Chapter 25
A week had passed.
Shelly never replied to Dalton’s text message last week on meeting for lunch. Usually, that would have upset him, but for some reason, he didn’t care. He figured she wasn’t a nice person and not worth his time.
It was Thursday morning, September 22nd, 2016.
Dalton looked forward to Thursday’s, as this was the day of his favorite class.
He got dressed and headed off to the university.
Chrissy got dressed in her apartment and headed off to the university. She also looked forward to Thursday. This was also the day of her favorite class, and the guy she had a crush.
At John Mathers home, he and his thirty-year-old wife, Angie, sat at the kitchen table drinking their morning coffee and eating breakfast.
“How’s your Arizona Old Western Marshals and Outlaws class coming along?”
“Pretty good so far.”
“Anybody ask any difficult questions?” she said about his past.
“Not yet. I don’t think they will. Since I’ve been teaching this class for the past two years, all the kids are only interested in is an easy grade since this is an elective for them.”
“I hope it stays that way,” she said and finished her cup of coffee.
“Oh, it will,” he said and finished his cup of coffee.
After putting their cups in the sink, they both left the kitchen and house.
They went outside and walked over to their cars parked in the driveway. John and Angie walked up to his 2015 white Mustang.
“Go fill those young minds with history,” she said, giving him a kiss on the lips by his car.
She walked away and walked over to her red 2015 Camaro.
“And have a great day with people’s money,” he said, making reference to her bank manager’s job.
They got in their cars, backed out of the driveway, and drove off in separate directions down the street.
At the Clint Bartley home, thirty-eight-year-old Clint was drinking his morning cup of coffee at the kitchen table in shorts and a tee-shirt. He now sported a mustache, and his hair was shorter than the way he kept his hair in the old west. Plus, it was sprinkled with a few streaks of gray.
His forty-year-old wife, Alicia, entered the kitchen and wore blue jeans, denim shirt, and cowboy boots. She also had a badge clipped to her belt. She was a still detective with the Phoenix Police Department.
She waked up to the counter and poured a cup of coffee.
She sat down at the table. “When are you going to practice?” she asked Clint then took a sip of coffee.
“At ten,” he said and took a sip of his coffee. Clint was a pianist with the Phoenix Symphony.
“Any arrests today?”
“No. Just checking out some leads on last week’s bank robbery.”
“Well, we both know the Kissing Bandit didn’t rob that bank,” Clint said and got a chuckle out of Alicia.
“I hope he didn’t,” she said and finished her coffee then got up from the table.
She walked over and gave Clint a kiss on his lips. “Go tickle those ivories,” she said.
“Will do,” said Clint and watched while Alicia left the kitchen. When she was gone, he finished his coffee.
Back at the university, Dalton again was the first student in Professor Mathers Arizona Old West Outlaw and Marshal class.
Another student entered the classroom, followed by Chrissy.
Chrissy immediately spotted Dalton and smiled. But today she decided to get braver. Instead of sitting two rows over from Dalton, she walked down the row next to his right.
“Hi Chrissy,” said Dalton when he saw her sit down.
“I’m surprised you remembered my name.”
“Why not. I had a nice lunch with you last week.”
“Well, thank you, Dalton.”
There were a few seconds of silence.
“Are you ready for this class?”
“I am. It’s my favorite,” said Dalton.
“It’s also my favorite.”
“I’m surprised that an education major would be interested in a class like this. Are you planning on teaching history?”
“Actually, I want to teach first or second grade. Figured that’s the perfect time to help mold them to become good students. I’m in this class because I’m fascinated by the old west.”
Dalton smiled. “Me too. I love reading, researching, or watching old western movies.”
“Me too!” What’s your favorite old western movie?”
Dalton was ready to tell her, but the closing of the classroom door made him stay quiet.
