Benson.
I rode over to Irish’s place in Benson and saw him inside the barn. I hopped off Phoenix and went over to open the gate and called, “Hello?”
“Hello there Trin. Nice to see you out here. What we owe the pleasure?” Jade asked.
“Hi there. I was just riding around and looking for my cousin actually. Heard voices in the barn and thought I would come to see who was out here. I have great news.”
“Aye, come on through. He in barn helping with sick horse.”
I smiled and went in to hug my cousin happily as he came close. “How’s Natalie?” he asked.
“Natalie’s back! She got her memory back!” I told both of them.
“I was here when monk helped her,” Jade said. “He was very good.”
“It worked! She remembers everything now!” I smiled.
“Good to hear.. I saw her the other day..and she remembered some when she was there..” Irish said.
“Yeah. Now we just have to get her over her fear of horses and we’ll be doing okay.”
“She was very afraid of horses though,” Jade pointed out.
“I’m hoping Irish can help her with that..” I said, looking at him.
“Even got her to pet a baby for a few minutes,” Irish said.
“She was riding with my brother Joshua when it happened. Wouldn’t surprise me it’s the big ones she’s cared of. She spoke well of you though, Jade. I think she really liked you.”
“If you need bring her out. Irish get see horses and help her, please do.”
“I’m going to be singing over in Bisbee if ya’ll want to come here me there. Not sure how big a crowd it will be. It’s a ghost town everywhere it seems.”
“She will get over it Trin.. just need to go slow and start small.. with a pony maybe,” Irish said.
“Cause maybe day all sad cause of Miss Victoria maybes?” Little Evey suggested from where she was watching us closely.
“Well I was sad to hear that news,” I nodded to her, remembering that Victoria had passed away recently. “I knew her for a long time.”
“Aye I was very said to hear that,” Jade said.
“I didn’t know her very well ..but she seemed like a nice lady,” Irish said.
Jade went to look after the horses and then I looked at Irish. “You all are going to come to Bisbee then? I don’t want to take you from your work, of course.”
“Going to find Enola and we will come dancing I think haven’t been for awhile,” Irish said.
“Great! I’m going to ride back to Bisbee and get changed. I’ll see you all over there then!”
Irish hugged me and I headed over to Bisbee.
Bisbee.
I did my gig at the Stock Exchange and greeted everyone who had come to listen.
“Ma… Ma! Did you hear Natalie got her memory back?” Jimmy asked with a smile.
“I sure did!” I smiled.
“She say it was some quiet man who did it."
“Mmhmm, some monk with some healing herbs and such.”
We said goodbye to the others and then Natalie ran into the saloon. “I remember everything now!” she exclaimed.
“Natalie have you seen the quiet man any more?” Jimmy asked.
“Natalie, you remember my friend Jinxy from Canada?” I asked her, smiling at my friend.
“Jimmy why didn’t you wake me???” Nat asked him.
“You looked so comfy, I not want to wake you,” Jimmy said.
“Hi miss Jinxy! Course I remember! I remember everything now!” Nat exclaimed.
“Natalie have you seen the quiet man any more?” Jimmy asked.
“Hi Miss Natalie…” Jinxy reached down to scoop Nat up. “Oh so good to see you little one!”
“Nope, Not seen mister Joe yet. Not since he helped me.” Nat shook her head and hugged Jinxy tight. “Hi Miss Jinxy!”
“It’s so good to have you here, Jinx,” I told her. “You said Adrian showed you around?”
“Yeah we can show you if he didn’t! I remember where everything is!” Nat exclaimed.
“Yes he did… quickly,” Jinxy said.
“So glad you got your mind back sister.” Jimmy chuckled and ran over to hug her tightly.
“Well my coach is waiting and I fear the chaperon will leave .. I need to stop by the farm house I am interested in buying,” Jinxy said.
“I always had my mind, bro, it just took a um... vacation.” Nat giggled.
“Definitely. Well we’ll catch up and you can meet Thomas soon hopefully, since he wasn’t with us in Canada.” I nodded to her.
“I so understand that situation,” Jinxy said to me.
“Yeah pa was snoring loudly upstairs when I come down… I couldn’t take a nap,” Jimmy said.
“That would be lovely… I can’t wait..and Trin you sound just as beautiful as ever,” Jinxy said.
“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” I chuckled. “Thank you hon.. meant a lot you could meet my cousins as well.”
