orchid blossom
Explorer
Minerva follows the Sheriff out of the boarding house. She takes him by the arm ."I will try and explain. Por favor, let us give Senora Jacobs a moment to compose herself."
"Oh, sure! Any useful information you have would be appreciated ma'am." Wilson responds.
Minerva explains how Colin Turner came to their town and his power to control others. "He was obsessed with Senora Jacobs and had vowed to make her his for all eternity. I have seen his handiwork first hand. He was a vile, evil monster. and so we came here to destroy him before he destroys others. Apparently someone else had the same idea."
"Well I think my duty is to find out who that someone is at this point. If they could do what they did to him then what could they do to this town? C'mon Mr. Martin, let's go give Mr. Greely a visit and see if he can answer some questions."
Chester follows along. "How long have you been sheriff? This all must be a blur."
"Well 'round these parts I've been sheriff for almost 11 years now. Up till recently it's been a nice job, felt like I could handle things."
"I bet you didn't count on this. This Turner thing is going to be more than any one person can handle. If you want my help, I'm here. I've seen what Turner can do."
Sheriff Wilson and Chester head off to Greely's house to see if they can get an audience with them. When they arrive there is no answer. They then head to the saloon to see if he is there.
The sheriff and Chester head over to Greely's saloon. Thom is there and he is sweeping the floor with a new broom.
“Howdy there Thom, working hard I see!” Wilson says
Thom laughs, “This isn't hard work, this is easy. Mr. Greely like the saloon to be clean though, so Thom does his best. “
“That's good Thom. Thom, speaking of Mr. Greely is he around today, I would like to speak with him.”
“Uh, no Mr. Sheriff, Mr. Greely is not, uh, not around here right now. I don't know where he went.”
The sheriff interrogates Thom a bit longer while walking through the saloon checking to see if Greely is around or if there are any clues to his whereabouts. Speaking with Thom seem to be quite pointless so eventually the sheriff gets frustrated enough to leave.
"I think your friend might be on to something, I mean where would Greely go? He must be sleeping somewhere, I mean he stays up all night. I say we go back to his place and check it out."
As they walk to Greeley's house, Chester says, "I'm with you, Sheriff. Greeley keeps some strange hours. Do you know him well? Has he changed recently?"
"I can't say I do know him that well. It is a small town and all but I am a church going man, not a gambler or a drinker. The only times I set foot in that saloon are work related, so I can't say I know Greely too well. Seems like regular folk to me, probably just sleeping so that he can run his saloon at night."
They arrive at Greely's house and knock on the door again. They wait a few moments before knocking again and the Sheriff holler out "Mr. Greely, Sheriff Wilson here, I'm coming in."
The door is unlocked, the sheriff seeming a bit surprised with all the trouble around lately. He opens the door and steps into the house. It is a sparsely furnished single story house. The curtains are drawn and the house is eerily quiet. Chester and Wilson search the house room to room but find no sign of Greely.
Chester is unnerved as he walks through the home. "Where can he be? If he's not at work and not at home, then where? This isn't good."
"Well perhaps we just missed him. He may be out picking up supplies or getting a meal. This is why I need a deputy in times like this, so that I could leave someone here to watch for him. I wonder where Al has gotten himself to." Wilson says scratching his head. "It's not that unusual for him to get involved in something and get involve with what he is doing, so I guess I shouldn't be too worried. Let's check the house over one more time and then I think I'll head back to the office."
* * *
Jake positions himself between the trunk and Ruby. "This changes nothing. I am still here for you and we will still come out of this safe and together."
Ruby stands for a few more moments with her mouth hanging open. She points to the dress, now laying on the edge on the truck, "But t-that's my dress. He's really crazy!" She looks at the floor, "And my pictures..." Her lip starts to tremble before she looks Jake deep in the eyes, "And you don't think he's dead."
"If I knew for certain he was dead, then I would feel better." Jake gives her a little smile and runs his finger down her cheek. "Hey, you know me, I never get much sleep at night anyway. So what if I get to stay up all night long for a few more nights while we sort this out. Now be a good wife and help me finish looking around here. I need some sleep so I can be up tonight. You protect me during the day and I will keep you safe during the night. Partners right?"
