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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 3204626" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter One-hundred-thirteen, “Gathering Information”, Saturday June 10th, 1882, 10:00 A.M. Chester stops by Lacey's General store. Lacey greets him, "How are you Deputy? How can I help you?"  Chester clears his throat. "Ah, do you carry cloves of garlic? I'm doing some, uh, cooking and I need some."  Judge Lacey replies to Chester, "Sure do, I've been stocking lots of foodstuffs ever since Buaer's Union Market closed up shop." He looks around and finds a wooden box and says, "Just got a bunch in but Judge Isby's assistant bought most of them. The Judge must like to cook too." He opens the box and counts. "I have eight cloves of garlic in stock. How many do you want?"Chester replies, "Yep, ever since that Italian cook came to town, his style of cooking has caught on. I'll take all eight. How much will that be? By the way, do you know where I can get a silver letter opener?" Chester thinks, Glad to see Tomlinson is on the ball. Hope Clarisse doesn't mind hanging these in her room.He tells Chester "Fifty cents". Lacey then says, "I see we're running on opposite tickets, you for Marshall me for Council. Good luck to you, even if you lose and we win I'm sure that Colonel Michael Seawell will keep you on as a Deputy."  Chester pays the bill with a couple quarters. "And good luck to you, sir. I've heard it's going to be a wild election. If the colonel wins, I'll take him up on that. But I plan on taking the seat myself."Chester drops the garlic back in his room. He then walks out to where they found Claude Buckley. He walks along the trail he had found that day trying to spot anything out of the ordinary. Then he knocks on any doors in the area to ask if anyone had seen or heard anything.Lila Singer, wife of Long Branch Saloon bartender Ray Singer whose house is to the east of Fisk's says that she saw Buckley enter Fisk's house by the front door that day and leave by the back door. She says that she didn't see anybody going after him.Chester asks, "About what time was that, Mrs. Singer? Did he look OK when he left?"  She says, "I'm not sure about the time. Our grandfather clock stopped working a few months back and Ray hasn't gotten around to getting it fixed. When he left he looked angry, slammed Fisk's door behind him."  Chester writes that down. "Thank you. I know you said no one followed him from Fisk's house. Did you see if he met anyone outside?"   She says, "No, he just headed south, going to Sam Slade's house but apparently he never made it there."   Chester notes that too. "Hmm. That's interesting. Do you know anything else that would help us with this? The sooner we can find Mr. Buckley's killer, the better."  Mrs. Singer replies to Chester "No I don't Deputy. I just stay here and mind my own business. I do hope that you get him, Ray says that Buckley was a good man. He went to the Long Branch frequently."Chester tips his hat. "You've been a great help, Mrs. Singer. Have a nice day." She says, "Thank you deputy. It's a bit worrisome that a man was killed so close to our home." Chester checks his pocket watch. It isn't three yet, so he visits the Long Branch. He walks up to the bar and ask the bartender "Afternoon Mr. Singer. I just spoke with your wife about Mr. Buckley,  You knew Buckley?”  Ray Singer replies, "Sure did Deputy, he would come in here most weekends. Would usually play a hand or two of Faro, sometimes head upstairs with Hildy Jackson and other times just sit here at the bar. Not a bad guy, I'm going to miss him."Chester asks, “Do you know anyone who'd want to hurt him? I've heard that he was leaving Hamilton Fisk's house when he was killed."  Singer replies, "Wouldn't know about that, I was here at the time. Don't know anybody who would want to kill him offhand, most folks seemed to like him."  Chester replies, "You say most liked him, who didn't? Don't worry Mr. Singer, this won't get back to you. How about his ranch hands? Were they so well-liked, too?"   Singer replies, "Not much to say, I think all of his ranch hands got along with him, of course several of them are now dead too. I think there's only two or three of them left. Same with the Thayer Ranch, only a few alive there too."   "Yeah. They shouldn't have drawn their guns on me and the Marshall. That mess wouldn't have happened." Chester slaps the bar lightly. "OK, Mr. Singer. You've been a good help. Thank you." He stops by the office and says, "Well, I just spoke with Mr. and Mrs. Singer. She saw Buckley enter Fisk's house through the front door and leave by the back. He seemed pretty angry, too. She said no one followed him from Fisk's, but can't say if Buckley met with anyone outside. Mr. Singer says that he was a regular at the Long Branch and people liked him. Didn't think of any enemies who'd want to hurt him."  Berg replies, "Eddie still thinks that we need to talk to that wood elf who he thinks wrote the note, problem is he seems to have disappeared.""He has? Did he get scared or did something happen to him?" Chester blows out a breath. "Since we don't know where he went, we'll have to put him aside for now. If he comes back we'll find him." He checks his watch. "I got a previous thing to take care of. I'll talk to you all later. The lawman hustles over to the Lucky Lady.With Jake and Chester gone, Kate excused herself to head out to the ranch. She made a stop home to get into her riding clothes. Mrs. Fly may insist on "propriety," but Kate would rather be comfortable. Once she was changed she got Meribel from the El Parador stables and rode out to talk to her teacher.  