Silver Mountain

1880

Silver Mountain, Nevada

“How long do you think Louis will keep her like this?”

“I do not know. Maybe he’ll do something with her when it gets hot,” said Diana Morgan as she stood next to her friend, holding his arm with a cold tight hand.

“Hot, as in summer hot? That long?”

“Imagine how much money Lester is making off of her,” she told her dear friend Dr, Arthur Temple, former Civil War battlefield doctor and now friendly town doctor and abortionist.

Arthur scowled. “You could have saved her.”

“She did not deserve to be saved,” Dinah answered as she looked down on Magnolia Rose Smith.

The dead woman was laid out naked, her red henna dyed hair was in ringlets around her angelic face. A thin veil of silk lay over her knees. The veil had been over her entire body, but visitors had scooched it down to get a better view of the fallen angel.

A man dressed in black from head to toe came into the room.  His dark hair was pushed back in greasy waves. “Well, Mrs. Morgan, Dr. Temple, what do you think of my handwork on this divine creature?”

Arthur looked up at the undertaker in disgust. “What sort of foul chemicals did you soak the poor girl in Les?”

“Well Art, like you, I spent time in the battle fields, only instead of cutting off limbs and sewing innards back into the bodies of young men, I transported loved ones back home to their families. I learned how to repair and preserve those bodies so that their kin would see them as if they were only sleeping. Since then I have considerably refined my methods.”

“I have to admit, she looks like she is sleeping,” Dinah said.

“Yet, she is not,” said Lester Moreland, with a wide toothy grin. Dinah wondered if those were his own teeth or if he’d stolen them from another dead whore.

Over the past month miners, cowboys, traveling salesmen, and working men of the town had come to gaze upon the life-like corpse of the whore Magnolia Rose Smith. At special times – secret times – men who had respectable wives, and frequented the Masonic Lodge, and were active members of the large Catholic Church, and smaller Methodist Church, would come by and spend time with Magnolia Rose, gazing upon her perfect form.  

For an extra coin or two visitors would be allowed to touch the perfect embalmed body. For an additional considerable sum Lester Moreland would promise to never tell the dark secrets of those who paid extra more intimate activities that might take place with the preserved body of Magnolia Rose.

Dinah seen enough and left the room. Arthur followed close behind.

“Jesus Christ, that man makes me want to crawl out of my skin,” said the good doctor.

“Do not even think of doing that,” said Dinah. “He might stuff you and put you up on display too.”

Arthur laughed at her joke and took her arm as they headed to the door. As they walked out a couple of young miners came inside with their coins to gaze upon the beautiful naked dead girl. Photographs and paintings of naked women were nice, but seeing one in real life with nothing to cover her up was even better. Even better was the fact that seeing a dead naked girl was a lot cheaper than being with a live one.

For the past three years Dr. Arthur Temple, at the insistence of his friend Mrs. Dinah Morgan had lived in the boomtown of Silver Mountain. The city of now almost 9,000 people stood on the edge of the high Sierra Nevada Mountain Range and the High Desert. Dinah owned a majority share of the silver mine that employed hundreds of miners, plus a large cattle ranch nearby, and countless properties in town. That didn’t include her houses in Sacramento and San Francisco.

He’d known Dinah for seven years. They had been close friends, then lovers. Marriage had never come into the conversation. Both had too many secrets and scars. First of all, she had never married, but only called herself Mrs. Morgan to get the respect a single woman could never have. She claimed to have been widowed at a young age, when she was a teenage bride at the tender age of sixteen. Her second and most important secret was the fact that Dinah was a Vampire.

To Arthur’s  surprise, both as man and a scientist, Dinah was not a blood thirsty ghoul like one would read about in books. She was part of a society, or more of a secondary race, or even species, who drank the blood of the living, and lived forever, and after that Dr. Temple had to shut down his mind. The reason he did not think of the horror of what Diana really was, was because he was deeply and passionately in love with her.

