Black Diamond.
I walked over to Aly’s house and talked with Alex, Aly and Stormy though I wasn’t too talkative. They talked about how Aly had received a letter from Lonnie. Alex asked me if there was any news and I shook my head, leaning back against the balcony quietly.
Alex looked at me knowingly and asked, “You need a drink, Trin?”
“Yeah,” I nodded to him. “Saloon?”
“Come on then. Let’s head to the saloon,” Alex said and led the way to the saloon. We sat down at the bar and he looked at me, “What’s up, Trin?”
I sighed and said, “Nothing. That’s the problem. I feel like I have to wrangle myself to go to dances just to have something to talk about.”
“Waitin’s a bitch, ain’t it?” he nodded.
“One way of putting it, yeah,” I said.
“Yeah, I know. I’ve been making myself go to dances and such so I’m not just hiding at home.”
“Everyone else is doin’ stuff... I’m sitting here on my butt waiting for a killer to show up.”
“I don’t think anyone else is doing anything either. Yesterday at the cafe, Ger and David were complaining of boredom too.”
“At least there’s court tonight. Ger asked me to be a witness for his case against Jewel. The extortion case.”
“Oh great! That will be interesting.”
“Then we just have the case against Leigh and we can put that one to bed.”
“Good.”
“Just hope I can do a good enough job for Ger and get us a guilty verdict. I’m not usually a witness. In fact this might be the first time.”
“Why aren’t you a good witness?”
“Just nervous. Never done it before.”
“Ah, I see. I was nervous the one time I was called up there too. All those people looking at me and i had no idea why I was being called to the stand.”
“Yeah but in your case you weren’t even there for the main event,” I chuckled a bit.
“I know! That’s why I was so confused. You’ll do fine though.”
I thanked him and went around the counter to get some coffee and poured him a cup as Aly and Stormy walked in. She asked if I was okay and I told her I was just tired of waiting. They started talking about the dance in Bisbee and I went back to quietly listening to them. Alex and Aly headed out of the saloon to get some work done so I was left alone with Stormy.
“You okay, Trin?” she asked.
“I’ve had a lot on my mind...”
“I know the feeling. I think a lot.”
“Can’t seem to stop thinking about it. So how are things at the village, Stormy?”
“Things are good at the village.”
“I’m glad.”
“You need to talk? I good listener.”
“It’s alright, not even sure what to talk about. There’s a threat out there on me relating to a murder back where I came from before Tombstone... But no news for a few days so I’m getting anxious.”
“You kill someone?”
“A man I loved was killed. His killer is after me supposedly.”
“What his name? I look for him.”
“That’s the problem. We don’t know,” I shook my head. “Just waiting for my source of information to make his way to Arizona so we can talk about it more. I’m not good at waiting.”
“When he suppose to be here?”
“Don’t know that either.”
A man walked into the saloon, glancing around, and then walked over to the bar.
“Everything alright, Sir?” I asked.
“Yes, ma’am. Just making sure nobody here laying in wait for me,” he looked at me.
I raised an eyebrow, standing. “Someone comin’ after ya?”
“No, just being cautious,” he shrugged.
I leaned back against the counter, taking a deep breath as I looked him over. Was this the man that was supposedly coming after me?
“I not eat you,” Stormy laughed then.
“Got anything to drink in here?”
“Sure do. What can I get you?” I asked, going behind the counter.
“Whiskey, straight up,” he took a seat at the bar.
“Sure thing,” I smiled, reaching for the whiskey. I decided to take the polite approach with him, not wanting to show him my fear.
“Name’s Max. Just rode into town this morning,” he said as I poured him a glass of whiskey and slid it to him. “Thanks, ma’am,” he slid a few coins to me.
“Rode in on a horse or a train?” I asked, taking the coins.
“Train.”
I studied him for a bit and asked, “From where?”
“New York,” he said and I exhaled from the breath I’d been holding.
“You far from home,” Stormy said.
“New York ain’t much of a home.”
“Glad to be out of there I guess,” I looked at him, relaxing a bit more.
“Glad to be away from the crowded city life, that’s for sure,” he nodded.
I walked around the bar and sat beside him, smiling. “I’m Trin, by the way.”
“Nice to meet you, Trin,” he smiled.
“So you lookin’ for work around here Max or hopin’ to settle in for a bit?”
