Tombstone.
This afternoon I walked into town after spending time with Thomas and saw Jimmy running over. I leaned down and hugged him and he asked, “What ya doin?”
I grinned and said, “Uh... Just lettin’ your father clean up his meess at the house. How you doin’?”
“Oh, what kinda mess did he make? He tryin to cook again?” Jimmy asked.
“Yep... didn’t quite go so well. This is why we eat in saloons,” I winked at him.
“Well he always said he could burn water,” Jimmy chuckled.
“Well sure but that don’t sound very healthy.”
“No, it don’t. I don’t like burnt water,” he chuckled.
“You want to get some rootbeer, kiddo?”
“Sure, that sounds good,” Jimmy nodded.
We headed to the hotel and got a couple of bottles of root beer. “Did you go to school today?”
“So ya been catchin any bad men ma?”
I chuckled and shook my head. “Well, that’s your daddy’s job, not mine. I just help him figure out what bad guys to catch,” I winked.
“No,” Jimmy frowned. “But poppa been teaching me to read and write, and history stuff since I never seem to make it to school.”
“Well that’s good. Seems you didn’t miss much. Nat said there was no teacher again so they all took turns teachin’ stuff. Then this lady taught about the origin of Thanksgiving.” I grabbed two muffins and led the way to the dining hall.
“Oh yeah? Oh, don’t that have to do with pilgrims and the indians.”
“Yup!”
“Did you hear about the saloon in Benson last night?”
“Nope, not yet,” I tilted my head to the side.
“It got burned to the ground.”
“It what!?” I blinked.
“Yeah, and it had this big ole picture of an old ugly woman on it, nailed to the front, and a cross.”
“How’d you hear about that?”
“I think Miss Zan said her name was Carrie Nation, I seen the picture before, when Miss Baylinda went round town talking about Temperance and bad alcohol.”
“Hmm… Don’t know any Carrie Nation. Guess I’ll have to keep an eye out.”
“But then Mr Chris show up, say that’s where they gonna build his new church.”
“Oh yeah?”
“That’s what he say…s'posedly this old woman is famous fer closing saloons she carry an axe everywhere she go...but I don’t think it was her who did it,” Jimmy said.
“You think someone did it for her?” I asked and he nodded. “Guess we’ll have to keep watching and maybe catch the person in the act.”
“Oh, excuse me!” Jimmy took a drink of his rootbeer.
“Like father like son…” I giggled.
“That what pa say bout you and Natalie…” Jimmy giggled.
“It’s like we’re all a family by birth even though we’re not,” I laughed.
“Ma, you really look perty with your hair down and longer..I know pa like it too.”
“Thanks kiddo. I found this hat in my clothes chest and had to try it on again,” I smiled.
“Did Natalie tell you she gonna be a porter for Jeffery and the Bee?” Jimmy asked.
“Mmhmm she sure did. I think that’s great. She was workin’ in the clinic too much. Didn’t let her have fun. And sometimes she’d skip school cause of it.”
“Yeah, I never got to see her when she work there...I love havin a sis and momma again..even if it ain’t ummm official church wise..” Jimmy chuckled.
“Well…” I chuckled. “You know why right kiddo? It ain’t cause I don’t love your daddy.”
“I know ma, you have too many bad times with men in past right?”
“Mmhmm. Too many of em up and left me all alone. When I was just startin to get attached. But your daddy’s givin’ me faith again.”
“I not understand ma. You to wonderful and lovable, I cant ever think why no one would leave you.”
“I dunno, kiddo. Just happened lots,” I shrugged. “I was almost married, you know…”
“You was?”
“Mmhmm. I never told you that story?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Well see... I’d met this man up at an event up in Canada... Found out he was from down in Texas… Well anyway... we started to fall in love and were gonna get married. But my pa and ma didn’t like he was from all the way down in Texas. So... he was gonna come up to talk to em about gettin’ married… But he…” I stopped and looked down, getting a bit emotional.
