The men got Julian into the Salem Hospital. Tom Horton, and his son, Dr. Bill Horton, hurried towards the front door. Eve followed them inside and closed the door quickly.
"What happened?" Tom asked, looking at Eve. Eve threw up her hands!
"He's been shot! I don't know where he's been all day, but I do know who the culprit is."
Everyone looked at Eve expectantly. Julian was laid out on an examining table.
"Who?" Bill asked.
"A man named James Stenbeck." Eve asked, moving around them to go to Julian. She stopped when everyone in the room began whispering. She turned to them.
"Eve...surely you know that's not possible?" Tom asked her.
"Well, I know he's a criminal of sorts. But why couldn't it have been him? I just ran into him and a woman he's saying is his wife, right before I reached Julian here."
"Because Ma'am," one of the men that had carried Julian over, began, "Stenbeck escaped to the West. There's no way he'd be just over in the next county here. What sense does that make?"
Tom looked at Eve.
"You do remember what he did, don't you? I mean you wouldn't have your job in Harmony, if Stenbeck had not killed John Dixon."
Eve gasped! Of course! How could she have forgotten that one basic fact? But in her heart of hearts, she knew how. She had been so heartbroken over her mother, that she just remembered that Dr. John Dixon had been killed by some scurrilous low-life, that had run off.
Yet...that man...this James Stenbeck, must have returned at some point and took off with Jessica. Or had Jessica and T.C. met him somewhere else? Even here in Salem?
"Yes, I do remember now." was all Eve said.
Julian began to moan. Eve, Tom and Bill rushed to his side.
"Eve...Eve..." Julian moaned. His hand reached out and Eve slowly, put her hand in his. Julian then squeezed it. Tom noticed this and raised a brow, but Bill began talking to him.
"We're going to get that bullet out of your shoulder, don't you worry any, Mr. Crane."
Julian nodded, but his eyes were heavy. They rested on Eve. Tom and Bill moved away a bit, to confer among themselves.
"Eve...I have to tell you something."
"Don't try and talk, okay Julian?" Eve said, eyeing Tom and Bill. Julian should be so lucky that he was hit in the shoulder and not someplace else. She herself, had only removed two bullets from men, and both were from their guns accidentally going off, in the midst of cleaning them.
"Eve...Eve...Jessica..."
Eve looked at him again. Where did this shooting take place anyway? It couldn't have been on the street, or James and Jessica wouldn't have been able to get away.
Tom and Bill came back over.
"We're going to operate on him now, Dr. Johnson. I suggest you get a telegraph or something to his family, and let them know what is going on. There is no way you'll be able to leave Salem tonight."
Eve nodded.
"I know. It's just that I also still have to tell his mother about his father's condition. This will be a double blow to her."
"Just stress that this is a non-fatal wound...or at least it doesn't have to be."
Eve nodded and began to leave, but realized that Julian was still clutching her hand. She slowly removed it.
"Just let the doctors here help you, Julian." she said softly.
"You'll be here...you'll stay with me..." he asked, his eyes heavy again.
"Yes, Julian, I'll be right here." Eve said, then let the doctors take over. Bill Horton handed Eve Julian's jacket, then closed a curtain. Eve just stood there for a few moments, in shock about all that had happened.
Now, how was she going to word this terrible telegram to Rachel? Then again, maybe she shouldn't say anything until they all knew for sure, that Julian was going to come through this.
Eve was contemplating this, when a few things fell out of Julian's jacket pocket. She picked the things up and noticed something odd right away.
There was a picture of herself, among the things.
Eve set the jacket, and the other things down, and looked at the picture. Oh God! It was one taken while she was away at medical school! She had sent it to her mother...what was Julian doing with it?
Eve frowned. Her mother would've never given Julian a picture of her. Nor would Julian have asked for one. Then again, Julian did possess the quality of sheer gall. He might just have asked her for it.
Or there was another more ominous explanation. He had stolen it from her mother, after he had killed her! Well, she planned to ask him, the minute he awakened, just what he was doing with a picture of her! And a picture that had been in her mother's possession! Eve sighed, put the picture away, then walked out of the hospital, her destination: the telegraph office.
It did not take Santana long to realize that she was no better than Pilar. She had lied on Martin Fitzgerald and now, Duncan may kill him, over a lie of hers. She had to stop him.
