Georgetown.
I woke up this morning and looked around the room, not remembering where I was at first. Then I remembered that I spent the night at Chet’s and wondered where he was. I got up and walked around, seeing he wasn’t home, and then went to the saloon. I sent a telegram to Clif saying that I needed to speak with him right away.
It wasn’t long before Clif walked into the saloon and I exhaled with relief. “Clif, hey… Thanks for coming so fast.”
“Well it sounded urgent.”
“I’m in a real bind here.”
“Well, tell me what’s goin’ on.”
“Did I tell you about Icca shooting me down a few weeks ago in Wyoming?”
“No, ya didn’t.”
I looked at him, thinking, Okay, long version. I told him all about what happened in Wyoming and decided to avoid telling him about the scalping incident. I told him about confronting Icca in the saloon, and the restraining order. Then I told him about last night and how Chet and I had gone into the funeral home to try and arrest Icca, and how Jesse was pissed too. As I talked, Harley walked in and listened.
When I told him about Icca claiming to have been arrested he said, “Well ol Icca needs to show a report, he should have gotten something when they took his guns.”
“Problem is we’ve been jumping through sheriffs ’round here so I don’t even know who was in charge when it happened anymore. Hopefully we’ve got a steady one now.”
“But arrest, yeah you can get arrested more than once for the same charge.”
“I thought as much. Well there’s warrants out now for both Jesse and Icca. So we got ours.”
“How much reward?” Harley asked.
“The satisfaction of knowin’ ya did the right thing?” I looked at him and he spit on the ground.
“Betraying my friends ain’t the right thing.”
“Well your friends have shot me and my boss to hell,” I said. “Quite literally ’cause that’s where Icc said I was goin.”
“Only gold is gonna top my conscience from screaming.”
“You’d have to talk to Chet about a reward. That’s not my department.”
“I couldn’t give a rats arse about you or your boss.”
“Well geez, Buu. Tell me how you really feel.”
“Now I’ll stop those men if ya give me a reward for doing it.”
“How much do you want?”
“Five hundred gold,” he rubbed his chin in thought.
“Didn’t know you for a bounty hunter,” I looked over at Clif.
“I ain’t got many talents, so I may as well utilize the ones God gave me and make some money.”
“Iffn ya call it talent, I reckon,” Clif chuckled.
“Then we’ll call it skill.”
“Call it what ya will.”
“I’ll talk to my boss about that reward,” I told Buu.
“Good, and then I’ll be wanting a reward for sorting out ya injun problem,” Buu said.
“Well either way, Icca needs to just c’mon in and face Justice, such as it is here,” Clif said.
“My injun problem?” I raised an eyebrow.
“Well, the town’s injun problem,” Buu muttered.
“If TJ ever holds the damn trial,” I looked over at Clif. “It’s more like Icca’s injun problem. They ain’t after the town anymore, they want Icca.”
“As I said such as it is,” Clif said.
“Well maybe they’ll pay a higher reward for him,” Buu said.
“You’d have to take it up with them,” I shrugged.
“I ain’t exactly on the best of terms with them.”
“Neither am I,” I sighed.
“But then I ain’t on the best of terms with nobody around here. I prefer it that way.”
“Clif, if TJ takes this to trial I’m not gonna have a chance in heck to have my say,” I said.
“I know, and that’s TJ’s style. got no idea why y’all put him in that position,” Clif said.
“Hey, I just live here.”
“But then again, it’s the way things are here I reckon.”
“He was the judge long before I got here. For some reason,” I muttered.
“But seein as he had such a good reputation elsewhere, y’all are pert much pooched.”
“Clif how can I convince you to do this one for me?”
“Not a case of convincin, it’s a case of it being allowed, Ol Tj will never agree to it, this is ‘his’ town.”
“Where’s your town?” I asked Clif in all seriousness.
“Pretty much the rest of the place, cept here, TJ wrangled his Judges commission from the Governor I reckon. A and that pretty much locks me out here.”
“Remind me why I moved here again?” I muttered.
“I think ya remember,” Clif laughed.
“Cause everyone got tired of you in your old home?” Buu chuckled and I glared at him.
