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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 3400857" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter One-hundred-forty-eight, “The Informant“, Wednesday June 14th, 1882, 7:45 A.M. Emery Shaw walked his niece Emily to school and then headed off to meet with some of his party’s candidates to discuss some candidate changes that had been announced the previous night before the debate.    The class begins with Mollie Caudell saying that Mrs. Kale is currently detained on an errand in the neighboring town of Dos Cabezas so will not be with them this morning.   Emily notes that Nakomo is also still absent.    Meghan O’Hara introduces the class to their new classmates, Matthew Santos, whose family has just moved into the area from Houston, Texas.   She sees that the boy is a handsome young man who is the human equivalent of twelve or thirteen. Approximately one-and-one-quarter miles to the southwest Nanuet is meeting the Jadito, a Yavapai Tribal Elder, on the top of a hill.  The hill overlooks the ranch that Nanuet owns with Katherine Kale, Sonoma and Flint to the east as well as a ranch owned by the Perez family to the west.    Jadito had lived in this area many centuries before and this hill is his favorite place to go for meditation.    This is third consecutive day that the two Indians have met at this location. Back in Promise City, Deputies Eduardo Rodriguez and Chester Martin accompany Hans Schmidt, Hank Hill and Father Thomas Valdez a short distance from town where the Zeppelin dirigible owned by Arcade’s Gang is waiting to transport them sixty miles south.     Hank is the Gang member in charge of the vehicle while Hans is the pilot.   Hank assures Chester that they’ll be back before the 7:00 P.M. Town Marshall debate that they will both be participating in.   Father Valdez is coming along since the person who the deputies are seeking is his second cousin, so the priest’s presence might help gaining the man’s cooperation. As they walk to the airship, Chester says to Hank,  "Me and the Marshall really appreciate this, Hank. This will save us a load of time over us riding to Mexico. Hopefully this elf can help us figure out who killed Buckley." They reach the airship and enter.   Four of the five have ridden on it before but Thomas Valdez is apprehensive and takes some convincing before he boards.   The craft takes to the air, flying a low wide circle around the mountains so as not to be visible in town.   They continue due south, staying clear of the town of Webb, before changing to a southwesterly direction.   It only takes another forty-five minutes until they pass above the road that runs between the towns of Tombstone and Bisbee.   In the distance they can see the northernmost structures of Bisbee.   They go a few miles further, seeing the mountain ahead of them where the successful Queen Mine has been flourishing.    They then land on the far side of that mountain. Hans Schmidt is looking at his maps and points to the south.   "Around a mile, just over those hills, is the town of Naco, Arizona Territory, United States.   Just beyond it is the border, and the town of Naco, Sonora, Mexico."   "That's where we will find the Priest's cousin," Eddie says.     They leave Hans to watch the balloon, giving him a set of flares to send up if there is any trouble with Hank adding, "And don't hesitate to take to the air.  We don't want the Mexican Government getting their hands on this." The four men then head off south. Chester asks, "If he takes off, then what do we do? I don't like the idea of walking home. Anyway, let's get going. See you late, Hans." As they walk, he says, "Father, how well do you know your cousin?" Thomas Valdez replies, "Federico Valdez Luca has always been a loner.   He spent most of his life catching and training wild horses, which he would sell to the other wood elves and half-elves of the area.   After the Bar-W, Circle-R and Lazy-S ranches popped up around where he lived he sold to them.   In time though the number of wild mustangs declined due to the fences, corrals and ranches, so he basically just does that part time.  I'm not sure exactly what he does the rest of the time, odd jobs from what I hear." Chester nods. "I wonder why he sent us that note. It doesn't sound like he'd be the kind of guy who'd do something like that. Let's hope he won't shoot first, talk later." "We'll have to ask him," is Valdez's reply. They reach the first Naco, which consists of six streets and around forty buildings.   The population is a mix of human, wood elves and half-elves.   As they walk down the Main Street people stop and stare, with nobody approaching.    They pass by a stone building with iron bars on the window, apparently the town jail.   A mean-looking dwarf wearing a lawman's badge stands in the doorway and says with a southern accent, "Keep going y'all, we don't want no trouble in this here town." Chester feels a little self-conscious being stared at. He says to the dwarf, "You won't get any from us, Sheriff. We're just looking for the father's cousin. Do you know a Federico Luca?" The Dwarf says, "I don't know his name, but an elf rode through last week.   