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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 3493505" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter One-hundred-fifty-eight, “Jake’s chat with Red”, Thursday June 15th, 1882, 10:30 A.M.Having now had adequate sleep Jake rises. He stretches and looks at himself in the mirror. "Shave and a bath this morning Mr. Cook." The smell of spent gun powder still lingers on his clothes, hair and hands. He rubs at the heavy bristle on his cheek and loses himself in thought.The simple act of looking yourself in the mirror is beyond those vampires. I wonder if it bothers them? Ruby contemplated eternal beauty. I will bet she never considered that mirrors would no longer be her friends. Jake chuckles at that. He almost has a moment of pity for the vampires but quickly remembers what they have done. Even beyond the death and destruction, the controlling of others free will was something Jake could not brook. The near moment of pity comes and goes. They must be destroyed. The moments of reflection pass quickly, he was not one to plumb the depths of philosphy.His morning planned, he went forward. The El Parador for coffee, breakfast and some Dorita scolding. Fortunately for Jake, the scolding is kept to a minimum and the coffee is the best he has ever had at the El Parador. Furniture maker Cole Rixton stops by to tell him that the beds that Cornelius Van Horne ordered for three of the Lucky Lady's rooms to hold some of the tournament gamblers are almost done and will be delivered that afternoon.He then heads back home to clean his pistols followed by a bath at Gilson’s. Laurie Gilson is practically floating on air as she waits on Jake and has Jules Heurta bring her to her room. Jake notices that she is wearing a diamond engagement ring on her ring finger. He congratulates her, admires the ring and adds, "A fine man he is." Next he is off for a shave. While at Johnson's Barber shop he hears of the Last Ditch Mine getting attacked again by the hooded riders, with the miners winning this round. Word is that one of the riders is over at Lester's Funeral Parlor as a result.He then heads off to the Lucky Lady to check on business. Jeff informs Jake that there isn't a mirror to be had in town, that previous week all of them were purchased from every store in town that had them in stock. Jake suggests, "First, find someone to go to Tombstone and bring some back. Here is $100. Second, find out who bought them."Lastly he decides to have a conversation with Red. He arrives at Van Horne's room to find the large man resting in bed with a a clipboard filled with papers in front of him and a pile of telegrams stacked on the bed. Also seated in the room is Father Blackstone, the Priest of Hermes from the Three Gods Meeting Hall. Jake exclaims, "Welcome to Promise City. It is a pleasure to see you again." Turning to Van Horne, "Has Francesco reported back on his activities? Especially regarding his cousin and Adaire?"Van Horne replies, "Yes, this should be a very interesting poker tournament indeed. Mr. Adair has very high hopes of it ending with him owning this establishment and you being penniless my dear Mr. Cooke. He mistakenly thinks that he now has enough people involved in his corner to make that happen, including every one of the dealers and most of the people on security."Jake states, "I had meant to tell you earlier that Tony Lucky was feeding information to Adaire for profit. I feed Mr. Lucky some false information and I had a sense that he and his cousin went directly to share with him. Did Francesco confirm that? I wanted to make certain the Francesco was not going soft and worrying about his cousin's predicament."Van Horne laughs and says, "It made sense to send Francesco on ahead early to establish himself in town, especially since Tony really is his cousin. Francesco is loyal to me and to you by extension. He considers his cousin an idiot and his only goal as far as Mr. Lucky is concerned is to save the fool from himself. In this specific situation his main objective will be to get himself and the good Mr. Lucky permanently out of town once Adair realizes the two haven't done what he expected of them. "Jake says, "I expected as much, however I had not the time earlier to tell you what I saw. I may continue to feed Adaire falsehoods through Tony. I trust the Francesco will understand. It would be a shame if he came to harm became of Tony's poor choices. I am temped to shoot him myself some days." Red says, "Ah yes, but please don't. I don't really understand it myself but Franceso does feel a family obligation to protect Mr. Lucky. Mr. Grappini has tried to explain it, something about being Italian and blood being thicker than all else regardless of your feelings towards an individual."Jake sighs, "Fine. I will restrain myself. Father, would you give this old geezer and myself a few moments alone? We need to discuss some things and I would feel terrible asking for forgiveness later if you knew just how conniving I really was." Jake gives him a trademark smirk. Blackstone stands and says, "Yes, I will leave. I hear that this town has a Church of Olympus in it which I should pay a visit to. Before I go I have this for you." He takes out a paper from his vest pocket. "It is a telegram from Richard that arrived last night in Tucson. He opted to send it via us in Tucson, not wanting the contents to be seen by the operators in Promise City, Tombstone or Wilcox." Blackstone leaves.Jake reads the telegram:Wednesday, June 14It then lists the Tarrytown, New York address that they will be staying at.Jame says to Red, "Did you hear about the the letter from Kitty Trent