Black Diamond.
While I walked around and did the rounds this morning, I talked with Jules and then headed to the town meeting, since not much was happening in town. After the meeting, Bill asked if I had seen the sheriff but I said that I hadn’t.
This afternoon, I talked with James about how some of the outlaws have been questioning how much cash flow Diamond will get once the mines open, including outlaws like Dash. He also was confused why Eye’s case from the saloon hold up was being handled in Tombstone but I assured him that it was in good hands with Jimmi and Bill taking care of it.
This evening I went home and smiled when I saw Alex home from his trip to the desert. “Hey there dear, you’re home early.”
“Hey, babe, yeah, I came in. I thought it’d be nice to see you.”
I pulled him close and hugged him tightly. “A very nice surprise.”
“Shall we wander into town and see what’s going on? At some point I have to meet with the mayor and the sheriff apparently.”
“Sure, it’d be nice to go out,” he nodded.
We walked hand in hand to the saloon and greeted the crowd in front of the door. As we stood there, a woman came over and exclaimed, “I was robbed!”
“You were? When? Where?” I looked at the woman who I didn’t recognize. “What happened, Miss?”
“This man we was looking at houses, came up with a gun stole my mother’s necklace.”
“Did ya know what he looked like? Would ya know him agin?” The man they called Jack asked.
“Yes, he... was horrible, “ the girl handed me a piece of paper and I saw that it was for the Alvord Gang, which I didn’t recognize.
“Where did it happen?” I asked as the woman cried in her hands, trembling horribly.
“By the first house for rent by the entrance.”
“Ma’am, let’s go over to the office and you can fill out a witness report,” I suggested.
“Yes ma’am,” she nodded.
“Come with me?” I looked to Alex for support.
“I’m right behind you.”
We walked into the sheriff’s office and Alex stood outside, waiting. “I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Deputy Trin Paige,” I said as the woman and a man walked into the office.
“Claire... I’m Claire...” she cried, holding her hands on her stomach in a protective nature.
“Claire... Nice to meet you hon, please have a seat... And you are, Sir?” I turned to the man.
“I’m Emmett. Claire’s husband.”
“Ohh I see. I’m glad you’re here to be with her and give her strength. Let me just dig out a witness report for you to fill out...” I dug into the drawer and reached for a witness report, handing the girl a blank copy. “Here Miss, if you could fill this out for me, that’d be helpful... I don’t suppose he told you his name...”
“I heard his name the other day... someone called him Dash,” she said and I sighed a bit. “I don’t know if it was the same man... but he had the same clothing on.”
“Oh probably,” I shook my head.
“I didn’t hear him say his name so have no idea,” Emmett said.
“If you could include that in your report it’d be very helpful,” I smiled.
“Yes ma’am,” Claire nodded as she continued to write.
I offered the couple some coffee and handed the two mugs to the couple and the door opened as Sheriff Matty walked into the office. I took a deep breath, nervous about our impending conversation, but tried to focus on the case at hand. “Sheriff, good timing.”
“You and I need to talk...” he said to me and then looked at the couple. “Howdy.”
“I know, we do,” I nodded, taking the witness report from Claire and handing it to Matt.
“Are you a recent visitor, Ma’am? It says that he dropped a slip of paper.. may I see it?” Matt requested.
“I came here earlier today to see the physician Lil, and, she and I became friends.. but I have been with in the area for about a week and two to three days. I gave it to Miss Trin,” she said about the paper.
“Ah yes,” I handed him the picture.
“This piece of paper is evidence and should be attached to the Witness Report... as a good deputy should know...” Matt took the picture and attached it to the statement and I just nodded at him.
“I will add a note on the report about this paper.. I says that you have seen this man before... Where did you see him?”
“It was right at the entrance of Diamond, right Miss Claire?” I put in.
“Over by the courts in Broken Rose the first time. This time it was at the entrance between here and Bisbee.”
“Okay, you have seen this man at Tombstone, by the court,” Matt made a note. “Seems that this person has many warrants on his name.”
“Indeed. I recognized it as soon as she said it,” I nodded.
