Chapter 1 Chili, Popcorn and Coke with Clint Eastwood on The Side
Jim Brass was looking forward to a night of westerns on his big screen TV. It was a night of Spaghetti Westerns staring Clint Eastwood. He was all set to DVD them off the Western Channel on cable He called dispatch.
"This is Navajo 4197 I'm off the clock." He said.
"Copy Navajo 4197." Came the new girls voice. "Buenos Dias, Captain Brass."
"Thanks Lt. Cintrone." Said Brass. "Yes it was the new girl." He said to himself and smiled.
"Will there be any more I can do for you today?" She asked her voice filled with genuine interest and earnestness at helping him do something. He dropped the mic hearing that and looked for it while steering. He managed to locate it and without wrecking the car. After a minute or two looking for and finding the mic he calmed down enough to answer her.
"Ah, No thanks Lt. Cintrone." Said Brass into the mic.
"Then I bid you a good morning." She said that lovely voice dripping with an accent only heard on the TV or the movies.
"Ah, you too Lt. Cintrone." said Brass for the lack of better to say to her.
He had seen her. All 5 foot 7 of her as she got out of her old cooper colored Mustang. That Buckskin jacket with fringe and that bandoliero hat with the conchos on it. That long curly auburn hair that went to the small of her back and those cat like Topaz eyes. Her skin was peaches and cream and she had freckles. She was a looker all right. She had smiled and winked at him her first day there coming in. He had found that she was half Spanish and half old world Irish. She had been born and grown up in Spain and emigrated to the US as a teenager.
Why was he thinking about her was another story. Was it because she had bid him a good day? Or offered to make his day better somehow? She had been there a month a voice on the radio. He was thinking of about a half dozen ways that she would be able too do just that including coming to his place for the Clint Eastwood fest. However; a woman like her shouldn't even notice he was alive for that matter. He shrugged and went on driving home.
Still he was thinking about her. She was a beautiful woman. Built like a brick house. Her sunny disposition toward him was really getting to him by then but it was too late to turn around. She would be gone in her Mustang by the time he got back to the station. He turned into the drive and opened the garage with the opener.
"What did she say her car's name was?" He thought. "Selma that's it." He shook his head. "Jim get a grip. She's just being nice and not interested in you."
He went into the house. He flopped down his keys at the entrance to the kitchen on the bar and took off his suit jacket. The light was blinking on his answering machine. He went to play the messages and then came the voice of the lovely Lt. Cintrone.
"Captain you forgot to sign papers for the Hartford case. Shall I bring them to you? Please call me as soon as you get this message. I will be happy to bring them to you." She said. "My cell number is 702-555-2469." Jim was taken aback of course. He fumbled for his own cell and quickly dialed the number.
"Cintrone." Came the voice again. Jim was almost ready to stutter but he decided she was just a woman at that point doing her job.
"This is Captain Brass." He said a slight strain to his voice but forceful enough.
"Oh Captain am I glad you called. The Chief needs these papers signed quickly so they can prosecute. It is my fault that it did not get done before you left. Pile of paper worked sky high at that point sir." She said with a slight apologetic tone in her voice.
"That's ok you found them. Where are you Lieutenant?" He asked.
"I am on the strip. Would you allow me to come where you are and get them signed?" She asked.
"Please, that case is time sensitive." Said Brass.
"All right. Where am I going?" She asked.
He gave her directions.
"See you in a few minutes." Said Cintrone.
"Ok I'll be waiting." said Jim.
They hung up their cells and Jim waited for about 10 minutes he made coffee and saw the Mustang pull up into his driveway. She had on her street civvies, White cotton long sleeved shirt, Buck skin jacket, pair of tight fitting flair leg jeans, cowboy boots but no hat this time. He had ventured she would look good in a burlap sack with rope tied around the middle or possibly nothing at all but he wasn't going to go that far with this lady. Yet that is. She walked up to the door he had opened just to watch her make her way to his door. "His door......odds of this happening zero to one." he thought. "But here she is oozing Spanish/Irish sex appeal."
"Good Morning again Captain." She said cheerfully.
"Good Morning again Lieutenant. Please come in." Said Jim as she smiled at him. He got out of her way of coming in and she did, him closing the door.
