Black Diamond.
I walked through town and knocked on the sheriff’s office, wondering if Tye was around. Nothing came from inside so I went over to Aly’s and knocked on the door. “Aly? Morning coffee?”
“Uh Trin, maybe in a bit,” she called out.
“I’ll be in my office if ya need me,” I started to turn. “Trin, do me a favor. Do a once over outside the porch there close, see if you spot anything out of the ordinary.”
I heard Tye and then remembered something from last night, “I saw a pot turned over yesterday but put it upright. I’ll look again.”
“And no, I don’t really make enemies, try keep to myself. Usually,” I heard Aly say from the other side of the open window.
“Uh... huh,” Tye said.
I looked around and poked under the chair and the flower pots. “Some footprints around the pots here, Tye... Would want to compare them with yours and Aly’s,” I said as I searched. I dug under the pot and blinked, finding a piece of green fabric. “Tye, found something else.”
“Do you have an approximate value for the item?” Tye asked Aly.
“I have no idea how much, you could find that out from Mark though,” she said. “Won’t be right me askin’ him that.”
“Okay. And no domestic issues? No fighting between you and Mark?” he asked. “Okay Trin, just a moment. Continue your check and when you’re done let’s see it,” Tye said to me.
“I’ll be right back, Tye,” I said and went to put on some gloves. I came back and picked up the fabric with them. I didn’t want to leave any stray fingerprints on the fabric.
“Mark or you havin’ any financial trouble? He ever ask you for money?” Tye was asking inside.
“No nothin’ like that. I do jes fine with my craft. An so does he. He jes got a carriage from someone he’s been workin’ for,” Aly answered.
“Do either of you have insurance for your valuables?” Tye asked.
“Well I ain’t sure about him but I don’t,” Aly said.
“Trin, let’s see what you’ve found,” Tye called and I opened the door, walking inside with the fabric.
I handed the green fabric to Tye and said, “Found this underneath one of the pots... I’d seen the pot turned over yesterday and figured the wind knocked it over so I set it up right.”
“Someone tresspassin’,” Aly growled at the fabric.
Tye looked at me then eyed the fabric. Without looking from the fabric he asked Aly, “Aly, would you allow Trin access to your wardrobe a moment to confirm this is not of your clothing?”
“Was a bunch of footsteps outside too. Would want to compare them with yours and Aly’s and Mark’s,” I told him.
“Do what you can with that, Trin, but I wouldn’t expect too much, it is a street and not a private path,” he said.
“I meant on the porch steps, Tye,” I nodded.
“Someone track dirt up the steps?” Tye asked.
“Near the potted plants,” I nodded. “Where the fabric was found.”
“Fair enough. Could have easily been me, but do what you can.”
“Aly, can I look through your clothes a bit?” I asked her.
“Yes, she can do that,” she nodded.
“Okay. I’ll be back,” I said and headed upstairs. I looked through the wardrobe and found myself admiring Aly’s clothing. “You have to take me out shopping sometime,” I called down to lighten the mood a bit. I searched through the clothes and found nothing green at all, and nothing even close to that shade of fabric. I walked downstairs and said, “Nothing green in there, Tye. Nothing even close to this color.”
“Pack it up then. We’ll need it.”
I borrowed a shoe from each of them and went outside to match the footprints on the porch. Three of them matched our three, but there was one that didn’t match. I walked inside and handed them the boots back. Aly finished her statement and Tye handed it to me to look over. When he thanked me for my help I headed out to find Ger. I put the fabric in my office and headed for the saloon.
I sat down at the fireplace beside Ger and he smiled, “Morning Partner.”
“Hey partner... You have the witness statement from the case about Leigh’s cage for me? You were there when Leigh was in the cage... Was hoping you had a witness statement for me?”
Pawsie came over and Ger pet the wolf as Tye came into the saloon. Ger handed me a copy of his statement and then handed a copy to Tye as well.
Tye read the statement and looked at me and Ger as the wolf left the saloon. “And folks wonder why I hesitate to work with Pinks.”
“Whaaat?” I looked at him.
“Excuse me?” Ger asked.
Tye relaxed and read more. “Ger, Leigh admits in her statement to shooting at Mayor Krell. Would you say that when she yelled about the ‘rat’ that she meant him? Did you see any actual rats?”
“I would agree to that...but, when I went back yesterday to retrieve more evidence, like we spoke of, there was a rodent moving around in the living area,” Ger nodded.
“This mess is a damn... uh... mess,” Tye rubbed his head.
