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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 3134357" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter Ninety-five, “Murders at Dawn”, Thursday June 8th , 1882, 5:45 A.M. Chester is awakened by a knocking at his door. He hears Thom’s voice say “Marshall Chet, Marshall Berg is downstairs. He needs you right away.”  As Chester heads downstairs he the light of dawn has crept over the horizon and the sun is just beginning to show its face when Chester sees Mitchell Berg is standing near the bar. Berg says, “Go get your horse Chet, we have a bit of riding ahead of us. Ken Wagner of the Thayer Ranch has just informed me that three recently killed bodies are up by the Dos Cabezas Mountains a few miles to the north of the Thayer Ranch.” Chester runs his fingers through his hair. "Damn. What in Hades is going on around here? Does Sheriff Hunter know about this? That's his territory." Chester pauses and adds, "Oh, and do we know where Wyatt Earp was?"   Berg lowers his voice, even though nobody else is in the room, and says, "Chet.....Deputy Sheriff Hunter is one of the three bodies."Chester stops combing his hair and looks at Berg with a start. "This just went from bad to worse. Let me grab my rifle and I'll be with you." Chester unlocks the gun cabinet and grabs his rifle. He loads it with normal ammunition. "Let's go, Marshall. Who's coming with us?"  Berg says, "Neil, Priestess Florencia, and the Bishop."  Chester nods, "Good thinking. I don't want a repeat of what happened last time either." Meanwhile, a few blocks away Minerva is awakened by a knock on the door. She hears the voice of her neighbor, Deputy Marshall Neil Cassidy say, “Priestess, I’m sorry to have to wake you but the Marshall could use some help from either you or one of your house guests.”     Minerva, as usual had awoken with the dawn and was giving thanks to her gods when she hears the knock at the door. She dons her robe and rushes to answer it. "Deputy Cassidy?! What is the trouble?"He replies, "Trouble. One of the ranchers from the Thayer ranch came into town with news of some dead bodies. Since the last time he and Chet went out there they were nearly killed he's decided to be more careful this time. He's bringing three deputies this time instead of one and thought it might be a good idea to have one or two of you priests along as well, in case it's some sort of trap and we need healing."She says, "I will wake one of them and meet you at the Sheriffs office in twenty minutes. Minerva knocks on the guest bedroom door. "Costas?" she whispers. "There has been some trouble. We are needed." She quickly explains the situation to him.   Minerva quickly dresses in her riding clothes. She grabs her rifle and sword and then knocks on Nakomo's door to let him know that she has business to attend to. He eye's her weapons with panic in his eyes. "Where are you going? I am coming with you!" She places her hands on his shoulders and looks him in the eye to reassure him. "It is alright Nakomo. I will stay out of harms way. The sheriff has asked me to accompany him and it is always best to be prepared. The Bishop and Deputy Martin will be with me. I will be well protected. You go to school and I will see you later in the day." She calls to Luna to accompany her and she and Costas quickly stride to the stable, saddle their horses and ride to the Sheriff's office. She enters without knocking and introduces the Bishop. "We are ready."Deputy Marshall Eduardo Rodriguez and Deputy Marshall Neil Cassidy are both waiting. Neil says, "Just waiting for the Marshall, he's gone to get Deputy Martin." A third man is there, attired as a rancher. He looks familiar to Minerva and she thinks for a minute as to where she saw him before. She then recalls, he was part of the mob that wanted to lynch the Indians. She narrows her eyes, her lips becoming a thin line as she remembers "What does this man have to do with this?" she says nodding to him.   Chester and Berg meet the group on horseback. "Morning Neil, Minerva, your Excellency. Did the Marshall tell you what happened?"   Berg looks at Ken Wagner and says, "Tell them what you told me." The Thayer Ranch worker says, "Nick and Jasper never made it back to the ranch last night. I rode out early, before sunup, looking for them and found them....dead, along with Deputy Sheriff Hunter." Berg says, "Okay folks, let's ride. Stay on alert, we don't know what we're riding into." Wagner leads the four lawman and two priests north towards the Dos Cabezas mountains. Nearly an hour passes and they had ridden several miles when they approach a small valley between a foothill and the base of the first mountain.  