The two waited for Bette, who’d gone by herself into the museum, exchanging guesses about what Bette was going to show them tonight. They also wondered aloud about the instructions they’d overheard Bette give Dave, the primary guard Brom had assigned to shadow her.  She’d asked that Dave keep an eye out on the main road, to watch for any vehicles that could be hovering around the area, especially if one turned into the short driveway that led to the Gold Mining Museum.  Ten minutes later, they saw her leave the museum building hurriedly, waving at an elderly man who waved back and then disappeared into the building.

She explained to them as she approached, “He’s a friend of Jancis, and he said that she’d called ahead to tell him that I was coming by, so he was ready with what I needed from him. Gave me a few tips on how being safe where we’re going.  He thought that I’d be alone, though!”

She pointed at a late-model truck with a rented moving trailer hitched to it, parked on the far end of the small parking lot, backed into what looked like a trailer head. “Jancis sent that over to help move what we’re going to haul out of here tonight.”

Tom and Jules exchanged puzzled glances.

Bette gave them a half smile, and then motioned for the two to follow her to the truck.  She pointed a key fob at the truck and clicked it open.  As Tom and Jules walked up to her, she was pulling out a backpack and some rope from the backseat of the truck.

Tom reached for the backpack and the rope, waving off Bette’s protests.

“Tom are you sure? You don’t seem your normal self, I gotta say,” Bette said.

He mouthed to her that he felt fine, and then slipped on the backpack. She made him turn around, unzipping it from behind, and then extracted a couple of torches and some flares.  There were only two torches, so the trio agreed Bette would carry one while Jules would carry the other.

Bette led the way down the trailhead, pushing past tall grass and bushes that were crowding into the trail, Tom followed behind, and Jules brought up the rear.