“Tell me about it,” I nodded. “Gives me a headache just thinkin’ about it.”
“Just be glad you weren’t there,” Ger pointed out.
“And Ger, when Dash raised his weapon at you, had you given him any reason to believe you were a threat? You don’t even carry a weapon, right?” Tye asked.
“No, I didn’t.”
“Very well. I need to get these processed. Do you have a report on Myst’s home?”
“Just startin’ now...” Ger held up the report sheet.
“And you were performing an official investigation when this started with Dash, correct? Were you already working under my request to look into these kidnappings?”
“Yes, I went there to talk to Miss Leigh about the kidnapping when this all happened...then I told Miss Leigh I would try and either prove she was right, or if Miss Bree was right that Krell was drugged or if he was insane.”
“Thank you. Trin - I’m considering upping Dash’s charge to Obstruction of justice. Thoughts?” Tye looked at me.
“I agree, if that matters any,” Ger said.
“Sounds good to me. He impeded my partner’s investigation,” I nodded.
“Miss Bree did tell us that he threw out the contents of the teapot after I left,” Ger said.
“I do too. I only ask her as a prosecutor. If she thinks it’d stick, I’ll add it,” he nodded.
“I’d use it as a prosecutor,” I said. “But Tye... The last case I tried, there was a bunch of charges... They went with the main one and ignored the rest.”
“She did, but later recanted in a written statement - she said he was attempting to prevent anyone else from being poisoned, not trying to hide evidence,” Tye said. “Yes. I have had a discussion about this with Judge Rubble.”
“So make sure that if you’re adding more than one charge, that they try him for more than one charge,” I said. “Good. Cause that lost the case for me in the last trial.”
“Something not right about her...I have my suspicions,” Ger put in.
“They focus on the big charge, and if found guilty for that one, they are guilty for all,” Tye said.
“They focused on revenge shooting, not the fact that Lisa had robbed from the marshal and threatened him.”
“And juries end this town are soft about hangings,” Tye grunted.
“I tried to show the defendant’s character with these other actions but they told me to focus on revenge shooting that would get her hanged. Which meant they ignored the rest of the details that proved it was revenge,” I said.
“Hold on a minute, both of ya...”
“Well, I need to get some things processed, I have only a moment. Let’s hear it,” Tye looked at Ger.
“I was on that jury and the only charge given to us was the revenge shooting.”
“That’s my point, Ger,” I nodded.
“I uh... I had to leave. Bread in the oven and all,” Tye loosened his collar a bit.
“I pointed that out in deliberation,” Ger said.
“They made you not even think about the threatening of the mayor to give back the bail money, or the fact that Lisa had been taunting the marshal,” I remembered.
“Made the Judge forget...” Ger said.
“Tell me... the rest of the jury probably forgot too, didn’t they?” I asked. “The taunting and the robbery were supposed to show the jury her character... To show what led up to the revenge shooting. And they told me to ignore it.”
“Well, I bid you too adieu, I really must get these in this morning. I’ll be back out and about in an hour or so,” Tye shook his head.
“I’ll try to find those other folks for statements. Until then I think I’m caught up,” I nodded to Tye.
“Umm..no, some wanted to find her guilty cause of that,” Ger said.
“Oh?” I looked at him, feeling a bit better.
“Be safe, give a holler if you need somethin’,” Tye looked between us and took the papers in his vest, turning to leave the saloon.
When we were alone, I looked over at Ger and said, “Aly’s place was robbed yesterday. I talked it over with her and Tye this morning and investigated some footprints on the front porch. One of them didn’t match ours. Found some green fabric too which I dropped off at our office on the way to the saloon.”
“Same thing happened to Myst yesterday too.”
“Oh? Think they’re connected?”
“Hers was done by a woman,” he shrugged.
“How can you tell?” I asked.
“Footprints left at the scene.”
“Didn’t match yours or Myst’s... I’d love to match them to the footprint on Aly’s porch,” I nodded.
“Well...lets have a look at Aly’s...then Myst’s.”
“Alright,” I stood and followed him out to Aly’s place. “See these here? These are Tye’s... And these are Aly’s... And these are mine...” I pointed out. “Those ones are the ones I couldn’t identify. Aly said Mark hasn’t been around for a couple of days.”
“Okay... there are similarities.”
“Yeah?”
“Well, all of you wear boots... but...” he compared them again, looking at my boots. “My word woman, you have big feet...” he chuckled. I wiggled my foot for him teasingly and nudged him and he laughed with me. “Anyway...this one here, the suspects, is smaller than yours and Ally’s, almost like a grown child’s.”