They had become friends over their mutual fondness for art, books, and gardening. Then it had grown into something else. When she explained to him why she did not eat much, and why she was out late into the night, and why some of friends were a bit different, then he could not help but accept it. He was a man of science and superstition had no place in his way of thinking. He was also not a church going man, so the idea of evil was extremely subjective, and had to be based on evidence of actions and not old campfire scary stories.

Another fact was that Dinah was not the first Vampire he had ever met. San Francisco had been thick with them. Most were well dressed cultured types who blended in with society. Others lived in the back waters and darkness, coming out at night to prey on drunkards, foreign, sailors, prostitutes, and visitors of opium dens. Those Vampires, often called Shadow Creepers, also would go to the boomtowns of the high desert and lurk among the men with broken dreams taking advantage of the hopeless and suicidal.

Arthur’s brother was also a Vampire who ran in Dinah’s social circle, but that is a story for a later time. There were many stories in Dr. Arthur Temple’s life that were best told in front of a fire with a glass of whiskey or while sitting on the beach on a blanket with a fascinating woman, or never told at all.

Arthur’s relationship with Dinah was rife with emotional turmoil, which Arthur never expressed out loud. The proverbial kiss of death to the hope of a monogamous relationship was when she told him they were dear friends and refused to acknowledge any of their intimate romantic adventures. Arthur, both out of respect and fear silently accepted that.

After dropping Dinah off at her mansion Arthur walked down the street to his own house. His home was not as large as Dinah’s mansion, but equally comfortable with three bedrooms, and a quarter for the housekeeper Mrs. Koster and her brother Jimmy Skratt who helped out with odd chores. Jimmy was not smart enough to safely work in the mine, but Arthur was glad to have him around.

Mrs. Koster, a tall thin woman with white-blonde hair and a face like a Gothic statue of a wide eyed saint, stood in the doorway with a note.

“Doc Temple, you are needed over in Nanza. Sherriff said there were injuries and a death. Jimmy will go with you to help with your equipment.  He already has the horses ready. I have packed a meal for you and Jimmy because nobody in Nanza knows how to cook. They are all so damned lazy and stupid there.”

“I can go alone Mrs. Koster,” said Arthur.

“No. Bring Jimmy. Nobody will fool with you if you have someone big and strong with you. Jimmy will make sure those Nanza fools will let you do your job and he will make sure nobody steals your horses.

Arthur thanked the good woman and packed his medical bags. He also brought along a camera that he was teaching Jimmy to use.

“Be careful with that box Jimmy, we don’t want to break any of the glass plates.” Arthur always said we rather than you when speaking to Jimmy. He did not want the man to ever feel as if he was being accused of being stupid, even though sometimes he was like a six foot tall child.

The town of Nanza had originally called Bonanza, but the first day the signpost went up on the road some jackass had shot off the B and the O. Nobody was up to putting up a new sign so it Nanza stuck. It was not as if anyone had rushed out to print stationary with Bonanza on it.  After two years half of the town was still tents with wooden floors.

By the time Arthur and Jimmy arrived Father Sam from Our Mother of the Precious Wonders Catholic Church was giving last rights to a dead woman. The other two victims needed immediate medical care. Jimmy looked at the dead woman and with tears in his eyes said a prayer over the body. At least someone still believed in God. Arthur had long stopped trying to believe in anything other than the feeling he had to help people and try to bring some healing and joy to their dismal lives.

After taking care of the first three victims, then stitching up the arm of a ranch hand who’d had a bad turn with a hatchet, and giving one of the saloon owners something to help him sleep they headed home. Arthur, with Jimmy’s assistance also took photographs of everyone, along with some images of some men posing on a giant mountain of mine tailings.

By the time they arrived home Arthur was exhausted, yet too agitated to sleep. He changed clothes and walked up the road to Dinah’s house.

Dinah’s housekeeper, a thin dark skinned Vampire called Susan greeted him at the door. “Doc Temple, she is not alone,” whispered Susan, putting her cool thin hand on Arthur’s arm.

“Who is with her Susan? Should I leave?”

