June 14, 1899

Tombstone. 

This morning I sat in my usual spot drinking my coffee, wondering where Richie was this morning. I looked down the street and saw Sirus coming out of the courthouse and wondered what he was up to. I didn’t think he had any legal reason to be in the courthouse and decided he must be up to no good. 

He walked over just as Richie joined us and I waved to Si. “Morning Si! Well hey there, Rich!” 

“Morning Miss Trin,” Sirus smiled. “Hope the day finds you well.” 

“It does now,” I winked at Richie. “How you boys doin’?” 

“Doing fine, Miss Trin. Yourself?” Richie smiled at me.

“Well I’m confused,” Si admitted and I looked at him curiously. 

“Sun shining, birds chirping,” I smiled, then looked at Si. “Confused why?” 

“Well I got this here paper yesterday, and well I thought I had court today but ain’t no one there. Can’t seem to figure out the time,” Sirus took the paper out to show me. 

“Well I ain’t sure when yours is, but I know my first trial is Saturday night and I’m nervous as heck.” I took the paper from Sirus and asked, “Well have you talked with Dee?” 

“Mr. Sirus, I thought you was a good guy now?” Angel asked as she walked over. 

“Naa that dang women is just itchin’ to help get a rope around my neck,” Sirus shook his head to me and then looked at Angel. “Ohh I am... this is just a big misunderstanding. The judge and jolly old mayor just wanna see me swing. Don’t matter none if I’m innocent or not.” 

“What you do?” Angel asked. 

“Well that’s the thing... I ain’t done nuttin’. Just what they accusin’ me of, saying I robbed the dumb ol’ bank,” Si said and I just listened and drank my coffee as he talked. “Heck that place gets robbed five times a day. Don’t got enough money in there to make it worth the trouble of robbing it to begin with.” 

“Five? At least,” Richie put in. 

“If a dang lawman hears a pin drop they rush on over to see what’s happening,” Si said, nodding at Richie. “Darn case should have been kicked off. So many people seen I was trying to help out and not rob the place.” 

“Seems like those fellers would get together to rob it once and split the money. Less risk.” 

“Si if it helps,” I put in, “I wouldn’t have taken the case if offered to me ‘cause I know you’re innocent.” 

“And to beat it all, they done handed me a defense attorney that hates me,” Si complained. 

“Just sayin’ iff’n I was one of those people, is what I’d do,” Richie said and I winked at him. 

“Everyone in this darn town knows Miss Victoria has a million issues against me. Darn lady probably gonna show up with the rope in her hand to help them.” 

“Now what’s she wanna see you hang fer?” Richie asked. 

“Well I ain’t gonna get into all that again. Trust me, it’s an ugly subject,” Si looked at Richie. 

“Not doubting ya,” Richie nodded. 

“So how you doing these days, Voo?” Si asked the man who’d come over to join us. 

“Oh I’m not one to complain,” Voo shrugged. “Yourself?” 

“Well, Twig was in the courthouse when Mr. Sirus was in there this morning,” Angel pointed out then as Twig walked over. 

“‘Stayin’ out of trouble’,” Twig copied what Si had said earlier. 

“She was just um... askin’ me for candy... I promised her...” Sirus looked quickly to Angel asI read over in my notebook the information I’d gathered from the courthouse last night about my first case and studied it nervously. “Oh I almost forgot. I was offered my old job back. Just waitin’ to see if they work everything out with the old jolly mayor,” Sirus said after a while. 

“Glad to hear that,” I smiled. 

“What was your old job?” Richie asked. 

“I used to tend bar over at Annie’s, but the old witch that took over managing the place didn’t like me.” 

“Definitely could use a good bartender again,” I commented. 

“Whatcha going out there for Trin?” Riche asked me. 

“Goin’ out where?” I looked at him, confused. 

“Well they considered it a job. I looked at it like it was a way to get free whiskey... and anything else I needed,” Sirus commented. 

Jamie came over and we talked about how I had worked in the saloon in Colorado so long ago. Peta came over and Sirus asked her where she was locking up Tye. She explained that he’d been out of town a lot, trying to open up some restaurants in other countries. Richie said that he had to check on some things and headed off, and I said that I should go prepare for my first trial and followed off after him. 

Bisbee

I caught up with him in Bisbee and asked where we were going. We walked up to the house and I opened the door for him with a smile. We went inside and began kissing each other on the couch. 

***

This afternoon I walked into town and greeted everyone who was standing in front of Kate’s. They were talking about a handsome stranger who had come around the bank and Jess said that she wanted to meet one. I whispered to Dee if there were any more dead rabbits in town and she said she hadn’t seen any. 

“Oh I know nothing about him robbing any bank,” Ali was saying when I turned back to the other conversation. “Some folk shot by the bank last night.” 

“I forgot his name. No, he was trying to help,” Jess said. “It was when TJ was shot.” 

“Saw a few heading towards the doc’s office,” Ali pointed out. 

“Oh good... was thinkin’ ya deserve better than that!” Dee smiled with relief. 

“Perhaps it was Ripley?” Ali asked. 