She was alone in the office now, but it had been so slow all day, Santana was relatively sure, that there would be no telegraphs coming through today. She began to close up shop and pick up her wrap, when Pilar stepped through the door and slammed it closed!
"Pilar, I really don't have the time for this."
"Of course you do. This office doesn't close for another three hours anyway."
"I'm closing early, Pilar! Now, if you don't mind..."
"What? Is this your way of getting out of giving Cruz and I payment for your keep?"
"Pilar! I have to get to Martin Fitzgerald's house before something bad happens! Now get out of my way!"
But Pilar blocked her way.
"Martin Fitzgerald's house? Martin Fitzgerald with all of the coal on his face? The one that you can barely stand the sight of? That Martin Fitzgerald?"
A telegraph began to come through just then. Santana sighed with annoyance. If Pilar had only gotten the hell out of here, when she told her to, then she would not have been here when this came through. Now she was duty bound to tell whoever it was for, that it was here for them.
Santana hurried over to the telegraph machine and snatched off a piece of paper. She then frowned.
"Why don't you make yourself useful, COUSIN, and get the Sheriff over here."
Pilar raised a brow.
"Why?"
"Because it looks as if his brother was shot at this Crane Claim gold place. Grace is the one that sent this message...there's more but since it's for Sam, it's really none of your business!"
Pilar pointed at her.
"I'm going! But I'm warning you: we will have a talk about what you told Cruz last night. I know what you're up to and you won't get away with it."
Pilar then hurried out of the office. Santana began reading the message anyway, just as Duncan walked back in.
"Duncan? Oh thank God!"
"Well, I'm glad someone's happy to see me."
"Well yes," Santana said, dropping the message onto the counter. "I mean I thought you were going to tear Fitzgerald's head off?"
"I was, but I couldn't find him. He probably went down into one of those mine shafts again. The things are unstable. The last thing I need is to get caught in some kind of cave in."
Santana nodded with relief.
"No, you don't need that."
"So, I see you got a telegraph in. Is it from Eve?"
Santana gave him a sympathetic glance.
"No. It's actually for Sam. It looks like Cruz was right about that land out West."
Duncan's eyes glittered with interest.
"Really?"
"Yes. It's from Grace to Sam."
The door opened and Sam and Pilar came rushing in. Santana handed Sam the telegraph. He shook his head.
"Damn!" he hissed.
"What is it, Sheriff?" Duncan asked.
Sam flapped the piece of paper and sighed.
"Hank and Grace went out to our claim and got shot at by some sniper. He was laying in wait for them. Hank was shot but is okay. Also, they found evidence to suggest that Rose D'Angelo is dead as well."
"She was one of Ms. Kitty's girls!" Duncan gasped.
"Wait a minute!" Pilar interrupted. "No one else that left for their claim has returned yet. And Grace and Hank were the last ones to leave."
"Oh God!" Santana cried out, as the enormity of what was going on, hit her.
Duncan slammed his fist against the counter!
"Old man Crane is behind this! I can smell it! I think it's time we asked him just what he knows about this!"
"Duncan, the man had a stroke!" Pilar cried out.
"Stroke or no stroke, Grace and Hank are lucky to be alive! Hell, Sheriff, they're probably not supposed to be! Crane knew there was no gold on that land he sold! He took the town's money and knew he had to keep them from telling on him, when they got out West and found out the truth!" Duncan yelled.
"Okay, okay! But what if Alistair didn't know about this shooter? What if this is someone totally independent of Alistair?" Sam theorized.
"Please!" Duncan hissed. "I'm getting some men together. I think it's time to pay a call on Mr. Alistair Crane!"
"Wait a minute!" Sam snapped. "Now I won't put up with people taking the law into their own hands here! Poor Rachel has enough to deal with..."
"How do we know Rachel isn't in on this?" Duncan asked.
"Oh, Duncan!" Pilar cried out. "You don't really believe that?"
"We need to find out what old man Crane knows...and his son." Duncan added. Santana raised a brow.
"Alright, let's question Julian." Sam said.
"We can't. Eve and him went to Salem to see some doctor about Alistair." Duncan admitted.