that was found on the dead body of one of the hooded attackers that morning you were nearly blown to pieces? I forged it and snuck it on it at the Marshall's office. I let slip to Tony Lucky that there was a letter, and that is what he ran off to tell Adaire with Fracesco in tow. The rest of what Tony told him was of his own fabrication. Adaire's old fighter, our new bouncer clued me in that Tony was ratting me out. I should not have trusted him, but fortunately he is a buffoon and told Adaire useless and inaccurate information. That is part of what I wanted to tell you."Jake hands the telegram to Red. "I have no advice to give them. What I really wanted to tell you was I will not be here when Ruby comes back to Promise City." Jake proceeds to tell Red the whole story, everything he has been thinking and what decision he has come to. "When I am with her it is like the mythological siren song, I cannot resist. I really do care for her, but I am just not ready for this. No matter how strongly I feel for her, I must get away. I am sure I will regret this for the rest of my days but there is no other answer for me. I think I will make arrangements to sell out everything and go. I have been thinking of going to San Francisco to find my sister. Did I tell you I am an uncle?"Red looks at the letter and says, "Don't go making any hasty decisions here Jake. This letter indicates that she has delayed her return for a while longer, maybe even indefinitely. They certainly won't be back for the tournament this weekend. Richard will continue to keep us informed as to where the trio is at. As for making arrangements to sell things, there is no need, I will buy anything you own for fair-market-value plus ten-percent. Then again, according to Mr. Van Horne's dear friend Evan Adair, come Sunday night you won't have anything left to sell.And in regards to visiting San Francisco, you already have the information on a bank account there with Mr. Alistair’s name on it and I can loan you the chain to be him. I can make arrangements for you in that city under any name you wish. I also know that Mr. Booth has connections in that city and would be willing to help your stay there in whatever anonymity you desire."Jake replies, "Red, as always, you are more than generous. I had not considered selling everything to you, that would certainly be simpler that what I had planned. I was not going to flee today if that is what you thought I was saying. I agree though, I will bide some more time and see what transpires. It would truly be a shame to miss out on the tournament."They chat a while longer before Jake says, "There is another very serious matter before us. I was not going to bother you with it but I have some reason to believe it will be visiting us here at the Lady, if not the tournament itself. It was related to why I needed this," and with that Jake returns the amulet to Red. He goes on to tell him the story about the vampires. "Hard to believe it, I know. I would not have believed it if I had not seen it with my own eyes over and over again. I think we should tell Father Blackstone. If it comes to pass they visit here, he may have some tools to assist in defending the saloon if he is warned."Red replies, "An amazing tale, but I've heard and seen stranger things before. I think I will have Blackstone speak to this Father Harbrace about this matter. Well Jake, it looks like this poker tournament is really going to happen. As of right now we have twenty-two participants and a number of maybes, so we should continue to plan for thirty. Several will be arriving on the stagecoaches today and more tomorrow.I am considered the main sponsor but during much of it I'll be busy dealing, as will Mr. Kane, and you will be playing. So we might want to have a host and hostess for the event. Blackstone would probably do fine in the capacity of host, which would also give him ample reason to approach all guests and check for....irregularities. For a hostess I had assumed that Ruby or Jane would take that role, but they won't be back in time. Do you have any thoughts along those lines?"He continues, "I've already spoken to Mr. Finnegan about security, he suggested we may want to talk to the mining foreman up at the Breakheart Stamping Mill, a Mr. Boston Harker. He is apparently a rather trustworthy soul, Hubbard wouldn't have given him that much responsibility otherwise. He's also the only one who has beaten Finnegan in the boxing ring and has earned a reputation for that.""Harker? Yes, I hear he is trustworthy. I am fine with that. A hostess...." Jake begins to stroke his beard. "Not many women in town I would trust. Katherine for certain, but she may not wish to be in that role with Conrad Booth playing in the game. We can ask her. The Priestess Florencia would be another. Again, she may decline because of the apparent conflict of interest but then again... if I hint that the fiends may attempt to attend she would certainly demand the position. That and she is not beyond being swayed for a donation to the poor box. What qualities did you want in a hostess, besides candy for the eyes?"Red replies, "That and some brains inside the head as well, to be able to decide what needs to be done and when. Each player is paying big bucks to participate and need to feel they are being adequately taken care of.""I will see what can be done about a hostess," Jake tells Red. "I will see you later." Jake takes a stroll over to the Lester's funeral establishment and expresses interest in the identity of the dead man. "A shame all this killing. The Marshall suggested that he could use all the help available to identify the gang involved, and would appreciate it