“Miss Claire.. thank you for coming and reporting the crime.. few citizens bother to do that,” Matt said with a look to me. “And you sir,” he looked to Emmett. “Are you with Miss Claire?”
“I am. I’m her husband. I was with her when this robbery took place but was too frozen in fear to do anything.”
“Sir.. I understand... Did the suspect take anything from you?”
“No, he tried but was more interested in Claire’s necklace.”
“No, he froze up.. didn’t even try to protect me.. he stole my mother MY MOTHERS necklace,” Claire said.
“Can you describe the necklace to me, Claire?” I prompted.
“Maybe he saw someone up the street, as he was robbing us a woman ran by us.”
“Do you recall or describe the woman?” Matt asked.
“It was a diamond necklace, made in Italy, white gold, vary heavy, a few large diamonds surrounded by hundreds of smaller... it was an antique,” she described the necklace. “And the woman, she had a light tan dress and a sun hat.. blondish hair i think.. nothing much past the blur.”
“I cannot assure that recovery of the necklace, Ma’am.. I am sorry to say,” Matt sighed. “Usually in these parts the bandits take each gem and get the best value for them. Did the woman say anything or just ran by you?”
“I will have to right to my father.. he might have the other of the set still in our vault back in New York,” Claire nodded. “Just rushed by.”
“Very well.. anything else that you remember about the clothes of the suspect?”
“He had black pants, a black vest, black jacket white shirt, blackish hat, and a bandana that was reddish in color, though i think his boots were a blackish brown. And he was a bit dusty, but I thought it was because of the sand that was hitting us.”
Matt nodded and said, “That area is known for the windstorms.”
“And if Emmett had not lost his gun in a poker game last night.... he might have been able to defend me.”
“Did the suspect had any marks in his face? do you remember the color of his eyes, his hair?” Matt asked.
“It seemed like a good idea at the time,” Emmett sighed.
“No... I became so terrified when i saw his silver guns pointed at my belly to pay much attention past my first glance,” Claire said and finished her tea.
“Sir, a word of advice... if you love you wife, you better keep your wits. Seems that you would have lost her and the baby today in addition to your money. And I am not fond of men that do not take care of their wife.. you hear?” Matt said coldly, but calm.
“Sometimes these details come later... When we’ve had time to process what happened. If you remember anything, you’ll let us know?” I requested.
“Yes Sir, I.. I just think i should go find a place to lay down a bit,” she nodded.
Matt moved closer to Claire and took her hand gently. “Ma’am... this is what we are going to do now.. I will put get a warrant for the arrest of this man. In that way, the laws of many towns will be ready to arrest him. I think, but not promise, that within the next couple of days, he will be in custody.. at that point, he will be arranged for court... that’s where we will need you as witness if you desire to be there. We will do our best to get the necklace.. I know that it is very precious to you.”
“I will do what i have to, but i must think of my baby first and foremost Sir. I hope you understand.”
“Of course, Ma’am,” I nodded. “Your health and your baby’s health is primary.”
“Yes, Ma’am.. you take care of that baby first,” he looked at Emmett. “And you better keep your wits protecting your family.. you do not want me on your case.”
“Trust him on that,” I nodded to Emmet.
Matt asked if they had a place to live and they said they were staying at the inn in Bisbee. He called for James and Bree to come in and take the couple out to find a suitable place in Diamond to settle and then closed the door behind them when we were alone. I cringed, knowing that what was coming next would not be pleasant.
“I do not know what did you pull out, but if you did not know how I was going to react, then you will know now. I hire my deputies... not the Mayor.”
I sighed and said, “I spoke with Bill about this at length. He said it was his decision.”
“Yes, and I spoke with him. I was going to turn my badge until he apologized, recognizing that what he did was wrong.”
“If you disagree with it, Sheriff, I’ll hand you my badge and stick with just being Detective. I’ll take myself off the payroll and stay out of your way. I saw a need and offered to fill it. In fact... I think that’s what I might need to do.” I looked to Matt and said, “If I could just tell you my side of this please?”