He was all battered and bruised, kept going on to our sister town across the border." Chester tips his hat. "Thank you kindly. We'll be out of your hair shortly." They continue on seeing a small steam marking the border with a crude wooden bridge.   They cross and head on to a community comprised of nearly one-hundred adobe structures set about in no real since or order or organization.   They approach what appears to be a farmer's market in the center of town, where seventy-to-eight wood elven women are bartering with the two-dozen or so merchants who are at tables or pushcarts beneath makeshift tarps. Chester says, "OK, let's split into pairs. We'll look less suspicious that way. I can't speak Elvish or Spanish. So Father Valdez, would you come with me? Eddie, you stick with Hank." Chester and Valdez walk up to one of the shopkeepers. "Afternoon. Do you know a Federico Luca? The padre here is a cousin of his and he's trying to find him." The people are a bit suspitious until they see Valdez's holy symbols with representations of deities worshipped in Mexico.   They speak to him in Spanish.    Thomas says, "She knows where he is and will take us there." They get Eddie and Hank and the four follow the women to a medium-sized adobe building.    Valdez tells the others to wait outside and heads in with the woman.   They hears Spanish inside and then Thomas comes out and says, "He's there.   Wyatt Earp beat the crap out of him last week, that's why he ran.   He says he thought he could watch his back against one danger but two from opposite sides was too much for him.  He's willing to talk to us, but only if we promise that we won't try to take him back with us." Chester consults with Eddie. "I don't have a problem with that. Do you? Far as I can tell, he wrote us a note, that's all." Eddie agrees. "If we do find out that he's involved, we can always come back here." They rejoin the others. Chester says, "Eddie and I are OK with not bringing him back. Can we come inside?" They go inside.   The wood elf who they came to see is sitting in a chair.  His left arm is in a splint, his lip is split, his face and arms show bruises, he has two black eyes and is missing three teeth.   He gestures to the bed in the room for the others to have a seat. "You won't try to bring me back?"   he asks. Chester says, "Mr. Luca, you know who we are. We're not here to bring you back to the US. We just want some answers. Wyatt Earp did this to you? Do you know why?" Luca says "He wanted information about Buckley's killer, I wouldn't tell him.   I told him I didn't know but somehow he knew I was lying.  Kept beating me.  Told me he'd be back, so I took off, made sure I wasn't going to be there when he returned.   Earp won't cross the boarder into Mexico, he'd stick out like a sore thumb and the locals would overpower him and bring him back for the reward money." Chester says, "That's good for you then. Is that why you wrote that note? What will it take for you to tell us about Buckley's murder?" He replies, "I wrote the note because Berg deserved to know.   I wouldn't tell Earp because I figured keeping my mouth shut was the only thing to keep me alive." Chester asks, "Who's this other killer you wrote about in your note? Is he a candidate, too? Who killed Buckley? Was it Hamilton Fisk? Evan Adair?" Luca says, "You really don't have a clue do you?   It ain't either of those guys.  Buckley's Crazy-8 has always done whatever dirty work was needed for the King family.  That kept them squeaky clean, untouchable by the law, but Ashley messed up.  He lost his temper last year and killed his wife himself.   So he paid off Marshal Bret Hollister to rule it a suicide, then had Buckley take care of that loose end for him, since dead men tell no tales. When Ashley decided to run for Marshall old Buckley decided to blackmail him, threatened to tell either Berg or that halfling reporter.    And Buckley figured Fisk would be able to protect him from King until the payoff, but it didn't work out that way did it?  Ashley still managed to get him in broad daylight just a stone's throw from town.   King doesn't know that I know though.  It wouldn't have been smart for me to start shooting off my mouth to the law and make myself his next victim.  Plus I've worked for Buckley so I'm not exactly clean myself.  I haven't done any killings but I've helped him get horses and cattle before.  So I figured leaving the note would do the trick.   But the Marshal who first figured out who the note came from me was former Marshal Earp, so he came after me for the details.   I heard what Earp did last March to Indian Charlie up in Tombstone, after he got all the info from the guy Earp killed Charlie.  No way was I going to talk, I knew he wouldn't kill me as long as the information was in my head." Chester shakes his head. "Ashley King. Hades. With the power his family has, we'd need iron-clad proof to catch him. Do you know how Ashley killed Buckley like that? If it was magic, then we have something to hang him with." Luca says, "No, from what I heard he did it the good old fashioned way, a knife across the throat. Quick, efficient, and if you do it from behind you don't get any blood splatter on you." "As for evidence, one thing you might be able to get King for is rustling.  