"Mio! This is a very nice place you have Captain." She said cheerfully looking around.
"Thanks. You had papers for me to sign?" He asked.
"Yes. Sorry, I got sidetracked looking around." She said handing him the papers to sign.
"Please come into the kitchen while I do this. I made a pot of coffee would you care for a cup?" He asked.
"Oh yes I would." said Cintrone as she pulled off the Buckskin jacket. The cotton top was tight too as he was observing. She smiled at him as they walked into the kitchen.
"Please have a seat." He gestured to the table.
She put her jacket on the back of the chair and sat legs crossed, all two miles of them to his estimate. He managed to get the coffee for them without spilling any and put down the mug in front of her.
"Gracious." She said.
"Your welcome. Your English is very good." Said Jim.
"I went to convent school in Spain." Said Cintrone.
"So your Catholic?" He asked.
"Lapsed I'm afraid. You?" she asked.
"The same. I'm divorced." He said.
"It happens. I have never been married." Said Cintrone as he started signing the papers. That last statement shocked Jim.
"That's hard to believe." Said Jim.
"Well, it's the truth." she said. She took a sip of the coffee. "This is good Captain."
"It's just a wonder that's all." Said Jim.
"No wonder. I worked with the Texas Rangers for 10 years. My sister and I finished school in Dallas. I got very tired of what was going on there at the time. You know the rest." She said. As he handed her the papers back in the folder.
"Yes I do and why they put you on dispatch here is something I'm inclined to look into." Said Jim.
"Oh, I asked for that for now. It will not be long until I am back on the streets in Homicide. I wanted to acclimate slowly. They allowed me too do so." She said a little playfully.
"Homicide? They are putting you with me?" Asked Jim.
"Oh yes sir." She said.
"Well, that's nice." Said Jim smiling at her.
"Yes it is Captain." She said as she started to get up. "I will not take another moment of your down time. I know how important that is. I need to get this back to the station too."
"Your not taking up my time Lieutenant. If we are going to work together soon why don't you just call me Jim." He said.
"Very well Jim. My first name and you will laugh a little hearing it is Nevada." She said giggling herself a little.
"That's very pretty. Just because your name and the state your living in at the moment are the same isn't cause for laughing." He said.
"No, it's just ironic." She said.
"It is." Said Jim as she finished the coffee and put her jacket back on.
"I will get this back to the Chief immediately." She said as he handed her the folder with the papers in it.
"Ok Nevada." Said Jim as she was walking out his door. She stopped at the door.
"It was a pleasure coming here." She said.
"That pleasure is mine Nevada." Said Jim. He held out his hand to her. She took his in hers and they shook hands.
"I will see you again soon Jim. Thank you for the coffee." Said Nevada smiling at him.
"Your welcome Nevada. I hope to see you soon also. Take care." Said Jim as she let go his hand and walked back to her car. She turned around.
"You take care too now Jim." she smiled and finished the walk to her car. He stood there for a moment or two watching her leave. He shook his head and smiled and went back inside the house.
Later on that night as it was his weekend off. He was watching the Clint Eastwood fest DVDing it . He had his bottled coke and a big bowl of popcorn to enjoy the show. He was by himself of course but the faint hint of her perfume still lingered in the air or was it just wishful thinking. As time went by and the Eastwood fest ended the movie Hannie Caulder with Raquel Welch and Robert Culp came on. As the movie wore on it struck him. Nevada reminded him of Raquel Welch somehow. Both very sexy and alluring women he thought but Nevada was sexier in his opinion. Jim Brass had good taste in everything right down to suits and women but the suits he could pick and choose from. The women, that was another story.
His eyes started getting heavy around midnight he was fighting sleep by that time. He put down the bowl of popcorn and lay down on the couching knowing that would put him to sleep for sure. He was DVDing Hannie too so it would turn off when the movie ended. He reached for the throw on the back of the couch and covered himself with it. Then fell off to sleep.
