MARCH 23, 1861
Jake had been winning a lot of poker games lately. He had won a lot of money from the one they called Cody. Cody tried hard, but he was a lousy poker player. Jake could read Cody's face like a book, so much so that Jake didn't even have to stoop to cheating too much to beat him. He knew when Cody had a good hand, and when he had a bad hand just by his facial expressions.
Jake was running out of people to play poker with. He had beat most of them under the watchful eye of the sheriff. So far when the sheriff was watching him, he hadn't dared to cheat. The sheriff had warned most of the men not to play with him, but none of them had done as the sheriff had instructed. When the sheriff wasn't in the saloon watching, Jake easily cheated. He loved being a card shark and wouldn't change his profession for anyone or anything. But he had been thinking about the pretty girl, Melissa, a lot lately. She filled his dreams every night. He just couldn't get her out of his mind.
Jake came out of his hotel room and left the establishment. He walked down the boardwalk towards the newspaper office. He knew Melissa worked there and that she had a sister. For the last few weeks he wondered what her sister looked like, and he had tried to meet her by visiting the newspaper office, but every time he went there, only Melissa or nobody was there. One time Melissa had went to look for her sister, but mysteriously she had disappeared, so his interest in the elusive Jacy was piqued.
Jacy had been writing an article and then had stepped into the kitchen to find her a cookie. All that writing had made her hungry. As she was coming around the bend and into the PEG office, she saw Jake entering the office. She quickly ducked back into the hallway. What could he be doing here? What was she going to do? He couldn't see her. If he saw her, he might not believe that she was Jacy. He should know that Melissa was in school. Unless she had forgot to tell him that. Jacy silently swallowed the piece of cookie she had in her mouth.
"Hello, hello is anyone here?" Jake called out. He scanned the articles on the desk and didn't see anything intriguing. "Hello!" He called once again. He started to walk toward the doorway that led to the back, but then he stopped. He didn't want to do anything to get himself thrown in jail, and he figured any little thing that he might do that the law would frown up on then the sheriff would give him the ultimatum of leaving town or being thrown in jail, and he didn't want either. Actually he had been planning on leaving town last week with Melissa in tow, but then he had got wind of the rodeo. He figured there was still some money to be had from Dreamville, and he was the one who was going to have it. Disappointed that there was nobody here, he left. He decided to see if there was anybody in the bordello who was willing to play a couple of hands with him. If not then there was always Elena to keep him preoccupied, until Melissa got out of school.