November 1, 1899

Black Diamond. 

Early in the morning I headed over to the office to get some work done on the bank case. I had gone through the trial reports for Diamond and could guess that the ones for Tombstone weren’t much different. I noticed similarities with each case, and, scanning over the cases for Tombstone I noticed even more similarities. Getting out my notebook, I wrote a note to Sheriff Matty and Mayor Wise explaining my notes from investigations: 

Mayor Wise and Sheriff Matty, 

I have some good news and some bad news regarding the bank robbery case that I have been investigating. 

I went through the trial and law reports for the four incidents in Diamond in the past few months, the only incidents we have records of from both the Diamond record room and the library archives’ cabinet. As far as Diamond is concerned, the good news is that there were only these four incidents. They happened between August 25 and October 13 of this year. More good news, since it is a short time span that these things were happened. 

Now, the question that remains is... Were these really the only times that the bank was robbed, or attempted to be robbed, or were other incidents simply not reported? 

Perhaps we should encourage all citizens at the town meeting to report any and all incidents regarding the bank, attempted or otherwise. 

Now for the bad news... I did notice that all four incidents happened when there was either no law in town, or only one lawman in town. All of them also involved a gunfight of some sort, with either the one lawman who happened to be present, or with a citizen who witnessed the event. Perhaps implementing a bank guard would be our next approach? 

In two, possibly three (it is not clear on one case) of the robberies in Diamond, the bank teller was present and otherwise detained by the robber whilst the robbery persisted. Perhaps some more training for our bankers in how to prevent being victims in these such crimes might be helpful as well? 

As for the robberies in Tombstone... There are not as many there as I was expecting either. Only 16 were reported and filed since 1883. 

Now again, these may or may not include robberies that were never reported or filed. So it’s hard to justify whether or not the systems in place are beneficial as we don’t have all the information we could have gained. One thing that is clear from both towns is that in most cases the lawman or witness present is overcome by the outlaw.

Perhaps some training for the law might be useful as well, in both town, in how to prevent a bank robbery from happening when one is by themselves. There is no reason why a trained deputy should be tied to the pole of a sheriff’s office and gagged with a sock so that the robber can go and rob the bank (just one example). 

Hopefully this helps in your investigation, and with the investigation in Tombstone. I will hand this note to Mayor Adrian Wise as well and thank you for including me on this case. I think we can safely consider this one closed provided the necessary steps be taken in training and protecting the banks and citizens of our fair towns. 

Sincerely, 

Detective Trin Paige. 

Signed: November 1, 1899.

I took the copy of the note for the sheriff and headed to his office, dropping it in his mailbox. I went back to my office and sent the mayor a copy in a telegram and then headed for the saloon. 

As I drank my coffee, the doors swung open and I looked over to see Alex walk in. He came and kissed me softly, then sat down beside me. 

“Good morning, Dear!” I smiled at him. 

“How are you today, babe?” he asked, getting himself a cup of coffee. 

“You missed one heck of a day yesterday. That man out there saved my life,” I nodded to Carl who was standing outside the saloon. Alex raised an eyebrow and we greeted Thad as he came in. 

“Another update from yesterday... Finally got a decent timeline for everything that happened with Thad recently in relation to Rikki.”

“Oh good,” Alex smiled. 

“Mornin’,” Thad greeted us. 

I handed Alex a copy of the updated timeline and looked over at Thad as he read the notes. “How are you, Thad?” Thad yawned and didn’t answer. When Alex was finished reading I looked at him and said, “See? It makes so much more sense now. I’ve finished the bank robbery case as well... Sent this report to both Mayor Wise and Sheriff Matty,” I handed him a copy of the report. 

“That’s great news!” he said, reading it. 

“Mmhmm, hopefully they consider it closed now.” 

Lil, Sommer and Drac came into the saloon then, and they started to decorate the saloon for Lil’s birthday. I whispered to Alex if he saw the part about the knife and he nodded. I asked if we could go to our office and he said that sounded good. We walked out and saw Carl standing by the door and I told him that I was going to go tell Alex about how he saved my life but he was quiet about it and just said “You’re welcome”. 

We walked upstairs to the office and I smiled at Alex. “So... Where to begin...” 

“The beginning?” 

