April 1, 1870

Colorado. 

This morning I walked to Adder’s house and pet his horse as I knocked on the door and called out for him. He wasn’t there and I pet the horse, missing Tom. 

Adder came over and greeted me and I smiled, “Hey Adder. Just getting acquainted with your horse. How’s it goin’?” 

“Aye, she’s a friendly one.” 

“She is indeed.” 

“Going good thanks. Nothing much happening.” 

“Didn’t think so I just wanted to come see how you were doing.” 

“How about you?” 

“I’m alright I guess. Haven’t seen Tom around at all much lately... Starting to worry about him.” 

“Did you hear about the saloon robbery?” 

“I’ve heard rumblings,” I said, not saying that I’d heard about it from Young Doe. “Don’t have much details on it if you want to give me the story for the paper?” 

“Aye, I’ll tell you what I know.” 

“Feel like sittin’ somewhere?” 

We sat down on the deck and I asked him what happened. “Well, it was on the 28th of March. A couple of Mexican bandit types went into the saloon and robbed Miss London.” 

“Really…” I said, listening closely. 

“A man and a woman. The fella slipped up and said the woman’s name. Icey, he called her.” 

“Nice. You even got a name,” I smiled. 

“After they robbed her, the woman, Icey, set fire to the place.”

“Wow… Was London okay?” 

“Aye, I saw her last night, she’s alright now.” 

“I’m sure she was pretty shaken up.” 

“It’s yet another attack by the Calaveras gang. It has to stop, and soon.” 

“They seem to be tearing up a lot around here. These are the same guys that robbed the bank and tried to kill you?” 

“Aye, the very same gang,” he nodded. 

“That’s gonna be some column…” 

“Doesn’t help matters that our local ‘heroes’, the 7th Cavalry, seem to have deserted their post.” 

“Yeah things are pretty empty around there lately huh? I haven’t seen Marcus or Jonathan or Luke for days,” I nodded. 

“Aye. They probably followed the Apache,” he nodded. 

“Have they been around at all here? Since they moved?” 

“I wonder if I can requisition the building for use as a jail house,” Adder shrugged. 

“That would make sense. Need some more room.” 

“Nope, no sign of the Apache. Looks like another tribe might have moved in up there though,” he shook his head. 

A black wolf came over and Adder chased it off his yard while my wolf Snowy hid beside me. We watched the animals go at it and then Adder got some water for Snowy. 

“Guess I should get some work done,” I sighed. “What night was the saloon robbery again?” 

“The twenty-eight. A warrant has been issued, and will be served. With force if necessary.” 

“Fantastic,” I smiled. “Keep me posted.” 

“Aye, will do.” 

“So Adder what’s your plans for this gang?” 

“Bullets and the noose.” 

“Love the way you think. Alright I’m gonna head back to the office. See you soon. Come on Snowy,” I said and called for the dog. 

We walked down the street and knocked on Chels’ door and she came to the door to greet me. “You busy? Was wondering if we could chat about some things?” 

“What do you wish to chat about?” 

“I have a few stories that need some holes filled. Figured you could give me your intuitive perspective,” I winked at her. 

“I will see if I can.” 

We sat down on the deck and I began, “Okay let’s start easy… What do you know about the Apache moving out of Colorado?” 

“Don’t really know anything...looked one morning they were gone,” Chels shrugged. .

“Okay… What about the attempt from the Mexicans to kill Adder? The mayor hired these Mexicans to put a hit on him.” 

“I still haven’t heard the story myself on that...have you spoke with him?” 

“Yeah I have. He said the mayor hired these Mexicans to come shoot him. Still don’t know what for though he seems to think it has to do with the fact that Free’s part-Native.” 

“I don’t know...could be,” she shrugged. 

“What about the fire at the soldier’s outpost? I saw you there and then the group went to Kingsley... No one’s really telling me anything about it though. I saw a girl get dragged into the courthouse.” 

“Yeah, Sam saw her start the fire...I had seen her before in Kingsley...so knew where to start looking for her,” Chels nodded. 

“Okay... So what happened when you went down to Kingsley? Sam was being pretty tight-lipped about it.” 

“They started shooting… so of course we shot back… she was upstairs of the saloon… would come out shoot run back in… so I ran inside after her… she tried to run off but I stopped her. Soon after we brought her back to Colorado Springs.” 

“Right... To the jail cell in the courthouse. How long did you hold her for? Is there going to be another trial?” 

“I am sure there will be...at the time she paid bail...so just need to finish the paper work.” 

“Do we even have a judge and lawyers around here?” 

“Oh they are never to far away,” she grinned. 

“Guess you can’t tell me the name of the girl, huh?” 

“Not for now, Miss Trin.. But I am sure you will find out soon enough.” 

“Fair enough,” I nodded. “Did you hear about the saloon robbery?” 

“Got the warrant for the girl..same person that set the fire,” Chels nodded. 

