Part 2

One of the characteristics of North American culture is that you can always start again. You can always move forward, cross a border of a state or a city or a county, and move West, most of the time West. You leave behind guilt, past traditions, memories.

- Isabel Allende

Chapter 10

Sheriff's Office
Virginia City, NV

Day 04

"Oh my god." JJ said as they got out of the car.

They slowly turned and looked at the town around them. It was perched on the side of a steep hill, the streets carved into the sides. Some of them were still cobblestoned, and all of them still had the original raised wooden sidewalks. "I did what Reid would do and looked this place up on the plane." Dave said.
Apparently there was a fire in 1875, after which they rebuilt the town. And it hasn't changed since. The air up here is so thin and dry it's preserving the town whole."

"I believe that. Wow." The sagging brick and wood buildings lining the streets were just amazing. "The Bucket of Blood Saloon. Seriously. And..." She gawped as a couple of historic cowboys. They nodded to two women in bustle dresses carrying parasols. "Is..."

"It's all one big museum, something like Colonial Williamsburg, only western. Those are docents and reenactors." Dave politely nodded to the parasol ladies walking by. "Can you imagine being a kid and having free run of this place?"

"Oh god yes. First chance we get Uncle Spencer is coming out here on vacation with us. I know a little boy who would have a blast here."

The Sheriff's department was in one of the old buildings, with a front that was sagging slightly and carved wooden signs. But once inside it was as modern and efficient as every other local office they had ever visited. While Dave politely informed the locals of their errand JJ looked at the award display case they had in the lobby. She was just glancing it over when something caught her eye. "Excuse me." She said to one of the deputies there. She introduced herself then pointed to a small plaque in the case. "Can I see that one please?" The deputy agreed, and went to fetch the key.

"What is it?" Dave asked as he joined her.

"Remember how Tara said that different personalities will exhibit different skill sets?"

"Yeah."

"The Spencer Reid I know can't shoot his way out of a paper bag. He always has to try two or three times to pass his qualifications."

"So?'

"So..." By now the deputy had returned and pulled the plaque out for them to see. According to the engraving one Spencer Reid had won the Northern Nevada Junior Cowboy Sharpshooters competition in 1989, 1990, 1994, 1995, and 1996. They both stared at it a long moment.

"Is that handgun or long gun?" Dave asked.

"Both. That's Sheriff Orville's grandson. He was real proud of that boy. Heard he went FBI, come to think of it."

"We'll have to look him up."

"He competed in junior rodeo around here too. Beat me a few times." The deputy smiled. "Those were good times."

"Junior rodeo?" JJ asked.

"Yep. Barrel racing and pole bending as I recall. I don't think he did any of the stock work though."

"Right."

"Interesting." Dave said. "Which way is the museum again?"

"We have a few of them, but, you're here to speak to Mrs. Trask?"

"Yes, we are."

"She's walking by."

Virginia City Historical Society
Virginia City, NV

"Spencer comes out a couple of times a year, usually only for a few days." Ethel Trask said. She was a tall, rangy woman, all fine bones and angles. Genetics were a thing there. "We had dinner when I went back to DC for conventions a few times, and he calls on holidays, but we're not really close. I haven't heard from him in months."

"Spencer used to come out here for summer vacations?"

"Oh yes. It started when he was seven, something happened at home, Will never said what, and he asked Dad to look after Spencer for the summer. Oh he was so adorable back then."

"How so?" Dave asked.

"He came out and insisted his name was Charlie. Charlie Sharon, son of William Sharon, one of the great Comstock Kings that built this town, and his actress mistress. Personally I thought he was too young to know about such things, you understand, but Diana let him read whatever he wanted. I figured he was just playing pretend but he stuck with it every summer when he came out. I remember asking him every summer what a boy from the 1880's was doing in the 1980's. At first he'd look at me all sacred and say he didn't know, but later on he said he didn't know but he was making the best of it."

"And nobody ever worried about that?" JJ asked.

