Black Diamond.
This morning I walked into the cafe and joined the group having breakfast served by Sugar. We talked about the fire at the sheriff’s office and everyone else agreed that B.S. probably stood for Ben Stolen. We talked about how we were all uneasy about him but I stayed quiet, remembering his threat or warning concerning the kissing bandit case I’d worked back in December. I told Aly that he wasn’t going to do a witness report and he said that Matt hadn’t done one either. We continued to talk and then I told Aly that we needed to talk alone later. It was at that point that everyone needed to leave and then Aly, Alex and I went to go discuss some things for the wedding.
***
Tombstone.
This afternoon I walked down Allen Street and saw a man sitting in front of the undertaker’s office. “Strange place to sit casually... Don’t think we’ve met yet,” I greeted him.
“No I don’t think we have, names Joe, and recently returned back to the county,” he smiled. “Is this not where an undertaker should be?”
“Joe, nice to meet you. I’m Trin Paige. Welcome back to the area. Didn’t know you were the undertaker.”
“Well I used to be a Doctor here, but I find the dead more,” he paused, “Cooperative.”
“That they can be, I guess,” I chuckled.
“And you are?” he grinned and looked over at me.
“I’m a detective, Sir. And a lawyer.”
“Well hopefully you can bring some business my way,” he said, looking me up and down.
“Perhaps I will... You said you just returned to the country... been back long?” I chuckled a bit, noticing his glance.
“I made the mistake of returning the day the men were auctioned,” he sighed. “So only a few days.”
“Got caught up in all the fun, did you?” I laughed. “I seem to have missed that day but not a big fan of those kinds of events. I’d rather meet men the more natural way,” I winked. “Mind if I join you?” I asked, walking over to the chair beside him.
“Be my guest,” he patted the chair beside him. I waited for him to remove his hand before taking the seat. “Makes a change for somebody to actually want to sit with an undertaker,” he tilted his head to the side. “How is business in your trade?”
“Yeah, not something I’d normally do but you folks ain’t all that bad... My business is alright. It’s been a bit interesting as of late but nothing more than suppositions at this point.”
“My cases generally appear to be more cut and dried, but of you need a body examined, then always happy to lend a hand,” he chuckled. “I was a Doctor of some disrepute here, ask Doc Freja,” he grinned.
“I wish my cases were more clear like that. Right now things just are causing more confusion.”
“That I can understand and from I remember Pinkertons is a dangerous life. What town do you hail from?”
“I live in Black Diamond but I work everywhere... Definitely seems to be getting more and more dangerous as time goes on. Just wish I could make sense of any of it.”
“Ah Black Diamond my old town,” he said quietly. “And cases well they then to come together when you least expect them.”
“Don’t I know it... And in the most unlikely of ways. And some cases, you might think are closed but then they get cracked open a year later.”
“Well you look more professional and intelligent than some of your predecessors, myself I will ease myself back slowly. I have no idea now who to trust and not.”
“You can trust me sir. A Pinkerton and a prosecutor... I assure you I work only for truth and justice.”
“I will take your words on board but I also trust people more by there actions and deeds,” he nodded.
“I understand, Sir. I don’t blame you for that at all.”
“I have learnt to my cost as a doctors here, so are there any old cases still open.”
“Yeah in fact there are... But I’m not sure how much I can do on them really.. So I think my part in it is done for now. Until they do something else.”
“I will bear that in mind, who runs Black Diamond these days.”
“Gerric is the mayor there and doing quite well. Aly is the Chief Deputy and also doing fantastically. Her fiance Alex is the deputy mayor.”
“I don’t know them, town has changed hands a number of times since I left, but I will have to pay a visit. Town meant a lot to me in the past.”
“It sure has,” I nodded and looked out into the street. “Well there’s Aly now.”
“Howdy Trin, fancy seeing you here!” she laughed. “Oh, were you talkin’ about me?”
“Aly, come meet Joe... I was just tellin’ him about people in Black Diamond.”
