Ethan didn't find any sign of Brant or his gang when he went out riding. The rain had stopped and the sun poked out of moving clouds. Tomorrow morning might be fit for leaving the town but he didn't look forward to it.

He didn't want to take Amelia to the judge waiting for the accused killer of one of Brock's hired guns. She'd confessed to shooting him inside the church but he knew there was more to what happened. Only she didn't tell him and Kristin factored into it somehow…but she was back in Silver Crest.

A deer scampered by him and though he loved venison, he didn't feel tempted to kill it. They didn't have the resources to fix it but he'd have to look through the provisions to see if any were fit to pack for travel.

He just wished he'd had a plan of action already but he knew that the task against him was among the most formidable he'd ever faced. He had to find a way to stop Amelia from winding up on the end of a hangman's noose. He'd been in that situation and barely escaped with his life, at least once because of the woman waiting for him back at the abandoned hotel.

She'd saved his life more than once and it'd taken a severe toll on her which led her to leave him for months. She'd been on her way back, he knew it but then life had taken a turn that no one could have anticipated.

He chirped to his horse and turned around to head on back. He hitched the horse up next to hers in the back shelter and went inside. She stood in the kitchen cooking some of the rabbit he'd caught that morning.

"There's more coffee over there."

He went and poured himself a cup.

"You are doing okay?"

She nodded.

"I'm ready to ride if that's what you mean and it's time for us to go Ethan."

He hedged.

"Tomorrow morning will be early enough."

"Okay…I'll see if I can pack some food up for us then."

"You can do that in the morning," he said, "I just want tonight to be tonight to be nice and peaceful. It might be the last night for a while."

She bit her lip.

"What does that mean Ethan? Does it mean we'll get back together? I don't know if I can do that if that's what you want."

He moved closer to her and took her hands in his own squeezing them.

"I just missed you so much and I know you missed me," he said, "and I know you were coming back."

She licked her lips.

"Yes I was Ethan but I never made it."

"It didn't stop us from finding each other again."

She paused and looked into his face, feeling so conflicted. He always made things sound much easier involving the two of them than they often were in reality.

"I know but so much has happened…"

He moved in with his mouth before she could finish and kissed her softly caressing her lips with his own. His beard tickling her skin in the way she couldn't ever forget even when they'd been far apart. He placed his hand on her hips and drew her even closer as he tasted her mouth, the one he'd missed so much. She melted against him at first and returned his passion with her own, pent up inside for all those months.

But then he felt her body tense and she pushed him away gently at first.

"No Ethan…I can't."

He held on at first and looked at her face, her eyes not able to meet his own.

"Amelia…why…?"

Now she pushed harder and he let her go. She looked upset but he didn't think it was at him.

"Ethan I'm a wanted criminal…a fugitive who will probably get hung," she said, "I killed Reade and I can't take it back…"

"I know Amelia but that doesn't mean…"'

"I wouldn't take it back Ethan."

The vehemence in her voice did surprise him but it paled in comparison to that in her eyes.

"That's okay Amelia…He was the worst kind of outlaw, one who hides behind the law."

She rubbed her forehead.

"I don't want to talk about it Ethan," she said, "I just wasn't going to let him hurt someone else."

He cupped her face with his palm and tilted it up so she'd look at him.

"Like you?"

She frowned then and shook her head.

"I just did it to save Kristin from him," she said, "and now I'll have to pay for that crime."

He sighed.

"Not if you explain it to the judge…"

She looked doubtful.

"Justifiable murder…revenge I don't know which one will prevail and the second would get me hung the fastest."

Ethan knew that to be true because he knew Brock held a lot of influence in the region and he might put on a case that Reade was innocent, a lawman out to stop a riot in the middle of town. But if other witnesses stepped forward…then maybe they could get the judge to remember that defense of others allowed people to kill within the law.

"That's not going to happen Amelia. I won't let it."

"You can't stop it Ethan," she said, "I just wish I didn't have to go even though I know I have to do it. I can't live like a fugitive."

He paused.

"We'll figure out something. We still have time."

Amelia realized that but she knew that time kept moving forward and pretty quickly enough it would run out.

"Dakota you can't do this…"

Claire followed him but she knew it to be futile. Once the deputy made up his mind there was no stopping him. Nellie followed the both of them to go spy on the meeting Brock held with his lawmen. But they were making too much noise as they crept to the other side of the building.

"So you think that we came on too hard?"

That sounded a lot like Brock, Claire noticed, but what were they talking about now? The crackdown in the square that led to Reade's death?

Was it something else?"

"Claire let me handle this…"

She felt irritation fill her.

"Dakota be quiet, I can't make out what they're saying when you're all bossy."

That made him quiet down and she moved closer until she was beneath the window but it was hard not to step on dry brush causing it to crackle. Each time she put her foot down it had to be done carefully and when Dakota cracked a small twig, she just shot a look at him. Nellie had no problems and Claire had the feeling she'd done this before in her investigations.

Then she heard Brock's voice again.

"The investors want more money and this town's stripped down to nothing even with all that we put into it. We need a way to pay off the debt and the mines are the best way."

Another voice objected.

"But the mines were closed because they made people sick working there."

"We'll just reopen them then," Brock said, "The men were weak perhaps but if we make it clear to them that they'll lose everything if they don't go back, they'll get stronger."

Claire looked at Nellie and she'd gotten down every word in her scribbles.

"But if it's the mine that made them sick…"

Brock interrupted.

"We don't know that for sure," he said, "It could have been something else besides anything inside it."

Claire knew that not to be true. She suspected the cause had been the same as back in Paradise but they needed someone like a doctor to check it and those who worked there. Like that out of town doctor had done before he'd been beaten to death for his troubles.

"It's got to be the mine," another man said, "No one else got sick."

Some more men talking over each other until Brock hushed them.

"Look, Carlton here said he'll send out some of his lawmen out to tell the men to go back into the mine starting next week."

Claire was horrified. She turned to Dakota.

"Isn't that against the law for him to do?"

Dakota didn't know for sure. He hadn't been on this side of the law for very long but it didn't seem right to him.

"Ethan would probably know."

Claire sighed.

"But he's not here…we don't know where he is or if he found Amelia yet."

Nellie spoke up in a whisper.

"They'll be coming out soon," she said, "We'd better get out of here so they don't know we've been here."

Claire nodded and started creeping out of the brush back to the side of the building just as Carlton and a couple of his lawmen ran into them.

"Hey lady what are you doing here?"'

Claire smiled at him.

"I'm looking for some blackberries…like the ones over there…"

She pointed her finger.

"For what…?"

"To make into a pie of course," she said, "I could give you one if you'd like to try it."

He just looked at her, not friendly.

"No...You just need to move away from here," he said, "This isn't where you should be."

Claire nodded and moved back to the others thinking that was close. They headed on back to meet with the wives of the miners to tell them what they'd just learned.

They needed to come up with a plan to put in action and they needed to do it fast.