Fade In: Int. Living Room Day

Thursday, January 6,2000

The story of Billy the Kid is a well known and well documented one. The most famous part of his story being his death.Many historians believe The Kid was gunned down by Pat Garrett in Old Fort Sumner in New Mexico. However in 1949 a man named Brushy Bill Roberts came forward, claiming he was Billy The Kid. To this day its never been proven or disproven that Brushy was telling the truth. In January of 2000 more than fifty years after Brushy made his claims of being the Kid, a whole new chapter of Billy's legacy was about to be written. My name is Bryan Cochrane, for the most part being in high school at the time,all I could ever do was read about Billy the Kid. I never dreamed that one day, I would be following in Billy's footsteps. It all started the morning of January 6,2000. My friends Darrin Blake and Eric Penn had come over to my place early to celebrate finishing our requirements for Graduation. Eric,Darrin,and I would be graduating Class of 2000, on May 26. We weren't due back at school till May 25, when we had our graduation practice. After a half hour when I was changed and dressed, we all went to Morning Call, apparently Darrin had something important to talk to us about.

Fade out

Fade In: Int. Morning Call Coffee House on 18th St.

Bryan: So Darrin, what did you wanna talk to us about Buddy?

Darrin: Billy the Kid.

Eric: Billy the Kid?

Bryan: What about The Kid?

Darrin: Well I've been looking up some stuff about Brushy Bill Roberts. I think the Santa Fe Ring is still around and that they are responsible for stopping any rumors or any guy claiming he is a relative of Billy The Kid from coming forward.

Eric: Really? Why is that?

Darrin: Money why else?

Eric: What money?

Bryan: Come on E, all that money that Fort Sumner brings in yearly as a tourist attraction. It is after all the home of the grave of Billy the Kid. What happens if it's ever proved that Billy the Kid didn't die in Fort Sumner?

Eric: A good point. They'd lose all that tourist money.

Darrin: Exactly.

Bryan: Ok now while that sucks, what can we do about it?

Darrin: Well seeing as though we aren't opening the shop till June 15th. We have some time to kill.

Eric: What's your point?

Darrin: Well I say we grab Karl first, then head to Fort Sumner, New Mexico.

Bryan: And do what?

Darrin: Snoop around, dig up some information that helps prove that Billy the Kid wasn't killed by Pat Garrett in Fort Sumner.

Bryan: Something always bothered me about that. I mean here you have Billy the Kid, a cagey outlaw, who upon hearing a noise creeps across Pete Maxwell's backyard. He then sees two heavily armed men on horseback, and then he backs into Maxwell's Dark bedroom? I mean come on, logically seeing those armed men, he'd find the nearest horse and skin out of there as quick as possible.

Eric: Yeah you're right. The thing that gets me though, is why when he entered Maxwell's room would he say: Quien Es? Which is Spanish for who's there? I mean granted both he and Maxwell were both fluent in Spanish, however they were both anglo. Why would two Anglo's speak to each other in Spanish?

Bryan: Doesn't make any sense does it?

Darrin: None what so ever.

Bryan: I'm with Darrin, I think we should go to New Mexico. I think we should try and prove to the world the truth about The Kid.

Eric: All right so whats first?

Bryan: Well first we get Karl, then we head to Fort Sumner.

Fade Out

Fade In: Int Living Room of the House of Karl Baumgartner

Karl Baumgartner has been our friend since September of 1996 when we first started at Grace King. Karl is of course a year older then us. He graduated in the class of 1999. It's through Karl that we are getting our shop together this summer. Karl had come into a great deal of money during the fall of 1999. He shared his wealth with Eric, Darrin, and myself and we turned it into a Music/Comic shop. Karl and Darrin are gonna run the comic side and Eric and I are gonna handle the music side. After hearing Darrin's theory, and deciding to go to New Mexico, we knew we had to include Karl.

Karl: So fellas tell me, what brings you guys here at this time of the morning?

Darrin: We're going to New Mexico.

Bryan: And you're coming with us.

Karl: What the hell are we going to New Mexico for?

Bryan: I'll let Darrin tell you that. Darrin?

Darrin: Well Karl, its like this. We believe that the Santa Fe Ring was never broken.

Karl: The Santa Fe Ring? What the hell are you talking about?

Darrin: The Santa Fe Ring started during the time of Billy The Kid and the Lincoln County Wars of the 1870s. Supposedly the ring was splintered when the wars ended. However things may not be what they seem. If you remember Fifty-One years ago a man named Brushy Bill Roberts claimed he was actually Billy The Kid.

Karl: Yeah I remember hearing about that.

Darrin: Well the thing about is they've never been able to prove it true or false. Even though Pictures of Brushy at 25 when compared to the famous Tintype of the Kid, was a near perfect match that it was the same person. There was so much to prove that Brushy was The Kid. I mean for christ sakes he described what the McSween/Tunstall store looked like at the time of the Lincoln County Wars, and this was seventy years after the wars happened. Unforuntaly before being able to go before a judge to testify, he had a stroke and forgot everything.

Karl: Ok so what's your point?

Darrin: Well recently Brushy's story was renewed. The grave of Billy The Kid's mom was found and a DNA test was scheduled to once and for all either prove Brushy was right, or prove him wrong.

Karl: So what happened?

Bryan: What happened Karl, was truly bizarre. Two days before the test Billy's mom's body disappeared from her grave, and no one knows where the body is. Without that DNA test it can't be proved whether or not Brushy is The Kid.

Karl: Ok I don't get it, what does all this have to do with the Santa Fe Ring and more importantly, us?

Bryan: Well Darrin believes that The Santa Fe Ring is responsible for the body disappearing.

Karl: What do they have to gain, by stopping the test?

Bryan: What do they have to gain? Karl, use your damn head man. If Brushy is proved to be Billy The Kid, that means he didn't die at 21 years old in Fort Sumner. Nor is his body buried there. Think of all the tourist money they would lose.

Karl: All right. All right. I'm convinced, it does appear that the Santa Fe Ring does have reason to prevent the truth from coming out. However where I'm still confused is what does this have to with us?

Bryan: Why does it matter what is has to do with us? Don't you think its time the world knows the truth about what happened to the Kid?

Karl: Well of course they do. What I wanna know is why do we have to stick our neck on the line to prove it? I mean if Darrin's right, then the minute the Ring knows what we're doing, we're dead.

Bryan: That's just a chance we're gonna have to take.