“Ya can always ask fer a change of venue, but I’m sure TJ won’t allow it,” Clif said. “He likes the power that appears to come with that role.”
“Well, I’d expect that.”
“Then what the hell am I supposed to do, Clif?” I asked, getting upset at the situation and noticed Buu leave.
“Ain’t much ya can do, hun. Fer some reason they’ve allowed this island of Judicial craziness. So I reckon this’ll end up a mess, as usual.”
“It’s already a mess. At least I’ve got Chet to back me up… Round here I mean. And Duke’s a good sheriff when he’s here.”
“Aye, now to get TJ to do his job, and do it right. But I reckon I’m askin a lot.”
“Guess I should head home,” I stood then.
“Yep. Wish I coulda been more help.”
“Thanks for comin out and talking, Clif. Helped to vent.”
“Glad to help Trin, you be careful.”
“I’ll try. I do wish we still worked together.”
“Yep, me too. But life has a way of throwing curveballs.”
“That it does. You know… Maybe I could come to Colorado Springs and just spend some time there.”
“Well, it’s still a dangerous place.”
“Is it… Last I checked it was a ghost town.”
“Yeah, it stays empty until late evenin’s it seems.”
“I see. Kind of like here. Well then maybe I’ll just visit sometime in the day. Thanks for comin over, Clif. I appreciate it.”
Clif headed home and I looked up seeing Rick come in. I greeted him and he said, “Ever heard of Jesse James?”
“Jesse James... Yeah, I’ve heard of him. Saw him last night when he pointed his gun at me.”
“I want his gang…”
“Join the club. Why do you want him?”
“We should get all the Law on this one...Pinkertons, Marshalls, sheriffs…”
“Trust me Rick, they are,” I looked at him. “Chet was shot last night by Icca when we tried to arrest him. I told Chet about getting shot by Icca over in Wyoming and how there’d been no arrest. ’Cause we didn’t have marshals at the time. So Chet and I went over to the funeral parlour and tried to arrest Icca but Jesse was there for his brother’s funeral and well… They didn’t like being interrupted so much. So now there’s a warrant out for both Icca and Jesse. From the marshal’s office.”
“So… It’s Carlito, Icca, Jaidy and Jesse… Any others?”
“Carlito is part of Jesse’s gang?”
“Yes.”
“I’m not sure if there’s any others..Why do you want ’em so bad?”
“Shot me an the Sheriff up… Just us two ‘gainst the three… Not Icca…”
“When did this happen?”
“I hurt em, But couldn’t drop one cause too many targets… Two nights ago… maybe three.”
“Hadn’t heard. Icca’s never been arrested, has he?”
“Mebbe we can convince the Injuns to help… Nope...Never had trouble with Icca so far.”
I looked at him, considering it. “We know they want Icca for shooting down Chief.”
“Uh huh?”
I nodded and said, “That’s when I got shot by Icca. When I ran out to help him and Icca shot at me.”
“Hmm..But the Chief seems on the warpath.”
“To get Icca. I’m pretty sure he’s been talked down from going after the whole town, at least I hope my source is correct on that.”
“Hope so… Mebbe we can cut a deal… I did the wrong thing and mentioned Liquor..”
“Maybe we can wander out to Wyoming, see who’s out there that we can talk to?”
“He got irate. I’ll be happy to come, detective.”
“I know some people out there... I think I’m on good terms with them still. It’s more the chief I have issues with,” I nodded. “I’ll need you.”
Wyoming.
I took a deep breath as we rode into Wyoming, feeling the nervousness about facing the chief. I looked over at him and said, “Hey Rick… You know the chief and I aren’t on best terms. I haven’t been out here since... that day.”
“No, he don’t like me much either.”
“If Adahy’s there, let me talk to Adahy.”
We called across the log for anyone there and then Ahawi called us over. “How are you this sun, Trin?” she asked, looking over at Rick.
“Ahawi, this is my friend Rick. He’s a deputy with me over in Georgetown,” I introduced.
“Hau Healer...I still owe you…” Rick said to her.
“I’ve wanted to talk to you about a couple of things but he has something he needs to talk too…” I told her.
“Osiyo Rick,” Ahawi nodded to him with recognition.