Ruby keeps her lips from pouting any further and she replies softly, "Yes, partners Ja..Mr. Jacobs." She keeps her nagging thoughts to herself and keeps her eyes off of Jake. "I'll be a good wife and help you look. What do you want me to look for? I already searched around here, except for the trunk, Minerva wouldn't let me look."
"The coffin. That is what I am curious about. If this is really Turner's coffin, then it would show the use of say... 6 weeks. Coffins are not designed to be opened and closed that many times are they?" Jake lets that thought sink in to her. "Now, if the coffin does NOT show signs of wear, then that makes me think it is a ruse. If the coffin DOES show signs of wear, then it could be Turner's, or it could be another of these vampire creatures. If that pile of ashes was not Turner, then who?" Again he lets that thought sink in. "Either way, we need to examine it very closely because the wisest thing to do is to destroy it no matter who it might have belonged. Once we have learned what we can, we destroy it."
Ruby glances at Jake, "How romantic." She finds a good spot next to the coffin and kneels on the floor next to it. First she concentrates on it for any magic, then she starts thoroughly searching it, looking for signs of wear like Jake mentioned, or anything else odd about it.
Jake and Ruby do examine the coffin, specifically any spots that would show wear and tear from the lid being taken off. Ruby does not notice anything magical about it. It takes some time but they do find the pieces necessary. After some examination they both agree that the coffin does show signs of being used for some time and the lid having been taken on and off several times including some marks that indicate it would have been moved by someone inside the coffin.
Minerva re-enters the room. "Si, we need to destroy it, but we cannot do that in here. We will have to take it apart and bring it outside so that we can burn it." She turns to Ruby. "Are you alright?"
I am tired, my mind is not working straight. If this is his, he had it shipped all the way from Promise City too!" Jake looks for any signs of that handling or shipment as well, finding none.
"No, but thanks for asking," Ruby replies. "You two figure out what to do with it, ok?"
Ruby walks over to the floor near the trunk and kneels again. She sets about slowly picking up all the pictures of herself and wiping the dirt off them.
"I did not get a chance to examine the bottom of the trunk. perhaps you could do that, Ruby?" Minerva asks.
Ruby looks up from the pictures on the floor. She still looks somewhat dazed from their discovery. She nods and moves closer to the trunk, checking out the bottom.
"Nanuet!" Jake calls out to his Indian friend. "Help me haul this wood outside. We need to burn it." Jake looks to Minerva and says politely, "Could you please keep Constance company while we dispose of this?"
Once outside with the scraps of the coffin, Jake asks Nanuet, "What did you learn out here. You spent quite a bit of time. Anything we can use?"
"I am not sure if it is useful or not, there were our tracks here too from last night, but I think I have it figured out. I think there were four men who came here on foot. One of them was a very large man, another man walked with a limp. They had someone else, a fifth person with them when they left. It looks as though he may have been bound up and he was definitely struggling. Tracks are not that old, 6 hours or less I would say."
Jake looks impressed. "What, you could not tell what color hats they wore?" He then slaps the Indian on the shoulder. "Well done. Now, who do we know matches those descriptions? Time to take stock of the town." Jake seems lost in thought for a moment before he says, "O'Neil had time to organize this...." He then remembers the book case inside. "Let us get this burning," he says removing his dagger and saying the special word, "I want to look at the books inside."
Jake and Nanuet watch the coffin burn. Considering the dry climate the wood burns quite slowly and makes a large amount of smoke. Nanuet says that he'll watch the fire so that Jake can check the books. "I can't read anyways, so I'll be no use there."
Still in Turner’s room Minerva says softly, "Ruby? I am truly sorry that you are going through this." She bends down and picks up the photographs. "These are quite lovely and rather untraditional. Did you have them taken recently?"
"Yes," she says softly, "I had them taken for Mr. Fly, so he could make more business at your festival." She continues to search as Minerva looks over the pictures. "And thank you. I'm sorry I'm going through this too, you have no idea. My whole life is falling apart. But no matter what you are a good friend, like the others."
Ruby checks the bottom of the trunk and it is indeed a false bottom. Stored inside is a large sum of money as well as certificates of stock in Thomas Edison's Phonograph Company.
Ruby's eyebrows shoot up. "Holy... That's a lot of money." She pulls out the certificates and looks them over.