“Stay. It is that man. The one she meets every few years. The one who never makes any sense and talks about the future.”

“I see. Thank you, Susan.”

Dinah stood when he entered the drawing room. She wore a dress of green velvet and silk, with a bustle in the back, as was the fashion. In her hair was a silver and emerald comb he’d given her for her birthday. He gave her a slight kiss on her cheek.

“Where were you? I sent someone up to your house earlier, but you were gone,” said Dinah.

“Nanza.”

A tall impeccably dressed man stood up and reached out his hand to shake Arthur’s. The doctor had no choice but to be polite. He knew this visitor who was always sickeningly charming and extremely well dressed. The man always smelled good, as if he had just been baked, like a sweet pie made of honey and apples, with a touch of cloves.

“Originally Bonanza,” said the man, “ just like the popular TV show of the 1960’s. You know Little Joe, Hoss, Hop Sing.”

Arthur had no idea that a TV show was, much less Little Joe, Hoss, or Hop Sing, and wished Mr. Jeffery Turner would go away. Not only was Mr. Turner obnoxious, but he was also a Time Traveler which made the situation even more distasteful. Arthur turned his attention to Dinah.

“It was awful Dinah.”

Dinah took both of his hands, then led him to a comfortable chair. “Dear Arthur, why in God’s name were you in Nanza?”

“Ever since Lester put Magnolia Rose on display there seems to be an interest in these parts in having intimate relations with dead whores. Two women are in a bad way, and one was already dead. I told Sherriff Whittaker to charge the crib keeper Remi Gallagher with murder, but he was nowhere to be found. The man is the worst kind of brute, taking advantage of foundling girls, forcing them into the worst kind of hell.”

“What did he do? Put them on ice to make them cold?” Dinah asked.

“Chloroform. He put them in a coma like sleep. One never came out of it,” said Arthur.

“Yet, you are often considered a friend of the prostitute,” interjected Jeffery Turner.

Arthur did not want to explain himself yet felt compelled to do so. “Some women choose the profession of their own free will. Some are forced into it. There is a difference. I treat them all with respect. They are human beings.” Arthur glared at the man from the future who acted as if everyone he met was stupid and beneath him.  He wanted to leave, but if he left the bastard would have his hands all over Dinah. If he stayed, he would be subjected to the pompous banter of this rude crass time traveling freak.

The Doctor was never open about his services to women, but he didn’t keep it a secret, at least not to the women of Silver Mountain. Half of his clients were married women, daughters of good families, or widows who didn’t want to spend all of their evenings alone. He also knew ways to prevent women from ever becoming pregnant again, if that is what they indeed wanted. He hoped that in the future women would be treated with much more dignity and respect than they were now. He needed to change the subject.

“I hear there are Vampires in Nanza,” said Jeffery.

“There are two that I know of. They lurk around the mines, working as night watchmen. Dinah and Susan know who they are. Tell us about Vampires in the 21^st Century,” said Arthur.

“Vampires? What like blood sucking monsters who come in the night, or seductive creatures who are both sexual and deadly?”

“Oh Jeffery, please do not use those terms in describing those who are like me,” said Dinah.

Jeffery ignored her and continued to talk directly to Arthur. “Vampires are HUGE in popular culture of both the 20^th and 21^st Centuries. Oh, right, you don’t know about Dracula. Both the movie and the book were huge. The book won’t come out for another 17 years. Fictional Vampires are a huge part of the American landscape.”

“What about real ones?” Arthur asked.

“Nobody believes there are real Vampires. I’ve tried to contact them, but unfortunately, they don’t like Time Travelers.”

“Vampires tend to hate Time Travelers,” said Dinah. “They tend to be unpleasant, but not always.” She gave Jeff a smile. Arthur remained poker faced despite wanting to spew insults at the Time Traveler sitting in the room with him.

“Their loss,” said Jeffery.

