The entomologist was due to come into town in the afternoon- the last known sighting of him alive. He was accompanying the cattlehands to the bank. They would cash their paychecks there, and he would send a telegraph to his mother in Boston.

Afterwards, he went straight back to the ranch, and the cattlehands stayed to drink at the bar for another hour.

" We're going to have to use an extension again," Allen said, watching the road from the bar window.

" We can't," Christel said. " It only worked last time because Marian Lu's case had unallocated hours. Any time we add on here will be cutting into our time for later."

" It's 1,000 premium credits to buy an hour," Allen said. " An hour's all we need."

" What for?" Christel asked.

" You're going to talk to the cattlehand, Avery," Allen said.

" Why me?" Christel asked, incredulous.

" You're prettier," Allen said.

Christel rolled his eyes and huffed.

" Why can't it wait til later?" he asked.

" The system will probably flag it as interference if we ask later," Allen said.

Not long after, a group of three men went into the bank.

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