Up until the blackmail threat against him he had hired Buckley and his Crazy-8 ranch boys to steal some horses for him.  A few of the boys who worked for both Buckley and Thayer were doing that, scouting out a few ranches that looked like easy marks.   You might get one of those guys to talk." Chester states, "OK, Luca. We'll see what we can wrangle up. Considering what happened the first time I went out to the Crazy-8, none of them will be happy to see me. But I don't really care. If they can lead us to Ashley, then good. What are you getting out of this?" Luca says, "Justice Sir.  I considered Buckley a friend, he did not deserve to die like that.  I would not want him to become the Marshall of that town, it would not be safe for the other elves of the community, including my cousin Thomas," as he gestures to Father Valdez. Chester considers that for a moment. "That works for me. Something tells me you won't testify in court, right? I hope then that these horse  rustlers will be easier to convince." Luca replies to Chester, "Well, good luck.  If you need me again for anything I'll probably still be here in Naco.   But make sure that you keep that quiet, I don't want Earp or King trying to come after me.   I don't think either of them will, but you can't be too careful."   Chester shakes the elf's hand. "Thanks. We didn't hear any of this from you.    You've been a big help. If we need you, we'll be back. Get better." Before they leave Valdez cast some healing spells onto his cousin to improve his physical condition. Chester says, "I guess we're done here. Take care of yourself, Mr. Luca." Chester leads the others back to the zeppelin. They make their way through both Naco towns.  In the one on the American side people appear even more apprehensive than before.   They notice that the Jail looks to be locked up tight, with the dwarven Marshal nowhere around.     As so as they reach the top of the hill they see that the airship is no longer there.   At the base of the hill over near where it had been parked they see a quartet of men and a hearse wagon.    One is the dwarven Marshal, two are humans who also appear to be wearing badges, the fourth has on dark clothing and looks to probably be the undertaker.   Between the four of them lying on the ground is a human body. Chester hurries toward the men. He says to no one in particular, "I knew this was going too well." When he gets near the group, he calls out, "What's going here? We were supposed to meet someone." Chester tries to see if he can recognize the body. "Who exactly are you people?" the Marshall asked.    Thomas Valdez speaks up first, showing his holy symbols and says, "I am a priest of the gods worshipped in this region and these three are lawmen."  Eddie shows his badge, followed by Chester.   Valdez points to the two and says, "They are both Deputy Marshals in Promise City and Mr. Hill", gesturing to Hank, "Plans to be the next Town Marshal of Promise City.  We are investigating the murder of our former Marshal, Bret Hollister." Seeing that he is talking to fellow lawmen the Dwarf introduces himself as Naco Town Marshal Blackrock, and the two humans nearest him as Deputies Kornbluth and Nelson.    He then says, "We heard shooting and saw a bright light, this man was lying here dead.   He's a Frenchman who has been in Naco for a few days and the nearby town of Bisbee before that."    Hank asks, "Did he have anything on him?" Marshal Blackrock takes a few things out of his pocket says, "This wallet, looks to have mostly French Money plus this small book and a metal stick."   Valdez asks to examine them, saying that he can read French.   He looks at them and says, "The inscription on the book says it is a gift to a Major LaSalle.   This book may contain magic spells and the stick is definitely magical in nature too.   This man was a wizard, that light you saw would have been a spell he was casting."  Blackrock says, "Well, he wasn't alone, somebody shot him and it looks like it was done with a revolver and not a rifle, so from short range." Hank Hill says, "This is probably an army matter.  They've had problems recently with French military incursions over the Mexican border in Texas and New Mexico.   You should get some folks down here from Fort Huachuca as soon as possible and turn those items over to them."     Blackrock says, "I'll do that."  He turns to the undertaker and says, "Cover the body over but leave it here until the soldiers arrive."  He turns to one of his deputies and says, "Joe, ride up there as quick as you can."   He then turns back to the others and says, "Who did you say you were meeting here?"    Eduardo says, "Just our ride back to Bisbee, he was to meet us here right about now but would have stayed away though if he saw there was any trouble.   We need to get back there right away."   Blackrock turns to his other Deputy and says, "Roy, go get a buckboard and give these men a ride over to Bisbee."  That man does too. Once they are alone he asks Hank, "You know anything more about this wizard guy?"   Hank says, "No sir, just that the French have been guests of the Mexicans.   Best to leave it to our Army to sort out."    