Arthur already knew that Vampires traveled forward, since they seemingly never died, and Time Travelers traveled backwards in history, so they would meet along the timeline. Dinah and Jeff had been meeting up for the past two hundred years. Arthur had yet to understand what attracted him to her. Maybe because he DID understand Vampires. Maybe it was because he was handsome and acted like nobody in the room mattered except her.

The very idea of time travel baffled Arthur. After a while he accepted it, but only because he was a man of science. I supposed it was the same way he accepted Vampires. If he admitted to anyone else what he knew he would be locked up forever for insanity. At times he did feel insane.

“What brings you here this time, aside from your fascination with cowboys and Indians?” Arthur asked the man from the future.

“Glad you asked. Aside from wanting to see my lovely Dinah, I wanted to see the Magnolia Rose, the beautiful, persevered prostitute. That is if she is still beautiful, and if she is real.”

“Are you telling me that there is interest in a woman who died, and her body violated, one hundred and forty four years after the event? That is absolutely morbid,” said Arthur.

“That dead woman is HOT now. Social media is all over her. Netflix is doing a documentary about Magnolia Rose. There are even photos of the the good Dr. Arthur Temple. You’re a heart throb Art. Podcasters are all over this. A book just came out. Of course, nobody knows what happened to the body of Magnolia Rose, and there is little information about Dr. Temple, aside from his paintings. Before this I didn’t even know you were an artist as well as a doctor.”

Arthur did not understand most of what the Time Traveler had just said, aside from the fact that his artwork had survived.

“It is a classic tale of the Old West, like Joaquim Murrieta’s head, or the disappearance of Ambrose Bierce,” continued Jeffery.

Dinah looked shocked. “Ambrose Bierce disappeared? When?”

“I don’t know, 1916 or 17, so he has a way to go before anyone should worry. Anyway, everyone wants to know about the dead whore. Think about it. People have always been interested in preserved bodies. They love hearing about mummies, and saints who don’t rot when they die. Now think of a beautiful prostitute living in a mining town, mourned by all of the men she kept company with. It is like Snow White or Sleeping Beauty.”

“We will take you to the see her tomorrow, but it is now late, and I know you gentlemen need to get your sleep,” said Dinah.

Arthur left Dinah alone with Jeffery. He knew he would be in her bed tonight. This was the bed he had been in a few days ago.

Dinah had had told Arthur over and over that she loved him as a dear friend and companion. Over the past seven years they had spent time together in San Francisco, Sacramento, and had even made a trip to Italy. The best time was the two months they stayed in Monterey. She visited with friends, and he painted and spent time learning from other artists. Under the stars they walked the beaches. At night they made love in their cottage with the sound of the waves in the background. Now he was walking home alone as she entertained a pompous baboon from the future. He stopped by the side of the road and vomited.

The next morning was extremely busy, meaning Arthur had no time to feel sorry for himself. A cowboy fell off his horse and broke his arm. Another came in with a rattle snake bite. There was a miner who needed his head stitched up after a tumble in a tunnel, and a whore who had been beaten within an inch of her life by a man she refused to service. His three assistants and nurse helped with less serious matters.

The cowboy, with the broken a young man named John was in a fit about what he would do now.

“Doc, I have to get better. I need the work.”

“You can read and write.” Arthur asked, thinking he’d remembered the young man reading at one of the local bars one night.

“Yes, I can, both quite well in fact.”

“Mr. McCoy at the print shop has put aside a space in his business for miners, cowboys, and anyone else to come in and learn how to read and write. Some of the German miners wish to learn English better as well. McCoy also needs someone to help with the printing as well. It is a good trade if you take to it. Would you be interested? I could get you a room at Mrs. Oliver’s boarding house. It is clean, she is an excellent cook, and she minds her own business.”

John agreed and was happy to change professions. Today Arthur was a healer, but he thought he would rather be out under the cypress trees painting the Pacific Ocean, or near the New Mexico Pueblos painting the wide expanses of high desert. He wished that the two people he loved most were not blood hungry Vampires. He wished a lot of things that he knew deep down he would never be able to change, yet he still wished.