“Yeah…Um…Likewise.." Rick said.
“First... Congratulations on your marriage,” I said, not sure I meant it, but trying to be polite.
“Wado, Trin,” she said to me.
“We have some pressing matters to talk to you about... We come armed only because the roads are dangerous right now. My life is in grave danger and Rick is here to ask for help with something…”
We went to sit down at the fire and Ahawi asked me, “Who threatens you Trin?”
“You remember when I came out to help Chief when he was shot down by Icca and the others, and how I got shot as well?”
“I was not here but he did tell me about it,” Ahawi said.
“I spoke with a US marshal who got hired recently and he was very upset…” I explained. “He said we needed to go arrest Icca now that he had the jurisdiction to do so. We went to his funeral parlour where he was conducting a service, because we knew he’d be there and he’s not around often. He was quite upset, as was the brother of the deceased, who is a known outlaw named Jesse James. He shot down Chet and told me that I was next.”
Ahawi looked at me, surprised. “When we were last in the Town Georgetown Icky Bob was taken into custody.”
“Icky Bob? Oh Iccabod... No... he was never in jail.” My heart started to race and I looked over at Rick. “He kept saying he’d already been arrested for that crime but no one ever informed me that he… And Clif said that you can definitely be arrested for the same crime more than once.”
“Icky Bob suits him…” Rick said.
“He was... arrested…?” I looked at Ahawi.
“I tried to shoot Icky Bob, and will kill him if I see him again. He shot my beloved and he will pay for that with his life,” Ahawi told me.
“But... he was taken into custody.. by whom?” I asked.
“We left that to the palefaces of that town, they said he would go to court, but we have not heard word of it since.”
I rolled my eyes at that, knowing that he’d never go to court with TJ as judge and said, “Rick, I’ll let you ask her what you wanted to get help with.”
“Which brings me in…” Rick said. “I am O’Shay, a Lawman...You dressed my wounds a few days back...Well..I was shot by Jesse James, and it seems this Iccy has joined forces with James and his Gang...They have been causing mayhem all over the state...I wanna bring them all in..”
“If he does not go to court, Cherokee will see justice is served,” Ahawi looked stone faced. I nodded with understanding, remembering the chief’s threat to me about showing where Icca’s house was.
“Would be wise for you to find him before we do, our justice will not be so kind.”
“We have war chief, do you seek words with him?” Ahawi asked.
“Your chief don’t like me...But Im a reasonable man...I just wanna see these no-goods get what is comin to em..” Rick said.
“Who is your war chief?”
“Our War Chief is called Adahy.”
“No…” I exhaled, looking down. I shook my head, knowing that this changed everything.
“What do you seek from us?” Ahawi asked.
“Oh? Is that a problem, Trin?” Rick asked. I looked to him for help, knowing I was in too much of a shock to speak. “Well..Whoever your war Chief is, I’m sure he is a reasonable man.These outlaws are as great a danger to you as they are to us…”
“Reasonable? He is dedicated to our people and the safety of our people and our way of life. Only reasonable when it is good for the Cherokee,” Ahawi said.
“Trouble is…” Rick leaned forward and threw a twig on the fire. “I know the way the Big Chiefs in our Government think...And IF we don’t stop these No-goods…They will send many soldiers...Bluebellies...and once they are here...they don’t go away…”
“Trin, you remember Adahy don’t you?” Ahawi asked and I just swallowed hard, nodding to Ahawi. “Indian Affairs has already shown their faces in our village,” she stared at Rick and I nodded, thinking about Leu. “Chief threw him out. Wants to tell us where our land is. Cherokee know our land, not for paleface to tell us our land.”
“Then MORE will come… Unless we solve this…”
“And the best way to solve this is to solve this together,” I looked at Ahawi insistently. “We can’t turn on each other. You helped heal Snow and Duke... And I’ve been wanting to thank you for that.”
“And me…” Rick said.
“What do you need?”
“I know that we’ve had our differences recently in how your tribe issues justice… I haven’t been able to return to the village since that day. But you also have to remember that I came here for one reason only - to help fight against the outlaws that had been attacking me.”
“Trin, I know how you feel about our Justice but there is a good reason for it.”
