Things began to get worse in Harmony, as word began to spread about the trouble out West.
Ms. Kitty, a.k.a. Katherine Barrett, stood behind the bar with her barkeep, Jake McKinnon.
"I don't like the feel of this crowd." she muttered to him. Jake was wiping out a glass.
"You can't blame people, Ms. Kitty. Everyone that went out West, were these people's neighbors, friends and family. If what Grace Bennett said in her telegram was true, then a heck of a lot of people have been scammed...and are dead to boot."
Katherine said nothing to that. How could you argue with that logic? That and she knew how vile Alistair could be. She had no doubts whatsoever that Alistair had done just what the people thought he had done.
No, what bothered her was the mention of Rachel. Yes, her sister and her were estranged and probably always would be, But Katherine knew there was no way that Rachel had known about this, or had been in on it. No way. And she prayed Julian was innocent as well.
"Hangin' is too good for him!" someone shouted.
"But it will do just as well." Caleb Snyder announced. There was a loud chorus of whoops.
Meanwhile, Pilar and Santana ran after Cruz, who was headed to the saloon. Pilar grabbed her husband's arm.
"What are you going to do?" she asked, her voice rife with desperation.
"I plan to try to calm people down. Look, honey, I know it looks bad that Alistair had a stroke and all, but we can't just leave this unanswered."
"You can hear those men from here!" Pilar squeaked. "There is no calming them down."
"I think Cruz is right." Santana said, putting in her unwanted two cents...yet again! Pilar took a deep breath and turned to her.
"Why am I not surprised?"
But Santana ignored her cousin and looked at Cruz.
"Of course this thing with Alistair and the stroke is terrible. But what are the people in this town supposed to do? Just wait for him to get well, so they can then finally ask where their money, and their loved ones are? No, Alistair needs to answer for it. Maybe Rachel might be able to get the townspeople's money back."
Cruz nodded, then looked at his displeased wife.
"Honey, these are our neighbors and friends. The calm voice of reason will prevail here, you'll see." he said, touching her cheek. Santana nodded approvingly, as Cruz headed into the saloon. As soon as Cruz walked up the steps, and into Ms. Kitty Cat's, Pilar took her purse and began beating on Santana so furiously, that dust kicked up!
Santana coughed, taken aback by the sudden burst of violence coming from her cousin. The purse blows hurt too!
"Stop it!" Santana squealed. Pilar then did stop abruptly. She pointed at her.
"You know that these people are out for blood! Hal Munson has been left here to watch the town, but Sam had to take young Jack Snyder with him. If something happens, Rachel will get caught up in it and you know that. Hal won't be able to stop them alone!"
"So? She should explain herself. Pilar, I almost bought some land myself! I could've very well ended up dead too!"
"We don't know that anyone is really dead." Pilar countered. Santana scoffed.
"Where is David Hastings and his young son, John?"
"Who?" Pilar asked, genuinely confused.
"Oh you know them! His wife died of the fever, some years back, and ever since then, no comb has touched any part of his son's hair!"
"Oh," Pilar said, realization dawning on her, "that family. Who knows? I mean they were always a quiet bunch."
"They were the first to leave."
"Well, maybe they decided to stay out West, Santana. Why would they have come back? They had nothing here." Pilar argued stubbornly.
"Okay, what about Tonio Reyes?"
"Who cares! No one liked him anyway!" Pilar sniffed.
"And Samantha Markham? Now she was sort of well off anyway, so she had good reason to come back here." Santana countered.
"I don't..."
"You don't know. Well we do know that blood was found on Rose D'Angelo's purse. And no woman goes anywhere without her purse, unless something unpleasant happened. The Cranes have too much to answer for, for everyone to just be quiet. That's why Duncan is on his way to Salem now."
Pilar suspected that Duncan was really on his way to Salem, to keep Eve Johnson out of Julian Crane's clutches, but she held her tongue. She turned away from her loathsome cousin, and watched the saloon. Her stomach just dropped whenever she heard a loud, male voice. She didn't have time to worry about it though. Duncan had dropped Bonnie off with her and Cruz. She needed to get back to her now.