"By the Goddess, That IS a lot of money. What are those other papers?"
"They look like stocks or something in some Thomas Edison Company? Whoever he is."
“That's the name on this machine that I pulled out before,” Minerva says. “Are there any names on the stocks? Can you tell who they belonged too?"
The certificates appear to indicate stock ownership in a new company started by Thomas Edison to produce and sell his relatively new phonograph machine. Ruby notices the design on the certificate matches the design on one of the cases in the trunk. There are about 100 of these certificates each indicating 5 shares of stock. A quick count of the money indicates there is approximately $1500 in cash.
"Senorita Minerva, I really wish you weren't here right now," Ruby comments with a sigh. Ruby stands. "What do you want to do with it?"
“What do I want to do with it? I was not suggesting that we do anything with it. I was just wondering who they belonged too.”
Jake arrives back in the room after they have got the fire burning outside. He notices Ruby holding a large pile of bills and comments, "Looks like you are buying the drinks tonight."
"I'd be more than happy to darling. I could probably drink this much in beverages tonight."
He then sits himself on the floor and starts looking through the books, taking note of their titles, opening them up looking for hand written notes or other pieces of paper. "Play the recordings if they will work while we finish searching."
The books appear to be mostly well known fiction. Most of them do appear to have been read several times. There are some that appear to be gifts from customers and other acquaintances but any inscriptions are not recently dated. There appears to be nothing odd about the books.
Minerva steps outside to find Nanuet. "Hola, Mi Amore." She walks over and hugs him tightly. "How are you holding up? Have you found anything useful out here?"
Nanuet smiles warmly at Minerva and gives her a tender kiss. "I'm holding up just fine. How is Ruby handling things? I am sure she is upset by all this. She is a strong woman though, I'm sure she be OK. Although after the whole Cowboy Gang situation I am sure she was looking forward to a break. Now that Turner is dead hopefully she can move forward."
"Ruby will be fine, especially now that she has found all of that money to console her." Minerva chuckles and leans in for another kiss. She leans back and becomes serious. "Nanuet do you really believe that Colin is dead? It just does not feel right to me. I felt his power. He was so strong. I find it difficult to believe that he was so easily overcome. Why did he not just vanish in a puff of smoke like he did back home?" she furrows her brow. "I am really worried."
"If he truly is dead my guess is that there is something more powerful than him who did it. He was scared last night when he fled the saloon right? What could scare him? It wasn't us because we didn't kill him."
"You are probably right. But what could be more powerful than him? I pray to the goddess that whoever has such power is on our side and not the side of evil."
"I am just thinking that he had to come from somewhere. I mean he was human once right? And then someone or something turned him into that thing. Maybe it was here, maybe it was on the road somewhere on one of his business trips? The stage isn't here yet so we still have time."
A look of horror fills Minerva’s eyes "So you think that there may be an even greater evil lurking about?"
"I don't know, it is just speculation. I just figure that something had to make him what he was. Turner said he was going to do that to Ruby right? Something must have done the same to him at some point. Someone must have been strong enough to at least capture him right?"
Minerva thinks for a moment. "We need to find out who that is. "Perhaps the Priest of the Occult that was sent for has done this. Perhaps he has arrived in town." she says hopefully but then shakes her head and sighs. "I wish that I could believe that Colin was destroyed but something just doesn't seem right to me and I keep wondering about the cufflinks."
Nanuet ponders Minerva's words before responding. "I hope that this priest they sent for knows what he is doing and is not a scam artist or worse. Perhaps he has arrived, we could check for him. I am not sure if we will ever find out for sure that he has been destroyed since we did not witness it or complete the deed ourselves. Perhaps the best we can do is find who did do it and get them to confess." Nanuet pauses for a moment before continuing. "I think the others have moved on to other pursuits, perhaps we should think of our next step? What were you wondering about the cufflinks exactly? I suppose they were his at least at some point. Any ideas?"
"Senor Chester found one of Turner's cufflinks in the dead girls room and Ruby found the other one in the pile of ashes 2 days later. Does it not strike you as odd that a man as meticulous as Colin Turner would continue to wear the other one for two days after losing the first one?" She shakes her head in puzzlement. "I mean, he must change his clothes right? Why would he continue to wear the one cufflink without its mate? It just doesn't fit... and the other thing that is bothering me is what Senor O'Neil said at breakfast. He claims that Turner has only been in town for a couple of days but the Mayor and his wife were murdered last week.
