"I can't believe it's snowing again..." The young woman resting by the wheelbarrow sighs.

"I don't know..." She looks around. "Whatever's on the radio I guess. What does this have to do with snow, or gardening in March?"

She seems more perplexed than cornered.

"Nothing, this is just something my brain told me."

"Okay."

What are you waiting for, ask about the disco already. You need some fresh jams to get out of this rut.

"Do you listen to disco?"

"Uh... I'm gonna say no."

"We should probably proceed with our business in Martinaise." The lieutenant interrupts her, turning to you. "Unless you didn't have any more official questions?"

"If you don't have anything normal to say I had something I needed to think about."

"Okay."

"Okay."

Yeah, I'm not gonna say that.

Better to get off before it starts. Nothing left to gain here.

"Okay then. Snow it is."

"Mhmh." She looks at her wheelbarrow, where the snow is slowly melting.

"What nutrients?"

"Nitrogen and sulphur mostly." She points to the sky. "And whatever factories and aerostatics exhale too I guess."

"The grandma is a bit too much."

"A bit much? What are you talking about? That's what my grandma told me, okay?"

She feels interrogated now. It's hard to say if she's lying.

"Relax, miss. This is not an interrogation. We are just checking some facts."

"Do you still have your salts? I think I could use some."

"Sure -- I'm done with them." She takes a small capsule out of her breast pocket and hands it to you.

"The police need directions."

"Of course. Where to?"

"Thanks, that's all for now."

"No problem." She nods, brushing a fleck of soil off her cheek.

She's very well composed. Back straight.

"What is in the East?"

"The harbour gates. Some kind of commotion, I think? I don't follow the local politics." She shrugs. "A Frittte store too."

"What is in the West?"

"It's just water..." She looks at the water, squinting. "No, actually, I think they call it the Martinaise Inlet. There are some islands in the bay, but they're hard to reach."

In the West is the miracle...

"What is in the South?"

"Some shops and a bridge. The canal bridge leads to the coast, but it's broken, I think? Some kind of accident probably."

"What is on the other side of the canal?"

"Just coast. There's a little fishing village there... and a fish market. But that got closed down ages ago."

Rows of stalls under a broad roof, where silvery fish were heaped on newspapers. Water, water everywhere -- pouring from the heavens, in the shadow of the old church.

Shake it off, you seem to be under some kind of cold spell...

"Anything else?" The girl watches you rub your sides for warmth.

"What kind of a fish market is this?"

"I don't know... the abandoned kind? It used to gather every spring, but there's nothing to do there now. Just drug addicts."

"I'm looking for a dead body."

"It's there." She points north. "In the yard, right through the hole in the fence."

Even all the way over here, there's a drop of death in the spring air.

"Oh that..." She points north. "That's right there, in the yard."

She's relieved someone has come for it -- finally.

"Where am I?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm... disorientated. I don't know where I am."

"In Martinaise, sir. In the city of Revachol..." She looks around, thinking what else to say. "This intersection is called Roundabout North."

"He knows where we are. He just wants directions." The lieutenant seems uncomfortable with the level of disorientation you are displaying.

"Just tell me where we are, okay?"

"We're in Martinaise, sir." She looks around. "This intersection is called... Roundabout North, I think."

"Do you know where I could find the representative for Wild Pines?"

"Wild Pines? You mean the company woman?"

"Yes. A representative of the harbour. She should have set up operations nearby."

"Oh, that must be the woman on the giant boat." She points northwest. "There's one docked on the pier. It arrived a couple of weeks ago. It's very hard to miss."

She doesn't like that giant boat. Nor does she like the woman on it.

"You don't like the boat?"