Chapter 21 – The Town Visitors

"Jack, I made the coffee already and Clara just dropped off breakfast", Elizabeth called out over her shoulder as she set the food on the desk. After a fretful night of sleep, she was determined to start the day off right. I just have to have a positive attitude that everything will work out!

"Smells great", Jack said as he finished buttoning his jacket and walked out of his bedroom.

"So this is what it's going to be like one day? Me getting dressed, you preparing the table, having breakfast together. I like it", he added with a smile.

Jack walked up behind Elizabeth and placed his hands on her waist, turning her around in his arms. He moved his hand to her jaw. Taking his thumb, he ran it smoothly along her lips, contemplating how good it would feel to kiss her. He smiled as he lowered his lips to hers. The kiss started slowly, tenderly, until. . . .

"Constable Thornton." The harsh male voice called out. "Mounties are to avoid any unnecessary contact with prisoners. I shouldn't need to remind you of that."

The condescending sound carried across the room as Sergeant Johnson, accompanied by Constable Wilson, walked in the building and observed Elizabeth's lips pressed to Jack's.

"You don't need to remind me. And that was entirely necessary contact", Jack said as he moved away from Elizabeth and poured himself a cup of coffee.

Elizabeth tried to ignore Wilson and Johnson as they picked up some mugs and helped themselves to coffee while surveying the scene.

"Breakfast with the prisoner? Outside of her cell?" Sergeant Johnson inquired with raised eyebrows as he looked at the plates, silverware, and cloth napkins laid out on the desk.

"We do things differently here in Hope Valley", Jack answered casually as he set down his coffee cup on the desk and pulled out Elizabeth's chair for her.

"I got that impression when I found out the town constable had proposed marriage to the town thief." Sergeant Johnson responded.

"She is not the town thief!"

"I'm not a thief at all", Elizabeth cried out.

Jack looked at her reassuringly. "No, you're not."

"We've been talking to the townspeople. Miss Thatcher is quite popular", Constable Wilson remarked as he picked up a piece of bacon from Elizabeth's plate and popped it into his mouth.

"Her students and their parents think very highly of her." Jack spoke up as he glared at the Mountie. "And keep your hands off her plate."

"We heard how one of her students gave her an expensive necklace he had withheld from an arsonist. I suppose Miss Thatcher's used to the criminal element. But her students' affection is not the kind of popularity I'm talking about."

"Just what is that supposed to mean?" Jack asked sternly.

"Pretty young thing comes to town and before long lots of men are interested in her. From what we heard, she was entertaining plenty of them at a miners' dance, and then she had quite a few men bidding on her at some sort of . . .what was it?"

"Cake auction", Wilson chimed in.

"Yes, a cake auction", Johnson said with a smile.

"They weren't bidding on her, they were bidding on her cake", Jack said coldly.

"From what we've heard of her baking, they were most certainly not bidding on her cake. And don't think we didn't hear about how you used your position as a Mountie to keep some of the men from bidding."

"Don't forget all the sewing she did", Wilson chimed in again.

"Aaah, yes. She made sure that she met every single man in town by offering her sewing services. Quite a lucrative business apparently. And a smart move on her part. Getting to know details about each miner."

"It wasn't like that", Jack said through gritted teeth.

"And she talked a lonely widower into giving her all of his deceased wife's very expensive evening gowns."

"It wasn't like that!" Elizabeth exclaimed.

"Not to mention that she managed to somehow get the town's new, and very wealthy I might add, Mountie to fall in love with her", Constable Wilson added.

My goodness, I sound downright dreadful!, Elizabeth thought in shock. Why in the world did Jack ever propose to me? Even I wouldn't propose to me!

"Seems awfully similar to the incidents we've been hearing about going on in Hamilton, Ottawa, Calgary. An attractive young woman wooing men, conning them out of their money", Sergeant Johnson said with a nod towards Elizabeth.

"Jack, maybe I should just go to Ottawa and then the other cities and answer to a judge. We can talk to some of the victims and straighten things out. " Elizabeth said as she and Jack sat alone in the jail that evening.