“Uh oh. The good or bad ones?”
“The ones in charge,” I laughed.
“Howdy,” Joe glanced over at Aly and said, “Bad ones.”
I laughed, reaching over to pat his knee. “She’s just teasing. They’re good ones.”
“I joke. Nice to meet ya sir, I’m Aly.”
“Joe Vyper retired Doctor and now undertaker. I used to have my practice in Black Diamond.”
“Oh you’re an undertaker!” Aly glanced at me and laughed. “Well... nice to meet ya!”
“I know... apparently I’ve been more comfortable around undertakers lately,” I chuckled.
“Undertaker and cabinetmaker,” Joe smiled.
“Not my fault the other one never showed up again,” I added.
“I’m sure the undertakers here are glad for an extra hand. Miss Angi is only one person and she’s always back and for the between the orphanage and the dead place.”
“Well I will happily take some load off her,” Joe laughed and looked over at me. “You look pretty comfortable to me.”
“Yeah I was just about to say that too...you look...oddly relaxed. Are you feeling well Trin?” Aly teased.
“Company with a nice man will do that to a woman..” I chuckled.
“That’s the truth,” Aly nodded in agreement.
“Is there one around here?” Joe looked around and winked. “Of course the company of pleasant ladies brings the best out in a man.”
“See? humor and flattery. Where can you go wrong?” I chuckled.
“I’ve been sitting all day, please excuse me if it looks like I’m pacing. I’m not, just stretching my legs a bit.”
I looked down at Joe’s hand to see if there was a wedding ring there. He laughed and said, “Give a man half a chance and no doubt he will eventually, but I try my best.”
“I think it comes naturally to you,” I smiled to him.
“Three ladies and an undertaker must be my lucky day,” Joe looked around as Bree walked over to us.
“Howdy Bree, how ya doin’?” Aly asked her.
“Doing fine thanks. We had a good breakfast, didn’t we Trin and Aly?” she asked with a smile.
“We sure did have a good breakfast. You really ought to spend some time in Diamond, Joe... Never a dull moment,” I said.
“Sir...the ratio of women to men in this town is about eight to one,” Aly told him.
“Although knowing an undertakers luck, all married,” Joe smiled and then laughed. “Dare I ask what you do with the men.”
“Yeah I’m still fantasizing about Sugar’s bacon,” Aly smiled. “Did you just ask what I do with all the men?” she looked at Joe.
I held out my ringless hand to show Joe and he showed me his hand. “Snap, was married, now widowed.”
“Sorry to hear about that,” I patted Joe’s hand.
“It’s fine. Time and work is a healer,” Joe said. “Aye, I assume there are a few dead ones around,” he looked at Aly.
“Well I promise you I did nothing except lock up a few, though I can’t say the same for some of the other females in this town,” she laughed. “Some men are no doubt chased clear across the border in one direction or another. We females know how to hold our own.”
“So I guess that led me to my present occupation,” he nodded. “Well I have seen how some men have acted here jumping from one to another, they get what they deserve.”
“But you plan to stay around now that your back, right Joe?” I asked hopefully.
“On other hand I have seen ladies here have more wedding than I have buried the dearly departed,” Joe chuckled a little.
“Indeed that happens....men are fickle. You can break off a relationship and the man, two days later, will have already moved on. True story,” Aly laughed.
“I intend to stay and settle down and see I can make a fresh start,” Joe nodded. “That’s if you can make a fresh start in the undertaking.”
“Oh sure you can,” I smiled.
“That’s true. I’d rather break off an engagement if I didn’t feel it was right than proceed into something awkward,” Aly said.
“But that’s not gonna happen this time, right Aly?” I looked at her.
“Trin, if that was going to happen, it would have already. I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life,” she assured me and I smiled.
We talked about her and Alex’s wedding then and how I was going to be in it. Joe asked where a good place to live in the area might be and we decided to head to Diamond.
Black Diamond.