Lester Moreland stopped by along with Sherriff Anderson. Following up behind was Jeffery Turner, the Time Traveler.

The fact that Lester and Sheriff Anderson both showed up at the same time was bad enough, but having to look at Jeffery Turner, and potentially having to hear the buffoon speak was almost too much for the already exhausted doctor.

“Dr. Temple,” started the sheriff. “We are going to need your professional opinion this morning. Are you available.”

“I just finished the morning rush, but there will be more sick and injured coming in I am sure. What can I help with?”

“Last night three men were murdered. Neither one of us know what killed them.” He nodded his head towards Jeffery. “Your friend here said he wanted to come along.”

No friend of mine thought Arthur. They all walked down the hill together to the undertaker’s business where the bodies were laid out. A couple of dogs chased along while people on the street looked on in curiosity wondering what was going on.

“I am not sorry that these three ne’er-do-wells got what they deserved, but it is how they got it that puzzles us,” said Lester as he brought the other three men into a back room.

Laid out on three tables were three dead men. They were all the color of chalk. Their necks were torn out as if by an animal. Their hands and feet were bound with barbed wire. All were as naked as the embalmed dead whore in the next room over.

“The stocky one there with the long hair is the man who beat up Lavender Clausen, the whore you saw this morning, He was working as a consultant for the mining company.” said Sherriff Anderson. “I believe you knew the brothel owner in Nanza, Remi Gallagher. He is the one who tried make his girls as good as dead by dousing them with chloroform.”

“One of the women died due to his greed,” said Arthur. “Who is the third man.”

“Rosco Venderslice. He was a banker in Carson City.”

“What did he do?”  asked Jeffery.

“It is said he raped the Widow Leonard. She is the bookkeeper working out on Jackson’s Ranch.”

“I remember,” said Arthur. He had performed an abortion on the poor woman.

“The fact that those men’s throats were ripped out made me think of animal attacks. Then I discovered that all three men are devoid of blood,” said Lester.

“Completely drained,” said Sherriff Anderson.

Arthur glanced at Jeffery with a “do not say anything” look. Jeffery nodded.

Arthur spent an hour examining the bodies while Jeffery talked to the other two men about life in Silver Mountain. He knew how the men died but was wasting time trying to come up with another story.

“I am not sure what these men died of aside from trauma to their necks and massive blood loss. It was most likely animals. Coyotes and raccoons smell blood and come around to partake in a free nighttime meal. It could have been dogs. A lot of packs have been roaming around at night lately. I will do some research and consult with some of my colleagues in San Francisco. In the meantime, Lester, what are you going to do with Magnolia Rose? Keeping her embalmed body on display is not only morbid, but also disrespectful. You need to bury her.”

“We will see,” said Lester. “It is odd that you are concerned with anyone respecting that woman.”

Jeffery spoke up, as usual. “May I see her?”

In the next room, Magnolia Rose Smith lay on her bed of silk roses looking as alive and naked as the day she was born.

“She is beautiful,” said Jeffery. “How did she die?”

“Opium,” said Arthur.

“Despite her beauty, Magnolia Rose was as mean as a rattlesnake,” said Lester. I truly believe that is why it took her so long to die. Most women would have died months before she did with the amount of opium she consumed, and nonstop whoring. She would take on a dozen or more men a night just to say she could do it.”

“You said she was mean. What did she do?” Jeffery asked.

“Aside from driving two other whores to their deaths, and at least one cowboy, she did a lot of bad things. She was a compulsive liar without an ounce of empathy, and not a trace of a soul. The trail of damage she left on other humans was like a fiery tornado blasting through Silver Mountain,” said Lester. ”Did I mention she was a blackmailer? Well, she was.”

“She sounds remarkable. I wish I could have met her,” said Jeffery. “I wish I could have fucked her.”

“You still can, for a price,” said Lester.

“I am done with both of you, “said Arthur as he turned and walked out.

Jeffery walked back up the hill with Arthur, who just wanted to be alone, but said nothing to his lover’s other man.

