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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 3839675" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter Two-hundred-fourteen, “Hunting Franklin“, Sunday, June 18th, 2:30 A.M. Minerva rushes back from her errand. When she does not see Katherine or Chester she climbs the stairs and knocks on the closed door. She is let in and Kate says to Minerva, “I imagine we'll want to take him when he's alone. That would mean letting the Lady clear out first. And we certainly want surprise considering they can just turn to mist and escape. Perhaps we'll want to get into his room and make sure all the windows are latched so he wouldn't have anywhere to go? Thankfully these things very obligingly don't leave bodies behind, we can just have Mr. Van Horne announce that Mr. Franklin withdrew and left." Kate opened the door and ushered her inside, explaining what the candles on the floor meant and who was who. "We are trying to figure out the best way to destroy the creature. I was suggesting waiting until he retires to his room for the night." Kate heads back downstairs. As the Lucky Lady begins to clear out Kate notices Conrad Booth sitting over at a table with Edwin Booth. Conrad is finishing off the whiskey he was given fourteen hours earlier and as near as Kate can tell he doesn't appear to be the least bit upset over having been eliminated from the tournament. Kate smiled and walked over, taking the empty seat next to him. "And so tomorrow you are Romeo again, I assume? I'm not sure if I should be sorry or congratulate you." Conrad says "Congratulations are in order my dear, I have no regrets. Did you see? The two biggest winners at this point are Cook and Adair. The last thing I wanted was to be at the final table with the two of them given my employer's expectations in that scenario, better to lose $ 3,000 and maintain my gainful employment at the Long Branch. Plus I outlasted both Fisk and Spaulding, the other two from the Long Branch, so that still make's me the best regular gambler in that establishment. He then gestures to both Kate and Edwin and says, "The last twenty-four hours have been good. You both survived Mr. Watson's brutal attack and I now have a brother, all this was here tonight was a poker game, nothing to cry about. And as you point out, I will get to play Romeo again tomorrow. My heart really wasn't in it last night for the final two acts given my concerns at the time over the two of you. Tomorrow I'll be able to put everything into it and make it the performance of my life. "Well then I congratulate you," she said and took his hand. "I still haven't seen the end of the play, I'll be glad to see it with you as Romeo, although I have to say Esteban was doing very well. I wish I had been awake last night when you came by, I was feeling a bit abandoned since none of my friends had come either." Conrad says, "Well my dear, you do not need to ever feel abandoned or alone at night either. I made you a proposal last March, that offer still stands." "I know," she said, looking down at their joined hands. "But I still need time; I know you understand. That doesn't mean we can't talk about how our lives might fit together." She hadn't realized that she had leaned closer until she looked up and saw Edwin Booth trying to hide a smile. She sat up quickly and said to him, "Will you be watching your brother's performance tomorrow or observing the rest of the tournament?" Edwin replies, "I will definitely be at the play." With a smile he adds, "I did attempt to watch it last night but you may recall that my evening was interrupted." She replies, "I seem to recall that. And after that I recall feeling very strange in the head," she laughed. "That elixir feels very strange. Not like Laudanum or alcohol, but strange nonetheless. I have some business to attend to upstairs before I can go home, it might be quite a while. You don't have to wait for me if you want to get home to rest. Would you like something to eat before you go? I'm sure I can find something in the kitchen yet. Don't worry, I won't be cooking it." Edwin says he got some food earlier. Conrad says that he is fine as he finishes his drink. Conrad says, "I'll walk my brother back to his hotel and then turn in myself. See you tomorrow my dear." Kate walked the two men to the door and kissed Conrad's cheek. "I will see you tomorrow. Good night." As the two walked away Kate turned back to the saloon. As she crossed the room toward the stairs she took note of who was still downstairs so she could tell those above stairs what the situation was. Hopefully there was some plan on what to do about Franklin by now. Chester keeps a watch on Franklin. With it being nighttime, Franklin is free to leave the Lucky Lady. He can't let that happen. He asks Jeff, "Go up and see what the plan is. He's not going to stay down here too long. Wait, is there a master key for the rooms?" Jeff says, "I can go, Chet. The tournaments on a break. Hold on." He goes upstairs and is let into the room. "Chet wants to know what the plan is. He's downstairs keeping an eye on Franklin." Kate went upstairs and knocked softly on the door of the private dining room before opening the door and entering. "It's clearing out downstairs. Do we have any kind of plan here? My suggestions only went as far as waiting for the place to clear out and taking him by surprise in his room. Of course, I find plans tend to fall about after the fight actually starts. Mr. Tomlinson, Miss O'Hara, you're the professionals here, is there anything we should know not to do? Would you rather I fetch Jake