Minerva scans the hills. "This would be a good place for an ambush. I am sending Luna ahead. She has keen sight and will be able to warn us of trouble. She sends Luna up to scout ahead and holds her rifle at the ready.Chester says, "Wagner, do you know who would do this? It can't be easy to kill three men, especially a deputy sheriff."   Wagner says, "Probably the same person who has been killing ranchers for the last two weeks, not that you've done anything to stop them!"    Minerva continues to scan the hills as she asks, "How did they die?"  Wagner replies, "Gun shots from the look of it."Luna sees four bodies ahead, three men and a horse. One man and horse are before a large boulder, one body is behind it and another atop of it. There does not appear to be anybody else around other than a pack of coyotes interested in the dead horse.  As they approach they see the pack of coyotes eating part of the body of a dead horse and the Bishop casts a spell creating water above the canines. Being hit by several unexpected gallons of water works to scare them away. They approach the horse, which still has its saddle and barding on it. Both Chester and Berg recognize the dead animal from two days earlier as the Appaloosa belonging to Wyatt Earp. Lying thirty feet away, face up beside a large boulder at the mountain base, is the body of a man. The cause of death is clear as there is a bullet hole through the man’s forehead. The man looks familiar to Chester but he does not know the name. The priest examines the body of the man. Wagner says that it is Jasper Ordway who worked at the ranch. Ordway has no visible weapons with him.Minerva dismounts and carefully examines the bodies, looking for anything unusual. She closes their eyes and prays briefly over each one.  Chester sidles over to Berg. He whispers, "That's the horse I saw the last time we were at the Thayer Ranch. If that's Earp's, then where is he and is he the shooter or a victim?"  Berg whispers back, "I don't know yet. Let's keep looking.”  Berg asks Wagner, “Where are the others?” “Over behind the boulder, follow me.” He leads the lawmen and priests around the side of the large rock to where there is around a forty-five degree angle on the hill. They see two saddled horses tied up to a tree, the saddlebags of one having the words “Cochise County Sheriff” written on it. Nick Thayer is lying on his side on the hill with bullet holes and blood visible on his pants and another through his neck. The man’s arms and torso appear unscathed. The priest examines the body while Eduardo looks around. Eddie says, “The ground has been disturbed some. It looks like he fell from higher up, probably that rock, and landed here.” Eddie points to an indentation in the dirt, “But now he is a foot further over.   Chester nods and helps Eddie look for any tracks.Neil Cassidy looks at Wagner and says, “Is this how he was when you found him?” Wagner says, “Yes.” Cassidy then says, “Then how is it that you’re wearing his jacket?” Wagner begins to shake and says, “I….he was dead, he didn’t need it any more.” Berg says to Wagner, “Take it off, that’s now evidence.” Wagner removes and hands the Marshall the leather jacket. Cassidy says, “His gun holster is empty and I don’t see his revolver. Did you take that too?” Wagner reluctantly replies, “Yeah, it’s in my horse’s saddlebag.” Berg says, “Well check that next. Consider yourself under arrest Mr. Wagner, you appear to be a murder prime suspect." He exclaims, "But I'm the one who told you about this, why would I have told you that if I killed them?" Cassidy says, "To make yourself look innocent, looks like it didn't work."    Berg asks Wagner "Now where’s Sheriff Hunter?” The now solemn man leads them up the incline towards the back of the boulder and up upon it, where Deputy Sheriff Colin Hunter is lying face down on the boulder with a large quantity of blood having pooled in a small crevice on the rock. Chester and Eddie do not see any additional tracks other than those of the two deceased. They tell Berg it looks like Thayer and Hunter were both standing here together when they got shot and add that they don’t see any other tracks near the Sheriff. “Did you leave him alone?” Berg asks Wagner. The rancher replies, “Yeah, I didn’t get near him, it was obvious he was dead due to all the blood.” They turn the body over to reveal four separate bullet wounds in the chest. The priests come over to examine this body as well. Chester and Eddie continue to look around and find a rifle lying towards the front of the boulder above where they found the body of Ordway. It is pointed in the general direction of the dead horse below. Eddie now goes to stay back with Wagner while the Priest comes forward with the others. He tells them, “Ordway has been dead for several hours longer than the other two. It looks like he was killed some time last night the others just a few hours ago." Cassidy adds, "Ordway was shot by a revolver, the other two with a rifle." This is consistent with Chester's tracking, as it looks to him like Ordway shot Earp's horse from the top of the rock and Earp then shot Ordway who fell to the base. This took place a good six or seven hours earlier.   