“Good morning, class,” said Professor Mathers as he closed the door and walked over to his desk. “Okay, today we’ll start talking about some of the Marshal’s that helped maintained law and order in the Phoenix area,” he said while putting down his briefcase, opening it and removed the textbook.
Dalton leaned over toward Chrissy. “Back to the Future three,’ he said in a low tone.
“Back to the Future three?” she replied in a lone tone.
Dalton nodded that that was correct.
“I love that movie,” she said in a low tone.
“I love the time travel angle,” he said.
She nodded in agreement with him; then, they returned their eyes to Professor Mathers while he started today’s lecture.
Chrissy and Dalton both smiled over the fact they had the same interest in movies.
“So we’ll start with the town Oak Creek,” said John. “Now, we learned last week that Oak Creek was founded in eighteen sixty-seven. People from the east settled in Oak Creek with dreams of striking it rich by mining the area for copper, gold, or silver. So the first Town Marshal of Oak Creek in eighteen sixty-eight was a gentleman named Ervin Schmidt,” said John, then he paused for a few seconds.
“Marshal Schmidt was only twenty-five years old and came to Oak Creek after roaming the country after serving in the Union Army during the Civil War. Marshal Schmidt left Oak Creek and headed out to California for other opportunities in eighteen seventy-two.”
John took a breather for a few seconds.
“Oak Creek hired thirty-five-year-old Butch Wilson who rode into town from New Mexico. Marshal Wilson’s tenure lasted until eighteen eighty. He died during a gunfight with a drunken cowboy at the Prickly Cactus Saloon in Oak Creek.”
John stopped for another quick pause. He had a hint of a smile while he glanced down at his textbook.
“Okay, now for the next Marshal of Oak Creek. He was twenty-eight year old Clint Bartley, who came in from San Francisco for some adventures in the old west,” he said while still glancing down at his textbook at the picture of Clint taken back in those days. He paused for a few seconds while this memory was still fresh in his mind.
“Okay, now Clint had a sixty-year-old Deputy named Elmer Filson. They were good friends,” he said and paused for a few seconds and recalled living this next piece of information.
“Now, Deputy Filson was shot and killed on September 17th in eighty-three. It happened during a shoot out with outlaws Bart Stone, Charlie Chandler,” he said and paused. It always was awkward for John to tell this part of the historical moment. “And another outlaw named the Kissing Bandit. They just robbed the Oak Creek National Bank.”
Dalton raised his hand, and John noticed.
“Yes.”
“Did this Kissing Bandit have a name other than Kissing Bandit?” asked Dalton.
John looked at Trevor and hesitated as no student ever asked this question. “Yes, yes, he did,” he said and paused for a few seconds. “It’s a funny coincidence that this Kissing Bandit,” he said, then gave a light chuckle. “Funny coincidence that Kissing Bandit’s name was John Mathers.”
All the students looked at each other as that name sounded so familiar.
Chrissy’s eyes lit up. “He had the same name as you do?”
“Why, yes. But you know I can imagine thousands of guys were named John Mathers throughout the last couple hundred years,” he said, hoping they would believe it.
Chrissy got a little curious, so she flipped ahead in her textbook to the outlaw section. She found nothing in the textbook about the Kissing Bandit and thought that was odd.
“So Marshal Bartley went after the three outlaws and eventually caught them. But something strange happened,” he said and paused.
Chrissy glanced up from her textbook and looked back at John to hear about this strange event.
“The Kissing Bandit was on the gallows ready to be hung for the murder of Deputy Elmer Filson on September 23rd in eighteen eighty-three. But an unknown individual fired from a nearby building severing the rope of his noose. Two women on horses raced up, the Kissing Bandit hopped on one of the horses, and they raced out of town.”
“Didn’t Marshal Bartley shoot at them?” asked Dalton.
“No, he was afraid of another shooter in the area. So he ran to his office, got his horse, and gave chase.
“Did he catch them?” said Chrissy.
“No, the Kissing Bandit was never caught, and history never found out what happened to him.”