"Well, I have to get out to the claim. See if I can find out what's going on. I'll take a couple of men with me as well."
"Well while you're doing that..." Duncan began.
"While I'm doing that, you'll sit tight and don't stir up trouble, McKechnie, you got that?" Sam asked in a tight voice. Duncan nodded reluctantly. Sam turned and hurried out of the office, leaving Duncan, Pilar and Santana alone.
"Sam's right. This could be some outlaw that knows there's gold on the land, and wants it all to himself." Pilar said.
Santana snorted!
"Please! What are the chances of that? That and the 'phantom outlaw', would have to know that people were coming, in order to just be ready to pick them off!"
"Well maybe he saw them from a distance! We can't just assume anything." Pilar sighed.
Duncan shook his head.
"I'm with the lass here. None of this is a coincidence. Pilar, your own husband thought something was bloody shady from the beginning. And worse yet, Eve is alone with that son of Alistair's. I'm going to Salem."
"I thought you said Eve was coming back today?" Santana asked.
"I don't want Eve to be with that Crane fiend, not one more second than she has to be. You lasses are going to tell me that you don't believe Julian was in on this scam? To hire someone to pick people off, one by one...the man's dangerous!"
"I agree." Santana said. "And worse yet, it word gets out while Eve is on her way back here with him, she could be blamed as well."
"God's nightgown!" Duncan hissed. "I'll get my team ready. First I'd better tell Cruz."
Pilar threw up her hands! Great! She did not want her husband caught in the middle of any of this! She was just happy that he had had sense not to buy into this scam.
Duncan hurried from the telegraph office. Pilar looked at Santana.
"Did you have to urge him on like that?"
"I didn't urge anyone on! I'm concerned about Eve, unlike you, who sicced Eden on her mother. And Cruz will figure that out, sooner than you think. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm still closing up shop early. I want to find out just what's going on around here."
Pilar slowly walked out of the door, as Santana shooed her out and closed and locked the door behind her. It was then, that Eve's telegraph to Rachel, came through.
Julian was sitting up and awake, two hours later! He had been given morphine for the pain, and was feeling quite chipper. Eve, who had been filling Mickey and Maggie in on what happened, was shocked to realize that Jessica had been working there for them, at the Salem Inn. Worse yet, Maggie told her that Julian had met Jessica the night before.
Julian had a lot of explaining to do.
Eve marched back to the hospital, only to run into the Salem Sheriff, Roman Brady, walking out. He tipped his hat to her, and she smiled back out of politeness. She then hurried over to the curtain and pulled it back hard!
Julian was lying in bed, shirtless. There was a bandage over his shoulder. He smiled at her.
"Well hello. I thought you said you weren't leaving my side?"
"Save the charm!" Eve snapped, flinging his jacket at him. Julian raised a brow.
"I'm going to assume that your very poor bedside manner, stems from the stress of thinking that the only man that you ever really loved, was going to die."
"Wrong! First of all, why didn't you tell me that Jessica worked in the same hotel that we were staying in?"
Julian sighed.
"Eve...I just didn't want to upset you. I know that just hearing the names 'Jessica' and 'T.C' don't exactly bring out a happy response from you."
"You didn't want to upset me, hey? Where were you at dinner last night?"
"Where was I? I was out looking for Jessica."
Eve turned and looked around. She found a pitcher of water and picked it up. She then threw it in his face!
Julian coughed and sputtered!
"Wh...Eve, what in the living hell is wrong with you?!"
"I'll tell you what's wrong, Mister! I'm not a fool and I've figured everything out!"
Julian calmly wiped off his face with a small towel that was lying nearby.
"You have? Well do tell. Then, I'll tell you the truth."
"Ha! You wouldn't know the truth if it hit you in the face! You weren't at dinner last night, or in the hotel, or at breakfast this morning, because you spent the night with Jessica, didn't you?"
Julian just stared at her. He then began to slowly smile. Eve looked around for some more water, but seeing none, decided that slamming the pitcher over his head, would be good enough!
But Julian, seeing her intention, managed to wrestle the pitcher out of her hands, before she could do anymore damage!
"Eve, really! I'm injured! I was shot and you would maim me even more? I'm hurt."
"Good! I'm glad! It's what you would've deserved for lying to me! How long have you known that woman was here?"