Cruz put his hands up to calm the crowd.
"Look, all I'm saying is that we go over there and try to have a calm, peaceful discussion with Mrs. Crane."
"I was sweet on Ms. Rose!" Dusty Donovan snapped. "So if Crane killed her, there's not going to be a damned bit of calm!"
Katherine rolled her eyes! She had liked Rose, and knew that the poor girl had went out West to bring back what she thought was her fortune, for her and Dusty. Dusty kept claiming that he wanted to marry her, but didn't think he could afford to take care of her. Katherine had thought that was a load of something, but never told Rose. Now she wished she had. Then maybe the poor girl would've thought twice before being so foolhardy.
"Look, Castillo, we like you. But you didn't get burned here. Now stroke or not, old man Crane is going to give us back our money, or answer to OUR law, for being the murdering snake he is!"
"He can't talk, men!" Cruz yelled, now fearing that Pilar was right. The crowd was getting out of control now! Katherine could sense it too, and slipped out of the back. She had to warn Rachel and help her, and little Fox, get away.
Katherine practically shoved her way past the snotty butler, and into her sister's home. Rachel looked as if she had a headache.
"I've had all of the unwanted visits I am going to endure from you! Now, I have to help feed Alistair, so if you don't mind..."
"There is trouble, Rachel!" Katherine snapped. "Alistair has practically defrauded the town!"
"Shut up! How dare you come here twice in one day and speak of my husband so vilely! Just go back to your saloon!"
"Rachel, there are men headed this way! If they can't get their money back from Alistair, they're going to make you give it back to them! And worse yet, apparently, Alistair hired some sort of sniper to kill everyone that arrived on the land! There's no gold, Rachel, don't you understand that?! You have to get Fox and get out of here!"
Henry, the butler, hurried to window, then looked at Rachel fearfully.
"There's a crowd of men coming! And some have torches!"
"Why would anyone have torches in the middle of the day?" Rachel asked. Katherine realized that it would be up to her to get Fox out of here! She turned and hurried for the stairs.
But neither Rachel or Henry noticed. Rachel looked at Henry.
"Bring me the shotgun." she instructed him.
Katherine found Fox sitting on the floor of his room, surrounded by toys. He clapped his hands together when he saw her. Katherine could not help but smile. It was almost as if the child knew she was important to his life.
She bent down and picked him up. He clung to the red boa, draped around her neck.
"We're just going to go somewhere safe now, honey, okay?" she whispered to him. She then started to head down the stairs, when she heard someone calling out, 'Baaaaa'. Katherine frowned and carried Fox over to the door that this noise was coming from. She then reached down and turned the doorknob.
Alistair was now shouting, 'Baaaaa', but did not turn his head or body, in anyway to acknowledge that Katherine, or Fox, were there.
Fox clapped his hands and grinned! Katherine smiled down at him. She felt the same way. Her eyes then fell upon a picture of her sister in the room. Rachel was on her own. There was no time to convince her that something bad was going to happen.
Kim Hughes, who ran the telegraph station, ran into Santana, walking from the saloon.
"Tell me you weren't in the saloon? I thought you were sick?"
"I...uh..."
Kim flapped a piece of paper in front of her.
"You get this over to Rachel Crane, right away! Because of your insolence, precious time has been wasted! Go, quick, before I fire you on the spot!"
Santana took the telegram and pretended to run aways. But as soon as she got out of Kim's line of vision, she ripped open the telegram herself. It was from Dr. Johnson.
Santana's eyes widened! Good God! Julian had been shot by James Stenbeck! But it looked as if he were recovering, though they would not be home today...
But Santana saw something else. Alistair's prognosis. Good Lord! The man would never get better! She began to run. Maybe Pilar had been right! Somehow, it just didn't seem right that all of these men planned to do in a man that could not defend himself.
SALEM
Julian was back in his room at the Salem Inn by that afternoon. There really was no need for an extended hospital stay, though Dr. Tom Horton had given him a nice supply of morphine, for his pain.
