October 17, 1899

Tombstone. 

This morning I walked over to Allen Street to check out the open warrants at the office there and waved to Thad sitting in front of the Crystal Palace. I dismounted Cleetus and set him off to wander around, and told Thad about how I was worried that he wouldn’t last much longer. I had had that horse since ‘69 and it was amazing he’d lasted that long, but he was moving a lot slower these days. 

I walked over to the Sheriff’s office and greeted Bubba who was standing in front of the door. “Just checking open warrants,” I told him. 

He handed me a warrant and I read about Sam and Carl shooting law in Bisbee. I blinked and exclaimed, “They shot law!!”

“I guess so,” he sighed. 

“Did you know about this?” I looked at him. 

“I’m afraid I didn’t. They seem to be making a lot of trouble lately.” 

“Good day, Deputy. Ma’am,” a woman walked over. She was wearing a dress and I could only guess that she worked over at Dutch Annie’s. 

“Morning, ma’am,” I smiled to her and then looked over at Bubba. “Of course you didn’t. Ain’t much for followin’ your uh... Ain’t really friends of yours anymore are they?”

“They are.. But they need to learn how to keep their guns holstered.” 

“Good luck with that,” I shook my head and then looked over at the woman. “Don’t think we’ve met, miss.” 

“People call me Panda, and you are?”

“Deputy Trin Paige,” I shook her hand. 

“Nice to meet you, Trin,” Panda smiled. 

“Same to you,” I nodded as another woman came over. I recognized her from Black Diamond and smiled, “Loreh, I’ve seen you around Diamond I think.”

“Mmhmm, I’ve seen you. Didn’t you just move in?” she asked while eating a cinnamon roll. 

“I did just move to Diamond with my man Alex, yes. Still a Deputy over in Bisbee and here though.”

“Alex, Alex, I don’t remember an Alex. Hope you’re enjoying DIamond, some nice folk there.” 

“Indeed... It’s a fantastic area to live. More social of a place which is perfect when I’m off duty from Bisbee.”

“Yes, definitely more social there.. and a little less gun happy I find.” 

“That too,” I smiled. “Though it does happen.”

“At least you can sneak to the bakery in your night clothes for a midnight snack and not be seen,” Loreh smiled a bit. 

“You mean ‘cause it’s always open?” I chuckled. 

“Well, not always, but Bree, the owner, can forget sometimes.. she’s too busy checking bank doors.” 

“True,” I nodded then looked back to Bubba. “Bubba... Waterfall hasn’t come talk to you, has she?”

“She didn’t,” he shook his head. “Why?” 

I sighed and said, “That woman’s gonna get herself killed.”

“What has she done?” 

“She said she reported a crime against her to Marshal Nim. I told her she should have gone to local law if they were around but she didn’t know that.”

“I haven’t seen her today.” 

“If you do, please talk to her?”

“I will.” 

“Actually, maybe we should talk about this in more detail... It happened just over the tracks so I suppose it’s our jurisdiction, but she’s already told Nim about it who’s told no one else about it. I haven’t even seen a warrant.”

“Neither have I.. Only got a warrant for Carl and Sam at the moment.” 

“Those two certainly know how to keep themselves in trouble hmm?” Loreh looked between us. 

“I’m afraid so,” Bubba nodded to her. 

“Bubba... Water told me that Balt had gagged her and tied her up when he robbed the bank here, then he went and dragged and caged her across the tracks. Happened the other day. She said she told Nim about it, who like I say obviously hasn’t decided to tell anyone else about it. So I’m not sure what to do.”

“Oh my, I was here to console her.. she was a nervous wreck,” Loreh said. 

“Oh, you were?” I looked at her. 

“Oh yes.. we waited for hours to report it.. but unfortunately we couldn’t find anyone. Poor girl was shaking. God almighty, this must have happened last week.” 

“I remember that day Loreh. It was a while back,” Panda put in. 

“Last week? She said it was just the other day. Maybe lost sense of time...” I walked into the office and gathered the book of warrants, seeing which ones were open and which were closed. 

“A week or more, she just disappeared for a while,” Panda said. 

“Well I imagine with the state she was in, the shock made her forget her sense of time,” Loreh suggested. 

“Oh here it is...” I looked in the book more and found the warrant given by Nim for Balthazar. “Don’t see an arrest report though.”

“Only a witness report?” Bubba asked with interest. 

“Only a warrant for him, by Nim.”

“I remember her saying specifically that someone named Balth ‘took’ her.. and for the life of me it confused me a bit because I remember wondering what she meant by it,” Loreh told us. 

