"And he actually transferred the money for the hit from his own bank account. We traced the money to a group of small time gangsters. Turns out they were all too ready to make a deal and sell him out. He even instructed them on how to not leave behind any prints or DNA."

Henry sipped his tea and watched his guest. They seemed to have slipped into a routine where Montoya dropped by the shop about once a week, made small talk with Abe and then went down to the lab to have tea with Henry.

They played chess and drank brandy and talked about whatever came to mind. With this case now finally wrapped up Henry also could stop feeling guilty about talking to his fellow immortal.

Montoya was no longer a suspect in their case. Of course Jo still believe that he was guilty of something and was hoping that she'd find evidence yet to at least tie him tangentially to this murder but so far it look like he really hadn't known what his lawyer was doing.

But Henry was very aware that it didn't automatically mean that the Spaniard was as innocent as he pretended to be. It might just mean that he was very, very good at covering his tracks. And Mitchell's murder did benefit him, no matter what Montoya said, so Henry doubted he would have stopped his lawyer had he known what he was up to. He would merely have made sure that none of it could be traced back to him.

"I must say, I am disappointed in the young man. I had expected better of him. I shall have to make sure my next lawyer will know how to properly bury a body."

Montoya smiled at his host over his own tea cup and Henry had a hard time telling whether the other was being serious or not. But given what he knew of the man he feared that he actually might be.

"Do remember that I work for the coroner's office, I really can't let you plan to bury any bodies."

That earned him an affronted look.

" , I am appalled. I haven't personally buried any bodies for many decades, the last time was in 1920 during the Spanish influenza pandemic. After all, that's what employees are for. And also should I ever have need to bury a body I can assure you that no one would ever know about it."

Henry sighed.

"You do realise that's actually the opposite of reassuring, don't you?"

He only got an enigmatic smile in return. But Henry thought he could live with it. He could drink tea with this man and talk about the past and their condition and not have to worry that the next body on his table might have been put there by Montoya.

It was most likely about as much as he could ask for when dealing with another immortal. And it was more than he could ever expect from Adam.

Adam…now that was another time bomb just waiting to go off. He would not stay in the hospital forever. Henry knew that people in his condition usually succumbed to hospital acquired infections after a time. He just hoped that when it happened he'd have thought of another way to deal with the older immortal. Maybe he should ask Montoya? Or maybe not, the thought of Montoya and Adam teaming up was enough to give any man nightmares.

It was a problem for another day, he decided. He had meant to ask Montoya about his reasons for leaving Santa Helena and California behind in such a hurry. He might even trade one of his own embarrassing stories for it.

Robert Helm watched with a worried frown as Montoya hastily packed clothes and money into a bag.

"Are you absolutely sure this is necessary? Why don't you just bribe him?"

Montoya tied the bag up with angry motions.

"And how long do you think that will keep him quiet? He's not quite stupid enough to not see that this is a dangerous secret and he can get much more than money out of knowing it."

Helm conceded the point with a sigh.

"Sad but true. You couldn't have gone and died in front of a more stupid witness?"

That earned him a glare that would have made a weaker man lose control of his bowels.

"I am sorry if my being murdered by my back-stabbing-coward of a capitán inconveniences you, Dr. Helm, and I assure you I would have gladly avoided it if it were possible."

Montoya went to his hidden room behind the book case and pocketed more gold and valuables. Robert watched in silence, worry and amusement at the situation fighting for supremacy.

"The only reason I even have time to pack before leaving is because even an imbecile like Grisham realises that he can't go about telling people he just killed his military commander and then had the corpse vanish on him. But as soon as he finds out I am not permanently dead he will make a nuisance of himself."

Amusement was slowly winning out over worry and irritation as Montoya even filled the pockets of his jacket with coins.

"Are you sure you can carry all that gold, Montoya? Maybe you should leave it for the Queen of Swords, as your parting gift."