“And it matches the one at Myst’s? For sure?”
“Very similar. Have to go back and compare.”
“Shall we?”
“Hang on a minute.” He took a blank sheet of paper and placed it carefully over the shoe print, pushing hard, then lifted. He turned it over and took out his pen so he could fill in what the paper didn’t pick up on the transfer. “There, now we have something to compare it to.”
“My partner,” I said proudly.
He chuckled and said, “Okay, now to Myst’s.”
“Lead the way,” I smiled.
Verde Valley Canyon.
We walked through the canyon towards Myst’s when Paradise shouted hello to us. We walked over and I smiled, seeing her and Mikk. “Come see what Mikk is up to!” Para laughed.
“What’s the good man up to now?” I chuckled and went to hug Mikk. “I’d like you folks to meet my partner, Gerric Firehawk. Ger, these are some of my longtime friends. I’ve known Mikk since I lived in Colorado.”
“A pleasure to meet you,” Ger smiled.
“Hello,” Mikk smiled. “Hi Trin, how have you been?”
“Been just fine. Keepin’ busy, you know me.”
“Yes.”
“Mikk has been busy building out here show them Mikk!” Para told us.
“What else is knew... Always with a hammer in his hand this one,” I chuckled.
“Have you come any closer to solving the mystery of the remains of the old cowboy gang and the mayor?” Mikk asked.
“Old cowboy gang... The renegades?” I asked.
“No...”
“Which one then?” I looked at him with confusion.
“The old cowboys gang... Johnny Ringo’s old gang..you know the gang that the Wyatt’s kicked,” Mikk said. “Umm... Well...”
“Mikk I don’t think I was ever assigned to that case.”
“Way back there was this guy called Johnny Ringo. He had a gang. The cowboys. They ad red sashes on. Then one day the Earp brothers came to town... Along with Doc Holliday,” Mikk explained.
“Yup.. Cowboys were bad business in Tombstone back then.”
“And then they killed most of them... One big shooting, but there were many. Took place in the OK Coral. But... If you noticed... the mayor Wise and a few others are wearing them there red sashes. Right?”
“Sure...”
“Well the thing is...they all used to be members of the cowboys. So... get the meaning?”
“Mr. Mayor is a gang member?” I chuckled.
“The mayor... is an outlaw. Or at least was... but he is still wearing that red sash. And that in my mind at least tells me...he is STILL an outlaw. You might wanna look into that, no?”
“Seems he’s straightened out though. Haven’t heard much involving the mayor lately,” I shrugged.
“Don’t be so sure,” Mikk said.
“You want me to investigate Mayor Wise?”
“There’s a reason for wearing those red sashes. Just sayin’. Naw... but the law should. But then again... Kristoff also wears a red sash. You see how corrupt the whole thing is? The mayor and the law... all in it..”
“Definitely something to look into.”
We walked over to Para who was showing Ger the barn where Mikk was working on a bowling alley and some other games.
“Mikk what else can you tell me about this shooting at the coral?” I asked after we talked about his construction.
“Wyatt Earp and his brothers..the shooting at the O K Coral. Don’t tell me you never heard about that.”
“Oh I’ve hear about it. You want me to investigate it to prove that the mayor is still an outlaw?”
“Yus. So is Kristoff. Both wearing the red sash.”
I looked over at Ger and said, “Seems we’ve got the chance to go back in history, partner.”
“Gives me another reason to contact my friends in New York,” Ger said.
“And for me to do some research on this battle at the OK Coral,” I smiled. “Would explain a lot why folks in court seem to go free more than they get charged guilty. “I want to ask around about this... See who else might have been there.”
“Well..Johnny Ringo was the leader..but he is dead...Doc Holliday shoot him. But maybe Wyatt Earp is still alive somewhere. Doc Holliday is dead to Well I heard... but I don’t know if it’s true... that Wyatt Earp is now living somewhere in California..and married to that actress.”
“Wait wait wait...” I remembered the case that we had investigated when Alex and I had lived in Diamond. We had been looking into the Regulators and Johnny Ringo’s name had come up. I remembered that we had found his wanted poster in Old Diamond and there had been suspicion that Adrian was Ringo, but I remembered that we had also ruled that out as a possibility because of a picture of Adrian with Gigi a long time ago.
I felt myself almost falling over in shock and grabbed onto Mikk. He caught me and asked, “You alright there?”