“Alright,” I chuckled. “Well, I was standing in the saloon with Thad who was telling me all about what happened with him and Rikki. I heard Dash outside calling for Thad to talk to him privately so I went outside... Well, Sam and Carl were out there too... And having seen their names on all the warrants before, I grew suspicious. So I took Al and Liz into the clinic ‘cause Liz is pregnant and I didn’t want her to get caught up in anything...”

“Good thinking.” 

“Oh I forgot... Before we left for the clinic, Sam pointed a gun at me to show that we need more law around here. Granted it was fake but I didn’t know that till later,” I said and he scowled at that. “So anyway... we’re in the sitting in the clinic, Carl comes in and is all surprised that I was leery around them. So after some time passes outside, Thad goes to talk with Dash about something and I waited with Al and Liz. Well, I told them that we all know Skyla has dated an outlaw in the past, but she reformed him and he turned into good. Didn’t mean anything bad by it but I guess that ticked Sam and Carl off... I went outside to explain it to them and told them why I wasn’t sure about them, but now I see that they meant no harm ‘cause no one shot anyone and they were just trying to protect Thad...” 

“Offended easily, I guess,” Alex commented. 

“Well, Sam gets all ticked off that I didn’t tell him from the start that I knew who he was, back when I met him here in town a few days ago. I didn’t put it together though until I saw him with Carl but I had a guess. So then I’m like ‘What’d you want me to do? Say ‘Hey, you’re the guy that had all the warrants on him!’?”

“Really,” Alex chuckled. 

“So then he gets all pissed off that I was telling lies... I went off with Abby and Pet to Abby’s store but Sam was still pissed. So then Carl came into the store and I explained to him that I didn’t mean anything wrong by what I said about Skyla and how she’s one of my best friends and if she trusts him enough then that’s good enough for me, and he accepted my apology, though I didn’t really need to give one...” I hesitated and Alex shook his head. “Well, Sam’s still shooting into the air and kicking doors and being all mad about it. So Carl’s like let’s go talk to him. So I walk out with Carl to show Sam that I trusted him and Sam pointed his guns at me, told me to back off. Well, Carl stood between us and held up his hands, telling his cousin to shoot him instead. He wasn’t gonna let one of Skyla’s friends get shot.”

“Wow, that was gentlemanly of him!”

“So then I ran back to the store and let them talk it out. They finally did and Sam was like if she wants new terms she’ll have to offer me a drink. So I went outside and was like ‘Hey, anyone want drinks?’ Well, Sam had to go off with his girl but he said next time he’s in town we’ll do it and start fresh. Carl, though, stayed behind and we had a drink and talked about how Skyla was the one who taught me how to shoot and got me involved with the law and such. He left and it all ended peacefully. Oh, but not before Sam shot Thad because he came over and was in the way, according to Sam.”

“Shot him for being in the way?”

“So it would seem. I hope Thad reports it, but I didn’t see the actual shooting. Just heard Carl yell at him for ‘shooting that man’.” 

“Well, at least he’s still alive and kicking this morning.”

“Yup... So that was my day yesterday. First time being in a near-gun incident since Phelps shot me three times in two days back in August in Bisbee.”

“Wow,” he started to trace the edge of his gun with his fingers. 

“Mmhmm.” 

“Just hope Skyla ain’t upset about it all... I mean you were there when we met Carl. We had this very conversation.”

“Yes. He seemed like a good enough guy that afternoon.”

“Yea,” I nodded. “It’s just his cousin that I didn’t trust as much and when I saw them together, well... You can understand it. They seem to have reformed enough, though Sam’s still got a short temper apparently.” I looked over at him and asked, “What are you thinking, honey?”

“Just don’t want anyone shooting you.”

I smiled and hugged him tightly, “And I love you for it.” 

“I love you babe,” he grinned. 

“I’m concerned about Thad...” I said, switching gears. 

“Yes, he’s got some trouble, hasn’t he?” 

“I told him he needed to give the knife to the sheriff. I’m not sure if he has or no. And I’m worried about what Dash wanted from him.”

“Where should we go from here on that?”

“This is when I wish the Sheriff were in town more during the day...” I sighed. 

“Makes it difficult,” he nodded. 

“That was one of the things I noted on the bank case report... Sam and Carl were asking Bill if we needed more law and he said we’ve got things covered... But after reading the reports of robberies, I ain’t so sure.”