if someone could identify this misbegotten soul," Jake lied smoothly. "Figured I would give it a shot, I know quite a few folks around the region." Dick Lester shows him the corpse. Jake does recognize the face, but not from recently. He was one of the riders who attacked the Morand stagecoach the previous January that they barely escaped from. Jake tells Mr. Lester that he does not know the man and thanks him for his assistance. He then goes back to the Lucky Lady to think things over.Back at the Marshal’s Office Deputy Helen Barker takes the photograph of the dead hooded rider and the lawmen spend the morning circulating it around. A few ranchers recognize him as "A John somebody". Icabod Shakelton is asked to come in to identify him and confirms that it was the man named John who had seen with Jason Snavely the previous Sunday morning. Further inquiries uncover the man's full name to be John Rouse and that he was a miner in Galeyville before the silver played out.Three of the four dead horses have the mark of the Phillips ranch and match the description of those that had been rustled two weeks earlier. The fourth appears to have had a different brand but it has been burned off. When the group meets back in the office a little past noon, Chester says, "I can't say I'm surprised the Cowboy Gang is mixed up in this. I bet Snavely was one of the riders who got away last night. Since this John Rouse came from Galeyville, what can we do about it?" Berg says, "We don't have any authority there, but the sheriff does. If the riders hired Rouse, they may have hired some of his friends."At noontime Hannah Milford comes by with lunch for Kate and the other teachers. She comments about attending the Marshal debate the previous evening, having attended since her tenant Clarisse's beau is one of the candidates. She says that he carried himself well but from the debate he is clearly linked to the present law enforcement efforts, and if the murders and explosions keep continuing it is unlikely that he will winKate states "I fear that may be true. What most people don't seem to understand is that any investigation takes time. That's not to say there haven't been mistakes. The escape by Skull and his cronies is a black eye, but that isn't representative of what our Marshals are doing. They're following every lead they have, been when so many people are uncooperative it becomes difficult to get the job done. I'm afraid if some of the other candidates win we'll have people who will shoot first and ask questions later. That's how innocent people get hurt."Hannah says, "I'm sure it will all work out, the Gods and Goddesses will be watching over our town as they have before." She departs. Kate notices the halfling Chumbley coming up the street with a stack of newspapers. "Maybe Mr. Chumbley's paper will have more from the debate," Kate said as she fished a nickel from a well-hidden pocket. She went out into the bright, comforting sunshine, waved down the halfling, and gave him her nickel. "I need to catch up," she smiled. "If you leave this town even for one day you miss all sorts of interesting things."The headline of the newspaper reads "Pinto Joe Weams Killed in Prison". The story beneath relates how at the Colorado State Prison in Canon City he attempted to steal a guard's gun and was shot dead. The guard has been cleared of the killing as Weam's cellmate Mongo Bailey confirmed what transpired. The story mentions that Bailey, Shotgun Sally Fox and Pamela Yeats remain in the prison awaiting trial.The other front page story is an account of the debate the previous night, mentioning how both Charlie Villars and Deacon McCoy both offered to withdraw from the race and support Deputy Martin's candidacy if he would renounce Marshal Berg. Chester instead supported his boss completely. Kate handed the paper to Meghan. "It's like Chester to support Marshal Berg. But he's going to need some help. I think I'm going to have to talk to Emery Shaw later. I'll be glad when this election is over."Thumbing through the paper Kate notes that a two-page center spread is an oversized advertisement for the Law and Order Party, with quotes from all candidates assuring the town of safety and security once they are elected. Before Kate heads back inside Postmaster Eddie Palmer arrives with a large package for her. "Thank you, Mr. Palmer," she said and took the package. She made polite small talk for a moment before taking the package inside. She looked it over for a return address or any other clue as to who it might be from before carefully opening it.It has a New York City postmark on it. Inside the large wooden crate, underneath the layers of wrapping and packing, is a finely crafted handmade wooden cradle. It is painted white and at the head and the foot is a cut out in the shape of a heart. Inside the cradle is a soft, fluffy white and blue checkered comforter which is covering a small brown teddy bear.Kate tenderly folded the letter and slipped it back inside the envelope. Despite her assurances to Ruby the day she left, Kate hadn't been in any way sure her friend would return. But her greater fear had been of being forgotten. She reached in and felt the soft fabric of the toy bear's ear. In her mind, she could see her little boy cuddled under the blue and white blanket with the bear standing a vigilant watch. The sound of children shouting outside as they played brought her back to the present, and the fact that Mollie and Meghan were still here with her. "A gift from Ruby," she said by way of explanation. "I should take it into the kitchen before the children come back in."</blockquote>

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