I felt myself getting emotional and looked at Rick for strength before continuing. He nodded at me and I said, “That’s not the question right now. The problem is that we’re turning on each other and that’s not helping us. We need to fight the actual enemies, Jesse and his gang, before they rip us all apart.”
“We are severe with our justice so that others do not think we are weak, so that others hesitate before making war on the Cherokee.”
“But they still do,” I looked at her.
“Yep...NONE of us want the Government and Soldiers here...None of us want this band shooting up our people..” Rick agreed.
“And will. Until they are brought to full justice.”
“The palefaces just send more,” Ahawi nodded in agreement.
“We’re fighting for the same goal here, Ahawi. We just want to be open in communications,” I told her.
“I heard word from a traveler that Jesse escapes from paleface jail,” she said and I nodded, looking
down.
“We truly ARE on the same side in this...We want peace, but James is trouble..” Rick nodded.
“I still don’t know what all happened with that. There is conflicting information,” I told her.
“If palefaces cannot hold him, and make him pay for his crimes, how can you stop him?” Ahawi asked.
I looked over at Rick and said, “That’s an internal problem and we’re working on it.”
“We kill him...And his gang,” Rick paused.
“I like the way you think Rick,” Ahawi nodded. “That was our plan, kill Icky Bob.”
“Seems we’re on the same page then,” I said.
“Ain’t no other way to deal with this Scum...A hanging, if we can...Shot in the back if we cant…” Rick said.
“Our plan last night was to arrest Icca... but he shot down our marshal because we didn’t have enough men. We went in there outnumbered. If we form a posse with all of you and all our lawmen... We’ll have more of an affect.”
“So you want Cherokee to stand with you against them?” Ahawi asked.
“He only shows when he has superior numbers...But if he don’t know all the numbers are Against him…” Rick said.
“If we’re on the same page, Ahawi, we can do anything together,” I told her.
“Sounds like it could work, but Adahy will have to plan this,” Ahawi nodded.
“Let me speak with Adahy directly if he needs more convincing.”
“I will bring this news to him when he returns from trapping.”
“Wado, Ahawi. We appreciate your time,” I said and looked to Rick.
“I am sure he will want to talk to you Rick, he may have to call council meeting if you want Cherokee to stand beside paleface in this.”
“I will be happy and Honored to meet him,” Rick said.
“He knows Trin, I will tell him to seek her out to discuss this,” Ahawi said.
“He can come find me any time, Ahawi.” I nodded.
“We will meet him where he likes...With empty hands,” Rick said.
I hoped sincerely that the relationship of informant to scout will not be severed with this new revelation of his role as war chief. “Wado so much for this, Ahawi.”
“Yeah…Um…Waddy..” Rick said.
“Wado,” I corrected to him with a chuckle. “Safe paths, friend,” I told her as we stood.
“Safe Paths Trin, and Rick,” she told us and we headed out of the village.
Georgetown.
I stopped and looked over to Rick and asked if we could go over to the saloon. We talked about Jesse and I shook my head. “I still can’t believe that Adahy…”
“What’s up with this Adahy?”
“Back when I was still good with the tribe.. I could go over there and talk to them about anything whenever I wanted. They welcomed me… But then the chief got attacked and I got upset that he didn’t include me. This is before I got shot in Wyoming.”
“Well, maybe an oversight.”
“Anyway... chief completely disregarded the fact that I’d constantly gone there when I needed help... That I considered them friends... And he acted like it was none of my business and that he’d handle it. At any rate.. they hired Adahy to be a scout... the only means of communication between me and the tribe, about any negative activity that could affect either of our towns. He was the only one I could talk to... and now…” I got emotional but more from hurt than anger and wiped the tears away. “Now he’s the war chief and he’ll probably take them all to war with us just so they can get their man who shot Chief. They never even thanked me for coming out to Wyoming to help.”
“Aww, hey Trin… ain’t your fault… Maybe he will listen to us.”
“But... I thought they trusted me. I thought they respected my opinion.”
“Don’t sweat it, you will win trust back.”
“At least that was a somewhat productive conversation…” I sighed and nodded.
“Now, to the James Gang…” he changed the subject and I went to get a bottle of whiskey.