“I have to agree. Makes it hard when there’s no law around to keep order.” 

“Mmhmm. Or when there’s one law around... Like I said in the report; no self-respecting deputy should be able to be tied to a pole and gagged with a sock by an outlaw.”

“Very true,” he nodded.

“So.. What do you say we clock out and ride for Ghenna? There’s something someone ain’t telling us and I want to go to the source.”

“That sounds like a good plan to me.” 

“I didn’t want to make the trip without you..” I slipped my arm around his waist and we headed out to get our horses and rode off to Ghenna. 

Ghenna. 

As we approached the entrance to Ghenna I hesitated, looking over at Alex. “You okay?” he asked. 

I took a deep breath and sighed. “I have to be. There may not even be anyone here... Let’s just... stay on the horses?”

He looked into my eyes and said, “I’m right here next to you. And yes, good idea. We’ll stay on the horses.” 

I felt Watson hesitating and knew he could sense my fear. I reached to pet his mane to calm him down. “It’s okay boy,” I said to the horse, though I was saying it more to myself. 

We rode up to the top of the hill in Ghenna and looked around but no one was there. Deciding to head back, we rode down the hill again and headed back for Tombstone. 

Tombstone.

On our way back to Diamond we saw Sommer who was headed to the meeting. I remembered from my notes that she and Rikki had once robbed the bank together so I asked if she’d heard anything about Rikki being beat up. She said she had heard that it was by Thad and said that she could ask for more information when she saw her next. 

Black Diamond. 

We headed back to town and decided to head home and cuddle on the couch, enjoying each other’s company. 

***

A few hours later I walked out of my office and saw Matt and Abby in front of the saloon. Matt was helping Abby hang up the calendars on the wall and they greeted me with a smile. “If you’re not terribly busy... I’d like to talk about some updates somewhere,” I looked at Matt. 

“You can give me the updates now, if you don’t mind,” Matt said. 

“I sent you a report from my bank investigation case... I hope that helps clear some things up and we can focus on the other two cases?”

“Thanks. I will check it when I get to the office. It has been quite busy lately,” Matt sighed. 

“Sure, no problem... I’m also concerned about Thad.”

“So do I, Trin. What is your concern?” 

“Did he give you the knife?”

“Yes, he gave me the knife, last night. Without any context. And then finally said it was the knife that he used to get himself free.” 

“Oh good... Well... I’ll give you context then. That knife belongs to Rikki.”

“Yes, it belongs to Rikki. He said that. And he gave it to me a week late, but anyway...” 

“He told me a detailed timeline of events. Immensely helpful to put things together, by the way. But yesterday... something else happened.”

“What happened?” 

“Dash came to town, wanting to talk to him. No normally, I wouldn’t be so concerned about a person coming to talk to a person. But... a known outlaw? Coming to talk with a bank manager? I have no idea what they talked about but they went off on their own and it seemed peaceful enough. But something isn’t right, Sheriff.”

“Such as?” he nodded. 

I shrugged and said, “I have no idea. Dash isn’t involved with the others, as far as I know, but then again I could be wrong about that too. He was insistant they talk in private and I didn’t like the feeling of it. Thad’s been a lot the past few days and people are still insistant on blaming him for beating up Rikki, when he obviously has a solid alibi with you.”

“And I apologize Detective for being a hard ass, but my skepticism of anything that Thad says is very high.” 

“I’m not talking about what Thad’s saying, Sheriff. I’m talking about whatever it is Dash wants from him.”

“Well perhaps you know this but... Do you know who is the gang boss of Thad?”

“Wait... Thad is in a gang?” I stopped him. 

“Sorry, sorry... Dash.” 

“Don’t scare me like that, Sheriff. Dash... Yes, the Regulators...”

“Trin, are you sure Thad hasn’t gotten wrapped up with a gang? He has been getting an awful lot of Opium lately,” Abby put in. 

Matt rolled his eyes and said, “Sorry... I did not mean to. The stress has been getting me in the past few days. Yes, I have to admit that.” 

“And the only person that isn’t in a gang that I ever seen get shot up more than him is Kris.” 

“Yes, you’re right, and I’ve had my suspicions about that too,” I nodded to Abby. 