The next thing he knew when he woke up was that he wasn't on the couch anymore. He was leaned up against a wall propped up in a chair with his feet crossed on the porch rail. He looked at his feet. "Cowboy Boots?" He asked himself that shock sent him upright in the chair he was in. He patted himself down. Something cold like metal was on his chest he looked down to see a shiny tin star pinned to his vest on his chest. The words US Marshal on it. "Ok, where the hell am I?" he asked himself as he tipped his hat out of his eyes. "Hat?" that sent him bolt out of his chair and on to his feet. He looked around and he knew he wasn't in Las Vegas anymore. "Toto I don't think we are in Las Vegas anymore." he said to himself just loud enough for the dog beside him to yelp a little. Then he realized his gun was a little heavy. He looked down to see a Peacemaker strapped to his leg. "Sheesh! That will keep me from eating that Chili I made ever again. Never mix Chili, popcorn and Coke again Jim boy." He said to himself.
"Mornin' Marshal." Came a voice familiar to him he looked up and saw Nick Stokes dressed in cowboy attire with a badge of his own on his chest. He was a US Deputy Marshal.
"Mornin' Nick." said Jim and he hoped that was the man' name.
"Did you hear about The Cintrones sighted close to Red Rock?" Asked Nick.
"No, I hadn't heard." Said Jim. By now he knew he had to be dreaming, in Technicolor and in Dolby surround sound.
"Yeah, I just picked up the wire from Henderson. They are headed this way taking the shipment of guns across to California. When One of the Cintrone's killed Marshal Isley it became federal or don't you remember?" Said Nick as he gave Jim the telegraph wire paper.
"Cintrone?" He asked.
"Two of the worst bandits in this part of the world. They would steal their mamma's teeth if she had gold in them." Said Nick.
"Do we have a wanted picture of them?" Asked Jim who was getting into the dream and over the shock of being in one so vivid.
"No sir." Said Nick. "But one of them rides a Strawberry Roan."
Jim had to guess that was a horse. "Ok so let's get some men together and go and look for them before they find this town." Said Brass. He looked at the horse hitched to the post. He scratched his head and wondered how far the dream was going to take him and was it going to be on the back of that horse.
"I'll round up the boys and meet you over at Miss Kitty's Place." Said Nick.
"The saloon?" he asked.
"Yeah, The Gold Nugget right over there its connected to the Rampart Hotel. You ok Marshal?" Asked Nick.
"Yeah, I'm fine just a little stiff from the nap I just took." Said Jim who was taking on some sort of western drawl at that point. It was muddled with his eastern accent but that would change.
"Want me to get the Professor and Dr. Phillips too?" Asked Nick.
"Professor?" Jim asked.
"Yeah, Professor Grissom. You know the bug studier." Said Nick.
"Yes, we can't go anywhere without the Professor." Said Jim almost wanting to chuckle.
"Ok, meet me there in a half hour. Do you want Bobby Dawson too?" Asked Nick.
"Yeah and Warrick Brown." Said Jim.
"Sure, but why you want a blacksmith is beyond me. Say is Ellie needing shoeing?" He asked.
"What?" Asked Jim.
"Ellie your horse." Said Nick pointing to the palomino filly.
"Uh well, he might need to check her." said Jim.
"Ok I'll ask him." Said Nick. He walked off toward a store front.
Jim looked at the horse and the horse looked at him. Same defiant look in the horses eyes as his daughter. He wondered why Ellie had manifested herself in this way. He went to the horse reaching in and getting a lump of sugar. He patted her and gave her the lump of sugar. The horse took it but managed to bite his hand.
"Oh I can see that it's going to just the way we left it last time." Said Jim. "You have any ideas of throwing me and your going to the glue factory." the horse whinnied as if to say I'll do what I have to do.
The town by the looks of it was pieced together from movies and TV series he had seen but most closely resembled Silverado.
Thirty minutes later he was walking toward the Gold Nugget and Sara Sidle strolled up to him. She wore the garb of a school marm complete with round rimmed glasses and a poke bonnet.
"Excuse me Marshal Brass, do I need to cancel school with the Cintrone's coming?" She asked.
"Na, I think we will find these men." Said Jim.
"Ok I want no harm to come to the children." Said Sara.
"Don't worry your pretty head about that." Said Jim. "Everything will be just fine."
"Well, all right. I'll make sure though that the parents know what's going on." Said Sara.
