Chapter 36
Trish shuddered, her hands and knees shaking even after Rhea guided her to the coffee shop and ordered two steaming cups of herbal tea. It couldn't happen, but it had already. She'd found a man and fallen in love one day and the next he was dead. At least in her world, he was. Fate was so unyieldingly cruel. She had to fix it. If only she could.
"This will calm your nerves. Now tell me what has you so upset. You knew he'd been murdered," Rhea whispered so as not to be overheard.
"Yes. But not by Quinn."
"Sweetheart, everything's okay. What's done is done and besides, you said you didn't know who killed him."
"I know Quinn didn't." Trish snapped out the words, biting them with sure defiance.
Rhea put her hands up in surrender. "Okay. Don't shoot the messenger. I just showed you how to find out what happened. I didn't convict him or drop the trap door."
"You don't understand."
"What don't I understand?"
"Quinn's the man that helped me when Old Curly wanted to rape me. He's the man who helped me check out who I thought murdered Albert. And he's--" How could she tell her mother that she'd finally fallen in love and that the love wasn't returned and that he was dead?
Rhea took Trish's hands in her own. "There's something you aren't telling me. What is it?"
"I left him at the swimming hole just before I found Albert. He couldn't have killed Albert. He's not that kind of a man."
"You left him. You mentioned working at a whore house--"
"It wasn't like that, Mom."
"Okay, I shouldn't jump. So you're sure he didn't do it."
"Zelda told me how he's always helping the damsel in distress and that he even fought for her favor. And I know that’s kinda what I was thinking. Kinda like he was fighting over a damsel.
“Albert was married to Lucinda so they wouldn't have been fighting. I kinda asked him about that and he thought I might be giving Albert favors, but I wasn’t. It didn't make sense to either of us."
"So you were together at the swimming hole. Swimming?"
"No. Not exactly. He was swimming and I was… watching."
"Naughty girl. I thought we nipped that in the bud. But since you did, I hope you learned your lesson. So you say he can kill, then why not kill Albert?"
"Because he didn't. I truly believe that Quinn's weapon of choice is his knife."
"Then why not kill with it?"
"Albert wasn't stabbed."
"Then how was he killed?"
"I'm not sure. But you don't stab a man in the head. It was a head wound, Mom. Of that I am sure. And I'm also sure Quinn didn't do it."
"I thought you said he did a fair amount of bar-room brawling."
"That doesn't mean he would kill. Fight, yes, but kill, no. I know him."
"Do you know him? Or did you fall in love with him?"
"What?" Trish gasped, wondering how her mother had guessed the truth.
"You argue his case like you have something to lose. The only thing you have to lose in 1887 would be him. Are you sure he didn't do it?"
"Yes, there were a lot of footprints which means there was a fight. Fights take time. I left the swimming hole before he did. I know he didn't do it." They sat silently for several minutes. Trish stared at the bottom of her tea cup while Rhea sipped her tea.
"Trish, it's tough to love a man and lose him. I didn't fight for your father and I've been alone all these years."
"But I've been here."
"It's not the same. I love you and I loved your father, but when he left that morning, I should have followed him, at least as far as the end of the drive."
"But Dad died in the mining accident."
Rhea slid her hand across the table taking Trish's. "We fought that morning. I was wrong. I should have said I'm sorry before he left. I truly believe that he was distracted that day, worrying about that fight, what he'd said, what I'd said. Being distracted cost him. It cost us. You're an attorney. You go back to 1887 and fix this mess."
"Mom." Trish gazed at her mother, shaking her head. "In 1887, they didn't have female attorneys. Women's Rights hadn't even found Southeastern Idaho. Idaho didn't even gain statehood until 1890."
"Trish. You've put in your time. You've studied and learned about as much as a law student can. You just choke on written exams. You always have. This is your chance to prove to yourself that you can do this."
"But if I fail, Quinn will hang."
"If you don't go back and try, he already has. Wouldn't you rather spend the rest of your life knowing that at least you tried?"
Chapter 37
The Talisman - Crisscross Page 48