“But ifn you love someone, does distance matter?” Jimmy looked at me and came over to hug me tightly. “It ok momma.”
“Thanks kiddo. Well he.. he died in a stage coach accident on the way up north…” I smiled and hugged him. “But his sister was a real good friend of mine too... and I went down to live with her for a while. I couldn’t stay up north. My ma and pa didn’t want me to be sad about him dyin’.”
“Oh my! Well, you comin down south brought you to me and pa, and now we aint never gonna let you go,” Jimmy smiled.
“So I stayed down south. Lived in Texas a while then moved to Colorado. Thanks kiddo. That means a lot,” I smiled and rubbed his back. “Thanks kiddo. That means a lot. It’s just hard for me to be happy about marriage…”
“When you lived in Texas, you ever see the Alamo?”
“Cause I almost had it and well…”
“Sure did. Jenny wouldn’t let me stay there without takin’ me there,” I nodded.
“I got to see it too, when I went to visit Texas with pa,” Jimmy smiled.
“Mmhmm, I remember you two goin’ there. Jimmy, can you do me a favor?”
“Sure.”
“Can you keep an extra close eye on Natalie? I’m afraid now she’s goinna be reportin’, she’ll get herself into trouble more. I know she’s older but I need you two to stick together.”
“Of course momma...I also tell he she need wear shoes...she almost went in that saloon last night barefoot. Aspen went inside with shoes and stepped on a nail.”
“Yeah she really does need to start wearin’ shoes,” I nodded and we continued to talk as we finished our lunch.
***
This evening, I walked down the street and saw the crowd at Kate’s, including Bear. I went over to greet Thomas and hugged him tightly and kissed him. “Feel like gettin’ a drink?” I asked Thomas.
“Well well, what have we here?” TJ asked, looking between us.
“I’ll take care of it, don’t worry,” Bear said.
“Well looky here, my favorite two outlaws together again,” Thomas said.
“Together again, you mean there was a time when we wasn’t?” Lisa asked.
“You two ain’t causin’ trouble in Kate’s, are you?” Thomas asked them.
“I’m going to go in and get a drink,” I looked at Thomas and went into the saloon and Thomas joined me inside. “What the heck did I miss?” I asked, looking around the group.
“I done told her she had no business in there,” Lisa nodded towards me.
“I give up with you two,” Bear shook his head.
“Well there was a pow wow all day today,” Zeth said randomly.
“While you’re back there you wanna fill up my flask?” I asked Zeth and handed it to him.
“So what’s going on, if I might ask?” Thomas looked around.
“Kids have business in the saloon. Ain’t no rule against it,” I shrugged.
“Oh we gonna rob a bank,” TJ said. “So we see ya later.”
“What do you want in it?” Zeth asked.
“Whiskey, please,” I said and gave him some change.
“Oh you are are you?” Thomas asked.
“My mouth’s dry and going for brandy,” Zeth said and looked around for the alcohol.
“Yup and ain’t a damn thing ya gonna do about it,” TJ said.
“We will see about that TJ. We will see,” Thomas shook his head.
“Yes we will,” TJ nodded.
“Now if you two will excuse me, I better things to do,” Thomas said then and headed out to patrol.
I asked Zeth what the little girl’s name was and he wasn’t sure, but he thought it might have been Molly. Thomas walked back in and I asked him everything was going alright and we talked about how we thought TJ and Lisa might do something stupid.
“I already got a burned up Dutch Annie’s to deal with, dont really need another robbery on top of it,” Thomas said.
“A what?!” I blinked at him.
“Will you need help? I’m a Sgt. Ranger,” Zeth said.
“I am not sure yet,” Thomas said and looked at me. “Someone set fire to Dutch Annie’s today.”
I stuffed my flask in my pocket and looked at him. “You don’t know who did it?”
“I don’t know why but my hairs on my neck are acting up,” Zeth muttered. “Something is going on.”
“I have an idea. It involves the Wild Bunch and one Steve Itano,” Thomas said. We all started to smell something burning and Thomas was the first to ask, “What the hell?”
