"Are you alright? You were yelling pretty loud?" Ferg has an innocent inquisitiveness about him, which is very disarming, but honestly I'm not feeling it right now.

"What time did Krisitie say she was going to be there?"

Ferg checks his multi-function GPS watch, "Ah, she said she would have everything ready by 10:45 or so."

"Cool, you mind if we stop for some coffee? I didn't exactly finish mine this morning."

"I don't mind."

Silence is back filling the space between Ferg and me in the cab of my truck. I can't be mad at him too he didn't do anything wrong.

"Sooooo, Vic, you wanna talk about it?" He grimaces like I'm going to hit him and that makes me concerned because I have a big mouth but I never have resorted to physical violence, ever.

"No."

"Vic, come on its not like I'm not your friend."

"Ferg, its so uncool for you to be in the middle of anything especially work stuff."

I look over at him and he looks over at me and says, "If you say so but have you ever thought it is more uncomfortable for me by not knowing what is going on?"

He looks out of the window then back at me, "I'm not trying to pry, Vic, but it's pretty obvious that something's going on and has been for a long time. I'm not stupid."

"There's nothing going on."

"Ha, yeah right. I should be insulted."

I consider what he says.

"Ferg, it's not like you and Walt haven't had issues in the past and you know me adding to it would just not be a good situation for either of us."

"Vic, the difference is that we had some differences and I handled it like a spoiled brat by blowing up but you know what, he actually listened to me even after he lost his temper. I notice how he includes me in things now and lets me take the lead on stuff. He's not perfect Vic and yeah he makes a lot of mistakes but he doesn't usually make the same mistake twice. He learns from them and he cares. If you ask me, that's the measure of a man."

"That's like the most words I've ever heard you say at once."

I deflect once again because his words sting and they hit hard and I suppose they should.

"Well, if you decide you want someone to talk to I'm here. I told you, I'm your friend, Vic. I meant that."

"Thanks, Ferg." He makes me miss my brothers and my family and I want to drive straight to Cheyenne and get on a flight and go home.

Ferg comes out of the coffee shop with 3 drinks and places the tray in between us on the bench seat.

"What's with the extra coffee?" I ask because clearly I am not in the proper frame of mind.

"It's hot chocolate for Kristie."

"Aren't you sweet." I gently punch him in the arm.

He smiles and blushes just a little, "Just being considerate. I mean we aren't going to finish our coffees in the next two minutes. I don't want to be rude or anything when we walk in with ours."

We traipse into the office and Kristie is waiting for us with a smile on her face and when Ferg gives her the hot chocolate her smile grows just a little bigger and she suddenly becomes so pretty.

"Thank you for the coco. How did you know I needed one?"

"Well, you mentioned last night how much you like coco and I thought I would surprise you."

"That's so thoughtful. Thank you."

She takes a sip, smiles again, and sets it down and then hands over the report in a manila folder.

"All of the information you requested is there. I hope it helps you in your investigation."

"Thank you, Kristie we appreciate your time." I say and turn toward Ferg hitting him the shoulder with the folder, "I'll meet you in the truck. Take your time."

I sit in the truck and think about how the pieces of this puzzle are going to fit and how it could possibly be a motive for Barlow and my mind drifts back to Walt and how we are ever going to understand each other.

What's the common denominator? I repeat the refrain in my head thinking about the parcels there has to be something more than the locations but all my mind comes back to is me. I'm the common denominator.

I'm the one that has the broken relationships. I'm the one that is divorced. I'm the one with a former stalker and the one that Branch tried to choke out. I'm the eye in the storm.

I wipe the tears from my eyes before I realize that I am actually crying. Now, I'm just happy for the small things like the fact that Ferg is still inside the building.

If I sit here and think about this too much I'm going to completely fall apart and I can't have that under any circumstances.

I press the number two on my phone for speed dial, "Sheriff's Department," Ruby's voice comes through loud and clear.

"Hi, Ruby, is Walt there?"

"He hasn't come out of his office since this morning."

"Can I talk to him, please?"

She doesn't say anything and she doesn't put me on hold.

"It's ok, Ruby. I promise."

"Ok," I hear the vacant silence of being put on hold.

"Yeah, Vic."

"Can you talk?" My voice is filled with emotion even though I don't want it to be.

"Not really. Not here anyway."

"It's my turn to say sorry. I am sorry for yelling at you."

"Apology accepted. I'm sorry, too."

"We are heading back. Krisite was able to get the information. Do you think we can maybe go somewhere later and sit down and just be for a little while?"

Silence is back playing a strong role in this conversation.

"I don't know if that's a good idea, Vic. You were pretty clear this morning."

"If nothing else we are working together and we've always done that well. I don't want us to mess that up, Walt."

I wait for the pause.

"I know a place."

My heart starts beating again and it is in that moment that I know what I know and its time for me to cut out all the bullshit and get very real with myself.

Ferg jumps in the truck just as I hang up and he is lighter than usual, if that is at all possible.

The ride back to the station is pretty quiet and as we turn onto Main Street, Ferg pipes up, "I'm taking Kristie to the art festival next weekend."

"That sounds cool, Ferg."

"Should be fun."

"Yeah," I say.

We spread the spreadsheets out and Ferg reads the lat/long info for each parcel and I load it up on Google earth and Walt cross plots it on a large county wall map.

As we go through the process we hit a rhythm that we haven't had since we were all together with Branch and as much as I don't want to admit it I miss him. With each plot point on the map and each tiny pin pushed in with Walt's huge hands I think of how we are pulling back the curtain on the evil that took Branch's life and how we really don't know how deep this will go.

Ruby comes in with fresh coffee and fixes everyone's cup just the way we like it.

"Thank you, Ruby." Walt sips his and he does that sexy lower lip thing and I notice but I don't let it distract me as we go through the process of labeling and tagging another parcel.

When we finally make it to the last one I say, "What the hell is this?"

We all step back from Walt's wall and stand and stare at the map.

"Well it's not exactly a straight line." Walt says.

"There's nothing there, yet. So why are these parcels important?" Ferg asks.

"Terra Firma." Walt adds, "I'm telling you it's the reason but we just don't see it, yet." He turns to Ferg, "Have any permits been pulled?"

"I'm still waiting to hear back from the Planning department."

"Get them on the horn, no better yet, go down there in person and see if any permits correspond with the parcels we plotted out."

Ferg steps forward and snaps a couple of pictures with his smartphone.

Walt looks at him like he's an alien.

"It will be easier to explain to the planner if he can see it." He gives his thin-lipped Ferg smile.

"k" Still not fully embracing modern technology but refusing to rain on his parade.

Ferg saunters out of the office and Walt turns to me, "You ready?"

I look up, "Yeah," and I am.