"You do that. Matter of fact come and help us plan this." Said Jim.
"Oh, Marshal I'm just a woman what good can I do?" She asked.
"Your smart and educated that's enough I want your input on this." said Jim as they went into the Gold Nugget.
In there already was Grissom, Stokes, Dawson, O'Riley and Vega. What really got him was Grissom's Bolder hat and the handlebar mustache he was sporting.
"Where's Warrick?" Asked Jim.
"He aint allowed in here." Said a man and he knew the voice was familiar. He was sitting at the piano. It was Ecklie in spats and a bow tie yet. "Colored men aren't allowed in here." He said.
"Says you. This is my establishment. I say who comes and goes." Said a female voice he knew also. At the top of the stairs Catherine Willows stood in a green sequined gown with her hair done up on her head with feathers in it. A Black feather boa draped around her arms like a shawl. She had a mole on her face like Amada Black in Gun Smoke. She walked down the staircase as pretty as you please to all the men's amazement.
"Miss Kitty is right. Warrick was asked to be part of this by the Marshal." Said Nick.
"I aint staying then." Said Ecklie. "I have to think about my career and not be associated with people like you."
"Career?" Asked Jim.
"He's a dentist bucking for Mayor of Red Rock." Said Nick. "If you ask me he's just trouble."
"Don't I know it." Said Jim.
Dr. Phillips and Dr. Robbins came in. Robbins was using a cane to get around and both of them were dressed accordingly. Jim looked on the wall and a calendar was up on it. The year was 1892. The month August as to the day he wasn't sure.
Ecklie left soon after Warrick came in. In that day and time prejudice and small mindedness abounded. We now have it to a lesser degree but back then it was rampant.
"Nick said Ellie needs shoeing." Said Warrick.
"She might but I need you as a deputy to help us find the Cintrone's before they get here." Said Jim.
"What can I do?" Asked Warrick.
"Well, your observant and you track really well. That would help us a lot." Said Jim.
They all agreed with Jim's assessment.
"Well, ok but I don't know who is going to take over the gunsmith and blacksmithing with both of us gone." Said Warrick.
"We wont be gone that long." Said Jim. "What else is known about these men."
"Not much. Just that the oldest one in left handed and is good with all sorts of weaponry." said Nick.
"No description?" Asked Jim.
"No sir." Said Nick.
"I'm not going to send anyone out with this little evidence." Said Jim.
Professor Grissom interjected about that time.
"Excuse me Marshal." he said.
"Yes Professor." Said Jim.
"In order to protect the town we must go." Said Grissom. "We can't have them shooting up this town. There has been peace here for too long since you came and took over Isley's position. Actually, those men did us a favor killing Isley. He was not a good Marshal. He was underhanded and more of an outlaw than a peace officer."
The others agreed. Catherine put her two cents in. "He would come in here and hurt my girls. Now, I know some men like it rough but this guy was down right.........brutal."
"I see so you believe the man got what he deserved." Said Jim.
"As far as we all see it he did." Said Doc Robbins. "I did a autopsy on him. He was an alcoholic and he had Syphilis. He let anyone come in here and just do what they wanted. That changed when the government sent you."
"Well, I'm glad I have done my job." Said Jim a little taken aback.
"So can we just please go out and see if we find these guys Boss." Said Nick.
"Doesn't sound worth it to me. But ok we can look until sunset but we come back before that. Henderson isn't that far away. I guess we should got twenty miles in each direction in two's. I want Vega and O'Riley here for the town's protection." Said Jim.
"Professor, You Warrick and I will go toward Henderson. Dawson and Nick go north. If we don't see anything then I'm not going to worry. I think these guys are just moving guns to help the Mexicans." Said Jim. "None of our business really."
"Ok if we find them should there be a confrontation?" Asked Nick.
"Only if fired on. Follow them. If they are on their way to Red Rock then stop them the best way you can." Said Jim.
"Dead or alive?" Asked Dawson.
"Yes." said Jim. "Lets get our supplies and saddle up daylight is wasting. Sara I think it best to cancel school tomorrow inform the parents."
"Will do." Said Sara.
In a half hour later Jim was looking at Ellie his horse. "Now your going to behave aren't you?" He asked her. The horse huffed at him. "Ellie I mean it." He said in his best fatherly tone that meant business.