“What about Marshal Bartley?” Dalton asked.
“He never returned to Oak Creek, and his final demise was never known for the history books,” said John, then he paused while he relived that moment in his head. “Now, for the demise of Bart Stone,” he said and glanced at the class.
Chrissy was still curious. “Professor, how come this book doesn’t have information about the history of Kissing Bandit?” “You know, where he came from and stuff like that.”
Dalton glanced over a Chrissy and started to wonder the same thing.
“I haven’t had the chance to do an update. It’s in work,” he said and really wanted to get off the topic of his past outlaw ways.
“Will you discuss this in the class?” said Chrissy.
“Well, see. Now, let’s get back to Bart Stone. He was hanged on September 25th, eighteen eighty-three, for the murder of Oak Creek deputy Elmer Filson. Charlie Chandler testified before Judge Peter Peabody that Bart Stone fired the shot that killed Elmer.”
Chrissy felt John was evasive with this Kissing Bandit topic. Why? She started to wonder, and her curiosity began to peak.
“So this Kissing Bandit guy was actually innocent of murder?” said Dalton.
Chrissy thought about the Kissing Bandit. Where did he come from? How old was he? How did he hook up with Bart Stone? These were questions that flooded her head, and she wanted answers.
“Yes he was. And then Charlie Chandler was given one year in the Yuma Territorial prison since he testified against Bart Stone. Chandler was found dead at that prison from a stab wound a year later. It was suspected someone loyal to Bart Stone killed him,” said John, then he went on to discuss the demise of Oak Creek during the rest of the class.
Class ended, and everybody left with John leaving first, so nobody would press him with more tough questions concerning the Kissing Bandit. Usually, this wasn’t a threat since most of the students weren’t that interested in this type of history. John always believed they only wanted an easy elective. But for some reason, Chrissy started to make him a little nervous.
Dalton and Chrissy stood up from their desks. He looked at her. “You sure pressed him about that Kissing Bandit outlaw.”
“Well, I wanted answers,” she said.
“He’ll probably talk about that outlaw next week.”
“Yeah, maybe,” she said but had her doubts. “Why don’t we meet for lunch today?” she said.
He looked at her and recalled their lunch last week. “Sure,” he said, having actually enjoyed her company.
“Good. About high noon?”
“Sounds good to me,” said Dalton and thought it was cute how she used the old western term “high noon.”
Chrissy smiled, and they both left the classroom.
Dalton went off in one direction after leaving the history building while Chrissy headed off in another direction. She looked like she was on a mission.
Ten minutes had passed, and Chrissy was in the library. She was doing some research on some other old western history books.
After fifteen minutes, she found some information on the Kissing Bandit in that book. “Now that is strange,” said while she read the article. She reread the article and bookmarked that page because of the photograph it contained.
She got up from the table with that book and rushed over to the tables with computers. She used one of the computers and did a search for the Kissing Bandit on the Internet.
Five minutes had passed, and she found some impressive results and printed an article about the Kissing Bandit from a website. She liked the broader view of that photograph from the book.
She grabbed the pages she printed off the printer.
She booked marked the pages she printed then rushed over to the front desk. She checked out that book.
She rushed out of the library.
Chrissy rushed through the campus and headed off to the food court located in another building.
She went inside that building and to the food court.
She found an empty table, sat down, and anxiously waited for Dalton to show up.
Five minutes passed, and Chrissy’s eyes widened the second she saw Dalton enter the food court. She waved at him when he looked in her direction.
Dalton walked over to her table.
“Let’s get some food,” he said, sitting down.
Chrissy glanced around and saw the food court was too crowded for comfort. “Why don’t we go outside first? Find a nice quiet place where we can’t be bothered,” she said.
Dalton looked at her and thought she wanted to get a little friendlier and maybe kiss. He hadn’t kissed a woman since his high school prom.