“Damn it…” I muttered and shook my head.
“Oh no!” Zeth shouted and we hurried outside to get buckets of water and poured them on the Russ Hotel as it had been set up in flames.
“Oh No!!! FIRE FIRE FIRE!!” Thomas shouted as we continued to put it out. Paisley and Grant helped us out as we threw water on the fire.
“Is there anyone in the upper floors that need to be evacuated?!” Zeth shouted out.
“Take your time, the food’s starting to cook it smells nice!” a voice shouted then and cackled.
“That voice... I don’t recognize it…” I said and I ran around, looking for the source of the voice as the fire started to go out. I ran upstairs, looking around.
“TRIN! Looks for residents get them out!” Thomas shouted to me.
“Will do!” I shouted and knocked on all of the doors. I saw a man on the balcony of the undertaker’s office and shouted, “You!”
“Me?” the man asked. “YOU!”
“First the saloon in Benson last night. Now Dutch Annies and the Russ Hotel Kitchen,” Thomas was saying down below.
“You were laughin’! You cackled! Said the food was cookin’!” I shouted to him and then shouted, “Thomas!”
“It was, wasn’t it?!” the man said. “It smelled good! Plus I thought of a funny joke.”
“How can you just sit there when all this is goin’ on?” I asked him. “You ain’t tryin to help or nothing?”
“Naw, I have a fear of fires…” he shook his head.
“Well you’re sittin’ awfully close to one.”
“Wallace shouts: TRIN whats going on?!” Thomas shouted.
“On the balcony Thomas! He was laughin’ and jokin’ about the fire! What’s your name, mister?” I asked and stepped a bit closer to him.
“What’s yours beautiful?” the man asked.
“You tell me yours I’ll maybe tell you mine.”
“I don’t like them odds,” he said as I heard gunshots going off down below.
“It ain’t odd at all. You’ve got a bear cap on. That got somethin to do with it?”
“Come on, I’ve done nothing but laugh.”
“Yeah right... and not help put out the fire.”
“I needed something to keep myself calm with the fire. I get scared around fire.”
“What’s your name?”
“I told you, tell me yours first.”
“Don’t work that way.”
“It don’t work that way with me either.”
“You’re afraid of fires, yet you’ll sit on the balcony of the building next door to the fire? And laugh about it?”
The man kicked back on the chair then and uncorked his whiskey flask as I watched him closely. “Well I was running, but i smelled something wonderful and got distracted. So I came up here.”
“Something wonderful huh.. You ever think of writin’ your own stories? You’re awfully good at it.”
“Well, when the truth is told, it is quite interesting isn’t it?” I sighed when the shooting had finished down below and turned towards the hotel as he shouted, “Toodles!”
I coughed a bit from the smoke in the hotel and covered my face as I ran back downstairs. I made my way outside, still coughing. “Thomas… You okay?” I asked him between coughs.
“Hey you up there on the balcony, come down here for a moment,” Thomas ordered to the man I’d been talking to.
“Lisa is arrested and in the bank there is another here too!” Zeth shouted.
“He was cacklin’ and shoutin’,” I said to him.
“Yes, Zeth got those two in the bank,” Thomas said to Zeth.
“Lisa, I will help you even if you are guilty!” Grant shouted then.
“Help me, Grant,” Lisa shouted. “Don’t let them take me! I’m shot and he’s gonna let me die!”
“Said he was afraid of fire... but now he’s sittin beside the place that was on fire,” I said between coughing.
“Where are you hon?” Grant shouted.
Suddenly the man with the mask started to run and we swore as I tried to catch my breath from all the smoke. Grant shouted that a bear was loose in the town and that everyone needed to run for their lives and Paisley commented that it sounded more like a chicken. The man with the mask growled and Grant backed off as Lisa shouted in pain from inside the building. We made it to the clinic and Thomas got up on a bed.
“Thomas, I hope you got TJ. These two were found inside the bank,” Zeth said to him. I went over to make sure Thomas was okay and it wasn’t long before Lot and Ivy showed up.
