November 14, 1899

Tombstone. 

As I walked down Allen Street this morning I waved to Loreh, walking over from beside the bank. “Good morning, Loreh!” 

“Howdy Trin!” 

“How are you doing?” 

“I’m doing just fine,” she smiled. “You’re just the person I wanted to see.” 

“Oh really?” I smiled. 

“Mmhmm... You know there’s a murder trial coming up?” 

“I just saw the docket, yep,” I nodded. 

She smiled almost wickedly and said, “I’m going to see about prosecuting that trial.” 

“Are ya? That would be great, ‘cause I don’t want to,” I chuckled. 

“Were you thinking of it?” 

“Nah, I want to do the bank robbery ones.”

“Do you have any idea what day the murder trial will take place? Might save me a bit of work if you do.” 

“I have no idea... No one knows when anything happens in that courthouse. It’s whenever the outlaws show up.”

“It’s a shame there isn’t a better system. I think Dash took advantage of that when his witnesses were out of town.” 

“More than likely,” I nodded. 

“I wouldn’t put it past the three being tried to do the same thing.. those outlaws are rather sneaky that way. Shame two of them are rangers now. Not sure how those with criminal records are let into law but I suppose what they know makes them more effective.” 

“Sure are... Yeah, I thought there should be a rule against it but apparently they’re allowed. I ain’t in control, I just investigate or prosecute whenever I’m available.”

“Well, I suppose I should get on it with finding out the details about the trial. I doubt anyone else wants to prosecute it.” 

“Alrighty then. Stay safe, hon,” I waved and we said goodbye before we went our separate ways. 

***

This evening I walked around Tombstone and greeted Paisley who was standing in front of Annie’s. I walked further and found Nim and Pet standing at the entrance of Bisbee. “You find out any more on that father and son?” Pet asked and I knew instantly that they were talking about Matthew Graves. 

“Have a warrant for the dad, but haven’t see him.” 

“Yep, shooting Mysti,” Nim nodded. 

“His sister in law?” Pet asked. 

“Yep.” 

“Dang! So the kid was right!” Pet shook her head. 

“He shot Mysti?!” I blinked at the information, wondering why I hadn’t heard from Mysti about it yet. 

“Yea, seems the boy was right, but we will fix it soon as we see him,” Nim nodded. “I am hoping to catch him in Bisbee.” 

“That would be a good place to catch him,” I winked at Nim. 

Yea, not often I like Bisbee’s form of justice, but it fits here,” she nodded. 

“I’m gonna head over to Bisbee and see if I can find her. See ya’ll!” 

“Night!” Nim said to me and I headed for Mysti’s place. 

Bisbee. 

I walked up to my old office and knocked on Mysti’s door. She told me to come in so I walked inside and greeted her and Dani. 

“Mysti, are you alright?” I asked. 

“You haven’t been here since I moved in... Quite different from your office, huh?” she giggled and then answered, “Oh, I’m fine thanks. Get the stitches out in a few days. How’s your ankle?” 

“Oh, Good to see you again investigator... oh, do you two know each other?” Dani looked over at me. 

“Feels weird being back for sure... Mysti and I have been good friends for a while,” I smiled to Dani and looked to Mysti. “My ankle’s getting much better, thank you.”

“Dani, Trin is my good friend, and a great detective.” 

“I’m glad it’s better Trin. Would you like a cup of coffee or tea?” Mysti looked at me. 

“Remember Dani, when we first heard about things with your father...” I looked at him and then told Mysti, “A cup of tea would be nice.”

Mysti walked over to the kitchen and Dani nodded slowly. I sat down and asked, “How are you doing, Dani?”

He smiled sheepishly and said, “Well, a little better I suppose... Just trying to to focus on studies.”

“That’s a good thing. Are you liking school?”

He looked back up and said, “Only went one day sadly, but it was alright, different then what I’m used too... after all it was just me and my Grandfather before... but how are you Detective?”

Mysti returned with the tea and handed me the cup, “Here ya go,” she smiled and sat down. 

“I’m alright, thanks. Been trying to find more work to do...” I looked at her as I took the tea, “You didn’t tell me you were shot, Mysti.” 

“Ooh dear Lord, Matthew got me. I was in front of the school talking with Dahlia when out of nowhere he comes, shouts at me that I have his money and bam, he shoots me. I knew he was drunk.” 

I shook my head with a sigh and said, “This isn’t good. At least he has a warrant out on him now...”

“Dani thinks that if he weren’t drunk he might have killed me, but I think if he weren’t drunk he wouldn’t shoot me at all,” she said. “Yes he does, but he’s hiding out I guess. I haven’t heard word of him. Maybe he went back to Boston or maybe thats too much to hope for.” 

I looked between them and said, “He wouldn’t have done all of this if he were just going to shoot you while he was drunk and run away...”

Dani looked out the window and said, “I know he’s still out there... he’s too damn resistant to give up on easy money...”