“I have some weird information I need to show you. Maybe weird isn’t the word. More like strange,” she said and glanced over her shoulder. “There’s too many wondering ears and eyes here in the food court,” she said in a quiet voice.
“Okay,” said Dalton, and now she piqued his curiosity and figured she didn’t want to make out.
They got up and left the food court.
They left the building and walked around campus until they found a bench where nobody was close to it to hear them. They sat down side by side on the bench.
Chrissy glanced over both shoulders. The coast was clear from eavesdroppers. She opened up the book she checked out from the library. “Look what I found,” she said and opened up to a page she bookmarked.
Dalton looked down at the book and saw it was about famous old western outlaws. “Okay, a book about outlaws. I’ve probably read it before,” he said and didn’t look too thrilled.
“It’s about that Kissing Bandit,” she said, pointing to the page.
“I see that.”
She turned the page and pointed to a picture. “Here’s a picture of the Kissing Bandit,” she said, touching the picture. The caption states it’s with Bart Stone, Charlie Chandler, and the Kissing Bandit taken in Mountain Rock.”
Dalton looked at the photograph. “Okay, we see the three outlaws,” he said, not concerned with what she found.
“Does that Kissing Bandit look familiar?”
Dalton looked at the photograph again. “Not really.”
Chrissy took that page she printed about the Kissing Bandit from the Internet. “Look at that same photograph that’s a larger view,” she said, handing Dalton the paper.
He looked at it.
“Now, does he look familiar?”
Dalton continued to look at the photograph. His eyes widened in a little disbelief. “That outlaw is a striking resemblance of Professor Mathers.”
“That’s what I’m thinking.”
Dalton continued to check out the photograph. “Aw, maybe it’s just a coincidence.” “You know, maybe as humans, we do often resemble each other throughout history.”
“That could be true. But I still can’t get over how that old western outlaw bears striking resemblance to Professor Mathers,” said Chrissy. “And Professor Mathers teaches a history course on old western Marshals and Outlaws.”
Dalton continued to look at the Internet article picture.
“So there’s nothing about the Kissing Bandit named John Mathers. There’s no information about his parents, nothing about where he was born and came from. He just suddenly appeared in Oak Creek in eighteen eighty-three robbing banks, hooking up with Bart Stone and Charlie Chandler and suddenly disappeared in eighty-three,” she said. “Never heard from again.”
Dalton thought about what she said. He glanced at the photograph and scanned over the Internet article. He looked at the book and what it had to say about the Kissing Bandit. “Okay, I now think that’s a little eerie,” he said and wondered where she was going with this.
“And I felt that Professor Mathers was being evasive about providing more detail about the Kissing Bandit today,” she said. “He had a reason.”
Dalton pondered for a few seconds all the information she presented. “I guess we have only one option. We’ll have to press Professor Mathers for more information about this outlaw. Show him the picture you found and see how he responds,” said Dalton.
“I have classes all afternoon, so why don’t we meet tomorrow to have lunch then go see Professor Mathers afterward?” said Chrissy.
Dalton smiled at her offer. “Sounds good to me,” he said.
“Well, I have another class in fifteen minutes,” said Chrissy while standing up.
“Me too,” he said while standing up.
“I’ll see you tomorrow at high noon?” she said.
“High noon it is,” said Dalton.
They both stood there for a few seconds looking at each other. They gave each other a little smile then walked off in different directions.
The rest of the day was quiet for Dalton.
He went to work that night. During his entire shift, all he could think about was this Kissing Bandit stuff and also the time he has spent with Chrissy.
After work, he relaxed in his apartment and felt like watching a movie. So he went over to his bookcase of DVDs and scanned them for one of interest. For some strange reason, he had this inkling to watch this one particular movie.
He kicked back on his couch and started watching the Back to the Future III movie.
Over in Chrissy’s apartment in the Sandy Cove Apartment Complex, she also had the same inkling to watch the Back to the Future III movie. Her hint came from what she discovered about the Kissing Bandit earlier today.