"So that's a no, then?"
He frowns back at me.
"You're subtly telling me not to ask to join you."
He snorts. "If you think I'm capable of being subtle, you aren't very perceptive, detective." He peers over. "You want to come out with us?"
"I might." I shrug.
I'm trying for nonchalance. I don't want to sound like I'm brown-nosing. Nor do I want to jump in like an eager kid. But his thoughtful look vanishes, he turns away and grunts something I don't catch, and I've made a misstep.
Before I can try again, he points and says, "Gonna have to do a bit of rock climbing now. We need to get there."
I follow his finger to see what looks like a crack high in the rock face.
"What's up there?" I ask.
"Cave. Like I said."
"I expected something bigger."
"If the opening was bigger, there'd be something bigger in it. Like a bear. And it is bigger on the inside."
"Like the TARDIS?" As I say it, I mentally kick myself--pop culture references make him uncomfortable--but he makes a noise suspiciously like a chuckle and says, "Yeah, except no time travelling."
He catches my expression, shakes his head, and says, "Ever heard of those amazing devices calls DVDs?"
"Sure, but what do you play them on up here?"
"Tree stumps. If you carve them out just right and get ground squirrels to run around them really fast, you can project moving pictures on a wall."
"Yeah, yeah."
"We have a DVD player," he says as he starts up the slope. "We hook it up to a screen and generator for movie nights. As sheriff, I have a laptop and access to the generator for charging. I also have an income that I can spend down south on shit like DVDs. You want to watch something? Ask me. My collection is limited, though. Right now I've got Doctor Who, The Walking Dead, and Game of Thrones."
By now I know enough not to even wonder if he's joking.
"Also have Deadwood," he says. "Makes more sense to me than most of your so-called dramas, which is why I stick more to the fantasy stuff."
My foot slides on a particularly steep part. Dalton only glances back to make sure I don't tumble to my doom.
"I might borrow The Walking Dead," I say. "I haven't seen that."
"Good show. Also reminds you that no matter what kind of shit we have in these woods, at least it's not zombies."
"Yet. And you do have cannibals."
He sighs. "I never said we definitely have them. I said the evidence suggests it's possible. Even if we do, they're not charging out of the woods like a zombie horde."
"Yet."
We reach the cave. The opening is a gash in the rock, maybe three feet wide by eighteen inches high. When I catch the smell of a wood fire, I go still and scan the area. Dalton hunkers down to the opening and yells, "Bre
nt! You home?"
"Depends on who's asking," a voice replies.
"Your ex-wife sent me. Something about you owing her money."