“Yeah,” Mysti sighed. “I suppose you are right Trin. Too much to hope for.” 

“Exactly. Money is too powerful a motive. He won’t stop until he gets it,” I nodded to Dani. After a few minutes of silence I said, “It sure does feel weird to be back here...”

“I am feeling sleepy, folks,” Mysti said then. “I think I’m gonna go upstairs and rest.” 

“Sure, hon. I’ll keep Dani company,” I nodded. 

Dani nodded with a grin. “Yeah. Sometimes I wish I still had my Violin. Prolly gone now. It was left behind in Boston.”

“Okay and help yourself to anything you’d like in the kitchen. I will see you later,” Mysti said and headed upstairs. 

“Rest well, Aunt Mysti,” Dani nodded. 

“Dani, you play violin?” I asked when we were alone. 

“Yes, Ma’am... my grand father taught me.”

“That’s great,” I smiled. “I always wanted to learn violin. I’ve played piano since I was a kid...”

“Really? my mother played piano, it was her passion. but, my father sold her piano when she didn’t know.”

“Not a good thing, Dani. I love playing piano... Music is what helps keep me calm. Whenever I’m upset about anything, I always feel better when I sit at the piano.”

“Same here... in times when all they would do is argue I would play my grand fathers violin as loud as I could... and then he’d start yelling at me instead, so she’d get a brake for it.”

“That’s very brave of you, Dani... I wish things hadn’t been so rough for you. No child should have to go through that.”

He shrugged, “Sadly... I can’t say it was bad... because that’s all I have ever known, but seeing how people are here, now I can see the difference.”

“People around here are good, Dani, you’ll see that. And if you need anything you can always come to me or Alex. We’ll do anything we can to help.”

He smiled faintly, “You know, when I first met Alex.. I was terrified of him. guess I thought he would be the same, but my assumption was obviously false.”

I smiled at that, “He’s a very good man and just cares about people. His friend Max is here from Boston too... They’ll both do anything to keep you safe, I’m sure.”

“I’m sure they will, and... I have a question? What made you want to be a detective anyhow?” 

“Well... it was a long time ago actually when I became one... I started as a consultant for law, before I knew that there was this kind of Pinkerton agency... I was living in a town where the law didn’t seem to care about investigating crimes, but just arresting people. The more I got into it though... The more I realized that what seemed to be fact on the surface actually wasn’t truth.”

“Fascinating?” he blinked. “So you saw the deception in some cases?”

“Absolutely,” I nodded. “Especially when different sources revealed different information. And then it didn’t help that the marshals in that town were for the most part corrupt and didn’t care about the truth as much as they cared about getting their man. You want to hear about the first case I ever investigated?”

“Of coarse, it sounds like it had to be quite a experience,” he smiled wide. 

“It sure was. See... when I first got to that town, they were all mournin’ the death of this guy, Dutch Solo. He was a marshal that had apparently been killed and no one really knew what happened to him. The more people I asked, the more people wouldn’t talk about it and it seemed like there was confusion at every turn. I must have had four or five different suspect suggestions, all of whom had motive for killing him, but no one had been arrested and no one would listen to me ‘cause they all thought I was crazy. Then this judge kept sayin’ she saw Dutch’s ghost everywhere and I thought that was crazy in itself... Well anyway... This telegram goes out to the whole town: ‘Dutch Solo found alive in the mines in Utah.’ Alive! I’d always had this feeling something like that was up but I thought it was too crazy of a possibility. So I’m sitting in his brother’s place one night talking to them about everything and guess who walks in!”

“Who?” he asked, obviously curious. 

“Dutch Solo of course! Alive and well! Well, the family couldn’t believe it as much as I couldn’t! He sat down and told us the whole story... I guess there was some stuff with his father too and there had been this third brother who’d been kind of the outcast of the family. Anyway... It was Justin, his other brother, who had been killed, not Dutch. Dutch had been off doing who knows what the whole time but everyone thought that Justin was Dutch so they just assumed Dutch was dead!”

“Oh wow, that’s quite the tail... sadly. I don’t have anything to tell about that’s was interesting as that,” his eyes widened. 

“It was pretty amazing. After all that... well what could I do except continue to be a detective?”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “My grand father would say ‘you can change your hair, your clothes, and even your name, but you’ll always be a doctor at heart.” 

“You’re absolutely right about that. I tried being a deputy around here for a while only to realize it wasn’t me at all. I’m much better as a detective. My boss once said a long time ago... The information you gain is more valuable than the battles you fight. A dead detective is a useless detective,” I winked. 

He grinned and then snapped his fingers. “Oh that’s right! Sorry to run but I left something by the fountain!”

“No problem, I should head on my way if you’re okay here alone? I guess Mysti’s upstairs.”

“Yes ma’am, thank you, and sorry for rushing off.”

“It’s okay, hon. You’ve been good company. Have a good night, Dani,” I waved and headed back to the office.