Grissom, Nick, Warrick, Dawson came up riding to the Marshal's office.
"We are ready." Said Nick.
"Ok you two go on." Said Jim. He was eyeing the horse as to how to get on the saddle. Then he remembered Clint Eastwood get on his horse and copied his moves. Jim got on the horse but the horse wasn't happy about it.
"You know Marshal I wish you would take another horse. That one is green broke." Said Dawson.
"There wasn't another one available. I can control her." Said Jim as he put the spurs in a little. Just enough to tap her. She settle down for the moment after that."
"Ok your funeral." Said Dawson.
Jim and the boys road out of town. Jim thought to himself......."I like this. This is cool." They stopped just outside of town and split up. Grissom, Jim and Warrick went toward Henderson. Most of the day was spent on look out for anything. Around the middle of the afternoon they took a break for water. Jim was just about to get off the horse when he heard the distinctive sound of a rattle snake. The horse whinnied and bucked sending him forward on the saddle and after that the horse started off like she was on fire.
"We had better catch up to him that horse.........." Warrick was already after him as Grissom got his horse running at full gallop.
Jim was trying to get the horse to stop but she wasn't having any of it. They disappeared beyond a rise loosing the other two men.
Ellie had had enough of him riding her. She bucked wildly sending Jim off on to the ground. He rolled out of sight unconscious.
Night fall was up Jim as he half way woke up on the desert floor. He realized he was still dreaming but hurt anyway. He reached for his hat and got it over his head. Without water he knew he was a goner. He looked around and the horse was gone.
"Yeah, stay true to form Ellie. Just up and leave when I need you most." He said. Then he passed out again. When he awoke he was laying by a fire under a makeshift lean too. A form of a man was stirring something in a pot. He smelled camp coffee.
"I see you are awake Amigo." Said the man. He got his canteen and took it over to Jim.
"How long?" he asked.
"Several hours Amigo." Said the man. The voice was strangely familiar too. The man wore a hat but he brought water over for Jim to drink. "Steady Amigo drink slowly."
After Jim had drank some of the water the man poured some on a cloth. He wiped Jim's face and lips with it.
"You must rest. I have some tea I would like for you to drink to help with the pain and the soreness." Said the man.
"Ok." Said Jim. "I'm Marshal Jim Brass from Red Rock."
"A federale'." Said the man.
"You might say." Said Jim.
"My name is Juan Diego." Said the man.
"Thank you for saving me Mr. Diego." Said Jim.
"It was my pleasure." Said the man. Jim had heard that before too. But where? Diego brought the tea over and had him drink it. "It is bad tasting Marshal but I assure you that it is for your benefit."
"Thanks, anything to help my ribs at the moment." Said Jim taking the tea and drinking it down. It was awful tasting. Bitter with some kind of herbs.
"I took the liberty of binding them. I did not see that they were broken just bruised." He said.
"Again, I owe you my life. That horse just........."
"The palomino?" Asked Diego.
"Yes, did you see her?" Asked Jim.
"Yes, I did and she is a wild one but not untamable given time and patients." He said. Jim hadn't been able to see the man's face but the voice was familiar.
"She needs to be taken to the glue factory." Said Jim.
"Nonsense, I will buy her and turn her into a usable animal. Humanly of course how much would you like for her?" He asked.
"Oh I don't know. We can discuss that at a later date. Right now the food smells wonderful."
"It is almost done." Said Diego.
"Might I see your face?" Asked Jim.
"Oh no Marshal. With the dawn will come many surprises." Said Diego. "You might not like what you see at night."
"Well ok. I just want to thank you again for all this." Said Jim.
"I was taught to help people in trouble." Said Diego.
"Your English is good." Said Jim.
"Thank you Marshal." Said Diego. "How is the pain?"
"It's not too bad." Said Jim.
"That is good. The herbs are working." Said Diego.
They ate and then went to sleep. Jim, was troubled though. Grissom and Warrick had lost him But Ellie had a mind of her own. It wasn't to his advantage to ride her again. He went off to sleep full of rabbit stew and coffee under the blanket of stars on the Nevada desert.