“Trin.. I do not think so.. unless you claim that Blackfoot is a Regulator.” 

“Sheriff, I have it on Dash’s card as a member of the Regulators. Was overheard from a source a long time ago and it’s not coming to me now... But I wouldn’t have written it down this way if I hadn’t heard it.”

“Time to update cards, Trin. New information.” 

I shook my head and said, “I update the cards every day, Sheriff.”

Valkner walked over and introduced himself to Matt and Abby. I looked through my notes to find the conversation where I got that information on Dash and found it on October 3’s page. I handed him the journal and let him read the conversation with Ryker that I had where Dash was hanging out with Carl and Sam back when they were with that gang. 

He read the journal and looked at me, “Detective.. this may have been accurate a month ago, but need to update it.. mmm.. Mr Dash seems to be like a butterfly.. or a fly for that matter.. going from cowpie to cowpie seeing where he can land and satisfy his hunger.” 

“Well sure, but my point stands that at that point and time he was active with the Regulators. No one has told me otherwise since.”

“He has been hanging out with Blackfoot and Chrissie lately.” 

“Well, that’s very good to have new information, isn’t it? I’ll add that to the card this evening.”

“Well... all depends, because last week I arrested him for robbing a couple and he left his calling card,” he said and showed me the picture. 

I took it and remembered the incident. “Right, Claire did say she recognized his voice when he stole the necklace but no one had confirmed to me that it had been Dash. So I didn’t know if the gang information was accurate or not to him.”

“Trin... I arrested him for the crime. He confessed.” 

“And just now is the first I’m hearing about it, Sheriff. Now we’re all on the same page... I have a couple of sources looking into the incident with Rikki but so far everyone has attested to it being Thad.”

“Which incident with Rikki?” 

“Rikki being beaten up, Sheriff... You asked me to look into it. Abby, is he getting any sleep?” I looked over at Abby. 

“Yes.. well..the Rikki incident, based on the interviews and facts that I received from the doctor.. she is lying.. why? It may be because thad claimed that Rikki kidnapped him when it was Eye and Jack Smith.” 

“Agreed. And because Thad has her knife which he gave to you.”

“I think it is pure revenge accusation.” 

“I would full-heartedly agree.”

“Why would he get her knife unless she left it there for him to escape?” 

“He said that they gave it to him to cut himself free. He said it was hers. don’t pretend to understand the mind of an outlaw, Sheriff,” I smiled and he nodded. “I only know the facts presented. But I assure you... I don’t believe that Thad will be safe until that knife is back into Rikki’s possession.”

“He gave it to me today.” 

“And until Rikki, Eye and James are cleared not guilty for kidnapping.” 

“I have not filed charges yet...” 

“They won’t let up on him until those things are in place, I’m sure. You haven’t?” 

“No, because he never gave me a statement, Trin.” 

“Again, new information... I’m surprised she hasn’t though. I thought she had reported it to you. Matt when we met on the 28th, you said that she reported it to you. I remember discussing why on earth the sherif of an outlaw town would come all the way to Diamond and report the incident to you.”

“Trin.. Rikki gave me a statement.. but again.. I met with the prosecutor and we decided not to go forward with the charges given that it is a lie.” 

“Okay... How about Thad? Did he report them kidnapping him?”

“If what they want is to waste time in court.. I will gladly file the arrest report.. but it will be Thad being arrested.” 

“Because the kidnapping trial verdict is the one that I’m referring to. Until they’re let off the hook for that, they will continue to blame Thad for beating up Rikki.”

“He told me, but he was very incoherent.. he wanted to beat Rrikki.. that’s the part that I was completely confused because the ones who did it were Eye and Jack Smith.” 

“He told me he met Rikki at the ladies’ tea social before the trial... That the three of them took him from there so he would be detained during the trial and not be able to testify.”

“You know.. I am getting tired of this back and forth...” 

I tilted my head to the side, confused at that reaction. “Just discussing the case with you, Sheriff...”

“I will put the arrest for Eye and Jack.. let the court decided.. and do the one for Rikki getting beat up by Thad. No Trin, it is not you.” 

“I’m not saying that you should file the report against Thad.”

“It is that Thad has become a punching bag .. he gets more bullets in one day than Kris in one week.” 

“Believe me, I know.”