We walked into Diamond and Aly went to her office to work on some things. Joe looked around town and observed, “Place has changed a little.”
“Yes, I’m sure it has,” I nodded and led him to my office. “This is my office and home upstairs to the left.” I had a thought then and led him to James’ old office.
“Ah, undertakers,” Joe nodded approvingly.
I looked at the mailbox and noted, “His rent is almost up apparently. Guess he’s not coming back. Sure he wouldn’t mind you running it out here. I honestly haven’t seen him in ages.”
“I will bear it in mind. Thanks for your time and nature Trin,” Joe smiled.
I added James’ name to the list of men that have disappeared on me and tried to focus on Joe. “It was nice spending time with you. I hope we can do it again?”
“I will make a point of it,” he said and I smiled widely. “Until we meet again, safe travels.”
“You too, Joe. See you soon,” I nodded to him and then headed back towards the sheriff’s office where I walked inside.
“You’d better be Stormy, Mark, or Trin. Oh Hi trin,” Aly looked up from the paper she was reading.
“Hey you,” I chuckled and sat at the desk as she continued to read.
“People asking Cas for dating advice,” she laughed at the paper.
“You read the article about us yet?” I laughed.
“I see the one about you and Gerric..”
“Pet did really well with that,” I smiled.
“Is that a gray hair?” she shook her head. “He needs to smile more!”
“And relax,” I chuckled.
“Is it wrong that I want to just skip the part on Jimmy? What makes you think I’m not?”
“Not you relax, Ger needs to relax.”
“Oh. That he does. He worries a lot. Suppose it comes from having me as a sister combined with his mayor position. But... both those things would be easier if he’d submit to a pedicure or creek soak more often.”
“Mmhmm,” I tried to picture Ger having a pedicure but just couldn’t do it.
“Aww there is my name about second place for the garden show. Nice.. Nice that we got best town. I’m really proud of that.”
“Well it IS the best town...”
“That’s true, and not just when pretty flowers decorate it. Nope, I’m not in here. That’s okay, though I was real sure the interview went nicely. Hm.... Oh well,” she finished reading the paper and sat down beside me at my desk. “Okay.”
“We need to talk about a few things...” I started.
“Uh oh... ‘We need to talk’,” she mimicked.
“Ben Stolen. I don’t trust him and I need to tell you why,” I nodded.
“I got that feeling just by being in his presence. Glad it’s not just me. I’m listening.”
“When I went to talk to him about the witness statement about the James’ gang shootout with you and Matt... He wouldn’t help me because he didn’t want to be a target for them, right? When we were finished talking about that case...”
She sighed and folded her arms. “For someone who claims he’s not a coward... Yeah.”
“He brought up something else,” I looked at her seriously. “He said that I didn’t have to worry about them fellas but I should worry about the man who was returning.”
“Ben said that? THem fellas being...the James gang.. so what man was returning? Himself?”
“Yes, them fellas being the James gang, but no not himself.”
“That creepy murder guy that we haven’t talked about in months?”
“Aly, back in December I worked this case. It was a man who would go up to a woman, kiss her, and then rob her. They called him the kissing bandit.”
She blinked and cleared her throat. “That’s the most disturbing thing I’ve heard all day.”
“We never solved the case. Last conversation I had about that case... was with Serenity. She said that she thought Dash was the one who was doing it. But I told her about how Dash and Mysti were out for a walk and the kissing bandit came at them and went at Mysti, but she kicked him where it hurt. But Mysti couldn’t recall what the man looked like. The thing is...”
“Where did this happen?”
“Most of the ladies he robs, they want to meet him again so they can kiss him again.”
“Ugh. So he’s a lady’s man.”
“Serenity told me about this girl Bailey who had a run-in with Dash the day before... he apologized to her in front of Sniper for it. She pointed to her ring finger then he leaned down and kissed her hand.”
“And we’ve got lots of ladies.. Therefore lots of people to rob.”
“The thing is Aly...”
