Busted Axle Road
Copyright ©1992, 2001, 2007
Chapter 27
"So how did the shoot go Saturday?" Harper asked as McMullen sat down on the couch by the window.
"Slicker than swamp scum," the president of the Defenders of Gaea replied. "We could have gone with the first take, it was so quick. I've looked at the tape, and it's just beautiful. We're going to make a mint on that. Not only is that gal so beautiful that it takes your breath away, but she's a real pro. There's a temper under that pretty skin of hers, though."
"How's that?" Harper asked, only mildly curious.
"Oh, some weisenheimer from Hollywood Tonight, or something, wanted her to do an interview at her summer cottage, and she told him if he ever showed up in Spearfish Lake, she'd have her relatives feed him to the muskies."
"Yeah," Harper said. "Some of these kids come out of places that are really out in the backwoods, kind of inbred... what was that town you said she was from?"
"Spearfish Lake, I think," McMullen said. He could see wheels turning in Harper's head.
"Spearfish Lake, Spearfish Lake," Harper said. "I know I've seen that name, somewhere recently. Let me think... some damn proposal that came through a week or two ago."
That set McMullen to thinking, as well. "Something about a snake," he finally managed to contribute.
"Oh, yeah," Harper said, dragging it out slowly. "I think I remember." He flipped his intercom. "Mollie, would you bring the file of funding requests from the last month in here?" he said.
It took a few minutes to find the letter from Dr. Gerjevic of Athens University, requesting funding for television survey of the sewers in the town of Spearfish Lake. A snake that could be a specimen of a previously thought extinct species of water snake. The need was urgent, as the town was considering a major rebuilding of its sewer system, and the change in habitat caused by the rebuilding could be damaging to future samples. There was a picture of the snake, and a photostat of a local newspaper story about the sewer system.
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