“Not so sure. Just want to check out the place and see what’s out there,” he shrugged.
“Sounds good. There’s a few towns in this area... Depending on what you’re looking for of course. Some nice hotels in Bisbee and one here in Diamond.”
Stormy walked over to me and put a hand on my shoulder. “You going to ok here?”
“Yes Stormy, thank you,” I nodded.
“You welcome, Trin,” she reached for a bottle of whiskey and headed for the door.
Max looked me up and down and asked, “What do people do around here for fun?”
“Lots of dances going on around here...”
“Dances, huh?”
“One about every night in different towns. Just have to keep an eye on the town telegrams.”
He absently ran a finger along the handle of his gun and I flinched, telling myself to relax. “I’ll have to keep my eyes out for them then. You go to these dances?”
“Not usually but maybe I’ll have to just for something to do..”
“Many outlaws here?”
“Depends on the day I guess... Been quiet lately. You don’t look like the type that’d have a problem with them though.”
“I kinda like finding them,” Max grinned playfully.
“Oh yeah?” I looked at him, intrigued.
“Keeps away the boredom,” he shrugged.
“I know what you mean...” I nodded.
He looked at the badge on my shirt and asked, “You some kinda detective of something?”
“Mmhmm. Pinkerton. Only one ‘round these parts.”
“Hmm, I see,” he narrowed his eyes. “I bet you got handcuffs, don’t you?” he winked.
“Maybe,” I smirked. “Problem with that, hon?”
“Problem? No, I don’t got a problem with it.”
I reached for my mug and filled it with coffee again and asked, “And what kind of work do you do?”
“A little of this, a little of that.”
“One of those,” I chuckled.
“I don’t want to box myself in or nothin’.”
“Uh huh, that would be a shame.”
“Besides, you might arrest me... Though that might be kinda fun.”
“That’s the nice thing about bein’ a detective. We can work anywhere. Well don’t you worry... I don’t have authority to arrest until local law asks for my help directly with that.”
“Oh is that so?” he leaned in close, his elbow propped on the bar.
I swallowed hard and gave myself an extra breath. “We help gather information.”
“I bet you’re pretty good at gettin’ people to talk,” he looked in my eyes.
“Mmhmm, I have some experience in that area,” I blushed.
“Expert techniques, huh?”
“You could say that,” I said and blushed more as Aly walked in, but I didn’t pull back from Max.
“Want me to come back later Trin?” Aly chuckled.
“Just uh... Getting to know Max here,” I laughed at her.
“Howdy miss,” Max greeted her.
“Oh! a Max! Hi Max, I’m Aly. This is my best friend Trin. She use to be a brunette, but I think the blonde is really pretty,” Aly teased and I blushed more, hoping she wouldn’t say the reason for the change. “See the reason Trin went blonde....” she started and I looked at her seriously.
“Hello, Aly. Nice to meet you,” Max reached out to touch a strand of my hair. “Brunette huh? Blonde looks nice on you.”
“Is because it seems to be a common hairstyle in Black Diamond. All the cool gal’s are doing it,” Aly finished and I sighed with relief. “Either that or she really likes Jewel.”
“Oh yeah? Don’t look like one of those girls who’d just follow along the crowd to me,” Max said.
“I’m not really...” I smiled at the contact and leaned into the touch, finding myself liking it. “I don’t wear dresses like all the other girls do. Not unless I have to.”
“She’s not, I just like to tease her,” Aly smiled. “I get on her case all the time, sir. She needs to dress up more. Show a little cleavage. Get out.”
“Cleavage. Yeah, that’s nothing I’d complain to see more of,” Max grinned.
“I’ll see what I can do,” I smirked a bit.
“See! And I don’t mean like that saloon gal outfits we was wearin’ the other day. don’t have to be THAT showy,” Aly snickered.
“Now did ya have to go and tell him about that outfit? Now he’ll want to see it,” I chuckled.
“Saloon girl outfits?” Max raised an eyebrow with interest.
“See?” I looked at Aly.
She tapped a finger against her lip and said, “Huh! I suppose you’re right!”
“S’pose I could compromise though...”
“Hell, yeah, I want to see it.”
I stood and asked, “Alright you ready for this, darlin’?”
“You’re welcome sir,” Aly grinned.
“I was born ready,” he chuckled.
“I’ll get you for this, lady,” I looked back at her and went behind the curtain.