“He did this in front of Sniper?”
“Ben said that maybe the man returning was an old case of mine... and he was coming for number 34. I thought of the types of serial cases I had and then I remembered the kissing bandit.”
“Has this ‘kissing bandit’ done anything other than steal?” she asked and I shook my head in response. “Ok so Ben is either warning...or threatening. And he doesn’t sound like the kind of guy who is genuinely interested in people’s wellbeing.”
“And it happens all over. Tombstone, Bisbee, Diamond, wherever. And that’s exactly my point. It seemed very odd of Ben to mention it.”
“Yeah. I’m going to have a little chat with Sniper.”
“If he’s trying to avoid becoming a target with a gang... Why on earth would he mention for my safety this past case? A chat with him about Dash? I doubt he’d remember. He was probably drunk at the time, Serenity said. I’m reopening the kissing bandit case.”
“Yes, I want to see if he knows or has heard anything else. You konw, he could be a good ally on this case. I don’t trust sniper, but I think if serenity is involved, or another of a gang that he is with... he might be more compliant.”
“I’m going to work on this case again, create a timeline of all I know.”
“Besides, I have a warrant on Sniper,” she laughed .”He could help me out twice. The whole...two birds with one stone thing.”
“Going to take some work since it was back in December but I need to do it to get the facts clear if he’s coming back, and if I’m supposedly the next victim.”
“Do me a favor. Jot down that timeline and when you have it figured out, may I please have a copy?”
“Of course,” I nodded.
“If you’re supposedly the next victim, just don’t kiss any men until it’s figured out.”
“Not even Joe?” I winked at her.
“No. He shows up at the same time as all of this? No.”
“Thing is the bandit’s pattern isn’t to get to know someone. It’s to just go up to them, kiss them, rob them. That’s it and he does it every time. If Joe was the kissing bandit I’m sure he would have done that already.”
“Ok and that’s the thing. people change their ways, and between the time in December when this was going on, he might have developed his ways.”
“I’m not saying it’s Joe, only to be cautious.”
“I don’t want this to cause paranoia either.”
“And I’m not your mama, I can’t tell you who to kiss and who not to kiss...but as your best friend, I’m concerned and I think you should take precautions. That kissing and then fleeing crap sounds like Lonnie.”
“Of course. I’m always cautious of who I kiss anyway. Seeing as men tend to just disappear no matter what. I thought a deputy would have been reliable,” I frowned, thinking of my last kiss and saw her waving her hand. “But that’s in the past.”
“Trin it’s not worth it if it isn’t felt both ways... but yeah it’s in the past.”
“I know.”
“Here... let’s do something. This will be funny.”
“I’m just making a point.”
“We’re going to make a list...”
“This sounds like work,” she frowned.
“Of the men, and I want names, that ARE in the past. from me and you, same list.”
“All the men in Tombstone? That I’ve ever met?”
“No, only the ones you’ve had an interest in, kissed, dated, gotten close to. Unless... That IS all the men in Tombstone?”
“Why?” I shook my head at her.
“Because I’m gonna add to it, and then burn it, and then it’s done.”
“Aly.”
“Just enlighten me.”
“It is done. I don’t want to talk about them anymore, that’s how done they are. I’ve dealt with it.”
“Ok.”
“I appreciate the thought behind it, I do...”
“I was just concerned when you brought that up.”
“I just don’t think we need to drudge up the past. My only point was that I am careful with who I kiss.”
“Ok, I’m letting it go.”
“And my most recent example was that I kissed a deputy, who I figured would be around.”
“Ok.”
“But it wasn’t there and I’ve accepted it. I’d love for the man to give you his danged statement, but nothing I can do about that.”
“I talked to him.”
“You did?”
“He said he’ll ‘have it soon’ but that was a few days ago. I haven’t seen him though. And I’m not giving up on Ben. Maybe I could....persuade...him.”
“So do you need me for that case then still?”
“No, let me try.”