“This isn’t the first time that Johnny Ringo’s name has come up,” I said, trying to take a deep breath. “Okay, well, I think Ger and I need to discuss this one in detail...” I said, reminding myself we had ruled Adrian out of being Ringo. “It was good to see you both. We’ll keep updated?”
“Nice place you two have here,” Ger smiled.
We said goodbye and headed back to Diamond.
Black Diamond.
We headed for Myst’s house and investigated the footprints on the stairs and in her room upstairs. “Don’t know about you, but I think we have a match,” Ger said after investigating the prints.
“Looks like a match to me, hon. These cases are combined,” I nodded.
“I agree...we’re lookin for the same person... Looks like we have a house bandit on our hands. As you can see, she went over to the bed, then the dresser, then vanity...thats when Myst realized her brush was taken.”
“The thief was looking for something,” I nodded.
“Or...just looking...casing maybe...thats why she only took one thing,” Ger said.
“Another possibility. We should head back to the office,” I nodded.
We headed back to the office where we worked on reports and got caught up. After a while I went over to Aly’s where she was working on her journals. She said that she wanted to go back to the Criss farm and give her family a proper burial, but she wanted to take Mark with her. We talked about the meeting with her and Tye this morning. She was wearing a nightie when he walked in.
I decided that I needed to take a ride and wandered over to Benson where I saw some people dancing in the saloon.
Benson.
Alex was dancing beside Bella and Jy and he greeted me, “Hey Trin!”
“Hey there!” I smiled.
“How’s it going, detective?” he asked.
“Well, funny you should ask,” I smiled. “Seems one of our old cases is coming back from the dead. Or at least parts of it.”
“Oh really? Interesting,” he said.
“You remember the case about Jo and Cym and the history of the mayor from Diamond?”
“Couldn’t easily forget it.”
“Interesting,” Jy put in.
“Remember Johnny Ringo?” I asked, looking over and noticed Jay wearing a red sash.
“Johnny Ringo? The guy on the wanted poster who looked like Adrian,” Alex chuckled and I nodded.
“I have seen him.”
“You have, Jy?” I looked at him.
“Yes I have, but it has been a while,” he nodded.
“Do you know if Adrian’s ever... been seen with him?”
“I don’t know if he has.”
“Can I ask about that red sash? It’s quite a stunning red.”
“Ys it is. I am a cowboy. I work at the Clanton ranch.”
I looked at Alex and said, “Like the cowboys who were with that fight at the OK Coral?”
“Yes that is true,” Jy nodded. “Adrian has one. Lot also.”
“What does it mean?” I raised an eyebrow.
“It means a lot of things,” he said and Alex said that he needed to had out.
“Care to dance and tell me about it?” I smiled at Jy when we were alone.
“Thanks for the offer to dance but I have to check out the town. But I will write down on a note for you.”
“That would be great. I’m very interested in the history of this.”
“I will see you later with it.”
“Thank you, Jy. I have offices in Diamond and Tombstone.”
“Welcome. Have a good day.”
“Same to you,” I smiled and waved as he headed out of the saloon.
Black Diamond.
I went to the sheriff’s office and knocked on the door. “Yeah?” he called out.
“It’s me. Can I come in?”
“Ya got a key, yeah? The hell ya waitin’ for?”
“Didn’t know if you were busy,” I walked in and sat down. I looked around at the new furniture and asked, “How’s it going?”
“Weren’t me. Mayor said somethin’ about pamperin’ me or somethin’,” Tye shrugged. “It’s goin’. Got a few things I am trying to iron out.”
“You and me both,” I nodded.
“Ger left his report about the home invasion of Myst’s place on my desk, for me to give it to you. We’re going to be writing incident reports... Figured this would be the easiest way to keep you posted. This one is the report I wrote about the invasion at Aly’s. We believe they’re connected,” I said and handed him the report. He read the report and I asked, “What do you think?”
“This is good work,” he said. “I’ll have to thank Ger. Now on to yours,” he grinned and turned to the next page.
“Ger’s idea to do reports that way. Sometimes we don’t witness things but maybe they can start using these incident reports in court too.”
“Bring them to me, I’ll combine them with my report. Courts would be glad to use them. You’re both professionals.”
“Thank you, Tye. We’ll be filling those out from now on. I’m sure you’ll be flooded with them,” I winked.
“Good. I’m lookin’ to hire some deputies, and the more paperwork you can do, the more we can focus on the streets.”
“Fantastic.”
“We can’t do any good in here writin’ papers,” Tye said.
“Is what we’re here for. Speaking of... I have been all over and haven’t seen Drij or Nora.”