“What are best friends for?” Aly smirked a bit.
I went to change into a saloon dress outfit with black pants and high heels. I walked out and Max grinned widely. “Well, looky here! Don’t you look all fancy!”
“Now Sir, I think it’s only fair that we dance if I’m in this outfit.”
“Pretty! The red fits the blonde, which fits the black hence illuminating your skin tone,” Aly said.
“Dance? I think I can handle that,” Max raised an eyebrow.
“And I’m off to do those repairs. You kids have fun,” Aly giggled.
I smiled and took Max’s hand, looking over at Aly. “See? I know how to have fun.”
“Yeah you need to do it more often because you were close to forgetting what fun IS,” she said.
“Have fun up on those roof tops,” Max nodded to her.
“Always do sir. Farewell,” she said and walked out of the saloon.
We danced around the floor to the turntable and he smiled, “You sure do know how to dance.”
“I’ve uh... had some experience in this area too.”
“Oh yeah? You want to tell me about that?”
“Well uh... When I first moved away from Texas to come out west... I started as a saloon dancer.”
“I bet you made a lot of men happy.”
“I could hold my own,” I chuckled. “You’re not so bad yourself, Max.”
“Why, thank you, Trin,” he said as we danced around the floor.
He held my gaze and I felt the chills run through my body but welcomed them. “So... This enough cleavage?”
“Mhmm. Quiet nice too,” he looked down the front of my dress.
“So this is what feeling alive feels like...” I said softly.
He twirled me around and then pulled me close, “Yes, we certainly are alive right now!”
I swallowed hard and leaned against his chest. “Mmm.... Hi.”
“Hi,” he grinned.
“It’s been a really long week..... Nice to be ending it on a good note.”
“I’m sorry to hear it’s been a long week but, yes, this is a very good note.”
He looked into my eyes and traced a finger along my cheek. I felt my mind spinning and forced myself to relax in his arms. I had a brief flashback to Dutch’s mutilated body and remembered Tye’s words not to trust anyone new and I swallowed hard, leaning my forehead against his chest. He held me there, supporting me, and stared into my eyes.
“You know, you have the most beautiful eyes,” he said and I looked up at him as he pulled me close. “Like leaning against my gun belt?”
“Makes me feel oddly safer,” I nodded against him.
“Safer, huh? Some reason my gun makes you feel safer?”
“If anyone came in after me you’d protect me, right?”
“Of course. I’d be happy to shoot someone for you. Anyone in particular?”
I leaned my head against his chest again, sighing. “I’ll let you know when I figure it out.”
He ran his finger along the edge of my jaw and down to my neck and I felt my pulse jumping as he said, “Almost beating to the music.”
“Was thinking it was pounding a bit too fast...”
“Does it always pound that fast?” he asked and I shook my head, looking into his eyes as I thought of what Tye said again. I felt like Max was hiding something but I wasn’t sure why. “I um...” I started but couldn’t seem to find more words.
“Do I make you nervous?”
“Max, what’s your last name?”
“Last name? Who needs a last name out here,” he gave me a wicked grin and I swallowed hard, starting to pull back just a little. He pulled me in closer, keeping his eyes locked on me. “I’ll tell you, if you tell me one of your secrets.”
“Being a saloon dancer once isn’t a good enough secret?” I asked, my heart racing a mile a minute.
“Don’t look like much of a secret with that outfit,” he winked.
“I’ve only kissed one man since November...” I whispered.
“Only one? Can’t be from lack of suitors. Any man would only need to look at you and want to kiss you,” he grinned and I blushed.
“I’m dedicated to my job.”
“Ah. Job comes first, huh? Well, that’s just no fun.”
“I’m trying to work on that,” I winked at him and he twirled me again as I relaxed a bit more. “In fact I have some things to go over for court tonight... You gonna tell me that last name yet?”
He looked around the room and then grinned. “Daniels.”
I stepped back from him, wondering what the nudge inside of me was from. “Well, Max Daniels... I hope we can do this again sometime.”
“I hope so too. Thank you for this dance,” he grinned.
“Will you be staying in the area?”
“Seems I’ve found a reason to,” he winked.
“Got myself a bodyguard, did I?” I winked back.
“Body guard, yeah. That’s it.”
“You have another name for it?”
“Nope,” he grinned.