“I can focus on the fire and this bandit thing. Okay, it’s all yours.”
“Unless you want to check up on Matt but let me try with Ben. Ok I can do both.”
“Haven’t seen him since that last night so I don’t know where he’d be. I don’t even know where he lives.”
“Trin...go ahead and focus on the fire thing.”
“Alright,” I nodded. “I mean you’ve got the warrant anyway.” I reached over to squeeze her hand and said, “I love you hon but don’t worry. I’m okay.”
“Part of being a best friend is that I worry. If I didn’t that would mean I didn’t care,” she smiled.
“Mmhmm, I know. Besides... Joe does seem really nice. I showed him James’ office which is almost up in rent by the way. He might take it over.”
“He does. I hope he hangs around. Oh that would be good, would be nice to have a place to put the bodies instead of just piling them in front of the door. Not that I do that.”
“Uh huh. How many bodies have you dealt with, really?” I winked.
“That’s why I added the last part. There were only two bodies I’ve had to do that with. The thing with Sasha and the time I thought Angeles was dead and..I hope she wasn’t upset I had her covered in a white sheet all night.”
“Mmhmm. I should get to work on this timeline. Going to head back across the road. I’ll see you later, yeah?”
“A’ight, hollar if ya need me! Thanks for the updates!” she said and I hugged her before heading out.
***
That night I walked around town and saw Mark standing in front of the sheriff’s office. I welcomed him back to the town and then went to do some work in the office. I walked to Tombstone and talked with Zannza about her husband Chris becoming a deputy. She told me that she enjoyed my singing the other day and I thanked her for the compliment.
“Wish I had more lawmen around that could actually help me with this stuff... Feel kinda out on my own lately.”
“They aren’t givin you a hand? Or more detective types?”
“I guess they are,” I shrugged. “They’re including me in cases at least... but I feel kinda lost right now with what to do.”
“Don’t suppose I could help in anyway...” she nodded.
“What do you know about Ben Stolen?” I asked after looking around.
“Hmmm well... I only met him a few times.. seems to keep more quiet than not.. unless he gets a drink or two.. I hadn’t had any trouble with him.. but some of the folks he runs with seem a bit shady.”
“Who does he run with?” I asked, nodding to Chris as he walked over. I hoped maybe he could provide some insight as well.
“Seen him with some lady...” she tapped her chin. “Let me think... oh hello love,” she greeted Chris.
“Do you recall the woman we saw with Ben the other day?”
“Yes. Name started with an ‘M’ I think,” he put in.
“Maggy, I think Sugar said this morning at the cafe?” I asked and cringed as I heard Ben yell something to someone in jail.
“Can’t recall the name.. hmm.. Maggie.. Melba.. Not sure but she was kinda.. aggressive acting honestly,” Zannza said. “Maggie, yea that sounds right...”
“Just asking your wife if she knows anything about Ben Stolen, if she’s heard anything negative about him,” I explained to Chris.
“I spoke with him briefly yesterday. Strange one, he is,” Chris said.
Gunshots rang out in Tombstone and I watched as outlaws ran all over the place with guns wrong. I looked at Chris, knowing there was nothing I could do, and said, “Think I’m going to head back home before I get shot.”
“Take care Miss Trin.. I will let you know if I hear anything worth knowin’,” Zannza nodded to me.
“Thanks, Zannza, I appreciate it,” I smiled and headed back to town.
Black Diamond.
As I was working in my office I heard Mark shout, “Hey Rikki the banks closed. Rats! Big ones!” A few minutes later he yelled, “Dammit Rikki! Put that fire out!”
“You put it out, lawman!” Rikki shouted back.
I ran outside and found Stormy looking around for Mark. We saw the flames at the bank and ran over to throw water on the fire. Eventually it went out and I asked Mark, “Mark... you saw Rikki do it?”
“Yeah little trouble maker,” he muttered.
“I’ll leave the reports and stuff to you then,” I said and headed home while coughing since I had gotten too close to the smoke.
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