I'm not sure what to do next. Maybe we should try and find out who was in Turner's room. You said that one of the men was big and the other had a limp. There are certainly several big men in town including that Thom fellow that works for Greely, but there can't be that many men with a limp."
Nanuet nods. "It does strike me as add that the cufflink would be there so many days later. Maybe he had more than one set? Maybe somebody put it there for someone like us to find or maybe Turner has been harried and not had a chance to get to new clothes. I mean the trunk wasn't even unpacked yet. As far as the Mayor and his wife, I am thinking there are more creatures like Turner here in town. That is why I said earlier that maybe there might be something more powerful than Turner. Maybe another monster like him, maybe a different beast all together. As far as who was in Turner's room, it shouldn't be too hard to see someone who has a limp in this little town."
"Do you remember all those bats that we saw the night we arrived?" Minerva asks. “You said that you thought that maybe they were displaced from their cave. Perhaps we could try and find the cave that they came from and see what spooked them out of it."
"I suppose we could, but that will take some time. We don't know the area and I don't want to be out there after dark. Perhaps tomorrow we get an early start and search around. Tonight we can ask if anyone knows of any caves in the area," Nanuet says.
Minerva shudders at the thought of being out of town in the dark. "Si, that is an activity best saved for the friendly light of day. Let us inquire about the man with the limp and then we can return to the hotel for a meal." She smiles as Nanuet’s face lights up at the mention of food. "Perhaps the priest would know something." Minerva and Nanuet stroll over to the church.
The priest spends some time with Nanuet and Minerva. He thinks about his congregation and tells them that he can't think of anyone specifically with a limp. "Perhaps it is one of the ranchers outside of town? Are you sure you know that it was somebody with a limp?" the priest asks Nanuet. The elf smiles coyly and says "About as sure as you are of your Gods."
"Well, we didn't find out anything there." Minerva says after they step out the door. "Why don't we make our way back to the hotel. I would like to freshen up and see how the others are doing. Later, we can go over to the saloon and do some people watching."
"Sounds like a good plan to me. At least now we have an idea of something to look for."
"Oh, sure! Any useful information you have would be appreciated ma'am." Wilson responds.
Minerva explains how Colin Turner came to their town and his power to control others. "He was obsessed with Senora Jacobs and had vowed to make her his for all eternity. I have seen his handiwork first hand. He was a vile, evil monster. and so we came here to destroy him before he destroys others. Apparently someone else had the same idea."
"Well I think my duty is to find out who that someone is at this point. If they could do what they did to him then what could they do to this town? C'mon Mr. Martin, let's go give Mr. Greely a visit and see if he can answer some questions."
Chester follows along. "How long have you been sheriff? This all must be a blur."
"Well 'round these parts I've been sheriff for almost 11 years now. Up till recently it's been a nice job, felt like I could handle things."
"I bet you didn't count on this. This Turner thing is going to be more than any one person can handle. If you want my help, I'm here. I've seen what Turner can do."
Sheriff Wilson and Chester head off to Greely's house to see if they can get an audience with them. When they arrive there is no answer. They then head to the saloon to see if he is there.
The sheriff and Chester head over to Greely's saloon. Thom is there and he is sweeping the floor with a new broom.
“Howdy there Thom, working hard I see!” Wilson says
Thom laughs, “This isn't hard work, this is easy. Mr. Greely like the saloon to be clean though, so Thom does his best. “
“That's good Thom. Thom, speaking of Mr. Greely is he around today, I would like to speak with him.”
“Uh, no Mr. Sheriff, Mr. Greely is not, uh, not around here right now. I don't know where he went.”
The sheriff interrogates Thom a bit longer while walking through the saloon checking to see if Greely is around or if there are any clues to his whereabouts. Speaking with Thom seem to be quite pointless so eventually the sheriff gets frustrated enough to leave.
"I think your friend might be on to something, I mean where would Greely go? He must be sleeping somewhere, I mean he stays up all night. I say we go back to his place and check it out."
As they walk to Greeley's house, Chester says, "I'm with you, Sheriff. Greeley keeps some strange hours. Do you know him well? Has he changed recently?"