Bree came in then and asked Tye where Krell got the furniture for the new office. When she left I asked, “Have we talked about our ideas for the fourth person at the shooting?”
“Not yet, but let me get these organized, just a moment,” Tye said.
“I know you have Bree’s statement... Sure,” I said.
“Okay. Let’s talk about the fourth man.”
“Alright so... I was talking with Ger about the case last night and Aly and Dave walked in. Both of them were at the dance...”
“Yeah?”
“Aly said that Mac was there. He watched TJ and Lisa... they left suddenly, she said. Ger said that only Mac came back.”
“And when he did, he was limping?”
“David saw Mac at the dance ‘cause he sang a horrible song. No one mentioned any limping. Would think that would be an obvious point for them to mention but I’ll follow up on it.”
“Okay. We need to get signed statements from David and Alyssa stating that fact.”
“And Ger, since he was there too.”
“Good. I want Mac locked up. I know it was him, just can’t prove it yet.”
“Any production on the kidnapping cases?”
“Not yet, had the Mayor’s attention for about 5 minutes, but we were interrupted.”
“Leaving that one in your hands,” I nods. “I think we’ve done all we can on it, yes?”
“Trin, I’m going to add a field to our reports called ‘supporting evidence reports’. For now, yes. Mayor is the last thread.”
“Mmhmm... Here’s my thinking, Tye...”
“And in that field I’ll add any pinkerton investigations.”
“Leigh... she’s so insistent that Krell is crazy, right?”
“Yes, yes she is,” he nodded big.
“Seems to me she’s too much interested in putting the focus on him. She doesn’t really talk much about her own involvement other than that shooting him in the knee was self-defense.”
“Which we have confession that it wasn’t. We’re very aware it wasn’t.”
“But with the ore incident in Bisbee, We’ve got a statement from Lil saying she saw her take the ore.”
“In fact, and this doesn’t leave this room... I’m going to charge her with Revenge shooting.”
“Really... For shooting him in the knee?” I blinked at him. “Revenge for putting her in the cage?”
“That’s right.”
“And kidnapping? Possibly? Go with it,” I nodded. “It’s the only thing that’s made sense.”
“That’s what I’m doing.”
Peta walked in then and asked how Tye’s wounds were healing from the gunfight last night. Tye didn’t want to talk about it. “So where were we? Right. We were on the same page about the kidnappings.”
“Leigh’s insistence that Krell is insane. But she is just as involved somehow.”
“Yep. Don’t worry.”
“I bet you she drugged him, is my guess. For the record,” I winked at him.
“I’ll go over my final report with you before it goes to the courts.”
“I hope so ‘cause I’d love to prosecute that one.”
“Just get that teapot and test it.”
“That’s in Ger’s hands. Not literally yet but... Hopefully soon. I mean Ger’s handling it.”
“Any luck with Drij and Nora?”
“Been all over the county, ain’t seen ‘em.”
“I know you need to get me a statement from Dave, Aly, and Ger.”
“I know,” I nodded.
“I’ll handle Nora then. Leave a note for Drij in his office.”
“Alright.”
“Nora might be more willing to talk to me, then.”
“One more thing...”
“Yes?”
“I had an interesting conversation with Mikk today. An investigation he wants me to pursue that
could lead down some dangerous roads. I’m going to need your help.”
“With Mikk?” he groaned.
“His suggestion of a case, yes.”
“Find out what you can, but don’t commit yet. Not in an official capacity, anyway. You do as you like in your time as a Pinkerton.”
“He brought up the Cowboys and the battle at the OK Coral... and the fact that Adrian and Kris wear red sashes... Thing is I went out to Benson to see Alex about some connections it had with a previous case here... Jy was wearin’ one too.”
“Never seen Kris wear a red sash. Lot does. Billy Hell does. Jy does,” Peta put in.
“I seen Lot with one before, too,” Tye said.
“Tye, I don’t mean in a official capacity. I just know you’ve been around a long time,” I looked at Tye. “I’ll want to sit down with you at some point.”
“These cases first,” he nodded.
“I know,” I nodded. “It was just interesting.”
“I been around way longer,” Peta said.
“In Tombstone, but you’re still just a kitten, Peta,” Tye told her.
“I think that’s it for me... You’re up to date with the rest. Are we good, Tye?” I asked as they started to banter back and forth.
“We’re good, Trin. That’ll be all.”
“Alright. Will get those statements for you.”
“Thank you,” Tye said and I headed out of the office.
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