She was supposedly accompanied by another young woman, rumored to be her teacher, Christina, who disappeared right after the shooting, taking her family away. Her final destination is unknown.

The death of Elizabeth Porter, a beautiful and generous daughter of Melvin and Maxine Porter, a promising and rising artist, was sorely felt by all the citizens of Orange County, whose lives she touched. That tragic fact led to many voices being raised in accusation against numerous gangs of vagabonds seen frequently in the area, stealing from farmers and killing the cattle.

Others attributed this vile act to some affair of the heart using the rumors about a certain young man. It was reported that Elizabeth’s former art teacher, Eric Fischer, was madly in love with Ms. Porter but she resisted his advances. However, the truth came out that he assaulted her two months prior, was put to jail and nobody heard about him thereafter…’

“Weird,” Tina said pensively, “his name is almost identical to Eric. Wouldn’t it be ironic if these two bastards were related to each other?”

‘…And thus the heartbreaking case was concluded without the assassin ever being found and so it was left to God to bestow justice. Elizabeth Porter was beautiful in body and mind and she was mourned by many who knew her. When she was killed, she was near her twenty-sixth year and at the height of her life.’

At three in the morning, her throat dry from too much coffee, her body exhausted from lack of sleep, Tina had memorized the story by heart. Elizabeth Porter was no longer just an image on the old oak panel, but a beautiful woman who had once inhabited a certain time and space in the period between life and death.

Tina turned off the light, and was sitting in the dark with her head resting on the sofa’s cushion, watching glowing flicker of the candle light. She couldn’t see the miniature in the coffee table, but she didn’t need to. Each detail of the painting was carved in her eyes and on her mind.

“I can’t believe this is happening,” Tina said out loud, thinking of the painting. “I always thought I was straight but now I have feelings for not only a woman but also a woman who happened to be murdered 120 years ago.”

Tina decided to sleep the remaining hours before she had to go to work. The exhaustion took over her and she drifted away as soon as her head touched the pillow.

Work was really slow and everything and everybody seemed annoying and irritating. Tina couldn’t keep her eyes open but it was mainly her mind that kept messing with her. All she could think of and all she could see was that beautiful face that she would never touch, caress, or kiss.

‘What am I doing?’ Tina thought, getting infuriated with herself. ‘Not that I had any chance even if she would have lived to be a hundred years old. I have to get closure to this story. I can’t go on like this.’

TBC…