September 13, 1899

Bisbee. 

This morning as I sat in my office I heard Pet yelling, “Pat?? Are you here?” 

I walked outside and saw Pet with another woman. “What’s all the yellin’ about?”

“We’re looking for Pat. Have you seen her?” Pet asked. 

“Pat? Pat who?” 

“Uh, just Pat. A miner.” 

“Don’t know the name,” I shook my head. 

“She drunk most of the time, you can’t miss her,” the other girl said. 

“I was gonna show Mic the other mine - Copper Creek. Do you know where that one is, Trin?” Pet asked. 

“I’ll keep an eye out,” I nodded and then said, “Nope, never been to the mines.”

“When you have time, I’ll show it to you,” Pet promised. “But we need to hurry along, and hopefully find her before she does something dreadful.” 

“Good luck with that. I’ll let you know if I hear of anything.”

“She muttered something about shooting law in a drunken stupor the other day, so you be careful.” 

“Will do, thanks Pet.”

“Let’s go Mic,” Pet nodded. 

“Yes,” Mic said. 

“Be safe, you two.”

“See ya Trin. Oh my manners, Mic this is the Deputy, Trin. Trin this is Mic.” 

“Nice to meet you, Mic,” I smiled.

“Ok, see ya,” Pet grinned and I waved as they walked on. 

I walked back into my office and decided to poke through old investigations to see what I could discover about the area. I found a case about a man named Will Braxton and read about how he had been sentenced to hang for horse theft, but he’d escaped from jail. I kept reading more and wondered how the man had managed to escape the jail without anyone knowing how. 

“Mornin’,” Alex’s voice made me look up from my notes and my look turned from one of confusion to smiling widely. 

“Hey there.” 

“You look busy,” he looked around at the paperwork. 

“I could use a sounding board actually. Feel like taking that ride?”

“Love to,” he grinned. 

I stood and walked over to him, hugging him tightly. “Good morning,” I whispered. 

“It is so good to see you,” he smiled. 

“I’ve got a head scratcher for you,” I leaned back and looked at him. 

“Oh yeah?” 

“Mmhmm. Let’s get those horses and take a ride.”

“After you,” he smiled and I switched badges before we headed out to mount our horses. 

We rode through Black Diamond and I showed him the courthouse where I was also a lawyer. When we got to the canyon reserves, I started to tell him about my morning. 

“So I got bored and decided to look through some old cases. Found one about this guy... he was sentenced to be hanged for horse thievery.... but he escaped jail somehow. No one knows how. I wanna figure it out.... seems awfully curious. That office ain’t big, can’t have just disappeared.”

“That is a mystery”

“I don’t like the idea that someone could escape right under me... I want to be prepared for anything, you know? At least I’ve got a name... I want to poke around the library, see what I can scout out about this guy.” I looked over at him and asked, “What do you think could have happened?”

“Maybe he had friends who helped him get out?” Alex shrugged. 

“That’s what I’m wondering,” I nodded. “Maybe even someone on the inside... Who knew something I don’t.”

“Seems like it would be a big feat to get out alone.”

“That was my suspicion as well.” 

We rode into a small Native camp and I looked over at him, suggesting that we keep going. I didn’t want to stay in the camp more than we had to. We found a small cabin near the water and decided to investigate. There was a rock platform with a swinging bench on it that had some pillows so we curled up beside each other and looked over the pond, filled with lilly pads.

“This is my new favorite spot,” I nuzzled against him. 

“It’s a nice spot. But I think any place where I can sit with you like this would be my favorite spot.”

I leaned up and kissed him deeply, enjoying the moment. When he lightly touched my hair I looked at him and asked, “So what do you think... maybe one of the law was a bad cop and he helped him out? Or is this something bigger?”

“It does sound like there is something more going on than just an escapee. Is there anyone you suspect of being corrupted?”

“This case was from the 1850’s... I doubt anyone who was involved with it is still around, though it’s only 40 years later...”

“Do you think there could still be some leads?”

“Maybe... The library has a ton of old case files and such, I might go over and ask my friend who works there if she can help me. Maybe I’ll get lucky.”

“Maybe,” he kissed me and winked and I kissed him back. “I could certainly help you there. I’m literate and have spent a fair amount of time in libraries myself.”

“I figured you would be a good help with that.”

“Do you think he could have gang relations? We had problems with that back east.”

“It’s possible. The files didn’t really show much. There were a few allegations of gangs he could have been involved in but nothing was ever really concrete.” He continued to play with my hair as we relaxed in each others’ arms.