before we go over this?" Tomlinson says, "I'm not sure but whatever we do we should start soon. Unless he has somewhere else to go right now he'll be heading upstairs any minute now." Kate says, "We'll have to be quiet since Franklin isn't the only gambler staying here. If you all wait up in his room we'll have him trapped between two groups, then we do what we have to do. We'll have to keep our eyes open for cross-fire, but otherwise it should work. I'm going to go get Jake, he's better with this kind of thing than I am." Kate slipped back downstairs and found Jake nursing a drink. "We need you upstairs," she said quietly. "We have to decide exactly how we're dealing with this and we have to decide quickly. I have some basic ideas, but they could use some fleshing out, and this is your place after all. I doubt you want us starting it on fire or any such nonsense." "Yes, I would prefer that we do not burn down the Lady." Then in a loud voice, "Blast!" He drinks the balance of the bourbon and slams the glass on the bar. "I will kick those dogs into next week. Come on, show me what they have done this time." Jake follows Katherine to the stairs and then climbs them. "We cannot thrust him into sun light we do not have, and fire is a bad plan. We need to keep him from escaping. I do not know how he would have moved his coffin into the room upstairs, I wonder what he does for sanctuary. I would have said he is likely to come up here just for appearances except that would make no sense. He needs to be here for the game that starts in daylight hours. We could check. He could have someone there to protect him or it could be trapped. Either way he would know something is amiss. My best suggestion is we have enough folks in the main room to engage him if he gets warned, and the rest check out his room and wait for him up here. If he comes up, folks follow him up and the action happens in his room or hall. If he tries to run, well then, the action starts when he does." Jake shrugs. "If anyone has a better plan, I am all for it. I trust everyone else involved has the necessary equipment, all I can do is shoot him." Minerva states, "The last time that we encountered these abominations, Senorita O'Hara armed herself with silver. Do we have any silver handy? I have also brought holy water for all of you. I have a bullet that would put a man to sleep, but these creatures are not men. I do not think that it would work." Nakomo pipes up. "Does anyone have any of Diana's arrows left?" "Si" Minerva responds as she continues to hand out vials of holy water, "Padre Harbrace should have one left but he is in Dos Cabezas." Tomlinson lowers his voice and says, "I could cast a spell that would permit somebody to fly there and back, but that would still take a couple of hours." Minerva states, "Luna has met the Padre. I could send her. But as you said that would take time. I do not think that we will wait that long." Kate interjects, "I would volunteer to do the flying, but it's unwise for me to do it. Those arrows are very effective though. They're immediately destroyed without a chance to turn to gas. Jake's plan has good bones. I'd say have Miss O'Hara, Mr. Tomlinson, and Jake check out the room up here. Minerva, Nakomo, Chester and I can go downstairs to follow him up. We have business here or are at least known to be here late, so it won't seem suspicious." "Fine," he states. Jake adjusts the pistol in his holster and heads to the hallway and waits for the others outside the door to the room Franklin is using. Being a co-owner of the establishment Jake was easily able to get a key to the room which they open and enter. It is a corner room at the end of the second floor addition to building. Both of the windows in the room have been left open and a light June breeze is blowing into the room. The bed is neatly made and atop the bed is an open suitcase with a pair of shoes and clothing neatly folded. No other possessions are visible in the room. Downstairs, Kate notes that Mr. Franklin is no longer present in the room. Harry says that he left a few minutes earlier, with Jeff Mills following at a distance. "Thank you, Harry." Kate went back to the others. "He's left, Jeff is following, and Chester as well. I hate to split us up any further, but we can't all go following him without being terribly obvious. Perhaps Luna could trail them and let us know what's happening? I fear the thing has gone out to hunt." Kate ran upstairs and brought Jake down, telling him about Franklin leaving. Jake says, "I know what you are saying, but it will be terribly obvious is someone turns up dead. I cannot condone Jeff Mills being out there all by himself, I am going out after him. We do have a Deputy Marshall that we are assisting after all. Does anyone know where he might go?" Kate says, "I don't know anything about him or where he'd go, unless he might try to break his friends out of jail?" Jake replies, "Mierde. Those that are willing to go out with me spread out and search. Stay in sight of each other and look for Mills or the monster. We will just use hand signals to get attention." Tomlinson points out that the candles indicated one of his allies was over at the Promise City Hotel. Jake nods, "Let us go there first then." Kate says, "Since we know he's the only vampire in town and we're looking for him it should be safe enough for me to go with you. Someone should stay in case it comes back." Jake says, "Nakomo, stay with Harry and keep an eye on the Saloon. If you see Franklin, send Luna for us. " Chester is downstairs when the others come down. "They just left." Kate tries to stay close to Jake