“Mmhmm..” I ran a finger down his arm.
He took my hand and bent low to kiss the back of it. “Well, Detective Trin, I hope to see you soon.”
“You certainly will,” I blushed and turned to change into my normal clothes behind the curtain before heading to the office.
***
I walked around town this afternoon and talked with Dave and Meg Lawson, who was back in town. After a while I decided that I should wander around and Dave gave me a look, asking if we could talk. We went to the lawyer’s office where he said that he still sensed something from me, that I was being uneasy around him. He wondered if he did something wrong and I shook my head, looking away. I didn’t want to admit that I still thought about him, since he was the last man I’d kissed, and that it was awkward when we were together sometimes. After a moment of silence, he received a telegram he had to respond to and walked out of the office and I exhaled with relief.
I walked to my office and read a telegram from Ger: “Dear Trin stop. I have a missing persons case for you stop. Can you, Aly and I sit for a meeting stop. Contact me to schedule stop. Gerric stop.” I sat down at my desk, waiting for Ger and Aly to arrive. They walked in a few minutes later and Aly looked very happy.
“What’s going on?” I looked between them as they sat down at the table across from me.
“Hey Trin, got a job for you.”
“I’m all ears.”
“Go head, tell her your story,” Ger nodded to Aly.
Aly cleared her throat and explained, “Trin, last night after the dance I met someone special. Her name is Steph, and she’s 5. She was all alone. I was chit chatting with Dr. Walker and after leaving his clinic is when I saw her.”
“Where was this dance?” I asked.
“I asked her where her mother was and she said she left with some ‘big man’ as she put it in her...adorable five year old way. Annie’s. But it wasn’t until I got right in front of Tombstone’s clinic when I saw her. And the dance by this point had already ended. The girl said she was from Maine. I have no idea how long she had bee standing outside the clinic for.”
“Aly...how about the short version?” Ger asked and I chuckled a bit, not minding the long version.
“Okay fine,” Aly gave him a look. “Trin... I’d like you to see if you can find her parents. Or at least her mother. She asked me to take care of her if her mommy didn’t come back for her. It about broke my heart. I never believed in any of that love at first sight... but seeing her...kinda made me re-evaluate that cliche.”
“As you can see, in a legal sense, it has to be established if the mother is still out there, or lost....” Ger stated. “Before anything can be done.”
“A love for a child like that is very special. I’ll see what I can do, Aly. Will start asking around and see if anyone else saw her at the dance or in the area.”
“All that pain and worry and loneliness....confusion...all that crap that made no sense whatsoever...the hurt over a breakup, loss....it all became clear when I saw that small little 5 year old at.”
“What can you tell me about Steph? What does she look like?”
“Well Walker was there. she might even still be with him. Hrm...pink dress, blonde hair....about...”
“Who is this Walker guy? Don’t think I’ve met him either,” I said.
“Hold on a second please....you don’t need to find the girl trin, her mother is the one that needs finding,” Ger interrupted.
“I know, Ger... but if Walker was with the girl at some point I need to talk with him too. And if I don’t know what he looks like, I can’t do that very easily, can I?” I looked at him. “Getting to know the girl better might help me figure out who her parents are.”
“Walker is a Tombstone Doctor,” Ger said.
“So I need to talk with whoever would have talked with the girl in case she told them something that she might not have told Aly,” I said.
“Well she comes about up to my hips. I’ve seen Walker the past 3 nights.”
“She didn’t tell you her last name I guess.”
“He and Pet talk a lot. He works at the Tombstone clinic. kinda shy type, like Alex. I do not know her last name. I could easily find him, later on, I’m sure.”
“Anything else either of you can tell me about Steph?”
“She didn’t mention anything about a father,” Aly said.
“Hmm...”
“She is a stranger to me, haven’t met her...I am here as Aly’s lawyer, and friend, in this,” Ger said and I nodded.
Looking to Aly I asked, “You think she’s staying with Walker?”
“I do not know. I only asked him to give her a checkup. I told him I’d be back today to see her.”
“Okay. I should check with him to see how that checkup went.”
“I’d like to go with you,” Aly said.
“As would I,” Ger nodded.
“Of course,” I agreed.
“Yes all three of us should go.... And I trust Walker, otherwise I wouldn’t have let her with him,” Aly stated.
“Let me know when, okay girls?” Ger looked between us.