We continued to talk with Jinxy and then went to see the stables as Ma headed home and Jinxy went to settle in at her hotel.
***
I sat at my desk tonight, reading my notebook. I sighed from boredom and wanting to work. I walked around town and then heard someone up on a hill. I reached for my gun and walked up but relaxed when I saw that it was Thomas. “Thomas... you scared me.”
Thomas jumped back as he saw me go for my gun and said, “Hey hey hey! Don’t shoot! How did I scare you? Didn’t you hear me say hi sweetheart?”
I exhaled and reached for his hand, pulling him close. “Sorry, just a little jumpy I guess. So bored and restless that all I can do is listen to the silence. Then the slightest movement makes me jump out of my skin.”
He hugged me and pressed his lips to mine in a passionate kiss. “What a beautiful skin you have to jump out of too.”
“You’re awful... Are you out patrolling baby? I’ve never been up here.” I looked around, curious at all the buildings.
“Me neither. I saw these two buildings as I walked towards Black Diamond and wondered what was up here. This building is abandoned and has blood splatter all over one wall. Plus its full of old books.”
“Blood splatter??”
“Yep… and someone wrote something by Shakespeare in the blood. It looks old though.”
“Show me?” I raised an eyebrow and put on my gloves.
We walked through the broken door and I saw the blood on the wall in the abandoned room. “I don’t wanna know where all that blood came from,” I said as I looked around at all the blood. I went up to see if I could find dust prints and said, “It’s pretty old blood, dear. I doubt I could ever find out who it is. Probably contaminated too.”
“I don’t know but I wonder if Adrian or maybe Cas would know anything about this. Whenever this happened, I am sure it had to be a body that did that.”
“If they even remember anything about it.” I turned and gave him a pair of gloves when he requested it. “Wow…” I said when I saw all the old books on the shelf.
“Oh my… well I think I know what did this…” Thomas pulled out his pocket knife and started to dig into the wall. “Woah! That had to hurt!”
“You sure it’s human blood?” I looked over at him.
He dug several pellets from the wall and dropped them into a little pouch he had in his belt. “Oh I am pretty sure. This wall is peppered with 10 gauge shot pellets,” he said and I cringed. “From what I would figure, this was a point blank blast from about where this chair is.”
Shira came into the house then and went straight to Thomas, licking his hand first in greeting. I muttered and said, “Figures. While you two reunite, I’m going to check out upstairs.”
Thomas laughed as Shira tried to pull off his glove and I walked upstairs, stopping in my tracks at what I saw. “Uh… Thomas?”
“Yes dear?”
“You might wanna come up here.”
“Uh oh! Shira stay down here ok,” Thomas said and gave something to Shira to distract her before joining me upstairs.
I looked over at him, then back at the bed frame. “This makes no sense.”
“What the?!” Thomas looked down behind me to see the old tea kettle. “Did you look to see if there was anything in that yet?”
I looked into the kettle with my gloves still on and found a note. I pulled it out and looked at him as I read, “Dated 1873…”
“Wow!” Thomas said and Shira barked again, clearly wanting to join us upstairs. “Shira come on up girl… be careful on those steps!” He shouted down to her.
I continued to read the note and said, “‘They kept me here another day. I reckon I ain’t know what they’ll do to me. They wanted information... but I never gave it. And I never will. The information will stay secret in this tea kettle.”’
“What do you think of it dear? Does it have any name on it?”
I looked at it and then to Thomas. I kept reading and said, “‘I know who really killed Joe Borden.’” I looked at Thomas and asked, “Who the heck is Joe Borden?”
“Joe Borden? Oh my…. he was a miner who was killed for cheating supposedly in a card game… but they never found out who did it for sure… the guy who was accused, disappeared suddenly out of the Tombstone jail one night.”
“Wow…” I shook my head.
“I think that the Earp brothers might have been involved somehow in investigating it… but nothing ever come of it… heck that was nearly 30 years ago.”
“Great... Yeah, a thirty year old case was probably solved but... At least it’s kept us occupied for a couple hours.” I winked at him and watched Shira go back downstairs. I wandered after her as Thomas looked over at the bed frame.
“I just wonder what really happened in here. I guess we will never know.”
I sighed, not wanting to think about what they used the bed for. I shook my head at all the blood on the wall, “Let’s... let’s go check out that antique store across the street. Whatever happened here is best left in the past.”
