"Not in the least!" Billy proclaimed. "It just took a while to work things out and I didn't want to pester you with updates that were all just waiting, you know?" A total lie, but he couldn't exactly share the truth.

"The good news is..." From his back pocket, he pulled an envelope with Roger's name scrawled on it. "I've got something for your friend. But the bad news comes in two parts." He lifted his chin, as if it were going to be grave. "I've been sworn to deliver it to Roger myself. And for the second part, I'm kind of just on a really short break." He glanced toward Casey who was still at the hot dog cart. He was taking an awfully long time, which was odd for Casey. "Personal business on company time, and such."