in the middle of an interrogation," Jed slid off of his horse in order to face Mercy eye-to-eye. "Why don't we talk about that slippery trigger finger of yours, since our topic of the hours seems to be faulty bodily functions. Eh, Marshal?"

"Even then I had a reason for what I did," the Marshal glowered up at him. "And taking you off of this case, deputy, seems that it might be in order, if you can't find it within you to straighten up and actually pay attention to what is going on around you."

"Darn it, why is there never a popcorn cart around when you need some?" Caldwell mumbled to himself and settled down to wait for the argument to finish. He was hoping it wouldn't come to shooting because he was pretty sure he'd end up having to shoot whichever person won.

"Now listen here, I've got every right to run my own investigation of this case. First of all, this is my ruttin jurisdiction, second of all this is my ruttin sister. So go ahead, Marshal, kick me off the case. See if that stops me."

"First, it is only your jurisdiction when it is in your county. Once you get down by the river, ain't yours anymore. Second, this involves criminals wanted by the the federal government, meaning that dealing with them is federal responsibility, and the federal authority can either accept or deny any offers of local help. Third, you have a hangover and haven't eaten anything, so your brain doesn't have what it takes to make fully rational decisions. Oh, and finally, if I don't want you doing something, you're going to have tough go of getting around me."

"You should listen to her, she's kind of scary when you make her mad," Caldwell pointed out and then went back to petting his horse.

After a moments consideration, Jed did the only logical thing that there was to do. He pulled his gun on the Marshal. He didn't fire, he just held it waist high, the end of the barrel pointed directly at her stomach. "I might be inexperienced, stupid and hungover. But you won't take me down as easily as you may think."

Jed put the gun back where it belonged. "Anyways, we are wasting time. We need to find Charlotte, you can take away my badge later."

"Considering you've never picked up Cane's badge, that won't be a hard thing to do," the Marshal sniffed. "But it does not solve the one problem that you are refusing to recognize. I need to know that you aren't going to act like an idiot or out of line or go off to do your own thing because you happen to think you know best."

"You know, we could just keep sitting here trying to decide who's badge is bigger or we could get on with that whole keepin' the little girl from being horribly murdered thing that we came out here to do," Caldwell interjected. He was getting a little irritated with the bickering.

"He's right," the Marshal said, looking at Caldwell and nodding. "And I find it interesting that he's more interested in doing this than you are--to the point that right now, I think I might be able to rely on him more than you."

"You mean I'm your favorite now? Gonna write that in my journal!"

The Marshal rolled her eyes.

"No, you're just less prone to act like an inspired idiot, because you're focused on what you can get out of it. And that's getting free and getting revenge. But you have to help me first, so until you've gotten your revenge, you should be safe enough. If not, I'm pretty sure I'm the faster draw."