September 19, 1899

Bisbee. 

This morning I woke up and walked outside, looking around. It had been a couple of days since I’d seen Alex and I was starting to miss him a lot. When he rode down the street on his horse, I jumped up and ran to him. He had barely dismounted before I threw my arms around him, kissing him deeply. 

“Good morning, darlin’!” I leaned back. 

“Hi hon, How are you this morning?” 

“I have an idea,” I winked and pulled him into my office with me. 

“An idea?” he asked, curiously following me. 

I sat on my desk and pulled him close, kissing him with the longing that had been building over the past couple of days. “I missed you,” I whispered. 

“I missed you too. The desert is lonely,” he smiled. 

We continued to kiss, the intensity between us building, and then I said I had another idea and went over to the jail cell. I unlocked the door and looked at him. “You said it sounded intriguing...”

“Somehow, I don’t mind the idea of being your captive,” he smiled and came into the cell with me. “So now that you have me in here...?” he looked in my eyes, pulling me close. 

We continued to kiss while we sat on one of the beds and then he suddenly lost his balance, falling off and hitting the floor. “Argh!” he cried as the floor gave way and opened up a gap, making him fall down. 

“Alex!” I called, running down after him. 

“What the hell just happened?!” he looked around, surprised. 

I looked around, seeing that we were suddenly in a tunnel underground with water flowing. “I... Where...” I looked up and then blinked again. “It was a trap door..... Oh my gosh of course!”

“Wow, a trapdoor,” Alex looked up. “Where do you think this tunnel leads?”

“Let’s find out,” I reached for his hand. 

We ran through the tunnel hand in hand and then when we made it out the other side I exclaimed, “Alex! We’re in Tombstone!” 

We ran back to the clinic, needing to warm up and dry off. Alex looked over at me and asked, “Are you okay?” 

“Yeah, I just...” I coughed, exhausted from the running and swimming. “A trap door? That’s how he escaped? It’s that simple?”

“Like Occam’s razor - simplest answer is usually it,” he nodded. 

I shook my head, feeling a bit better, and sighed. “It all makes sense though...” I stood and walked over to Alex, holding him close. 

“That was quite an adventure,” he smiled. 

“Mmhmm... Glad I wasn’t alone for that,” I held him close, warming up from the contact of his body. “Told you making out in a jail would be fun.”

“It certainly was,” he laughed. 

“Next time let’s avoid the tunnel, hmm?”

“Yeah, I’d rather not fall again. But I am glad we found it.”

“Solves everything,” I nodded. “Sometimes I wish that either Carter or Langley were still around and I could help them solve this case.”

***

This afternoon I sat down in front of Chezz and pulled out my notebook while I watched on my shift. I couldn’t believe it was all that simple. Will Braxton must have found the trap door somehow and escaped without Carter or Langley even realizing it. I shook my head, amazed at how everything had evolved, and wondered what other old cases I could uncover in the archives.