We walked down the stairs and Thomas picked up on of the books piled on the floor and opened it. Swearing loudly, he threw the book back on the floor. I turned and ran to him, asking, “What, dear? What is it?”
“Ummm… whatever you do… DO NOT open those books!”
I looked from him to the books as I put a hand on his shoulder. “Honey, I’m a Pinkerton. Tell me... What is it?”
Thomas moved his boot over to the book he had picked up and kicked open the cover revealing a finger. “THAT!”
I swallowed hard, seeing the finger. “What the…” I started and backed up, a bit shaken. Shira growled even more at the finger, and I pet her back. “Shh... Shira... it’s okay…” I tried to tell myself more than the dog.
“Ummm… yeah… I don’t want to find out if there are any more parts in these books… do you get my drift?”
Shira continued to growl at the books and I looked at Thomas. “Okay... I think it’s time we... get out of here.”
Thomas nodded to me in agreement. “That’s the best thing I heard all day sweetheart.” We walked outside and Thomas told me, “Dear, we got to make sure to tell Natalie and Jimmy to keep out of there.”
“I know. If we don’t tell them it exists, maybe they won’t want to investigate.”
“Yeah, but we both know how they are both nosey and love to explore.” Thomas fed Shira some more beef jerky and we walked towards Tombstone. I hesitated, not wanting to go further and Thomas looked at me. “Trin?”
“I just... I don’t know.” I looked over at him.
“What do you know about this man who helped Natalie?”
“Uh... I know he’s a monk.. of some sort. And he used herb and stuff that was poking her gently. She said she barely felt it. She said he put a warm cloth on her forehead and something smelled really good.”
“Did she say where this took place?”
“She said it happened over in Goldfield. In that army tent by the kid’s game room.”
“Hmmmm… she must mean the first aide station over there… I just hope this guy isn’t some weirdo after kids. I mean why would he just up and do something like that?”
“She said he couldn’t talk. And wrote everything down to tell her what he was saying. She felt.... calm around him, she said.”
Thomas scratched his head and looked confused. “I haven’t heard anything about him around town. he must definitely be new.”
“I hope to find him and thank him some day soon. He helped her so much, dear. If he hadn’t…” I shook my head.
Thomas put an arm around me and hugged me tightly. “I don’t want to think about it dear. I am so happy she has her memory back. I was afraid she would never remember who I was ever again.”
Jade walked over then and said they had lost a buckskin mare but we told her that we hadn’t seen any. She continued on her search I looked over at Thomas and said, “We need to get home to see the kids, Thomas.”
“Yes we do dear. I don’t like leavin them alone too long. Did Natalie tell you her and Jimmy went to the stables today?” Thomas asked.
“Yeah she did. Come on, let’s walk home.”
I led the way back home and we climbed into bed after kissing the kids on their foreheads. I leaned against him with a sig hand he held me close.
“You okay dear?” He asked.
“The last time I saw a finger like that... was back in Georgetown. In ’70. When Slick Jesse had... Somehow it was related to Sam Stillwater. I think it was his ex-wife’s finger or something like that. Or someone from an old case of his. I can’t remember.”
“Oh my. Well I have never seen anything like that except once back in Texas. But even then it was just a skeleton bone of a body long long gone.”
“Part of me longs to go to Allen Street but the other part... I kind of like the idea of sticking around here to have some quality family time away from the bullying there... I’ll just use my office in Diamond more now.”
“I think it would be safer for you that way baby. The Wild Bunch has way too much control in Tombstone now. Let them have it if they want. We will be fine right here in Bisbee.”
“You’re right. Oh... did I tell you that my friend Jinxy came to my gig in Bisbee today? She and I grew up together in Canada. She was the only one I was close to outside of family when I moved south to Texas all those years ago. We saw her when I brought the kids up the other week. I guess I talked about this place so much she wanted to come see what all the fuss was about.”
“Well I be darned. No you hadn’t told me. How is she liking our little part of the world so far? A big change from Canada I am sure. Has she found a place to stay yet?”
“I think she really liked it. She never mentioned where she was staying but I think she was going to look at a house.”
“I’m glad… I hope to meet her soon. You talked a lot about her, she sounds like a really nice lady.”
“She really is. She’s like the sister I never had,” I smiled and then fell asleep in his arms.
No comments:
Post a Comment