"Yeah," another voice chimed in, "where's Rosset?"
Beth shook her head in frustration. "He's not here. I tried to bring him back with me, but he stole my bike and disappeared. I found it later, but he'd taken my gun and set off on foot."
"So what you're saying," the facilitator said, "is that you're our sole source for this explanation, barring other visitors from Phoenix. Is that correct?"
"I'm afraid so, yes."
"In that case," the founder of the local credit union said, "all we can do is judge Beth's explanation on its merits, since we don't have anything official to back it up. The way I see it, we've got three choices. One, we decide to not recognize Phoenix money at all here, two, we accept Elspeth's explanation and let these notes devalue themselves to nothing, or three, we ignore the explanation and use them at their face vale."
"Rubbish," a voice rumbled. "All we need to do is send someone to Phoenix. Then we'll know whether this cockamamie scheme holds any water." It was the grossly overweight bully who had been the branch manager of a now-defunct bank.
"Great idea, Tom," Beth shot back. "You hobble right over there, and we'll just not spend any Phoenix money until you return."
The raucous laughter that followed was cut short by a resounding crash as the double doors burst open and the young tech who'd set up the town's open-source cell towers rushed in clutching a phone. "It's fire and rescue," he said breathlessly, eyes wide. "Roz's bakery's in flames and she's trapped inside."
"Oh my god!" Beth breathed, color draining from her face. "Frank."
"What?"
"Francis Stoneway. He threatened to burn down my shop when Peter offered him Phoenix money as change. Those travelers stopped at Roz's, too, and Frank likes donuts!"
The young man held up a finger while listening intently to the phone. "They're going in after her," he said, glancing around the crowd. Then he winced, and asked the caller, "what was that?"
The crowd drew closer. A few people clasped hands.
He swallowed, and lowered the phone. "They were" they were just inside when the roof fell on her."
Beth collapsed into a chair and cried.
Several people conferred with the tech for a few minutes. He made calls to some of the other working groups, passing instructions from those present. Even though Parker no longer had a formal police force, Frank would nevertheless be found and brought in for questioning.
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