Madison checked the lifeless form of the hiker. A single hole like a blue caste-mark lay in the forehead. Madison stood up, scratched under his fedora for a moment, and finally looked at Red. "I'm amazed," he said. "What do you mean?"
"Two things," Madison extended two fingers. "First, when the hell did I tell you you should go unwind at a flippin Folkie Retreat?"
"And nudist colony," she added.
"..and nudist..." repeated Madison. It was then he was struck with the realization that everyone in the gathering crowd was naked except for Blake himself, Red, and the gunshot victim.
"You'd think a guy who makes his living as an investigator would have caught that one a little earlier," she said.
"I never claimed to have any of the traditional qualifications," he said.Then he shrugged it off and extended his second finger. "And number two. What the hell is the road doing running through a river?"
"Snow melt and an ice jam further down the creek," Red answered," water's been rising for the last 12 hours." Madison watched the water now eddying up around the Merc's door handles."Is there another way out?"
She simply shook her head. "Your cell phone work?" She smiled "nobody's cell works out here. And no, there's no land line."
He instinctively reached for a cigarette, feeling around in his shirt pocket. "Hell of A time to quit smoking" he said.
"What about him?" Red asked.
"Oh, him. Deader than a carp."
"We can't leave him here, can we?"
"Well, we'd be disturbing a crime scene. Hey you..Mermaid Tattoo!" A large bearded fellow with a digital camera stepped forward. "Get a couple of shots of the scene, will you?" The man did as asked. As the man moved around the corpse and the flashes illuminated the surrounding crowd of nude folkies, Madison said "They have a big freezer here?"
"They have a refrigerated locker at the main cabin behind the kitchen."
"OK. Hey, Aussie hat!" The grizzled master of the sleeping Bannock clenched his pipe in his teeth and said "ok", grabbing the dead man by the ankles. Madison grabbed under his armpits and said "lead the way, Red."

They lumbered slowly along toward the cabin and Aussie hat said "stroke of luck, you being a cop and being here when somebody's murdered." Madison grimaced saying "I'm not a cop. I'm a private dick." The Aussie cap smiled and said "a matter of infidelity?"
"Something like that. Hold on a minute." He put the shoulders down on the ground and they paused. "You're not very good at your job, are you Mr Private Dick? You think I don't recognize that Mercury? That I haven't been seeing you three cars behind me all the way from San Diego?" Madison smiled. "I guess the jigs up, Mr Argent."

They picked up the body again, and Madison said "Say Mr Argent. You carry a gun don't you?" Argent smiled and said "Theresa would have already told you that. It's in my truck. Why? Do you think I shot him?"
"No Mr Argent. You carry a .357 Mag. Guy wouldn't have a forehead if you'd used that. No this is small caliber, .22 or so, but from a distance, and in the dark."
"So, I'm in the clear?"
"Your pistol is," said Madison.