It appears that Thayer and Hunter happened upon the scene three or so hours earlier and were then shot by a rifle from a distance.Chester reports back to Berg. "I hate to say it, but it looks like Earp shot Ordway. Could be that Ordway shot Wyatt's horse first. That'd make it self-defense. But why would he stay in the area for a few hours and ambush Thayer and Sheriff Hunter? That part doesn't make sense. Seems like he'd want to get away from here as quick as he could. Killing a deputy sheriff will bring all sorts of trouble on him now."   Luna continues to soar above, keeping a keen eye out any movement below.Cassidy says, "That's Earps horse lying down there? Those other two horses tied up together were Thayer and Hunter's. I don't see one for Ordway and I doubt he walked all the way out here on foot." Berg tells the group comprised of himself, Chester, Cassidy, Minerva and the Bishop "There are a lot of unanswered questions here, more questions than answers in fact." He gestures back towards where Eduardo is guarding Wagner out of earshot and says, "And I think he may know more than he's told us. How should we approach this?"Chester says, "Earp must have taken Ordway's horse. Does anyone know what kind it was?" Chester lights a cigarette. He takes a puff and says, "We should tell him that he looks good for the killings. You know, scare him into spilling the beans."  Berg says, "Yeah, Wagner taking Thayer's gun and jacket was a stupid move. Let's go threaten him with a triple-murder charge and remind him that Judge Isby is in town." Berg turns to the Bishop and says, "We'll point out to him that you can also use a Truthfulness spell if you have to." They head back to Eduardo and Wagner. Berg begins by saying, "Okay Wagner, we've checked the situation out. Why did you do it?" Wagner exclaims, "Did what? I found them this way." "Like you found Thayer's possessions? We don't think so." Wagner begins to perspire and shake.Chester taps an ash from the end of his cigarette. "Lucky for you Judge Isby's in town. There won't be any sort of wait for your trial. None of that build-up. Short and sweet. Yep. Of course, you can help yourself by giving us something. Anything we can give to the judge."  Minerva watches the man squirm, taking grim satisfaction from his discomfort. "This man does not respect the law. He proved that when he stormed the jail and caused the death of a more honorable man.” Cassidy says, "He hasn't got anything to tell us, he killed all three of them in order to rob Thayer. There's no point in dragging this out, I say we just shoot him right here." Berg says, "No, we'll drag him back to town and let Isby pass sentence. He'll still be dead by nightfall. Tie his hands Eddie and toss him over the back of his horse." As Eduardo begins to tie his hands Wagner blurts out, "I didn't kill anybody! I was just coming out her to relieve Ordway on guard duty. I found all three of 'em like this, honest."  Berg holds up his hand and says, "Guard duty? Wagner says, "Yeah, Nick and Jasper came out here last night." Berg says to the Bishop, "Hold on, could you please start your Truthfulness spell?" The priest casts the requested spell. Berg looks back to Wagner and says "Please continue." Ken Wagner points up to the rock and says, "Nick was meeting somebody up the mountain, the Deputy Sheriff I guess." He points to the rock and says, "I've been out here a few times before, last night was Jasper's turn. We guards have never gone further than that rock, we just make sure nobody tries to go up the mountain after Nick. The trail behind us is one of only two ways to get up to the top with a horse, whoever he meets goes up the other way."