or Kevin Tomlinson as they head out. Kate says, “It could be just as dangerous to stay behind with Nakomo as to go out with the others.” There was no way to really know where they would encounter the creature again. As soon as she determined to go it seemed she should stay, and vice versa. Finally she determined to go. At least helping to search for the thing it was less likely to sneak up on her. "I'll go with you. I think we should still spread out a bit, but everyone make their way toward the hotel." Chester says, “OK. I'll check out Fremont St. and the over South St. toward the Hotel. That'll give me a chance to look in at the Marshall's office, too. I'll meet you all at the Hotel." Despite being 3:00 AM there are still several dozen people milling around town given that poker tournament has just ended for the day plus there had been a cast party at the Gay Lady following the successful performance, that has also just broken up. Chester walks down Main St, then turns onto Fremont. His right hand rests on his pistol grip as his eyes shift back and forth in the darkness. When he reaches the Marshall's office, he opens the door. Deputy Neil Cassidy is now on duty again at the Marshall's Office. John Wesley Hardin is sleeping in a cell with Franklin's two accomplices. Wyatt Earp now shares a cell with Jefferson Soapy Smith. All of the prisoners are sleeping soundly and Helen signals that all is well. Chester makes it over to the Promise City Hotel. They don't see either Franklin or Jeff Mills in the downstairs restaurant and head to the stairs leading up. They see Jeff standing on the landing near the top steps watching the hallway. He says, "Franklin met a woman in the restaurant and they then came upstairs. She looked to be around forty and was on the plump side, with dark hair tied back in a bun. I've never seen her before now. They've both been inside Room #11 for the last five minutes." "Well we can't do anything right here in the hotel," Kate whispered, "One or two should stay inside, and the rest of us can watch the doors and windows from outside." Chester visits the front desk of the Hotel. He asks Melissa Smith behind the counter, "Evening, Mrs. Smith. Can you tell me who's staying in room #11? It's for an investigation I'm doing." She checks the register and says "The room is signed out to a Mrs. Isabelle Dyson. Is she somebody you know?" Chester says, "No, I don't know her, but I'd like to ask her a few questions. Can I go up?" Mrs. Smith replies, "It's dreadfully late, Deputy. Can it wait until tomorrow?" Chester states, "I'm afraid not. I'll try not to take too much of her time." She says, "If you say so. If Mrs. Dyson complains, the Marshall will hear about it." "I'll take that chance. Thank you, Mrs. Smith." "Uh Oh," Jeff states, as the door to room #11 begins to open. Kate quickly hooked her arm through Jeff's and started them both down the stairs. "I appreciate the escort, I know it's late but I'm sure he appreciates us returning it as soon as it was found. I really think I could have gone up alone though. I guess next time I have to tell absolutely everyone when I go somewhere. You really didn't have to send out a search party." There are already too many of them at the bottom of the stairs, and Jake makes quickly and quietly outside where he can be inconspicuous and watch the windows on the side of the hotel where room 11 is located. Franklin exits room #11 alone and heads towards the stairs, passing the linked-armed Kate and Jeff and paying little to no attention to them as he makes his way down the stairs. He then exits the Promise City Hotel and heads north on Allen Street heading back in the direction of the Lucky Lady Dance Hall and Saloon. Jake notices that Franklin has left the hotel. He stealthily follows the gambler vampire, assuming the Jeff Mills continues to do so as well. Jake carefully begins to close the distance between them. At the hotel, Chester tips his hat and climbs the stairs to the room. he knocks on the door and says in a low voice, "Mrs. Dyson? Are you decent? My name's Deputy Martin. I'd like to ask you a few questions." The woman opens the door but does not let Chester inside. He hears noises and shadows that indicate that somebody else is also in the room although he cannot see who. Chester whispers, "Mrs. Dyson. If you are in trouble, just nod your head." In a normal voice, he says, "Mrs. Dyson, do you know a man named Jim Franklin?" The Promise City Hotel is at the northwest corner of South and Allen while the Lucky Lady is on the northwest corner of Main and Allen. Immediately north of the hotel is Doctor James Eaton's Office and north of that is a three-building complex with shared center walls comprised of Kay Kaufman's Cooper Shop, the Western Union Telegraph Office and the Alhambra Saloon. Jeff Mills follows Franklin up Allen Street from a short distance while Jake Cook finds himself in the alleyway off of Allen between the north wall of Eaton's Office and south wall of the Cooper Shop. Jake turns and sprints behind the Alhambra and up the alley on the east side of that saloon to Main street where he will cross to the center. Enough is enough, he thinks. There is no plan and no clue where his coffin hides. Trusting that the others are coming up Allen street behind Franklin, Jake speaks to him as he comes onto main street. "Puzzling, Mr. Franklin, that you have not enjoyed the fine home cooking of either Hannah Milford or Melissa Smith. Folks around these parts describe their meals as 'to die for'. Perhaps you have more exotic tastes?"</blockquote>

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