Pearce.
I walked into the saloon this afternoon and joined in on the dance, but then when I saw Max, Alex’s friend from Boston who’d assisted me on several past cases, I went over to greet him. “Come to visit Alex?” I asked him.
“Yeah I figured before he had screaming kids in his house too.”
“Good plan.” I chuckled and we sat at the bar for a drink. “So how are things in Boston, Max?”
“Good.... Sort of.”
“Sort of?” I looked at him.
“I could use your help on a case.”
“What kind of case?”
“We can talk about it after. I want to enjoy my drink first.”
“Sure, we can head to Diamond after this and talk about it. I’ve been using the office out there more. Safer for the children.”
“Children?” He blinked and looked at me.
“Thomas and I live together in Bisbee... He adopted a son, Jimmy, and I adopted a daughter, Natalie. We skipped that annoying baby phase.”
“Oh Nat, yeah I think I met her last time I was out here. And smart people.”
“They’re great kids. Nat said that she started working for you, Bree? Bree runs a great cantina over in Black Diamond.”
“Yes this mornin’,” Bree said with a nod. “She does a great job.”
“She had fun givin’ coffee to ya’ll on the cavalry run too. So proud of her.” I looked over at Max and said, “Had to have the... talk with her.”
“The talk?”
“Mmhmm… The talk…”
“Do I want to know?”
“She asked how come there weren’t babies all over our house ’cause Thomas and I sleep together.”
“Seems that way at my house,” Max said and burst out laughing.
“I told her that we don’t do the thing that makes babies. We got enough kids.”
“My wife’s pregnant again.”
“Too much risk for babies these days... so we….” I blinked and looked at him. “She is?”
“Number nine!” He shrugged.
“Good gosh! How on earth are you still upright?”
“I’m not the one who has to give birth!” He laughed.
We continued to talk about writing out my memoirs as the dance continued and greeted people as they came into the saloon to join us.
After the dance, Max took me over to Alex and Aly’s place in Pearce and he showed me around the house. We sat down in the living room and he took out a large folder, handing me the papers from it. “Can you read these over at some point? I’d like your opinion on it.”
“I sure could.” I started to read the papers and said, “Looks like there’s been a lot of sickness over in Boston... People of all ages gettin’ it?”
“Yeah it’s strange. Looks like simple illness, yet the patterns don’t work like contagion. I suspect something else.”
“What sorts of people are getting sick? All ages or..?”
“It’s all in there, but mostly men. Adults. Sometimes the family gets sick too. But rarely anyone else around the victims.”
“Hmm… That’s odd.” I looked through the papers, reading peoples’ backgrounds and what they did for a living. “Looks like they’re mine owners... most of ’em…”
“My thoughts too. I can’t seem to get any of the other detectives to look into it, but there’s something going on.”
“I would tend to agree with you.” I nodded. “Any money missing from these businesses? Or anyone dying from the illnesses?”
“A few have died. No money missing, but… One person in particular seems to be profiting.”
“Oh?”
“I just need proof.”
“Profiting how?”
“Some of the business owners haven’t been able to keep working they’ve been so sick. Had to sell off, usually at a lower price than the business is worth. A Mr. Brian Macomber has been buying them. Or some anyway.”
“I wonder… If someone’s poisoning them. To make ’em sick and have to sell. So that he can scoop in and buy them.”
“That’s my thought. I can’t seem to prove it. And you’re the only one who seems to see what I see here.”
“I agree with you. It’s far too much of a not coincidence. You know what I mean?”
“Yes. I feel like I’m hitting a brick wall. I think some of the detectives back home might be on Macomber’s payroll. you know, not officially.”
“You think they’re in on it?” I asked and raised an eyebrow.
“That’s why I needed to come all the way out here to talk to you.”
“Very serious indeed…”
“I think that’s why they keep pushing it away and making excuses when I bring it up.”
“I wonder how we can prove this... Any doctors around there able to decipher if the illnesses were poisoning?”
“Autopsies are rare. I don’t think any of them have been tested. They just burn the bodies, saying they died of consumption”
“I think that needs to be your next step. If you can prove they were poisoned then…”
“I know what consumption looks like an that ain’t it.”
“Do you have pictures of the victims? Alex was a good doctor in his prime, you know.”
“I agree. I need to get some tissue samples. I’ll show him some photos. Maybe he can help.”
“I think you do. And I think you’re right on this case... and if these detectives are profiting with this….”
“I don’t trust anyone back home with this.”
“Then you’ve got a series crime here, Max.”
“Yes, that’s just what I’m worried about.”
“And if I were you.. I’d watch your back. They might come after you next. But you’ve got the leg up on them... You know their game now.”
“I’m already on high alert. I sent my wife and kids up to live on my dad’s farm.”
“Good plan. I think it’s too much of a coincidence that this guy’s profiting big from these businesses closing.”
“I think so too.”
“Something is up and I think he’s behind it. I wonder if he... gets to know the owners and such, then poisons them with a drink over a chat.”
“Thank you for letting me bounce this off you. You’re the only detective I can trust.”
“Of course. Thank you Max, that means a lot.”
“That could be. I need to find some link there.”
“I was worried my skills were deteriorating. I ain’t done a lot lately…”
“Naw, that’s like riding a bicycle.”
“Last case I had... Was the case back around Christmas…”
“That long ago?”
“There was one with a red rose left in some lady’s room last month at the hotel but… I suggested she go to another hotel and she’s been left alone. The case around Christmas hit too close to home. Literally.”
“Aly said that hotel is haunted.”
“Seemed the Wild Bunch were gettin’ revenge on me and my family for having hanged one of their members at court. Though the man was gonna be hanged no matter what happened at the trial.”
“Yikes! Those gangs are crazy.”
“They tacked a death threat to the cabinet in our kitchen... rummaged through the living room.. stole the kids’ presents… Left notes… Set my office in Tombstone on fire…”
“Stole the kids presents! Now that’s just down right low.”
“Heard they took ’em to the orphanage. As if that makes it better.”
“Well, yeah at least those kids got presents then. But still…”
“Then were both since arrested and sent to court for other crimes. So I let it be. Ain’t heard a word since.”
“Sometimes that’s the way to go.”
“We moved to another house in Bisbee… Told the children not to share the new location to anyone. That it has to be our own little safehouse. Was scary as hell, Max.”
“I can imagine. I’m afraid I’m going to be in the same boat soon.”
“The note said… ‘The hangmans noose will tighten round your neck next. Watch your back Miss Trin.’”
“Thankfully they’ve found other ways to amuse themselves. I started to use the office in Diamond more. Thomas became a deputy there instead of Tombstone/Bisbee. Things have been more peaceful. But I just... have no work.”
“Well, you can do my work now.” He chuckled.
“Ain’t much I can do for you on this case other than tell you you’re on the right track. You need to get those pictures to Alex… And get some samples from the autopsies if you can. To prove poisoning.”
“That’s helpful. Yeah if he’ll look at ’em”
“I’m sure he will, Max. For you?”
“Trin, he’s gotten really um... Did you know he’s a painter now?”
“A painter?” I sat up straighter as he pointed out the canvas in the next room. “He did that?!”
We talked for a while longer and then I headed home.
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