“Yes I am ok love. Zeth caught those two, I want to find this Bear guy. Something tells me, he may be involved,” Thomas said.
“Bear? That’s his name? The guy with the bear hat?” I asked him. “He was sittin up on the balcony of the undertaker’s durin’ the fire. I found him up there.”
“I guess, I heard that name called out by someone,” Thomas said.
“I tried to get his name but he wouldn’t tell me,” I said. “He said he was afraid of fire. Seemed odd since he was sittin next door to it.” Zeth tried to get Sniper and the others to back away from the table and I told Thomas, “I bet you the fire was a distraction while these two robbed the bank.”
“Folks, let the doctor do her job, everyone into the waiting area now. Thank you,” Thomas ordered and I nodded.
“I’m going to find out who set that damn fire,” I said and walked outside. Seeing the man with the bear mask on the ground I nudged him with my foot. “What the hell?” Looking over at Paisley I asked, “Pais, you know the name of this man on the ground?”
“For him to say,” she shrugged.
The man started to sigh and slowly get up and I exhaled. “Ah good, it moves.”
“I did not feel it right for Grant to treat him that way name or not,” Paisley said.
“I think he may have bitten one of the bank robbers,” Grant said.
“I know it Trin,” Paisley said.
“What makes you say that Grant?” I asked him.
“And till I hear her name, I won’t be sharing,” the man muttered.
“You know it and I need it for my investigation,” I shook my head at Paisley and looked back to the man. “Alright fine. My name’s Trin. Your turn.”
“Well it is acting like a bear, right?” Grant said.
“Thank you," the man smiled. “The name’s Bear.”
“That wasn’t so hard, was it?” I sighed, noticing the man was wearing gloves so I wouldn’t be able to get prints on anything he’d touched.
“Grant, why do you think he was part of the robbery?” I asked him.
“Don’t make assumptions Grant,” Paisley warned.
“Well he was on the roof or balcony of the undertakers,” Grant said.
“Yeah I talked to him there but that don’t prove nothin. Maybe he’s an undertaker,” I told him and he laughed.
“I did tend to the dead,” Bear shrugged.
“You assumed he was an actual bear,” Paisley said.
“Well he could scare folks to death,” Grant said.
“Did anyone actually see this man with matches?” I asked.
“Not me,” Paisley shook her head.
“Not me but…” Grant said. “I was just leaving the Russ.”
“Or dynamite? Flint?” I asked and they shook their heads. “What’d you see when you were leaving the Russ?”
“The boom stick?” Bear asked. “Ever seen one stuck in a coyotes backside when it goes off?”
“Nothing but soon as I got to the corner I smelled smoke,” Grant said.
“Do I dunk the remainin water over you Bear?” Paisley asked him.
“I could use a bath,” Bear smiled cutely with a wink to Paisley.
“Anyone else around that might’ve seen something?” I asked impatiently.
“We can discuss that later…” Paisley smiled at him.
“Yep you could indeed. Nothin’ worse than wet bear fur,” Grant commented.
“Well getting bear shit stuck in your nose, thats terrible. Feel bad now for the man I did it too,” Bear said.
I sighed and walked back to the sheriff’s office since no one would help me. I started to write a report on the hotel fire and then Trin came in and asked me to come with him. We walked outside and walked over to Grant.
“Grant, I need you if you will please,” Thomas said to him.
“You deputizin’ folks, dear?” I asked him.
“Yes I am. I want you and Grant to be deputies to help me and Zeth,” Thomas said.
I sighed and looked at my stopwatch and said, “Dear... it’s getting late. I need to write up this report on the hotel while it’s still fresh.”
“Grant you got a gun?” Thomas asked him.
“Yeah ready,” Grant nodded.
I put a hand on Thomas’ shoulder and said, “You’ll be fine love.” I stepped back into the office, knowing I couldn’t leave the kids alone too late at home and wrote up the report quickly before heading back home to be with Jimmy and Natalie.
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