“I think that soon he will be a source of income for the undertaker.. and she needs to be burying someone.” 

“And then when we try to discuss things with him he goes round about and it takes a while to understand him.”

“Now you understand my frustration, Detective,” he sighed. 

“I was thrilled to get the accurate timeline from him the other day. Everything became clearer.”

“Come... let’s go to your office,” he suggested then. 

“Sure,” I nodded and we headed to the Pinkerton office and sat down at the table across from each other. “Talk to me, Sheriff...” I looked into his eyes. 

“Trin.. I am getting so fed up with Thad.. you won’t believe.” 

“Oh, I think I can guess...”

“For being a Texas Ranger as he claims... either he is getting senile or was the bottom picker.” 

“What do you intend to do about it, other than go up to the shooting range and pretend his face is on the target?”

“Well.. I do not know... submitting an arrest report for either incident is a joke...” 

“I know,” I nodded. 

“In the kidnap.. there are no witnesses.. only the word of Thad.. between dozing off. In the beating of Rikki.. the facts shows that she was lying.” 

“In the beating, everyone claims it’s him though he was having breakfast with you. She and everyone else. Marshal Nim was investigating a bit for me... I knew that she would be able to talk with Serenity and maybe some others. Serenity was no help, but she did however have a ‘reliable’ witness who saw Thad do it. Alex asked her how reliable, and Nim said ‘reliable enough to me’.”

“Remember that I also have the witness statement of the doctor that treated Rikki in the clinic.” 

“Libby... No wait.. Lil.” 

“Here is the witness statement.” 

“You gave it to me, I believe. Along with your law report,” I smiled. 

“Okay... okay...” 

“It’s alright, Sheriff... You’ve had a lot going on in the past few days. What do you want to do going forward?”

“Need to find out the actual relationship between Dash and Blackfoot.” 

“Can I ask something actually...”

“Sure, ask.” 

“When I was first assigned the case a long time ago it seems... My mission was to discover what happened to Kaly, and what happened to Cym...” I started and he nodded, smiling. “All I’ve got so far on either is that Kaly’s brother could care less what happened to her... And Cym... who had an affair with an outlaw, but we don’t know who yet, and probably it was a Regulator. Correct? Since Jo admitted that the Regulators are her family and she wants to know the truth, in spite of where it will lead.”

“Right.” 

“How am I going to find answers if everyone is lying and if the one person who could possibly be a help, Thad, is hardly coherent in his testimonies? And whenever I bring up Eye, no one wants to talk about him because he was such a bad man. Or, that’s all they can talk about and it gets me nowhere closer to the answers we need. The answers Jo needs.” I sighed and said, “We need help, Sheriff. And I’m not above going through the inside on this if I have to. I’ve done it before. Of course, now that I’m seriously involved with Alex... Some options are not available anymore... But I’m sure something else could be figured out...”

“Trin...” 

“Sheriff...” 

“Let’s work this with discipline. We go with facts.” 

“Facts which are glaringly lies at the moment,” I nodded. 

“Remember that interviews bring always lies.” 

“Aint that the truth...”

“No when you line them up, Trin... We need some sort of table or way to display the ‘facts’ as we know them.” 

“You want my timeline?” I winked at him. 

“Sure.. do you have an update to it?” 

“I’ll give you the updated versions when I finish them tonight.”

“Thank you,” he smiled. 

“I need to include information that I have gathered today. And I probably should get started on that before it gets too late...”

“Then we can start separating the wheat from the chaff.” 

“I will give you the timeline for the beating and for the Regulators. We can work through them together.” 

“That will be good,” he nodded. 

“Make an actual timeline of events, not just of discoveries. Sound like a plan, Sheriff?” I smiled. “You’ll be around this weekend?”

“I will.” 

“Excellent... I will work on these and get together with you tomorrow hopefully then. And Matt...?” I looked at him with concern. 

“Thank you. We go from there...” he said and then looked at me. “Yes?” 

“Get some sleep...?” I smiled. 

“We do,” he smiled. 

“Now go on... I’ll get this paperwork done and deliver it to you.”

Matt smiled and stood and we said goodnight. He headed out of the office and I got to work updating case files on Dash and Thad, making files for Blackfoot and Chrissie, and updating case timelines so I would be prepared for tomorrow’s meeting.