Flint meet up with her. Flint says, "The Sheriffs left a half-hour ago but Manuel Gonzales says they only went as far as Fisk's hill to the north and are still watching us. I take it you got my note?"Kate answers, "I did. Dorita read it for me. I didn't want those men getting out here and surprising you. Were they terribly rude, or just rude to their usual measure?"  Flint says, "Yeah, I figured it was unlikely they'd see and shoot down the Priestess's owl but decided it was safer to write the note in my own language and not be too specific just in case. Earp's been staying out here the last two nights. And he paid us $ 200 for that horse. His girl visited here yesterday, and I made sure she wasn't followed. But other than that I don't think anybody else knew he was here."Kate says, "I didn't know he was here. Which made it much easier to tell the sheriffs that, I suppose. He paid $200? It was a good horse, but that's a lot of money. We can use it, of course. I suppose the differential is because of the trouble his being here causes us."    Flint says, "That and the fact that Sonoma did some doctoring for him. He didn't have any puncture wounds but was physically exhausted by the time he got here. His girl brought out the newspapers so I'm up to speed about what's been going on.   Earp says that on Wednesday night he was following Ordway and Thayer when he walked into an ambush. He shot Ordway in self-defense after his horse was shot out from under him. Thayer was already somewhere up the mountain and he had no idea that Hunter was even in the area. He swears he didn't kill them, says that all he did was get on Ordway's horse and ride out of there. He rode it back to the Thayer ranch and came back here on foot from there, that's a good twelve or thirteen miles."Kate says, "When he says he didn't kill them I believe it. There's a lot more going on out there than anyone would realize. He's lucky it was daylight. How did you know to look for puncture wounds?"  Flint replies, "I didn't, I just stood guard when he took a bath in the steam, he was rather filthy and rank by the time he got here. Not a mark on him, not even any scars. Hard to believe a man shot at as much as him hasn't ever been hit."Kate says, "I'd say he's gotten hit a few times but gotten priestly healing. a lot of times there won’t be any scar left if a priest gets to you. I'll just be glad when he clears out. We have enough trouble without trying to keep ourselves from getting arrested.  Where's Mr. Gonzales now? I should talk with him."  Flint answers, "He headed off after the Deputy Sheriffs. Don't worry, he and his horse are both invisible, they won't spot him."  She replies, "He had mentioned talking when I got here, but I guess he'll just have to find me. Well, what needs doing? Mrs. Fly won't be here for another hour and I've got a pair of willing if not skilled hands."  Flint says, "Well, I told him when Mrs. Fly's lesson usually is so he probably isn't expecting you for another hour or so. He felt that the Sheriffs were up to no good and wanted to hear what they had to say once they were out of earshot from the ranch. Don't worry though, he said he just had to get within a quarter mile of them and he'd be able to hear them."Kate says, "Of course they're up to no good; I don't know how those criminals got badges. You and I have both crossed their ilk on any number of occasions, I'm sure they'd love to get us in a position where they could rake us over the coals.  Mr. Gonzales knows what he's doing, I'm sure he'll be fine."Kate has been at the ranch for forty-five minutes when Gonzales's voice says "Hello my little bird. I trust that all is well."  "As far as I know. Are you about to tell me different?" Kate asked.  He replies, "No, those guys are hunting for Earp but haven't any idea where to look. This was a shot in the dark and they don't seem to think him around. From what I overheard those guys aren't just after him for Hunter either, seems that the Thayer Ranch and Fisk are all in this together. Apparently Buckley's Crazy-8 wasn't though, but they are assuming that Earp killed the folks from that ranch too. This is enough to make my head spin."She says, "Now you understand why I'm so confused most of the time. Buckley's the man that was killed in town after he left Fisk's house, is he not? I wouldn't put it past them to kill him for not going along with whatever they were scheming."   A carriage with a pair of women arrives at the ranch and Kate notices that Janet Fly has brought her friend Beth Eaton with her this day. Gonzales says, "Well that's in interesting surprise. Calm yourself Kate, remember that Mrs. Fly is a customer, don't say anything rash to or about her friend. I think I'll go visit with Sonoma for a while."   "How about you wear that Kate disguise you made for Ruby and I go talk with Sonoma?" Kate teased. "Why don't we bring back the Sheriff, he might be easier to deal with. Why is Mrs. Eaton here, to guard her friends propriety?" She kissed her teacher's cheek and headed over to the carriage. Back at the Lucky Lady, Jake just shakes his head a number of times while reading the paper.  