He had the adjoining door to Eve room open, and watched as she packed her things in a suitcase. Why she was doing this now, puzzled him, since they would not be leaving until tomorrow. He swallowed his hurt that she would be so anxious to get away from him, that she was packing early.
Then again, Julian told himself that he had to be realistic when it came to wooing Eve.
"Eve?" he called out. Eve glanced over at him, after packing something frilly. She walked over to the doorway and stood in it.
"Yes?" she asked. "Are you up to talking about your father now?"
Julian frowned. In all of the chaos, he had almost forgotten about his father. That seemed unfathomable.
"Uh, yes of course. What did you learn? How long will it be until he recovers."
Eve tentatively walked into Julian's room. She pulled up a chair and sat in it.
"You could sit on the bed." Julian suggested.
"The chair is fine, thanks. Listen, your father is not going to get any better."
Julian stared at Eve blankly.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, just what I said. He's not going to get any better. Dr. Horton..."
"Which one?"
"The older one. Dr. Tom Horton."
"Oh."
"Anyway, his diagnosis is something I suspected, but couldn't prove. Your father has something called, Encephalalitus Letharga."
"What in God's name is that? Are you telling me that my father didn't have a stroke?"
"Yes, Julian, that is what I'm telling you. He has a disease where he is mentally asleep, but his eyes are wide open. It's a sleeping sickness, if you will. There is no known cure."
Julian eyed her.
"Well, I'll find one then. And I'll get a third opinion!"
Eve shrugged.
"That's up to you."
"Eve, it's not that I don't believe you, or Dr. Horton..."
Eve began to massage her temples. She didn't give a damn about Alistair Crane, and just the little effort that she had had to put forth, to get this diagnosis had been an effort. She was more concerned about whether to tell Duncan about seeing Jessica here? Or worse yet, about what that James Stenbeck fiend had told her about Bonnie? Maybe she should send Duncan a telegram as well, warning him to keep any eye on Bonnie?
She realized that Julian was still talking about his damnable father, and apologizing.
"Julian, do whatever you wish. He is your father." was all she said. Eve then turned and went back into her room. She began to pack again.
Julian managed to get up from the bed and walk to the doorway. He stood watching her.
"Why do I get the feeling that we've taken ten steps back, since I was in the hospital?"
Eve shrugged again, not looking at him.
"What steps, Julian? We're nothing to each other."
Julian took a few steps into the room.
"That's not true."
Eve looked up.
"It is true."
"Not to me. You're something to me."
Eve stopped packing and focused in on him.
"I want you to stop saying that. I want you to stop thinking it. The only man that I would ever consider marrying is Duncan McKechnie, alright? He is kind and handsome and he would never embarrass me the way you did your late wife."
Julian sighed and walked all the way over to her.
"I'm kind and handsome too. You just don't want to admit that you think I am. And I didn't set out to embarrass Ivy, if you must know."
"It's none of my business, Julian. I'm just telling you that I would never consider marrying a man that spent his time at Ms. Kitty's."
"I saw Duncan walk Ms. Kitty home, the night my father had his...you saw it too."
"He was just being kind. Duncan doesn't ever visit the place."
Julian decided to ignore Eve's naivet▌ on that matter.
"I tried to love Ivy, but from the very beginning, we were doomed. I did not love her...but I could've tried. Love would've come later but..." Julian looked away. Eve was now suddenly curious.
"But what?" she asked, despite herself. Julian looked at her again.
"Ivy was not a virgin when she came to me on our wedding night."
Eve's mouth dropped open. Good God! Ivy had been with someone BEFORE her marriage to Julian? Lord!
Eve was speechless. Julian could see that she was speechless indeed.
"I didn't mean to tell you something so personal, it's just that I want you to understand why I couldn't make that marriage work. I confronted Ivy about it, and she threw it in my face. She also made it clear that not only had she been with another man, but that she loved him still. It's someone in Harmony, probably someone we both know. She refused to name him."
Eve shook her head. She couldn't believe this! She found her hand touching Julian's arm, inadvertently.