“That sounds familiar,” Jess nodded. “What is his last name?” 

“Do you remember his full name?” Ali looked at her husband. 

“Just know him as Ripley,” Gabe shrugged. 

“I want to say Ripley Baily, but I can’t say for certain.” 

“How many folks ya think have that name?” Dee wondered. 

“Ali that’s the guy that was sitting there on the fence when I came over yesterday, right?” I asked her. 

“Yea, one hunk of a guy,” Jess noted. “Although with my luck he is probably married or goin’ with someone.” 

“Yes, I believe it was, Miss Trin,” Ali nodded. 

“Sure be easier if they just wore a sign over their heads now, wouldn’t it?” Dee asked Jess with a chuckle and I laughed. 

“Speaking of men, where’s that man of yours, Dee?” 

“Hasn’t been in town all day,” Dee held up her hands. 

“I noticed,” I nodded. 

“Was supposed to work two trials today, never showed.” 

“That ain’t like him,” I shook my head. 

“Nope, sure ain’t. Hope he didn’t eat some bad taters and crawl out into the desert or somethin’.” 

“That would be awful,” I nodded. 

“Let’s hope nothing happened to the good marshal,” Gabe said somewhat sarcastically. “Wouldn’t want any harm to come to t he lawfolk.” 

“Hey now!” Dee said to him. “This one is at least puttin’ up with me!” 

“Ah, that may be punishment enough,” Gabe winked at Dee and we all laughed. 

“Yep been watchin’ for him all day. Went by his office too,” Dee said. “Ain’t like him.” 

“Not in the least,” I agareed. “Ansar wouldn’t sleep through court.” 

“All day?” Ali asked. 

“Yep, haven’t seen him since last night.” 

“He likes to play minecraft and forgets Tombstone,” Jess suggested. 

“Those mines are pretty tedious to navigate through,” I chuckled.

“Did you check the mines, Dee?” Ali asked. 

“And trying to craft in that darkness, just dangerous,” Gabe nodded to me. 

“Well he hasn’t been since we been together, and he was all charged up about the trials he had today. Just don’t seem right,” Dee shook her head. 

Ali tried to get Kris’ attention and when he finally turned she told him, “It was told to me that the back door of the bank is open.” 

“I can fix it,” Kris said. 

“Well, just doing my duty as an upstanding citizen to let ya know,” she coughed. 

Richie walked over then and I smiled, greeting him with a hug. I asked him how he was doing and he wondered what I was detecting tonight. I chuckled and said, “Detecting that there ain’t much to detect.” 

“Well then in that case it must be a quiet evening in town.” 

“Thinkin’ we should enjoy the peace while we can. Give it a few minutes I'm sure it’ll change, right Dee?” I winked at her.

“Well I guess I should take advantage of the quiet and get my work done for tomorrow,” Dee said and wandered off to the courthouse. 

Conversation turned to the child that Ali and Gabe would be having soon and I just sat beside Richie as we listened to the talk. We talked about how quiet things had been as Ali and Jamie and Gabe talked about how Keiki had left town and a party without her for the baby wouldn’t seem right. 

“Why she leave?” Jamie wondered. “Did her and Voo get a divorce?” 

“I reckon she was not happy living here anymore,” Ali guessed. “No, they still together. They are not married though.” 

“Oh. Well that’s a shame,” Jamie frowned. 

“Yes, it sure is a shame,” Ali nodded. 

“Well if ya asked me, Voo deserved her leaving,” Jess contributed. “He is a horrible man.” 

“No he is not,” Ali shook her head. 

“Don’t believe you were asked, ma’am,” Gabe glared at her. 

“She did not leave town because of Mister Voo,” Ali said. 

“He just likes to act tough,” Ali said. 

“He wants to kill me for no reason,” Jess complained. 

“And has he? I would want to kill you too if you said that about me,” Ali shrugged. 

“If, and I say IF that is true,” Gabe said, “Just because you don’t know the reason doesn’t mean he don’t have one.” 

“I know why,” Jess said. “He shot at me. I accidentally got on his land and he accused me of peeking in his windows. I told him I was lost and did not see his signs. I apologized but he swore he would kill me one day for trespassing.” 

“So there is a reason, you just don’t like his reason,” Gabe said. 

“Let me tell ya something,” Ali pointed out. “If’n he wanted to shoot you, he wouldn’t have missed.” 

Richie and I talked while TJ came over and the conversation continued. Jamie commented that Cole had left town for good and I sighed, not happy with the news. They continued to talk about how that was why it was so quiet in town and TJ just laughed, saying he gave it two days before Cole was back in town. Richie and I talked about cooking and then he randomly got up and went to get me a glass of whiskey. 

“To the element of surprise,” I clinked my glass against his and smiled as I finished the whiskey. 

We decided to go play Poker in the Oriental Saloon and I played with Gabe and Richie while Ali watched. Richie was generally quiet throughout the game as Gabe and I joked about who had the better hands. Then out of nowhere, Richie came from behind and beat us both. After the game we went back home and curled up beside each other as we drifted off to sleep.