“This is that thing, Trin.. you are Pinkerton detective, you are deputy for Bisbee, you are investigator for James and Loreh, you are lawyer.”
“No... Being a deputy in Diamond means that I’m not a deputy anywhere else. It means I’m fully committed to this town.”
“Well... You went over my head.”
“I spoke with Bill because I had a suggestion. He went full steam ahead before I could do anything. I apologize, Sheriff. I should have talked to you.”
“You can speak to Bill anytime.. you can be his personal investigator for all I care.”
“I’ve wanted this for months. I saw a need. You know I’ve had an application for Diamond law sitting at home for months.”
“As a matter of fact.. that’s what I told him too.. if he wanted you, he should have hired you as his investigator. And you never put it in my inbox, did you?”
“Then let’s just do that, Sheriff. Make me an investigator. I never thought it would go through. When Bill said I could... and Adrian, for that matter...”
“You are a Pinkerton investigator and also investigator for the lawyers... and so far.. what cases have you closed?”
“That’s not fair, Sheriff. You know that I’ve closed several.”
“I push Ryker to get him to be deputy, Trin.. that’s what I do. It is the Sheriff who push for the deputies.”
“I understand that now... The way Bill explained it, it was the mayor...”
“The mayor appoints the sheriff.. but the office of the sheriff is run by the sheriff.”
“I get that, Sheriff... but when I spoke to the mayor he said it was his responsibility. So you can understand my confusion.”
“Well.. and that puts your judgement into question, Trin... that is why I have not involved you in the other cases.”
“You think you know so much about me, Sheriff, but you are just putting me down now. I’ve worked hard to solve several cases.”
“I told you that you need to be discrete.. you cannot barge into things as if nothing in the world matter.. you have to use finesse to get the best information.”
“The murder of Miss Paty, the Apache activity around town when they stole various materials... Finding what happened to Omega Doobie... The Will Braxton case... Ella being robbed...” I started listing cases. “You don’t know it because you don’t ask. So you assume that I do nothing.”
“Very well.. did you find who tried to kidnap Jamie?”
“That case was never given to me.”
“Excuse me.. you took the case... Nim was going to take it and you jumped all over it. And now it is a cold case... because nothing was done on it.”
“Look, Sheriff... You want me to give up being law, just say so. I’ll focus on being a Detective and try to close the thousands of cases that have been left open because law won’t communicate with me. It’s not like I haven’t put in the effort or the time and you know it. The amount of information I’ve gathered on the Regulators has been huge and I managed to do that all within the past few weeks.”
“I think that will be best... you want to be law here? Then go through the proper process.”
“I thought that was the proper process, Sheriff, as was instructed to me BY the mayor.”
“That’s an investigator job.. not law. You want to be deputy? then are under a chain of command.”
“You’re not hearing me, Sheriff,” I shook my head, getting all the more upset.
“Very well, I am listening.”
“I have apologized, explained that I talked to the mayor because he was around and because he told me that it was his authority to hire deputies. I talked with Adrian, who said that I could do both jobs if I were to be in Diamond. I have told both Bill and Adrian that it has been my dream for months to focus on Diamond. Focusing on one area will limit the amount of open cases, hopefully, and allow me to focus all of my time on the cases at hand. Instead of thousands of cases, as you put it, from both Bisbee and Tombstone, where let’s face it I was on my own most of the time. Being here in Diamond, Ryker would be here as well as you and we could work together to close cases, instead of me being completely on my own as it has been for the past two months.”
“You can focus on Diamond all you want.. as Investigator... you can investigate all you want... but as deputy, you are under a chain of command...this is not a place for you to do your independent work.”
“I understand. I will have a conversation about it with the Mayor as soon as I see him next. Though we should have waited for him to have this discussion.”
“You can converse all you want.. your mistake was going over my head.. I thought that you knew better.”
“I’ve apologized for that, Sheriff. I don’t know what else you want me to say.”
Suddenly the door opened and Alex leaned on the door jamb, looking from me to Matt. “No wonder we got problems. Law don’t even get along.”
