"Mathias is passive aggressive," he said in a dry tone. "Doesn't simply leave you a note, has to get increasingly bitchy night after night."

He made a weak joke of it only because he trusted that Raylan would pick up on the admission Tim had just made. That things were getting worse, and it was no doubt leading up to something ugly on the horizon.

Which dovetailed right into the older man's second statement. Tim took a deep breath and he nodded. "You're probably right," he acknowledged, but when he looked up to his partner's face, his eyes were heavy with the reality that this was the job. He would keep holding point.

When Raylan started to slow, dragging his heels, Tim expected to have an argument coming his way. But when he looked up at the man's face, it appeared as if all the color had drained out.

"Raylan?" He said with a worried sharpness, moving to set one hand at the small of the cowboy's back, the other on his elbow. "What's wrong?"