December 14, 1899

Tombstone. 

I walked down Allen Street after being up north for a week with family and looked around for any signs of life. In front of the Crystal Palace, Max was standing looking at the Christmas tree. 

“Well hey there, Max!” 

“Hey Missus.” 

“How are you doing, kiddo?” 

“I’m good,” he smiled. 

“Anything new and exciting happen while I was away?” 

“No ma’am... Jus dat play.” 

“Oh right, I missed that play... I went up north for a week... Needed to well, take some time away and regroup.” 

“Yessum,” he nodded. 

“Been a hard couple of months,” I sighed a bit. “Just wish I had a case to distract myself with. Any bad guys do anything recently that you’ve seen?” 

He looked around and asked, “Where is Mr. Alex?” 

“We’re not together anymore,” I looked down. 

“What dat means?” 

“Means that we don’t live with each other anymore,” I sighed, still hating the reality. 

“Oh...” he looked right at me. “Dat’s sad.” 

“Yeah, it’s been really hard,” I nodded, agreeing completely. 

“Ima sing a song... you can hear if you want.” 

“Okay, sure,” I smiled. 

“It’s a Christmas one,” he said and started singing Away in a Manger. 

“I like that song,” I smiled when he was finished. “You’re a good singer. Sing another one.” 

“Hmm... Dats all I know.” 

“Oh... Well it was very good, hon.” 

“You know any?” 

“Hmm, sure,” I started to sing Joy to the World. When I was finished the first verse I asked, “Did you know that one?” 

“I know it,” he smiled. 

“I’m going to walk down the road a bit. Want to come with me, Max?” 

“Sure.” 

We walked over to the hotel and Max said that he had to run off to school. I greeted Muriel, Bree and Pet and talked about how I’d gone up north to visit my family and get my head back on straight. 

“Feeling better now though and ready to get to work... Anything exciting happening around here?” I asked. 

“You’re looking at it. The excitement trio,” Pet smiled. 

“Not today but Cooky and Ryker got married, and Gina and Dash,” Bree answered. 

“Oh wow,” I nodded. “How are things in Pearce?” 

“Fine, but slow,” she answered. 

“The bank’s been okay there?” 

“Well once it got robbed. Matty will tell you I wasn’t there,” she said. 

“It got robbed? Did they figure out who did it?” 

“I don’t know.” 

“Hmm...” 

“She is unbelievable,” Muriel shook her head. “She did it.” 

Bree laughed and said, “Dash commented the safe was empty. I asked him how he knew this.” 

“Oh? The safe was empty?” I asked and she nodded. “Well that’s interesting... Curious why Dash would be so vocal about something like that.” 

“Going to walk around some,” Bree said and walked down the street. 

We talked about the play with the king and queen and Pet said that it had gone well, and that her friends from Unity would be in town next month. They talked about the upcoming production as I sat there in a daze, trying to focus. Jenna walked over and then continued on. We chatted a bit longer and then I decided to call it a night. Pet said goodnight and welcomed me back home and I headed for my apartment under the office.