“As I said.. you are already an investigator.. for godsake, you are Pinkerton detective...” Matt started and then turned to him. “And you are, Mister?”
“Then that’s what I’ll remain to be. And do it poorly as everyone seems to think that I do, though they have no idea.”
Alex gave Matt a look and said, “Hey, I think you’ve yelled at her enough for one night. You really ought to be discussing this with Bill around.”
“Sir. step outside. This is not your business.”
“That’s my woman, so it’s my business.”
“Sheriff, I’m going to go home. Consider yourself heard. I apologized and explained that it was Bill who told me it was the way things were done,” I swallowed hard, looking anywhere but at Matt.
“Then Trin, seems that your boyfriend wants to bring trouble into the office.. if that how things are going to be.. hand off you badge..”
I shook my head and handed over my badge. “I’ll be a detective and nothing more. Though you’ll probably avoid telling me anything to involve me with that job either.”
“Look, Matt, she apologized to you. What the hell more do you want?” Alex asked.
“Guess our past as friends doesn’t matter anymore, Matt? Something changed I’m just not sure what.”
“Thank you,” he took my badge. “Trin, I am still your friend. And yes, we will continue this conversation.”
“Are you?!” I looked at him, shocked.
“Yes, Trin.”
“You spent the last half hour belittling me, telling me I’m terrible at my job... Not listening to me when I said that it was BILL who told me this was the way things were done..”
“You need to separate social relationship from the business relationship.”
“I am trying. But we need to have this out, Matt. Since you have my badge. Whether I go back to law in Bisbee is another question but right now... We’re having this out because we need to clear the air.”
“Thank you detective... you can stay here as investigator.. and you can work with the office so you will learn how we deal with cases here...”
“Alright, business part over,” I nodded. “You and I have grown apart, I get that. We’re both happy and settled and we’ve found our niche. But we never talk and you don’t trust me. And when I try to talk to you, you belittle me. So I’m just trying to figure out what I did wrong.”
“No Trin.. last conversation that we had I was very clear.. you almost put my family in danger.”
“I didn’t know al the facts then. Because no one told me.”
“If you would have approach me discretely as I told you... you would have known everything.”
“Then that was my error and I apologize. I was in shock hearing that an old friend had died.”
“And that’s the other problem, Trin.. every case that you work, you end up being targeted by someone..... why Trin? and why does that does not make you a liability?”
“Not every case, Matt,” I shook my head. “Every one that I’ve told you about... because you were my friend, who I trusted for protection. There have been other cases. If you want my notes we can go over them later.”
“I told you about my days as a scout, Trin.. a dead scout does not help anyone..”
I shook my head and said, “Let’s convene this later. You need to be with your wife.”
“She is resting right now,” he tipped his hat.
“Let’s go home,” I looked to Alex, on the brink of tears. Alex put his arm around me and I turned, “I hope your babies are healthy. And... I’m sorry... I’m so sorry...”
“Thank you,” he nodded and said sadly.
Alex and I walked home in silence and I cried along the way. We got to the front door and I broke down, leaning against him and letting the tears fall. “I’m sorry, baby,” he said softly, holding me and stroking my hair.
“The worst part is... He’s right...”
Alex took my hand and looked into my eyes. “Let’s go cuddle on the couch. And he isn’t entirely right.”
“Maybe we just need a few days to... calm down. I’ll focus on this whole case with what happened to Kaly and the Regulators... and when I close it, I’ll go to him with a closed case and give him an application.” I looked into his eyes and said, “He was right... I should have gone to him first. But at least we talked... That’s more words than we’ve spoken in... two months almost.”
“Maybe you should have gone to him first, but he didn’t have to treat you like that.”
“I know... he had no right to treat me like trash.”
“Him getting pissed of with me for saying something after he lectured that guy about not looking after his wife...” Alex shook his head.
“I know,” I nodded and rested my cheek against his chest. “We opened the door for communication. That’s success, even though it was hard communication.”
Alex continued to hold me and we both tried to relax as we sat together on the couch, though both of us knew we weren’t getting any sleep tonight.
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