Luis didn't even dignify that with an answer. He merely pulled on the darkest of his coats and grabbed his bags. He threw one of the heavy bags to Helm who then had to hurry to keep up as the colonel stalked angrily towards the stables. Luis put down his bag next to the stable and started saddling his horse.

"Give me a hand with this, doctor, and stop talking nonsense."

Robert put down his bag then lifted the saddle onto the horse. The animal looked about as amused at being woken up in the middle of the night as Robert had been when Montoya had knocked on his window earlier. Only the sight of Santa Helena's military commander trying to preserve his dignity with a straw hat he seemed to have found somewhere had made losing sleep less annoying.

He had been surprised when Montoya told him that Grisham seemed to have finally snapped and had stabbed Luis in his bed. If the dead man had not vanished Grisham would most likely have blamed the Queen of Swords for the murder.

"Look on the bright side, at least now we know that it wasn't a one of miracle. It seems you have contracted a slight case of being incapable of dying, colonel."

Helm's cheerful tone didn't quite cover his unease about that little fact. Who knew what kind of long term effect this condition would have?

When the horse was ready and the bags tied up securely Montoya swung himself up in the saddle and looked down at Helm with something that came rather close to regret.

"I am not sure whether that is a blessing or a curse, doctor, but I expect I shall find out in time."

He hesitated a moment then reached a hand down to shake Helm's.

"This is goodbye then, it would seem. Good luck, Montoya, try not to get yourself killed too often."

Helm tried to make light of the situation but he had to admit to himself that he would miss the egotistical bastard, but just a little bit. A very little bit.

"Goodbye, Robert. Santa Helena is lucky to have you as her doctor. Watch your back around Grisham."

The Colonel took one last look around before he left the sleeping pueblo behind. Maybe he would go to Mexico, he heard it's nice there this time of year…

Epilogue:

He really needed to stop getting into this kind of situations, Robert thought as he leaned as far away from the gun pressed into his ribs as he could. Did he wear a sign on his back that said "Take me hostage"? What other reason could there be that it was frequently him who ended up being the damsel, or more accurately doctor, in distress? And as usual it was the Queen's fault. She really was very bad for his health.

He hadn't really paid attention to what the male bandit behind him and the female one in front of him were talking about but he was sure it came mostly down to posturing and bluffing.

The sharp drop from the cliff down to the sea only a step behind them made sure the bandit couldn't turn and run yet his gun aimed at Helm made sure the Queen of Swords couldn't do anything either.

As the bandit pulled Robert closer with the arm he had around his neck Helm thought he felt the hilt of a knife press into his back. Maybe, if he could just reach it, he might be able to add his own threats to their little stand off…?

Robert could never exactly reconstruct the whole chain of events because it happened much too fast. To the best of his recollection what happened was that as he grabbed the knife and pulled it out of the sheath it startled the bandit who in turn involuntary took a step back. That, in and off itself wouldn't have been so bad but there was nothing behind him to step onto which startled him even more. The gun went off and the last thing Robert felt was the pain of the bullet slamming into his lungs and the air rushing past him as he fell towards the sea and the rocks at the bottom of the cliff.

When he next was aware of his surroundings he was surprised to find himself alive, naked and being dragged towards shore by a certain female vigilante. His thoughts were so preoccupied with the implications of this situation that he nearly forgot to be embarrassed about his nakedness as she helped him out of the water and towards her horse.

Stammering out a story about the bullet missing him, his body missing the rocks, and his clothes getting pulled off in the current he covered himself as best he could with the saddle blanket. He could see from the look on her face that she didn't believe a word of it.

Thankfully she decided questions could wait till they were back in Santa Helena and he was dressed more appropriately. It gave him a little bit of time to decide how much and what to tell her and to get to grips with finding out he might also have contracted a slight case of what ailed the colonel.

Speaking of Montoya, Helm wondered where he might have gone and if there was any chance of being able to contact him?

AN: And that's it. I actually finished a WIP for once, I am shocked ;).

A big thank you to everyone who read this silly little thing. If you want to leave a review I would be very grateful indeed. Reviews feed the muses ;)