After hitting his head, Max lay on the floor in a daze for several minutes until he came to. As he began to rise for his second attempt, his friend made his entrance. Roden managed to retrieve the knife and cut Max's feet loose; but when he helped Max up and walked him over to the couch, Max refused to sit.

"No. No time for that. We have to go after Ess." He exclaimed. "Martin Voletti has her, and he's going to take her to Angoli."

Manda, who had watched from the doorway in silence thus far, finally spoke, "What? What about Martin? What's going on? Why did he take Essy?" She was a mixture of anger and panic.

Max looked at her as if seeing her for the first time. He was surprised at her presence. "You're Esther's friend."

"Yes, I am. And I want her back. Why the hell did you take her? And where the hell is she now?" If Roden wasn't between her and Max, she would most likely have pounced on him, aiming for his throat.

"I'll fill you in on everything, but you need to listen while we're moving. We need to get back to the car. We don't have a moment to lose." As he stated this, he began searching through bags for his keys.

"No way. We're not going anywhere with you. You're a criminal. Just tell us what happened to Ess." It appeared that, as Manda's latest scruple diminished, she came around to her old, angry provoking self.

Max found his keys and grabbed his jacket, then headed out the door. "Suit yourself. I can't wait any longer."

"Wait, Max." Roden followed him out. "You can't go alone. We need to figure things out."

"No time for that."

"Max, he's got a gun."

Max stopped and turned to him. "You think I don't know that? Using a gun is not the worst of what Voletti or any of Angoli's men can do." He resumed his walking. "All the more reason to get Ess away from them immediately."

"Max. Wait, we're coming with you." Roden turned and called for Manda. She just stood at the door of the cabin glaring at them with her arms crossed over her chest in the usual position. "Fine. Stay here then. I'm going with Max. I'll swing around and get you when it's over." If I'm still alive, he thought.

Just as Roden suspected she would, Manda grunted in aggravation and stomped out of the cabin. She was not happy about her company, but it had to be better than being alone in the middle of the wilderness.

"Alright, we are on our way to the car now. So, please Max, tell me what is going on." Roden pleaded, and Max relented.

After Max filled them in on what he knew and what happened up until the point that Roden and Manda had found him in the cabin, Roden reiterated with his side of the story. Manda, ever obligingly at odds, supplied details and corrected Roden wherever she saw fit.

"So you're saying you led Martin Voletti here?" That was Max's way of summing Roden's story up, and he didn't look very thrilled about it.

"Max, I'm telling you again, I didn't know he works for Marcus Angoli." Roden defended. "Seriously." Max seemed very unaccepting of this excuse. "How was I to know that the guy having dinner with Manda - a woman who is Ess's friend by the way - works for Angoli?"

"Hey," Manda looked offended, "I didn't know, either. He seemed so charming, too. Unlike any of the other guys I've met lately. How was I to know it was too good to be true? You men are all the same. You all have an agenda. Can't anyone be genuine anymore?"

Max and Roden ignored her comments, as they had been doing since they'd begun heading towards the car. Roden noticed the Jetta now in view. Max must have noticed as well, because he picked up his pace.

Manda only noticed that they were not listening to her. This apparently made her think of a new topic of conversation. "Well, at least I didn't make some sort of sadistic shrine. I mean really, we all know that you are obsessed with Ess, but a shrine in your apartment? Don't you think that is a bit overboard? Creepy, maybe?"

"What?" Max looked confused and offended. "I don't have a shrine."

"You mean the pictures and statues in your closet aren't some kind of dedication to Ess? Something you get off on?"

"Manda - " Roden tried to warn.

"Oh, my god. That?" Her pushing had the desired effect. Max paled, and new frustration began to show on his already tense features. "That is not what you think it is."

"Oh, really?" Manda had a knack for adding fuel to the fire. "What other explanation could you possibly have for a closet collection full of 'Esther art'? Paintings, drawings, statues?"

Max became very defensive. "It's not a collection. Some of them were preliminaries, but most of them were errors. Works that I made mistakes on. Like that statue: I chipped half the ear off. I miss-stroked on some of the paintings and used the wrong colors on others. Artists do make mistakes on occasion, you know. I just couldn't bare to throw them away when that happened." Max looked dejected at the thought. "I stored them so that I could enjoy them if no one else would."

"Oh, please." Manda egged him on. "I saw the way you had it set up. Clearly it was a shrine to your crazy fixation for Ess. Do you even have any idea what a nut job you are?"

"Manda!" Roden felt himself getting truly irritated at her provoking words.

"Wait just a minute." Through Manda's attack on him, a new realization dawned to Max. "You went through my things?" This he directed more at Roden.

"Now, Max." Roden reasoned, "I told you we broke into your apartment to try to figure out where you went - "

"You told me you noticed that the map was missing. You didn't say anything about riffling through my things."

"I went through your bedroom closet to see what you packed - "

Max displayed his upset by the tightening of his brow. "Then you went through my coat closet? That's my space. My personal space."

"Max, I didn't look through your coat closet. Martin found it. Besides, I thought you said you separated yourself from Esther. You told me that you left her image at the studio, that you didn't take her home with you." Roden had a point, and Max blushed with embarrassment.

"No! That's not what it is." Now Max's voice sounded pleading, as if he tried to convince himself. "Oh my God. Mike?"

Roden knew he was asking him if it were true. Max truly hadn't considered that he created a shrine, and now he felt concerned that he unknowingly did so. He was afraid that he had really gone too far. This anxiety actually relieved Roden. He knew that Max hadn't really had a shrine in mind when he started the storage of 'Esther Art'.

"Nut job." Manda piped in.

"At least I don't date kidnapping thugs." Max shot back.

"I didn't know what he was. And besides, you are a kidnapping thug, you hypocrite."

"No, I'm not. I saved her from the kidnappers. At least, until you brought them right to our door."

Manda didn't back down. "We were trying to save her from you - "

"All right, all right." Roden had had quite enough. "You two fight like children. Stop arguing with each other. We need to be on the same team now." Roden then decided that, if they were going to act like children, he would treat them like children. "Now, Max, I want you to say something nice about Manda."

"What? Are you joking?" Max looked stunned.

"I'm serious. Now do it, so we can get on with what we have to do."