“Oh yeah? I knew it was the same gang but didn’t know it was the same girl.” 

“It was.” 

“Anything else you can tell me about it?” 

“Not really… The Sheriff might know more.” 

“Already talked to him just thought you might have something else to add.” 

“No, I don’t. Sorry.” 

“No problem. Been a while since we caught up too.” 

“It has been,” she nodded. 

“Did you see that telegraph about Marshall Tulcas I left here for you and Jake?” 

“I did. He seems to be a good Marshal.. so not sure what it’s about.” 

“Yeah was a surprise to me too. Have a good day hon,” I smiled and waved, heading back home. 

*** 

I walked into the saloon this afternoon and greeted Rox. “Hey Rox, was wondering if you could help me with a few stories.” 

“I can try. What is the scoop?” 

“Well let’s start at the beginning... Have you heard of anybody talking about the Apache village moving from Colorado?” 

“Yes, last night.” 

“Oh? What did you hear?” 

“Miss Allegra said they had pulled up camp and headed out.”

“Any explanation why? What brought the conversation up?” 

“It was after some other indians came by the saloon, seems they took over the old apache camp.” 

“Oh? Which tribe took it over?” 

“I didn’t get a name,” she shrugged. 

“Were they friendly or not so much?” 

“But I did hear the Apache were headed out towards Kansas. They didn’t say much, they just came in, looked around and left.” 

“There were some Apache here too? Did the two tribes get along okay or was there not much interaction?” 

“I do not think they even saw each other.” 

“I see… Anything else you can tell me about why they might have left or something maybe? Or if this new tribe is big or small?” 

“Probably for better hunting grounds.” 

“A good guess.” 

“No, I have no clue about the new tribe.” 

“Well that’s still some good information there... Let’s move on to the next story,” I flipped through my notes. “Have you heard anything more about the fire on the soldier’s outpost? The one where you healed Danny and Luke after they went down to Kingsley?” 

“I don’t know what all happened there. I patched up Mr. Mosely who had a thru and thru wound in his side.” 

“Oh actually that was because of the bank robbery... the fire at the outpost was a different story.” 

“And Mr. Luke had the same in his shoulder.” 

“You don’t know about that one do you? How about the hit the mayor put out on Adder to get him shot by the Mexicans?” 

“I do know there was a fire at the bank last week. Mr. Spaid, myself and two other women put it out.” 

“There was a fire at the bank last week? What day?” 

“Not heard anything about any hits on people, sorry.” 

“That’s okay. Tell me more about this bank fire. I hadn’t heard about it yet.” 

“Oh geesh… I think it was the same day I patched up Mr. Mosely. But earlier in the day.” 

“The 26th? Geesh... You think it was the same people? Wonder why Adder never mentioned…” 

“I don’t think I’ve ever met this Adder fellow.” 

“He’s the sheriff. Good friend of mine.” 

“Ladies,” Bo walked in and greeted us. 

“Good day Mr. Bo,” Rox waved.

“Hey Bo! Maybe you can help me out with some stuff too. I’m trying to fill in some gaps for the paper. Need to get this thing printed soon but the holiday kind of slowed things down.” 

“Well I try to keep it so I don’t have any run ins with the law,” Rox said. 

“Maybe,” Bo nodded. 

“Have a seat Bo,” I said and he did so. “So do you know much about the Apache moving from Colorado to Kansas?” 

“No, I just found out about it. Little too far north for em.” 

“How about the fire at the soldier’s outpost last week?” 

“Nope.” 

“The bank robbery?” 

“Nope Miss, I just returned from a journey. No one’s told me anything.” 

“So you don’t know bout the fire at the bank either. Or the assassination attempt on the sheriff…” 

“Might know a bit.” 

“Oh?” I perked. “About the assassination attempt?” 

“Well reckon the natives don’t like the way he has been acting. About all I heard. And the soldiers have been doing a lot more than ya think.” 

“That’s help enough,” I smiled. “Oh yeah? They seem to have deserted their post.” 

“I know I heard two fellows this past Monday I think it was.... Talking about shooting indians on sight when they came into town because the indians wanted war, so they would give them one,” Rox put in. “ 

I nodded, having heard enough about their war to drive me crazy. “I think I may have enough to finally get a paper written..” I said, looking through my notes. 

“Glad we could help,” Rox smiled warmly. 

Kallie joined us and we continued to talk casually. We talked about gardening and moving and I said I was hoping not to have to move much more after finally settling down there, and how I was frustrated that Tom wasn’t around much. 

*** 

Kansas. 

This evening I sat at the lake and watched the beavers. I wrote in my notebook about the assassination attempt on Adder and sighed, relieved I hadn’t lost one of my closest friends this week. I thought about how I was close to being responsible for it since the mayor came to me for a hitman. I was relieved Free hadn’t taken my idea that I’d offered in Jake. I wondered if I really needed to write the article, but I knew I had to because it was big news. When I was finished with the article, I headed back home to Colorado.