"I can't say I do know him that well. It is a small town and all but I am a church going man, not a gambler or a drinker. The only times I set foot in that saloon are work related, so I can't say I know Greely too well. Seems like regular folk to me, probably just sleeping so that he can run his saloon at night."
They arrive at Greely's house and knock on the door again. They wait a few moments before knocking again and the Sheriff holler out "Mr. Greely, Sheriff Wilson here, I'm coming in."
The door is unlocked, the sheriff seeming a bit surprised with all the trouble around lately. He opens the door and steps into the house. It is a sparsely furnished single story house. The curtains are drawn and the house is eerily quiet. Chester and Wilson search the house room to room but find no sign of Greely.
Chester is unnerved as he walks through the home. "Where can he be? If he's not at work and not at home, then where? This isn't good."
"Well perhaps we just missed him. He may be out picking up supplies or getting a meal. This is why I need a deputy in times like this, so that I could leave someone here to watch for him. I wonder where Al has gotten himself to." Wilson says scratching his head. "It's not that unusual for him to get involved in something and get involve with what he is doing, so I guess I shouldn't be too worried. Let's check the house over one more time and then I think I'll head back to the office."
* * *
Jake positions himself between the trunk and Ruby. "This changes nothing. I am still here for you and we will still come out of this safe and together."
Ruby stands for a few more moments with her mouth hanging open. She points to the dress, now laying on the edge on the truck, "But t-that's my dress. He's really crazy!" She looks at the floor, "And my pictures..." Her lip starts to tremble before she looks Jake deep in the eyes, "And you don't think he's dead."
"If I knew for certain he was dead, then I would feel better." Jake gives her a little smile and runs his finger down her cheek. "Hey, you know me, I never get much sleep at night anyway. So what if I get to stay up all night long for a few more nights while we sort this out. Now be a good wife and help me finish looking around here. I need some sleep so I can be up tonight. You protect me during the day and I will keep you safe during the night. Partners right?"
Ruby keeps her lips from pouting any further and she replies softly, "Yes, partners Ja..Mr. Jacobs." She keeps her nagging thoughts to herself and keeps her eyes off of Jake. "I'll be a good wife and help you look. What do you want me to look for? I already searched around here, except for the trunk, Minerva wouldn't let me look."
"The coffin. That is what I am curious about. If this is really Turner's coffin, then it would show the use of say... 6 weeks. Coffins are not designed to be opened and closed that many times are they?" Jake lets that thought sink in to her. "Now, if the coffin does NOT show signs of wear, then that makes me think it is a ruse. If the coffin DOES show signs of wear, then it could be Turner's, or it could be another of these vampire creatures. If that pile of ashes was not Turner, then who?" Again he lets that thought sink in. "Either way, we need to examine it very closely because the wisest thing to do is to destroy it no matter who it might have belonged. Once we have learned what we can, we destroy it."
Ruby glances at Jake, "How romantic." She finds a good spot next to the coffin and kneels on the floor next to it. First she concentrates on it for any magic, then she starts thoroughly searching it, looking for signs of wear like Jake mentioned, or anything else odd about it.
Jake and Ruby do examine the coffin, specifically any spots that would show wear and tear from the lid being taken off. Ruby does not notice anything magical about it. It takes some time but they do find the pieces necessary. After some examination they both agree that the coffin does show signs of being used for some time and the lid having been taken on and off several times including some marks that indicate it would have been moved by someone inside the coffin.
Minerva re-enters the room. "Si, we need to destroy it, but we cannot do that in here. We will have to take it apart and bring it outside so that we can burn it." She turns to Ruby. "Are you alright?"
I am tired, my mind is not working straight. If this is his, he had it shipped all the way from Promise City too!" Jake looks for any signs of that handling or shipment as well, finding none.
"No, but thanks for asking," Ruby replies. "You two figure out what to do with it, ok?"
Ruby walks over to the floor near the trunk and kneels again. She sets about slowly picking up all the pictures of herself and wiping the dirt off them.
"I did not get a chance to examine the bottom of the trunk. perhaps you could do that, Ruby?" Minerva asks.
Ruby looks up from the pictures on the floor. She still looks somewhat dazed from their discovery. She nods and moves closer to the trunk, checking out the bottom.