“What are your plans?” I asked.
“They are all good shots..We need to outnumber em two to one.. Maybe we set a trap with Dynamite?”
“Could work… Get them all in one place and blow ’em up.”
“Especially if we lure em into a spot we have covered…”
“Is what we tried to do last night but we didn’t have enough man power. We knew they’d all be at the funeral parlour.”
“Right...And the gang just wont show if they think theyr’e outnumbered..”
“But they’re gonna come after me,” I nodded. I considered using myself as a target but isn’t quite confident to suggest it.
“BUT, ifn we had injuns here, they might think it a raid..And come in to get the spoils...Then BOTH groups turn on them..”
“That’s why I need to talk to Adahy.”
“Yup.”
“He’s the key to all of this.”
“Well..We CAN get the Gang without his help.”
“Thankfully we have something of a friendship or a trust so it should be easy enough… And how do you propose to do that?”
“Good positioning. We snipe em from the hills..”
“With what army? There’s you, Duke, John… if we can count him still… Sam… Me if I have to but I’m really not who you want behind a gun. Chet…”
“Well...If’n we have 3 or four in the rocks, and a couple to keep em busy in town…”
“That’s only six people. And getting ’em all here at once..”
“Still better’n the two we faced em with last time…”
“That was a stupid plan, I’ll admit it.”
“AND we nearly got em! Jaidy was down...I had Carlos and James down to half conscious…”
“But Snow was down, and I had to face em alone..”
“I guess it could work then... If we got enough people here.”
“Yep...And THEY was where we want them..”
“I like your confidence, Rick. I just wish I shared it. History has taught me to be more realistic than optimistic.”
“A coupla men on the roofs, some in the rocks...Dynamiters in town...They wouldn’t know which way to face..”
“Talk with Sam, and Chet... Let me know what they think.”
“Sure thing...With the Marshalls, Pinkies, sheriffs and Injuns, we should have em…”
“You would think,” I stood. “I should head to the office and write some notes about all this.”
“Ok...G’night Detective..”
I went over and put a hand on his shoulder. “Thanks for your help today.”
“No prob, boss. Just wanna see these bastards in the ground.”
I chuckled and let my knuckles brush against his neck. “Always a pleasure to work with you.”
“And you, Ma’am…” he winked and I smiled, walking out of the saloon.
An hour later I saw a man running down the street and thought it was a tad suspicious. I went over to the saloon and then met a Cherokee man as Sugar told me about the new general store that had opened. Sugar introduced Little Rock to me and she said he was a friend of the marshall’s.
“It sounds like angels singing inside that church,” Little Rock said.
“Always singing,” I chuckled.
“Oh that’s the funeral home,” Sugar said. “That’s his ‘mood music’.”
I rolled my eyes and headed down the street. I went to the store and got some groceries Little Rock came in and we talked as I gathered supplied.
***
I sat in front of the sheriff’s office this evening and wondered where Duke was. I talked with Sugar
about how I hadn’t seen him around. She said he was limping on his leg this morning, but not terribly.
“Think I might call it a night soon.”
“Yes, I can’t stay up like I used to,” she said.
“I’m just…” I sighed.
“Just..?”
“It’s all a mess, Sugar,” I shook my head. “Should have never walked into that funeral parlour yesterday.”
“What’s a mess Miss Trin? You mean about last night?”
“I just hope Sam finds a new judge that’ll actually do something about it. And then Rick and I went out to Wyoming... My first time being there since... Well, since I was shot down while trying to help the chief.”
“Yeah I saw a flyer about wanting a new judge. What happened? Judge TJ leave?”
“Think Sam was getting frustrated with the inactivity,” I shrugged.
Chet rode over then and got off the horse. I asked if he’d seen Icca but neither of them had seen him.
“Think I’m gonna head home…” I looked between them.
“You sure you don’t wanna stick around? You’re safe here,” Chet said.
“Alright Miss Trin, get a good night’s sleep. Things always look better in the morning.”
“I’m exhausted, been a long day,” I looked over at Chet.
“I’ll be around my office. Any problems yell.”
“Will do,” I nodded. “Goodnight, you two,” I said and headed home.
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