July 25 - Unlikely Assistance

Over the past few days, I had come down with a stomach bug of some sort so that put me out of commission as far as any investigation was to go. On Monday evening however, I got back into the action and decided to go to the dance in Pearce, considering that was where everything seemed to be happening. Going to dances without Tom was difficult, but I just had to keep remembering that he would be home soon enough. I had also received an interesting telegram from Tina who had offered to provide assistance in photographing evidence in my current investigation. 

While at the dance, I greeted people and stayed for a short time, but my curiosity was too much. I asked Tina if we could go outside and discuss her telegram and we went out to stand in front of the sheriff's office, far enough from the noise of the saloon. 

"So I got your telegram.. I was wonderin' how you'd heard about my investigation?" 

"Everyone is talkin' bout it," she stated. 

"Everyone?" 

"Mayor Wise was talkin' ta some folk on Allen Street, an' Aly asked me iffn I knew anythin'. Plus she mentioned it at Annie's a while ago." 

"Oh I see... I'll have to ask around more. Ain't really been feeling the greatest this past week so I wasn't quite going out too far. I'm startin' to feel better now though... So I thought I'd get back at this." 

"What a shame... Well iffn ya figure out any leads, please let me know." 

"Well actually I wanted to ask you about somethin'. Your name's come up in conversation." 

"Oh? How so?" She asked, looking at me curiously. 

"Well... Apparently you and Wes have been fightin' with Cas over ownership of Widow Lake?" 

"Oh it ain't a fight. We jist is banterin' an' such. Ya know a friendly squabble of sorts, Cas is practically family." 

"How did it turn out then? Is the ownership discussion settled?" 

"Not totally, but I'm shore them courts will help settle it. He put a sign engraved in stone by the lake sayin' it belongs ta Pearce." 

"Alright," I said with a nod. 

"I need ta check with the county ta see where them rights is filed. Do ya know where that is? Town hall er the court?" 

"The court? I would assume they'd discuss it in Tombstone. Ain't sure Pearce has a courthouse. What have you heard 'bout the bodies bein' found here in town?" 

"Yes, it said Cochise county. Come see what he put up.....an' he caused a hazard by burnin' him old signs down. Almost caught Goldfield on fire. Come follow me." 

We walked towards Widow Lake where I saw the stone that had been put up by Cas, which was all charred up for some reason. That was curious, and I looked the stone over with interest but Tina kept 'goin on about the lake, so my attention was drawn back to her. 

“It's charred, an' he put up this monstrosity” 

“Cas put this up?” 

“Yes,” she said with a sigh. “As ya can see Goldfield has part of the lake as well. Are we supposed ta die from lack of water?” 

“I'm sure there ain't goin' to be a lack of water. Cas wouldn't let THAT happen.” 

“He paid good money fer this stone sign,” she said, arching her eyebrow.

“Cas cares about this town and the area around it.” 

“What's stoppin' him from doin' it? He don' care about Goldfield.” 

“Then you need to talk with him about that. But the problem is, Tina... a skeleton was dug up here in Widow Lake. And since then, two other bodies were dropped off in front of the clinic.” 

“That sounds like Cas ta me. Any idea who it was?” 

I coughed at that suggestion but then gathered myself. “I ain't got the slightest. All I can see is that the males were males between the ages of 30-45... They'd been all shot and there was evidence of strangulation. I heard Wes has been causin' trouble in Pearce... He apparently burned down the bank after Aly wouldn't let him make a withdraw there?” 

“Hmm… possible fellas that were after Myst an' Cas got jealous? Sounds like motive ta me.” 

“Does Cas seem like a serial killer to you? Cause I ain't liking that picture.” 

“He used ta be my boss back before I found the straight an' narrow path.....I wouldn' put it past him.” 

“Your boss?” I looked at her curiously. 

“Yes. Back when I was a desperado....that was ages ago.”

“Really?” I raised an eyebrow. “I don't know much about the Desperados... I know 'bout the Regulators who used to hang 'round here…” 

“Yes that was a long time ago….” 

“What can you tell me about how Cas was back then?” 

“Oh he was ruthless an' brutal.....all them bodies back then....shot an' strangled....even stabbed. I told him not ta do it...but I was jist an' underlin' I eventually left ta be a better person.” 