Unfortunately, Jeffery could not keep silent. “I know how they died.”

“One Vampire would not be able to drain three men of their blood in a single night,” said Arthur.

“Six Vampires could.”

“Six? I only know of four in this area.”

“Dinah, her housekeeper Susan, the two guards at the Nanza mine, Calvin Locke the cattle broker, and Xavier Rivera the blacksmith. I went along for the ride. It was an interesting experience to say the least.”

“Calvin Locke is engaged to Irma, the woman who was raped at the ranch. I had no idea he and Rivera were Vampires.”

“Revenge is sweet,” said Jeffery. “This trip has been quite educational Arthur. Silver Mountain is dusty, dirty, and fascinating. You thrive and solve the same modern problems as where I come from with no cell phones, no electricity, no cars, no power tools, no airplanes. Sanitation is completely unheard of yet so many of you manage to stay healthy, clean, well dressed, and surprisingly well educated.”

“You know I have no idea what you are talking about. You are insulting and rude and you need to stop.”

“The future would blow your mind.”

“I seriously doubt that.”

“In less than one hundred years men will learn to fly and go to the moon.”

“The moon you say. Did they find men who look like reptiles living up there, or fairies? It seems to me that in the future men will be able to do anything yet, you have proved they are still annoying as hell.”

They walked along in silence for a few minutes. Then Jeffery bumped Arthur’s shoulder. Arthur stopped.

“What do you want Jeffery?”

“You love Dinah.”

“Of course I do.”

“ Why do you put up with a woman you can never have, who has another lover she shares you with?”

Arthur did not answer but silently started walking towards his home.

After a few minutes Jeffery spoke again. “You could have any woman. You look like a movie star.”

“Again, I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“Why do you stay with Dinah?”

“What does it matter to you?”

“Arthur, she has you in the friend zone. Friends with benefits. She will give you her body but never her love. The woman is a Vampire. That is how they roll, now and in the future. Come to think about it that is how a lot of women roll, but you know, we can’t live with them, but can’t live without them.”

“Friend zone?”

“She calls you a treasured companion. You think you are the only one, but you my friend are just one of many. Right now you are the favorite but you will get old and she will move on. Yet I will always be here as her lover. You can’t change that Arthur.”

“You are wrong about her feelings.”

“She loves you, but she is in love with me.”

The the first time in his life Arthur truly hated a man. “You may be from the future but do not act as though everyone in this time is an idiot. I can see who and what you are. Do you justify cheating on your wife because you are traveling to the past, and that means that technically your wife has not been born yet? Or is it perhaps the idea that she will never know, and that you regularly cheat on her in your own time as well?”

“How did you…”

 “You have an indentation on your left ring finger, as well as a pale circle where you usually wear your wedding ring. My detective skills go beyond solving medical mysteries Jeffery. Please do me the favor and do not come back for another hundred years,” said Arthur as he unlocked his front door and went inside.

There was never silence during the nights in Silver Mountain due to the constant activity in the mines. After a while one went numb to the noise and no longer heard it. Still, Arthur wanted nothing more than a quiet evening, alone with a bottle of wine and a book.

Friend zone. Arthur thought his heart would break, but instead it stopped cold. Jeffery was right.

 In the morning, Arthur would consider his options. He was done with Silver Mountain. He was done with miners, whores, and homesick cowboys. He was done with Time Travelers, and most of all he was done with Dinah.

Present Day

Carmel By-The-Sea, California

Of all the gallery shows and museum exhibits Jeffery Turner had ever attended this was the one he had most anticipated.

Arthur Temple a Retrospect with Contemporary Works of Sterling Temple.

Who would have thought that the lovesick doctor from Silver Mountain would become the hottest commodity in Western art? The auction prices for Arthur Temple paintings, even sketches were going through the roof. He was compared to William Keith, Xavier Martinez, Thomas Hill, Maynard Dixon, Theodore Wores, and even Guy Rose, yet Temple had his own exquisitely expressive and beautiful unique style.