Blackrock then asks "And specifically what was it you folks were doing across the border in the other Naco?" Valdez says, "We were visiting my cousin. I hadn't seen him in a while, and I heard he was in the area. So my companions and I went out to see him. Mexico can be dangerous for the unprepared, so I asked the deputies to come with me." Chester adds, "We were just coming back when we saw you here. Do you think it was bandits, Sheriff? And why would a French major be out here by himself?" Blackrock replies, "He may not have been by himself, he had two other guys with him in town although he looked to be the leader.   We don't know where those other two are right now." Chester says, "If this guy was a wizard, then the others might be too. They can become invisible for a time, so you need to be careful, in case they were here to stir up trouble for you." He says to Hank, "Is Hans coming back here, or will he go back to Promise City? I wonder if the major here saw our ride and went to capture it." Valdez notices Marshal Blackrock taking a renewed interest in this situation upon hearing Chester's question.  The dwarf says, "Maybe you should all come back to town with me for more questions about this."   Valdez says, "That really isn't necessary, our ride wasn't supposed to be here until now, so I doubt he would have seen what happened."   Blackrock says, "I'm not so sure, your Deputy here seems to think he might have had something to do with this shooting.  We should probably discuss this further." Chester says to the others, "We might as well get this over with now. Lead on Sheriff. I don't know what information we can give you. We've been in Mexico." Blackstone looks at Chester and says, "Fine, then tell me more about this man who was going to be giving you a ride and why you think he might have been involved with this killing." Chester looks at Hank, who shrugs. He says, "Our friend is a pilot. He flies an airship belonging to Mr. Hill here. Hans was parked here while he waited for us to come back from Naco. He's from the German Empire which doesn't have such a good relationship with France. My guess is that the French would like to get their hands on an airship so they can start building their own for the army." Hank Hill says, "The Army knows about the airship.  We're now working with the original manufacturer to produce more under contract with the United States Military.    Marshal Blackstone, we honestly don't know what happened here.  You need Fort Huachuca for that, in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they take over this investigation. And we're telling the truth when we say we have to get back to Promise City as soon as we can.  Without the airship that means trying to catch a stagecoach from Bisbee." They see that the Deputy with the buckboard is on his way back.   Marshall Blackstone says "Okay, you guys better get going.   I'm going to need my deputy here, just leave the buckboard with the folks at Wells Fargo, we'll collect it later." Chester and the others shake Blackstone's hand. "Thanks, Marshall. We'll tell them we got it from you. Good luck with your case. Just keep an eye out for the French guys. They might want to cause trouble." The group boards the wagon. Due to a combination of the rocky terrain it takes almost two hours for Chester, Hank, Thomas and Eduardo to reach Bisbee.   They arrive at the Wells Fargo office shortly before noon and approach the office manager Jack Loughridge, a tall man in fairly worn cotton and wool clothing with a red bow tie that looks out-of-place with the remainder of his attire. Chester says, "Morning, sir. Marshal Blackstone in Naco let us borrow his buckboard here and he said we can leave it here. He'll send someone to pick it up later. Is that OK? And by the way, when is the next stage to Promise City? We'd like to get tickets to the next one out of town." He says, "It left a few hours ago, the next one North won't be until tomorrow morning." Hank says to Chester, “That won’t exactly get us to tonight’s debate will it?” They can see that there are two more stagecoaches in the livery stable as well as horses in the corral. Chester asks, "Do you rent out those stagecoaches over there? We don't want to stay overnight." He replies, "Generally no, where is it that you boys want to go?"   Eduardo shows his badge and says, "We're lawmen from Promise City and need to get back there as soon as possible."    Hank Hill then pulls out a $ 100 bill and says, "Any chance you could get us to Tombstone in time for the afternoon Promise City stagecoach?  I wouldn't need change if we make it there on time."     That prompts the man into action and he starts barking out orders to a number to folks who get a horse team together and hook up to one of the stages while other folks quickly grease the wheels and oil the tack and harness.   Two drivers get on and the four are told to hop on board. The well traveled road goes directly between the two locations and the drivers push the team onward, covering the twenty-four miles in record time and reaching Tombstone by 1:45 P.M., which is fifteen minutes before the scheduled departure of the Promise City stagecoach.   Eduardo waves to Chuck Nevers and Newton Gilly as they prepare the vehicle for departure.</blockquote>

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