I blinked and then looked at her suspiciously. “And are now engaged to a man who supposedly burned up the bank not too long ago.” 

“I wasn't with him...I was rather irritated because he was late fer supper.” 

“I didn't say you were, I'm merely stating that your allegiances still run with people that are of suspicious behavior.” 

“Oh Wes has a history of bein' a lawman I'm shore it was a misunderstandin’.” 

“People change, Ms. Tina… Not everyone is the same person they were years ago.” 

“Yes but Wes is highly misunderstood.” 

I tried to stifle a laugh at that, wanting badly to bring up the fact that her fiance had held a gun to my head once, but decided against it. “Well, if there's nothing else... I s'pose we should head back to the dance.” 

“Yes and keep ya eyes peeled fer any odd behavior from Cas.” 

I nodded to her and walked back into the saloon to dance with the others again, but wasn’t sure I believed Tina’s theory. I knew that many people had left their outlaw days for the legal side of things. Besides, Cas was a teacher at the school and I really didn’t like the idea he was a serial killer. Still, I couldn’t help but wonder… It’d be a rather good coverup for him to be the one behind it, since he owned the town. But at the same time, I also remembered that Tina hadn’t talked much about what she’d heard related to the bodies found. She’d kept the discussion solely on Widow Lake. Was that just a distraction tactic, or was it a potential cover-up? I knew that my investigation was only just getting curiouser and curiouser. 

After the dance, I walked up to Cas and asked if we could chat about the argument over Widow Lake. When he replied he said, "Oh I ain't arguin' at all.. I was told some time back there was people bein' threatened by them goldfield folks.. It's on record.. My lawyer filed a cease and desist order over a month ago... I also followed the legal procedure for declaring water rights on the land I have owned and thoughtfully used since I been here... then some one decided they wanted a lake, too, I guess... I sure hope none'a them people they were threatenin' got hurt. Some of'em said they was thretened with their very life." 

I raised an eyebrow and looked at him curiously. "Really? Well that's mighty interestin'... The thing is, Cas... There's been a few strange things happenin' around these parts."

"Well hell, there's always strange things goin' on in these parts.. that's sorta common knowledge." 

"Well sure it is... but skeletons showin' up in the very lake that's bein' argued? Bodies bein' dropped off at the clinic? When they're already dead?" 

"Seems almost like someone wanted to get rid of them to me. They just sucked at it." 

"No ideas as to who these bodies mighta belonged to? I mean, it is your town.." 

"I also leave the doors open... I guess some Ninny came to the -nearest- town they could find and unloaded their handiwork.. and it ended up in Aly's yard or whatever, and at the Doc's... we've had worse things get left behind here, trust me." 

"Well sure, you've had worse things, but I've been hired by your sheriff to find out who's leavin' these bodies behind." 

"Tina has commented more'n once on the bodies she dumped in there.. right here in front'a people.... may wanna ask her what she knows."

"Really.... funny, she didn't mention that part to me tonight," I said, looking over at Tina curiously.

"She ain't real bright when she's drinkin' ya know. We also all know the combination to her safe."

"Well, I don't like bein' lied to, Cas... And it seems like Tina might be doin' just that. She's takin' credit for the bodies, is she?"

"I didn't ask which ones they was.. I just yelled at her for pollutin' our community water supply and recreation area. Believe I even called her a Ninny to my best recollection."

"And she told ya that she put stuff there? That's rather interesting... Sounds like she just confessed to bein' an accomplice."

"I cleaned that lake out and kept it clean for 6 years. Best fishin' in the county."

"Hmm... Seems I've got a lot to think about. I've already identified the three of them and given a report to the sheriff... Question is, who put the bodies in Pearce."

"You can always speak to ol' Tully as far as the orders he's filed we're waitin' on confirmtion for."

"I'll have to hunt ol' Tully down then. Well, thank you Cas... I won't take up more of your time. You've given me a lot to think about."

"Anytime, like I said.. nothin' to hide.  I still own the land, it's just the water rights they want so they can charge money. I may just have to take back the courtesy area I left to them that's inside my stakes."

"Well they're gonna have to fight you on that some more then. We'll just have to wait to see what the courts say, eh?"

With that, I headed out of the saloon and went back home to process all that I had heard.