"Nanuet!" Jake calls out to his Indian friend. "Help me haul this wood outside. We need to burn it." Jake looks to Minerva and says politely, "Could you please keep Constance company while we dispose of this?"
Once outside with the scraps of the coffin, Jake asks Nanuet, "What did you learn out here. You spent quite a bit of time. Anything we can use?"
"I am not sure if it is useful or not, there were our tracks here too from last night, but I think I have it figured out. I think there were four men who came here on foot. One of them was a very large man, another man walked with a limp. They had someone else, a fifth person with them when they left. It looks as though he may have been bound up and he was definitely struggling. Tracks are not that old, 6 hours or less I would say."
Jake looks impressed. "What, you could not tell what color hats they wore?" He then slaps the Indian on the shoulder. "Well done. Now, who do we know matches those descriptions? Time to take stock of the town." Jake seems lost in thought for a moment before he says, "O'Neil had time to organize this...." He then remembers the book case inside. "Let us get this burning," he says removing his dagger and saying the special word, "I want to look at the books inside."
Jake and Nanuet watch the coffin burn. Considering the dry climate the wood burns quite slowly and makes a large amount of smoke. Nanuet says that he'll watch the fire so that Jake can check the books. "I can't read anyways, so I'll be no use there."
Still in Turner’s room Minerva says softly, "Ruby? I am truly sorry that you are going through this." She bends down and picks up the photographs. "These are quite lovely and rather untraditional. Did you have them taken recently?"
"Yes," she says softly, "I had them taken for Mr. Fly, so he could make more business at your festival." She continues to search as Minerva looks over the pictures. "And thank you. I'm sorry I'm going through this too, you have no idea. My whole life is falling apart. But no matter what you are a good friend, like the others."
Ruby checks the bottom of the trunk and it is indeed a false bottom. Stored inside is a large sum of money as well as certificates of stock in Thomas Edison's Phonograph Company.
Ruby's eyebrows shoot up. "Holy... That's a lot of money." She pulls out the certificates and looks them over.
"By the Goddess, That IS a lot of money. What are those other papers?"
"They look like stocks or something in some Thomas Edison Company? Whoever he is."
“That's the name on this machine that I pulled out before,” Minerva says. “Are there any names on the stocks? Can you tell who they belonged too?"
The certificates appear to indicate stock ownership in a new company started by Thomas Edison to produce and sell his relatively new phonograph machine. Ruby notices the design on the certificate matches the design on one of the cases in the trunk. There are about 100 of these certificates each indicating 5 shares of stock. A quick count of the money indicates there is approximately $1500 in cash.
"Senorita Minerva, I really wish you weren't here right now," Ruby comments with a sigh. Ruby stands. "What do you want to do with it?"
“What do I want to do with it? I was not suggesting that we do anything with it. I was just wondering who they belonged too.”
Jake arrives back in the room after they have got the fire burning outside. He notices Ruby holding a large pile of bills and comments, "Looks like you are buying the drinks tonight."
"I'd be more than happy to darling. I could probably drink this much in beverages tonight."
He then sits himself on the floor and starts looking through the books, taking note of their titles, opening them up looking for hand written notes or other pieces of paper. "Play the recordings if they will work while we finish searching."
The books appear to be mostly well known fiction. Most of them do appear to have been read several times. There are some that appear to be gifts from customers and other acquaintances but any inscriptions are not recently dated. There appears to be nothing odd about the books.
Minerva steps outside to find Nanuet. "Hola, Mi Amore." She walks over and hugs him tightly. "How are you holding up? Have you found anything useful out here?"
Nanuet smiles warmly at Minerva and gives her a tender kiss. "I'm holding up just fine. How is Ruby handling things? I am sure she is upset by all this. She is a strong woman though, I'm sure she be OK. Although after the whole Cowboy Gang situation I am sure she was looking forward to a break. Now that Turner is dead hopefully she can move forward."
"Ruby will be fine, especially now that she has found all of that money to console her." Minerva chuckles and leans in for another kiss. She leans back and becomes serious. "Nanuet do you really believe that Colin is dead? It just does not feel right to me. I felt his power. He was so strong. I find it difficult to believe that he was so easily overcome. Why did he not just vanish in a puff of smoke like he did back home?" she furrows her brow. "I am really worried."