"Just the opposite, Dad indulged him. Called him Charlie all summer, said old man Sharon hired him to make sure his boy grew up to be a fine western gentleman. Those two would run thick as thieves all the time, Dad taught him to ride and shoot and play poker. Even taught him to drive and shave when it came around to it. But that was after Will ran off. Dad was so upset when he found out. If we'd have known we would have found a way to get Diana some help but she would never say anything and Spencer was too scared. He was afraid they'd send her off to the state asylum."

"But that didn't happen?"

"No. Dad arraigned for her to have in-home care while Spencer was off at college, until a bed opened up at Bennington. That was when he started coming back to visit over the summers. It was better for her to have the consistency of him being away."

"Did he still insist on being called Charlie?"

"Not then. Seemed he grew out of it by then. Oh I know it was silly but it seemed good for him. Whenever I went to visit them in Vegas he was such a quiet boy, always with his nose in a book or spouting off facts, always inside helping his mother. He'd never go out and play, it seemed like he didn't have any friends, likely because he was so far ahead of the other boys his age but I remember that the few times I tried to shoo him out Diana became very upset. But when he came here it was like night and day. He'd go running off with the other kids, riding out into the hills, Dad got him involved with 4H, junior rodeo, Boy Scouts, reenactments, anything you could think of to get his mind off home. After we learned about Will and Diana's marriage breaking up I figured he needed this, you know, time to enjoy being a child."

"The joy of childhood." Dave nodded. "Pretty strong, emotional stuff. Especially when you have to be so mature and responsible at home."

"That it is. I'm glad we could give that to him. Dad was always so proud of his grandson. I just wish I could help you know. I hope he's all right."

"I think he will be. But there is something you can do to help us."

"Anything."

"Tell us everything you know about William Sharon and James Fair."

Peabody House
Incline Village, NV

Garcia had been looking in to the Peabody family real estate holdings. As it turned out they had a house only about thirty minutes from Virginia City, off in a resort area in the mountains. The sort of house that came with a full- time caretaker on the property. "Did the Peabody family come out when Sara and Thomas were children?" JJ asked.

"Oh yeah. They'd come out every winter break to ski with the family. Well Thomas would, Sara was always a little too small for real skiing." The caretaker replied.

"Only in winter?"

"Yeah, this is pretty much skiing territory. It gets too hot and dry in the summer unless you're in to finishing on the lake, which was not their thing."

"Did the family spend time over in Virginia City?"

"Mrs. Peabody did. That was Daniel's mother, Thomas and Sara's grandmother. She used to take Sara there all the time. They do the whole Victorian Christmas thing, sleighing, caroling, riding horses, all that. Mrs. Peabody used to love getting that little girl away from her mother. Heck, the last few years she just rented a house over there. Said she was too old to ski and Sara too young so they might as well not get in anyone's way."

"Did Sara ever play pretend games, like she was someone else?"

"Oh yeah, like she was a little thing out of a story book. Mrs. Peabody called her Miss Caroline, said that should have been her name, after her grandmother."

"Why did she want to get her away from her mother?" Dave asked.

The caretaker shifted around a little, like it was an uncomfortable subject. "That woman never took care of Sara right. She was too harsh with her, always snapping at her if she said anything or tried to move or play at all. She made it clear she never wanted a second baby, Thomas fulfilled her obligation to the marriage and Sara was an accident, a mistake. You could tell when it was just Mom around, that little girl was so quiet, looking after herself, too grown up for her years. But as soon as Mrs. Peabody came in she'd ask where Miss Caroline was and it was like throwing a switch, all of a sudden she was a little girl again. Is she all right?"

"We believe so." Dave said.

They wrapped up the interview and headed back toward Reno.

.

Note: Virginia City actually exists. Granted it's more tourist trap than living history museum but it really is a preserved mining town from the 1870's and it really is on the National Historic Register. There is a lot of history hiding behind those overpriced t-shirts. If you're ever in the Reno/Lake Tahoe area I highly recommend a visit.