Tombstone.
I walked down the street this morning and saw Prudence, Angel and Bree talking in front of the hotel. “Angel, just the lady I’m looking for.”
Bree introduced me to baby Tarra and I smiled, looking at the baby as Bree headed to the bank.
“Angel, can I ask you a question?” I looked at her.
“Yes ma’am.” She nodded.
“I heard that you witnessed the events at Dutch Annie’s last week... where the mayor was held up and the place was robbed.”
“Last night, no.” Angel shook her head.
“No a week or so ago.”
“I did see part of that, yes.”
“Were you not there when the James brothers held up the mayor and robbed Annie’s last week? Oh okay good. Do you think you could write down for me what you witnessed?”
“Come, let us sit down. Last night I was shot again,” Angel said and we sat down on the bench.
I took out a blank form and a pen and smiled. “Can you tell me what you witnessed? I’ll write while you speak.”
“I was down the street when I heard a commotion. I went closer, stupid me. I saw a man shot down and grabbed my trevoi I made and went to offer help. I took one man to the clinic.”
“Do you know their names?”
“An then noticed another down. When I went back to help again a nervous dove thought he was going to get up an shoot an I got the blast. They were no one I know.”
“Okay,” I said and nodded, trying to resist a sigh.
“The one I was helping second, I guess he was the bad man. I don’t blame the dove. I was in wrong place.”
“Unfortunate, indeed. Is that all you witnessed?” I asked with a nod.
“Last night was crazy too,” Angel said. “The one was screaming at mr wise he wanted money. When I got shot, things went blurry and I went down.”
“You don’t know who shot you, do you?”
“The dove was very sorry an I was shot by the bad man.”
“Ah okay, so you were shot by a dove by accident.”
“Yes ma’am.”
“I understand.”
“The dealings with Mr. Grant last night…” she said.
“Do you know of any other names of people that were there?”
“I did not take down any names, but I did not know this person,” Angel said, shaking her head.
I handed her the statement and asked her to read it over to sign. I asked her to include if she could testify in court and she read the statement, signing it and handing it to me.
“I think the outlaws pushed Mr. Grant too far,” Angel told me.
“Thank you. You said there was another incident last night?” I asked, taking the statement from her.
“Yes ma’am.”
“What does this have to do with Mr Grant?”
“Last night Mr. Grant went crazy, I think.”
“I’m listening…”
“After what the outlaws did to him the weekend before,” Angel said. “I can’t blame him. I think the poor soul’s snapped like a fresh green bean.”
I stood and nodded. “Well I need to take care of some other things. Thank you for your statement, Angel.”
She thanked me and I headed out to the office. A couple hours later I walked into Annie’s and waved to Jenna and Reb. “How are you doing Trin? Good I hope ?” Reb asked.
“I’d be better if I had this case off my desk but I keep hitting dead ends. literally. Reb, you haven’t seen June or Kef recently, have you?” I asked.
“I saw Kef last night as she had popped in to check on us. I have not seen June since the night of the shooting sadly.”
“Dang.. I just need those two and Mahko’s statements… No one knows who killed William and Wolvie. Or who shot Kef.”
“I haven’t seen June in ages,” Jenna said.
“I will let Kef know if I see her she should be in Annie’s on Thursday when we have our event,” Reb said. “Some former doves have returned Jenna, like Dany and Iwana.”
“Was hoping to get done by then because I want this in the next court docket but right now it’s too incomplete.”
“That’s good… haven’t seen either of those two in awhile either,” Jenna said. “I haven’t set foot inside here in months actually.”
“If I see Kef tonight I will certainly remind her but she pops in late,” Reb said to me.
“I’m only here to get statements.” I nodded to Jenna and looked over at Reb. “Thanks Reb. I would appreciate it.”
“Oh it is so good to see you Jenna,” Reb said and smiled at her and looked at me. “Oh I do want the case to be closed Trin. Have a nice day Trin!”
“You too... happy hunting,” Jenna said.
“You and me both Reb,” I said and sighed.
I walked down the street and saw a bunch of horses around Cole. I asked him where the horses came from and he said that the wolves had chased them from Benson to Tombstone. I pet the horses and grins down seeing Shadow, my wolf, coming over. I pet the wolf and saw that she was whimpering softly. I looked over at Cole and said I would bring the wolf with me to get away from the horses. Cole said he’d check her over and he came to look at the wolf. He wiped blood out of the dog’s coat and covered the scratches with willow salve and rubbed it in. He said that Shadow got some attention from the mares and I continued to pet the wolf.
“Hey Trin, guess what,” Cole said and looked at me with a grin.
“What, Cole?”
“I finally got to fire my gun,” he said with a laugh.
“Did you? Who’d you shoot?” I chuckled.
“Yes over the wolf’s head so shot nothing but did get to shoot it…”
“Still counts.” I chuckled and said, “I need a drink... this case I’m working is the death of me. Two people were killed and I’ve gotten five statements and no one saw who killed them.”
“After two nights ago, who is dead now?” Cole asked.
“It’s the case where the mayor was held up and Annie’s was robbed. James brothers shot a bunch of people and two were killed. I don’t want to hand this report in until I know who committed murder but no one saw that part. And so many people give me statements without names.”
“Well Trin maybe we should make a law where everyone has to wear their name on their backs,” Cole said and laugh.
“Would make life easier if everyone just wore tags.” I chuckled with agreement and asked, “Can we get that drink?”
“I suppose one won’t hurt..”
We walked down the street and saw some people by the bank talking. Bree was talking about how Tristan had bought baby Tarra a new dress that morning and I took out my flask to drink some whiskey.
I told Cole I’d be right back and went over to the sheriff’s office where I greeted Kris and he greeted me in Navajo. “I need your help with something…”
“What’s up?”
I went to sit beside him, leaning back against the wall with frustration. “Okay... has anyone come to you about the incident in Annie’s last week? When the James brothers were in town and they robbed it and held up Adrian at gunpoint?”
“No.”
“I’ve been working the case all week… Thing is… Two people were killed. But whether that’s because no doctors showed up or because they were intentionally killed, I don’t know.”
“The James gang was hanged for that.”
“For what exactly?” I asked as David walked over then.
“‘Lesat that’s what I heard.”
“Kris, what were they hanged for?” asked him again.
“Murder, as I recall.”
“Which murder?”
“Just two people killed. That’s all I heard.”
I looked at him seriously and asked, “Don’t tell me I just wasted a whole week on a case that doesn’t exist… When were those two people killed?”
“Not sure.”
“I’ve been trying to figure out who killed those two that were dead at Dutch Annie’s last week.”
“Talk to Angeles about it. She did the hanging.”
“Okay… I heard they were hanging them but I didn’t know what for.”
“Okay.”
“I’d love to close this case but I can’t do it all by myself with no one keeping me in the loop.”
“Join the club.”
“Guess I’ll just send it to Cas and see what he thinks. Thanks, Kris,” I said and headed home.
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