Arthur Temple apparently was friends, or at least acquainted with most of the great Western painters of the 19^th and early 20^th Centuries, yet he is now just being appreciated.

Sterling Temple’s style was also beautiful and expressive. The influence of his great great grandfather was evident along with perhaps of hint of influences of Bay Area Figurative artists. Maybe a little Kondos influence in there too.

A man who looked a lot like Arthur Temple stood near the door greeting people.

“Wow, I can see the family resemblance. Are you Sterling Temple?” Jeffery asked.

“I’m his brother Frank. Thanks for coming,” Frank turned to a man who approached them. “Here he is, the man of the hour, my brother and artist extraordinaire Sterling Temple.”

Jeffery took a breath. The resemblance was uncanny. Aside from the face that this man had no mustache and longer hair, he looked exactly like his great great grandfather Arthur Temple.

Sterling Temple smiled at Jeffery. “Let’s go for a walk.”

Suddenly Jeffery realized this was Arthur Temple.

“How are you still here?”

“I knew a lot of Vampires, including my brother Frank?”

“Holy shit. You’re calling yourself Sterling? Is that because of Silver Mountain?”

“Sterling is my middle name.”

They walked along in silence for a few minutes while Jeffery admired the art.

“You’re incredibly talented.”

“So they say.”

“I have questions.”

“I bet you do Jeffery.”

“What happened to Magnolia Rose?”

“Her body, still perfectly preserved, is in a crypt, under her birth name, in a Bay Area cemetery.”

“Is she in Colma?”

“I’m not going to tell you where she is.”

“I take it that was your doing?”

“She was only nineteen. She was not a good person, but she could have been. The potential was there. I had to respect what could have been. She would have ended up in a Freak show or worse.”

“Worse? Jesus Christ Arthur. Can I see her?”

“No, absolutely not.”

“OK. Do you know where Dinah is? Do you still see her?”

“She passed away a while back. Don’t look so surprised.”

“She can’t be dead. Dinah is a Vampire.”

“Someone cut her heart out. Anyone will die if their heart is cut out, even seemingly heartless people like you Jeffery.”

“What happened?”

“I don’t know. Her body was shipped to me in 1943 by an unknown lover. At one point I thought it might have been you. A note said she was killed by Vampire Hunters in London. The body was dropped off in an Army truck to my office in San Francisco. She now shares a lavish crypt with Magnolia Rose.”

“Lavish?”

“Tiffany windows, Carrara marble, and fresh flowers are delivered once a week. I even painted a mural of Yosemite on the walls.”

“You aren’t curious about who sent her body to you, or who exactly killed her?”

“I don’t care. The last time I saw her alive was the last night I spent in Silver Mountain. The last time I saw you.”

“I have questions,” said Jeffery, almost with a snarl, or at least that is how it sounded to Arthur.

“I don’t.”

“Arthur…”

“Maybe you can go back in time and see what happened. Like I said, I don’t care.”

Jeffery squinted his eyes and slightly shook his head. “I know that isn’t true. You loved Dinah, despite the fact you weren’t the only one. I bet you still love her.”

Arthur smiled, but it wasn’t a joyful smile. He stepped closer to Jeffery. “I bet you don’t know your wife was sleeping with my brother Frank. Just think about how happy she was after all of those weekends with her college girlfriends.”

“What? You’re lying.”

“She dumped my brother for someone else about six months ago. I believe it was your good friend Craig. Now, if you don’t mind, I must get back to my show. Goodbye Jeffery. Please don’t come back, unless of course you wish to join our girls in the crypt.”

Jeffery Turner left the gallery. Arthur aka Sterling told Frank about the encounter, then he went to a back courtyard. In the shade with a glass of wine sat a woman dressed in a flowing green silk dress.

Arthur sat down next to her. “He is gone Dinah.”

“Thank you so much for covering for me.”

“I told him you were dead and in the crypt with Magnolia Rose.”

She kissed him with a passion that even surprised him. “I love you so much. Forever and ever.”

“Love you too. Forever and ever.”

 ~ end