"I'm sorry. I mean...I had no idea...how could I have. Oh, Julian!" she whispered, wondering who this other man was.
"Forget it. I have Fox and he, and you, are what matters. I don't want you to continue to think that I killed your mother. I don't want you to think that my father had anything to do with it either. I want you to let me see the letter your mother sent to you."
Eve seemed to snap back into her previous protective shell. She shook her head.
"No."
"Eve, maybe there's something in it..."
"No! Look, I'm going to see if Maggie needs any help with dinner or something. You should rest."
"Eve?"
"What?"
"Let me help you. If it turns out that my father, or I, had anything to do with it, then I will never bother you again. Hell, I'll PAY for your wedding to Duncan...of course, he'd have to ask you first, but if that unfortunate day ever occurred, yes, I will pay for your wedding."
"That's all? You would really pay for Duncan's and my wedding?" she asked, a little disbelieving.
"Yes."
Eve folded her arms.
"If your father killed my mother, then I'll want to see justice prevail."
"If his condition is permanent, don't you think that's justice enough?" he asked quietly. Eve didn't answer, but nodded.
"Alright. Alright, you have a deal." Eve said, then closed her suitcase. She started to walk towards her own bedroom door, when she heard her suitcase open again. She turned back around. Julian had pulled out a frilly looking nightgown! Eve gasped! THIS is one reason why they would never be together!
"How dare you!" Eve snapped, hurrying back over and snatching the garment. Julian smiled.
"I do plan to burn that on our wedding night."
"There won't be one."
"You know, you didn't ask me what I get out of this."
Eve shook her head slightly.
"I don't understand."
"I mean, if I find that my father had a hand in your father's murder, I pay for yours and Duncan's wedding...if he asks you." Eve sighed. This was the second time he had enunciated the word 'if'.
"Yes, I heard you."
"Well, you're not even curious as to what I get? If you're wrong?"
"I won't be."
"You're sure about that?"
"Julian, my mother didn't have an enemy in the world! It was your father...he probably hired someone to make it look like she hung herself! You're not going to find anyone else responsible."
"But if I do?"
Somehow, the very idea of that bothered her. She had spent all of this time now, convinced it was the Cranes. Who else could it have been? Had she treated the real killer?
Eve sighed. 'The Real Killer'! The real killer was Alistair Crane or one of his cronies! She had secretly already decided that maybe Julian didn't have a hand in it.
But she wasn't about to tell him that.
"Alright, Julian. If you find out that someone else killed my mother, what do you want from me?"
"Well, your hand in marriage my darling. And no fighting the idea of it, or me."
Eve didn't care for that second part. She began to shake her head.
"I don't know..."
"Eve, don't you want to be sure? Do you want to go through the rest of your life unsure of how your mother's life ended? I have the resources to find out things...to make people talk. It will give your mind a rest..."
Eve turned away from him. A day never went by when she didn't wonder about it. Still...marrying Julian, actually considering it, was just too high a price to pay...then again, she could just lie and pretend to go along with it. This was the reason she agreed to take this initial trip with Julian in the first place. To learn something about her mother's death...finally.
Eve turned back around.
"Okay, Julian. You have a deal." she said, extending her hand. Julian looked at her hand, then at her, as if she were crazy!
"I was thinking we could seal our deal with a kiss."
"I don't think..."
"Actually, I wasn't asking." Julian said, reaching out before she could move out of his reach, and pulling her to him.
And then, Julian did something a bit odd. He did not kiss her right away. He touched his tongue to her lips a first, then slid between her barely parted ones. Eve's body felt rigid, as if she were readying herself to resist him.
But as his lips encountered her warm ones, Julian was not prepared for the enormity of her response to him. Her arms went around him and pulled him to her! His wound began to ache, but Julian ignored the pain as her tongue plunged boldly into his mouth, probing, as if it longed to stay there.
Suddenly, Eve lurched back and out of his arms! And once again, she did not wipe her lips, as if she were revolted. She just stared at him, as if she couldn't believe what she had just done. Julian smiled.
"I do believe we have a deal, Dr. Johnson."