"What? I didn't know until I saw Jessica behind the desk last night! Eve, I swear to you..."
"Oh please! Don't 'swear' anything to me! You were so anxious to come on this trip with me. Now I know why! You didn't even have the decency to meet me here to learn about your father's condition! But you couldn't, could you? You were with Jessica, James Stenbeck caught the two of you and shot you, didn't he?"
Julian could see that Eve really believed this theory. Suddenly, nothing about this situation seemed amusing anymore. Then again, once he realized that Jessica had not run off with T.C., then it had stopped being funny anyway.
"Eve," he said in a calm, deliberate tone of voice. "I saw Jessica behind the clerk's desk last night, while you were getting your things out of our carriage. She did not know anything about T.C. or his whereabouts."
Eve stared at him.
"What do you mean she didn't know?"
"Eve, honey, you said yourself that McKechnie and you just assumed that Jessica and T.C. ran off together, because they left on the same day. She did not know where he was, I could see that. I was not at dinner last night, because I was out trying to figure out where Jessica was staying. Maggie said that she had a husband. Thinking it was T.C., I went back out this morning, and managed to find out where she was staying. It was then that I discovered that she had run off with James Stenbeck. The man then shot me."
Eve didn't say a word, but turned her back to him. She didn't know what to make of any of this!
Eve then turned back around again.
"Why didn't you tell me this last night? And don't tell me you didn't want to upset me, because I don't believe you."
"It's true. Besides, even if T.C. did not leave with Jessica, he did leave. I didn't want you getting your hopes up, or worse yet, going off and trying to find him. I had to be sure that Jessica was not lying about T.C. being with her."
Eve said nothing again. Julian tilted his head.
"Do you believe me now? I told the Sheriff most of that...though I left out the T.C. running off part."
Eve slowly nodded.
"I suppose."
"Alright...then why do you still look so unsure?"
Eve slowly sat down in a chair.
"Why do you have a picture of me in your jacket there? Since I sent that picture to my mother, and I doubt she would've given it to you, why did you take it from her?"
Julian rubbed his forehead.
"I did steal it, yes."
"I knew it!" Eve snapped, jumping up. "When did you steal it?"
"Not after killing your mother, if that's what you're thinking." Julian said, eyeing her. "One day, when your mother was working in our house, she showed that picture to my mother. Later, when no one was looking, I took it from your mother's things and kept it for myself. I hated doing that to her, since she asked everyone high and low where it was."
"Why didn't you give it back?"
"Eve...I loved you even back then. I didn't think it was unreasonable to want a picture of my intended bride."
"You know, I'm going to let that lie slide, since that does seem like something you would do, for no good reason. Look, I sent a telegraph to your mother. I hated doing it, but she has a right to know. And we need to discuss your father's condition."
"Alright. But I want you to answer one question for me first?"
"That depends. What is it?"
"Your voice just sounded so emotional when you thought I had spent the night with Jessica? Why is that?"
Eve rubbed the side of her face.
"I don't care what you do."
"Now, you see, I think you do. I think you were jealous. Oh, Eve, I think it's just precious I mean the sight of your flinging water in my face...you just looked so furious and beautiful. Like I said, I think it was just precious."
"You would. Now..."
"Julian and Eve, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love..."
"Stop it, Julian!"
"Then comes marriage..."
"You are really getting on my nerves..."
"What is that last part Eve? Something about..."
"A baby carriage, okay? Do you have that out of your system now?" Eve asked, struggling to keep her patience.
Julian smiled and began humming, 'here comes the bride'. Eve shook her head.
"I can see you're feeling better. I'm going to send another telegram to your mother, alright?"
Eve got up, but Julian reached out for her hand.
"But you were worried, weren't you? You didn't want to see me die, did you, Eve?"
Eve found herself automatically shaking her head.
"No, Julian. I did not want to see you die." she said, slowly pulling her hand from his. She then pulled the curtain apart, closed it, and headed out of the hospital again. Julian smiled. He remembered how distraught Eve had looked, as her face hovered over his in the street. She had cared and she had been jealous! It was just so precious! Yes, by the time they returned to Harmony, Dr. Johnson would not give Duncan McKechnie a second look. He leaned back and closed his eyes. He was day-dreaming about their honeymoon night.