When he is done reading the paper he removes the envelope from his pocket and just stares at the handwriting on the front for several minutes before he finally opens it.With his feet up on the table he reads and rereads the letter.  At one point he says quietly to himself, "Moira," and at another he says, "Uncle Jake," and chuckles.  He reads the letter a third time silently before returning it folded to its envelope.After reading his letter Jake paces around the saloon a bit wondering how Chester is making out with the investigation. He is not going to solve this by normal means, he thinks. Jake leans on the front porch railing of the saloon for a while staring at the street but not focusing on anything. Finally he stands up, nods to himself and goes in search of Conrad Booth. "Conrad, we need to speak privately." Jake explains the situation to him. He concludes with, "Katherine is in the middle of this as much as anyone. I am attempting to get the lawmen on the proper track." Which was at least partially true. "I trust your keen eyes and ears with your astute sense of putting things together will give me a clue that I need. I am looking for two things. First, are there links between Wilson, Messier, Turner, Grove, Fisk or Thayer that I have not discovered yet? Second, I want to speak with someone who is left from the Circle 8 ranch and see if they will dish any dirt on Fisk or Thayer that would be useful. I do not know who is owns the ranch now and I am not quite sure who is still alive they are falling like flies. If I recollect properly, Carsten Block, Ken Wagner, and Clifford Allman worked there and are still among the living. Though it seems that Wagner was linked to both Buckley and Thayer. I do not want Fisk to know I am speaking to them and I am not fool enough to ride out there." Jake gives him a knowing smile with a twinkle in his eye. "I would be shocked if the ever vigilant Mr. Booth did not have at least something that I did not know about."Booth replies, "Interesting about Wilson, I would have never thought of himself as a leader. Then again, if you are a creature that cannot come out during the day you wouldn't want to be in a town leadership position that might require it. Wilson played piano at the Long Branch, Fisk gambles there and those from the Thayer ranch including Nick Thayer and Philemon Grove did as well. Phil and Nick were very close to one another. After Phil died in that shootout with the lawmen in late May Nick seemed to snap somewhat, wasn't quite the same after that. Never heard of this Turner guy and while I knew who that Messier was he never came into the Long Branch.""Hmmmm," Jake replies trying to hide his disappointment that Conrad is not telling him much new. "I did not know about Phil and Nick, but I am not sure that is important. Wilson may not have been much of a leader, who knows how long he was one of those creatures. What about Vaughn Palmer, or a Nick Goudge?"Booth answers, "Vaughn Palmer....he was a Cowboy Gang member who worked for Billy Claibourne. I hear a lot of rumors at the Long Branch, especially from those who don't know I'm eavesdropping. Rumor has it that he burned to death in a farmhouse that the Earp's attacked back in March. But I overheard one witness to that mob scene two weeks ago claim that after Nick Goudge of the Thayer Ranch was shot by Katherine's father his face changed to that of a badly burnt Vaughn Palmer. Another rumor claims that Vaughn was a wizard who had become Johnny Ringo's second-in-command and that back at the festival he had changed him appearance to that of Stephen Murdock, the man who finished second to Emery Shaw in the rifle competition. Yet another rumor claims that the same man was disguised as a French wizard in town a few weeks ago named DuMont who was responsible for the death of Wyatt Earp's posse."Jake says, "I am fairly well sure all the rumors are accurate except the last one. I already have it from good sources that most of the rumors regarding Palmer are fact. Anything else Conrad?"  He replies, "A few more things of interest. The newspaper indicated that Jasper Ordway was working on the Thayer Ranch, but Judge Isby's census of ranches didn't show that. It has him listed as a mine owner. And guess where the Ordway mine is? The same plot of land where he died along with Thayer and Hunter, which Ordway decided to NOT have that property become part of the town of Promise City. And Ken Wagner, that guy who the Town Marshall's arrested who the Sheriff Deputies then took charge of and then released, well he claimed to be working for Thayer but Judge Isby's census actually shows him to have been an employee of Buckley's Crazy-8 Ranch. I suppose he might have changed employers after Buckley got killed, but I find that curious.""I had forgotten that Ordway owned a mine and declined to join. So that was his plot, huh? Yes, that is what I meant about Wagner being linked to both sides. Strange that, if the two competing gangs are warring. I wonder if he is a double crosser or just changing sides? Hard to tell how complicated this is, we still seem to be missing some key information. Thank you for all that." They say good bye and Jake goes back to the Lucky Lady to wait for the others and three o'clock.</blockquote>

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