“If he cannot prove his innocence, perhaps we should not waste the Judges time, eh?" Minerva says contemptuously. He exclaims, "I told what I know. I didn't know who Nick was meeting or why, Jasper and I were just here to guard the trail. I didn't kill any of them, they were dead when I got here." Luna alerts Minerva that the town undertaker Richard Lester is around a mile to the south and moving in that direction with his horse drawn wagon.Minerva exclaims, "your words are worthless to me." she pauses to listen to Luna. " The undertaker is on his way. He will determine the time of death. You had better pray to the gods that you can prove your whereabouts at the time of their deaths and that you did not dry gulch these men."Chester states, "So, it was always Nick who came out here while you guys guarded him? Haven't you ever been curious about who he's meeting up there. Maybe he let a name slip?" He looks at Berg. "Marshall, we should check out the other side of the rock. Maybe we can figure out who Nick was meeting."   Berg says, "We'll check it out once the Bishop's truthfulness spell is finished, until then we should try to see what else this man may know that could help this investigation."Chester says, "Good point. I forgot about that." He asks Wagner, "Did you ever ask who he was meeting? And what days exactly did you come out here?"   Wagner says, "He usually came out here around every-other-night or so. Most of us never were allowed to go any further than the rock, the only ones he ever took up there with him were Phil Grove and Vaughn Palmer. We all knew not to ask who he was meeting up with." Berg looks up and says, "Palmer, I know that name. That was the real name of the man who went by the name Stephen Murdock, the marksman who finished second in the Festival rifle competition, who was Johnny Ringo's partner!." Eduardo says, "He was a wizard?" Berg says "Yes he is, and we never caught him!." Berg grabs Wagner and says, "So I'm dealing with a stinking witch! I hate wizard magic! I can bring you up on charges for assisting wizardry, you'd hang for that alone! You want to live, tell me what name is Palmer going by now Wagner and what does he look like now!"   Wagner says, "He been using the name Chris Goudge since March. He....he...he changed his appearance again with a magic belt but it got damaged in the Shootout, he's stuck with his own looks now. His face is all burnt so he's been staying away from people since then. I...I think that's who Nick has been visiting with up the mountain."Chester says, "We better go after him now, Marshall. If he didn't hear the gunshots, then he'll wonder where Nick is. If we don't go now, then he figure out something's wrong and vamoose. Me and a couple people can go up the mountain to catch him."  Berg says "Okay Chet I have a few more questions for Wagner here while the Bishop's spell is still working. You other four go check it out, but be careful." Deputies Martin, Rodriguez and Cassidy along with Priestess Florencia make their way up the trail, which is easy enough to follow given the recent tracks down made by Thayer and Hunter's horses. They do see any other recently made tracks.   Chester replies, "Will do, Marshall." To the others he says, "Let me and Eduardo scout ahead a few yards for ambushes. Then you follow along and keep your eyes and ears open. OK?" They agree, so Chester and Eduardo lead the party up the mountain. Chester has his Spencer rifle in his hand as they travel upwards.Chester and Eduardo head up the mountain. The trail narrows with rocks and inclines on both sides of the trail. It reaches a steep section, where a horse would have had to be rather rugged to make it up. The two continue onward, followed by Minerva and Neil.   When they get to the rough spot, Chester dismounts and motions to the others to do so as well. He asks Eduardo, "If you wanted to watch this path, where would you do it from?"Eduardo says, "From the side, that way, over by that ridge." Minerva's companion Luna remains in the sky and assures her that the quartet climbing the mountain appear to be alone. She passes that information on to the deputies.   Chester states, "OK. Minerva says it's clear, but let's be careful anyway. Let's get to the bottom of this. If the Cowboys are regrouping, I want to know about it."The quartet continue up the mountain. As they near the top the horse tracks mysteriously vanish. Then, fifteen feet further up the trail a single set of tracks appears coming from the opposite direction.  Chester holds up his hand to halt the group. "Whoa there. Eduardo, what do you make of this? It looks like whoever rode up here before met someone coming down the mountain and then disappeared." He wrinkles his nose. "Smells like sorcery to me. What do you want to do? I say we continue going up the mountain."  Eduardo continues to look around. He heads over to the side of the trail and towards a steep rock to the side. He leans forward towards the rock and disappears into thin air, with only the rock remaining.</blockquote>

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