“That’s how she explained it to me,” I nodded. “Weird there was no arrest made yet, but at least Nim did post a warrant.”

“Never heard of that name before,” Bubba said. 

“Balthazzar,” I looked to Bubba. “Nasty man.”

“Ohh... Yeah, I know him.” 

“This was written on October eighth. And there’s still no arrest made,” I shook my head. 

“Yeah, that sounds about right.. was quite some time ago,” Loreh nodded .

“Guess we’ll keep an eye out then,” I looked to Bubba. 

“I saw him yesterday... But I didn’t know he had a warrant on his head.” 

Panda headed off to take care of some business and I asked, “What time?” 

“I don’t remember, I’m afraid.” 

“Reckon I should head back to the office in Bisbee. Let me know if you need anything, Deputy,” I told him. 

“I will Trin. Stay safe.” 

“You too. See you around Diamond, Loreh.” 

“Take care Trin.. I need to get back to those cinnamon roles,” Loreh gave a small smile. “Take care, Deputy.” 

I waved and headed back to my office to finish my shift. 

Black Diamond. 

After a while I headed to Diamond and greeted Bree, Bill and Victoria who were standing around in the street. We talked about how I was hoping to find a new horse as Cleetus was acting weaker lately and then I decided to go meet Bubba at the shooting range. Alex joined us and we learned some techniques that I hoped would help us should those skills ever be needed while on duty in Bisbee. 

When we arrived home, Cleetus was laying on the ground, motionless. We went over to check him and discovered that Cleetus had passed on. We took the horse to the back where we had a small ceremony for him, and then decided that we should find some new horses to ride around, especially since we now lived between the two main towns. We found a couple of good horses and then rode them home. 

“Now we just have to come up with names...” I smiled. “I knew Cleetus was done for when we rode through Old Diamond.”

“Poor old guy,” Alex shook his head sadly. 

“He lasted a long time... This one will be a nice change,” I pet the brown stallion and looked over at Alex with an idea. “I say we play hooky on the meeting and try out our new horses.”

“That sounds like a great idea. I can’t wait to go for a ride.”

“I’ll follow you, babe!”

“Okay, I’ll just head out and see where it takes us.”

We rode around the surrounding areas, getting used to the new horses. After we rode around a while Alex suggested, “Want to get a drink, hon?”

“That sounds like a great idea. Follow me, babe,” I said, having an idea. 

Venice. 

We rode through Tombstone and I stopped in front of the library, giving Alex a wink, but continued on. I dismounted in front of the saloon in Venice and tied my new horse to the pole. “I wanted to see inside this place before performing here next week.”

“Seems like a good horse. I still mss Leonidas though,” Alex said as he pet his new horse. 

“We had sentimental memories with our previous horses... I like my new one too... Definitely moves 

faster.

“It’s festive in here,” I smiled as we walked into the saloon. It was filled with leaves of various colors and wheat stalks and and pumpkins. 

“Fall in the desert,” Alex said as he looked around. 

“Care to dance, darling?” I asked, reaching for his hand. 

“Always,” he grinned and took me in his arms. 

We danced around the saloon, loving each other’s company and feeling so relaxed and happy. It had been a long time since I’d felt this happy and it felt really good to be in such an amazing man’s arms. 

After a while I leaned back and looked at him, having a thought. “Dear, do you realize that the wanted poster we found yesterday... for Sniper Carter... I knew Sniper back in Colorado, back when I was friends with Despres. Sniper was an outlaw who worked with one of the biggest gangs that tormented me there. Sniper is apart of the Wild Bunch gang too... The same gang that D and Lot are with...”

“Wow, that’s an interesting twist.”

“And now the Wild Bunch is fighting the Regulators in Tombstone... Because I remembered us talking to D and he said that Lot shot the two of them down...”

“These gangs!” Alex shook his head. 

“But why were Ringo and Despres hanged, is the question of the hour.”

“That is a good question,” he nodded. 

“And why was Sniper allowed to live? And what does it all have to do with Kaly? And what happened at the mines with Cym?”

“My detective, always asking good questions,” he grinned. 

“It’s time we found out some answers, don’t you think?” I asked, kissing him. 

He kissed me back and said, “Yes it is.” 

“Want to see if we can find our way home, dear?” I asked after we danced a bit longer. 

“Sure, let’s see if we can get in the right direction or if we’re all turned around.” 

We went back outside, mounted our horses, and found our way back to Black Diamond where we curled up on the couch in our living room, enjoying the warmth of the fireplace.