"If he truly is dead my guess is that there is something more powerful than him who did it. He was scared last night when he fled the saloon right? What could scare him? It wasn't us because we didn't kill him."
"You are probably right. But what could be more powerful than him? I pray to the goddess that whoever has such power is on our side and not the side of evil."
"I am just thinking that he had to come from somewhere. I mean he was human once right? And then someone or something turned him into that thing. Maybe it was here, maybe it was on the road somewhere on one of his business trips? The stage isn't here yet so we still have time."
A look of horror fills Minerva’s eyes "So you think that there may be an even greater evil lurking about?"
"I don't know, it is just speculation. I just figure that something had to make him what he was. Turner said he was going to do that to Ruby right? Something must have done the same to him at some point. Someone must have been strong enough to at least capture him right?"
Minerva thinks for a moment. "We need to find out who that is. "Perhaps the Priest of the Occult that was sent for has done this. Perhaps he has arrived in town." she says hopefully but then shakes her head and sighs. "I wish that I could believe that Colin was destroyed but something just doesn't seem right to me and I keep wondering about the cufflinks."
Nanuet ponders Minerva's words before responding. "I hope that this priest they sent for knows what he is doing and is not a scam artist or worse. Perhaps he has arrived, we could check for him. I am not sure if we will ever find out for sure that he has been destroyed since we did not witness it or complete the deed ourselves. Perhaps the best we can do is find who did do it and get them to confess." Nanuet pauses for a moment before continuing. "I think the others have moved on to other pursuits, perhaps we should think of our next step? What were you wondering about the cufflinks exactly? I suppose they were his at least at some point. Any ideas?"
"Senor Chester found one of Turner's cufflinks in the dead girls room and Ruby found the other one in the pile of ashes 2 days later. Does it not strike you as odd that a man as meticulous as Colin Turner would continue to wear the other one for two days after losing the first one?" She shakes her head in puzzlement. "I mean, he must change his clothes right? Why would he continue to wear the one cufflink without its mate? It just doesn't fit... and the other thing that is bothering me is what Senor O'Neil said at breakfast. He claims that Turner has only been in town for a couple of days but the Mayor and his wife were murdered last week.
I'm not sure what to do next. Maybe we should try and find out who was in Turner's room. You said that one of the men was big and the other had a limp. There are certainly several big men in town including that Thom fellow that works for Greely, but there can't be that many men with a limp."
Nanuet nods. "It does strike me as add that the cufflink would be there so many days later. Maybe he had more than one set? Maybe somebody put it there for someone like us to find or maybe Turner has been harried and not had a chance to get to new clothes. I mean the trunk wasn't even unpacked yet. As far as the Mayor and his wife, I am thinking there are more creatures like Turner here in town. That is why I said earlier that maybe there might be something more powerful than Turner. Maybe another monster like him, maybe a different beast all together. As far as who was in Turner's room, it shouldn't be too hard to see someone who has a limp in this little town."
"Do you remember all those bats that we saw the night we arrived?" Minerva asks. “You said that you thought that maybe they were displaced from their cave. Perhaps we could try and find the cave that they came from and see what spooked them out of it."
"I suppose we could, but that will take some time. We don't know the area and I don't want to be out there after dark. Perhaps tomorrow we get an early start and search around. Tonight we can ask if anyone knows of any caves in the area," Nanuet says.
Minerva shudders at the thought of being out of town in the dark. "Si, that is an activity best saved for the friendly light of day. Let us inquire about the man with the limp and then we can return to the hotel for a meal." She smiles as Nanuet’s face lights up at the mention of food. "Perhaps the priest would know something." Minerva and Nanuet stroll over to the church.
The priest spends some time with Nanuet and Minerva. He thinks about his congregation and tells them that he can't think of anyone specifically with a limp. "Perhaps it is one of the ranchers outside of town? Are you sure you know that it was somebody with a limp?" the priest asks Nanuet. The elf smiles coyly and says "About as sure as you are of your Gods."
"Well, we didn't find out anything there." Minerva says after they step out the door. "Why don't we make our way back to the hotel. I would like to freshen up and see how the others are doing. Later, we can go over to the saloon and do some people watching."
"Sounds like a good plan to me. At least now we have an idea of something to look for."