“As long as you trust my process.... I need to find out all I can and find out anyhthing that could help us... even if the conversation seems meaningless.”
“I trust you Trin, and I’d do whatever it takes,” Aly nodded and Ger gave me a knowing look.
“Best thing would be to find Steph and talk with her,” Ger said.
“Might help too if Walker asked her more questions about her family,” Aly suggested. “Maybe he knows more. They probably talked more after I left.”
“That would be the easy step, yes. But I also want to find Walker or anyone else that frequents Allen street in case they saw her. Like I said... Trust me here, alright?” I looked between them.
“Yes, ma’am you’re the detective. I’m just excited, I guess,” Aly nodded.
“Just saying, Trin,” Ger said.
“Let’s take a walk out to Tombstone, see who we can find there,” I stood.
“I will join you two soon,” Ger said and Aly and I walked out of the office towards Allen Street.
Tombstone.
Aly and I walked to Allen Street and I saw Agnes Durden playing with her dog. I asked her if she’d seen a little girl around by the age of five named Steph, but she told me she hadn’t. I asked her to let me know if she sees the girl and she promised she would.
We walked over to the clinic to see if Walker was there but the building was empty. We headed down the street and saw people in the saloon. We talked with Lil and Jeremiah but neither of them had seen the girl either. Ger joined us and we had drinks and then I decided to head out to look around on my own.
***
As I was walking around tonight, I found a girl standing near the Crystal Palace saloon. She told me her name was Annie Beamish. I asked her if she’d seen anyone by the name of Steph but she hadn’t.
Aly came over and commented on me wearing a dress. I told her that I had received a telegram from Ger about some changes with the trial coming up so I would just be on the jury tonight. We saw a man walk into Kate’s and decided to go over and say hi. He seemed to know who I was and that I was a detective, and I wondered how he had come to know so much about me. He assumed I worked for the railroads but I insisted that we worked wherever we were asked to get information.
I decided to go to the courthouse and sat in the jury bench, though my mind wasn’t very focused. Dave came and sat beside me on the trial and I whispered to him that we needed to talk later. As we watched the trial for Jewel’s extortion and shooting law charges unfold, I found myself very distracted. I was upset that they were pushing the extortion charge under the rug with a shooting charge, and the trial didn’t even seem to talk about the extortion incident. When it came time to go to the jury room, I said that she was guilty based on the strong case Ger presented, but the others said that the witnesses were conflicting and no one actually saw her shoot Strider. I sighed, knowing we would have had her on the extortion charge if it was allowed to be focused on. Dave was the only other one who said guilty and when we went out to give the verdict of not guilty, I shook my head and ran out of the courtroom, upset that I couldn’t have done a better job for Ger.
Black Diamond.
I rode home and ran upstairs to change out of my dress. I sat down on the couch and pulled my knees up under my chin and cried against them, shaking uncontrollably. There was a knock on the door and I called, “It’s open...”
Dave walked in and came over to my side, “Trin? You okay?” When I shook my head he placed a hand on my knee. “Trin what’s going on with you lately?” I continued to cry and he put his arm around me. “Please tell me.”
“I...”
“Yeah?” he asked.
I hid against him and said, “I’m going crazy, Dave...”
“You’re not crazy hun. Is it about that guy? That killer.”
“Ever since I received that telegram... I’ve been going in a tailspin. I can’t sleep. I can’t focus. Not that there’s been any other work to focus on... I can’t think about anything but the fact that my name is on a note written by the man who mutilated Dutch.”
“Yeah thats pretty gruesome.”
“I couldn’t even focus tonight. And I let Ger down.”
“How you let Gerric down?” he paused. “He had a solid case and the jury, well the rest of the jury were idiots.”
“If I paid attention more in the trial and been able to focus maybe I could’ve... argued it better.”
“The others had their minds made up. I mean really Muriel was on the jury. She’s a damn outlaw herself isn’t she?”
I nodded and said, “They ruined the extortion charge, Dave. We worked so damn hard on that case. For what? It was pushed under a shooting law charge. For the sake of the court’s convenience.”
“Law in Tombstone, justice in Tombstone, is a joke,” Dave sighed.
We continued to talk about how it seemed like the only thing that mattered was the chase and the arrest, and what happened after that wasn’t really my problem. I decided to let it go and he said goodnight as I got ready for bed.
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