"No. It's not a good idea. Some of the victims barely saw you. I mean her. She conned some of the men with elaborate deceptions. But other incidents were quick pick-pockets, stealing from desks, cash registers. Stuff like that. There's too much of a risk of you being identified as her by those victims that didn't get a good enough look."

"Are you sure?"

"If we go to the city, you'll be locked up pending trial. With potentially violent criminals. At least here I know you're safe. I doubt the judge there will give you bail considering the seriousness of the offenses and the number of cities you've been able to easily travel to and commit crimes."

"I mean she's, she's been able to easily travel to", Jack said quickly when he saw the look on Elizabeth's face.

"Jack . . . you do believe me, right? You know I didn't do any of those things?"

"Of course! She just seems a lot like you in appearance. That's all. Hey . . don't look like that", Jack said when Elizabeth's face fell in sadness and worry.

"I love you. I know you didn't do those things."

"You had doubts about me before. With that stupid goat Sandy and wondering if you knew me as well as you thought."

"That was before. When I was an idiot and jealous. Now I'm smarter and not jealous, and you're my fiancée, jellybean", Jack said trying to coax a smile out of Elizabeth.

That night, Elizabeth fell asleep thinking about Sergeant Johnson's words from the previous night. Jack was going to ruin his career over her.

The second night in the jail cell had been no better than the first. Abigail had brought her a better pillow and blanket, but they had done little to relieve Elizabeth's worries about her future. She had woken up feeling anxious after having strange dreams about being imprisoned. As a poor girl in Bastille during the French revolution. A Mississippi belle disguised as a confederate soldier held in a American Union prison. A lieutenant in the Union army dying of dysentery in a confederate prison.

For goodness sakes! she thought in exasperation as she got up and moved about her cell. I am not going to prison.

She saw that Jack had left her a pitcher of water, a wash bowl, and a towel, and she realized that she desperately wanted a real bath. She poured the water into the bowl, and then splashed it on her face. I am not going to prison!

Hours later, Elizabeth's afternoon nap, which was brought on by boredom and a lack of sleep the prior night, was interrupted by the return of the men from their afternoon rounds.

Wilson and Johnson, determined not to leave Hope Valley without Elizabeth, had been occupying their time interviewing townspeople, lumberjacks, and settlers, and accompanying Jack on his rounds.

"She was in Hamilton at the same time as the robberies", Wilson remarked as they walked in and took off their hats

"Yes, but she was with me. I think I'm observant enough to have noticed if she was lifting money from someone's safe", Jack said dryly as he put his weapon away in his desk drawer.

"You weren't with her the entire time. Even you admitted that she was gone for several hours one day."

"She was at the train station seeing her sister off!"

"So she said. And what about Calgary?"

"I've never even been to Calgary! Except one week last year when I went to visit my cousins", Elizabeth called out as she sat up from the cot.

"And that just so happens to be when the larcenies occurred. We already checked on the dates", Sergeant Johnson responded snidely.

"Let's face it, Miss Thatcher. You've conned your last innocent victim out of money. You may have Constable Thornton fooled, but that's his fault. He's been warned. If he wants to continue your arrangement despite knowing your devious ways, he's got no one but himself to blame. Personally, I would have washed my hands of the likes of you long ago."

"Bite your tongue. I don't take kindly to you speaking poorly about Elizabeth". The unmistakable country drawl came from the doorway entrance.

The loud voice caused the men to turn around in surprise and look at the tall muscular man in a cowboy hat who had walked in.

"Blackthorn?" Jack asked, not believing his eyes.

"Clint?! What are you doing here?" Elizabeth said in shock as she stood up from her cot and hurried to the bars of her cell.

"I came to see for myself if rich boy really arrested you. Now I'm not saying I understand the ways of Mounties or city boys, but arresting your fiancée and throwing her in a cell don't seem right to me".

"How did you even know about this?", Elizabeth asked, still in shock at seeing her childhood friend standing in the jailhouse.

"Suzanne Gowen sent me a telegram. I was on my way to start the new rodeo circuit and thought I'd swing by here. I brought some money to try to bail you out."

"NO!", said Jack and Elizabeth in unison.

"You don't want to be bailed out?" he looked surprised.

"It's better if I stay here.", Elizabeth responded plainly.

"Mr. Blackthorn, I believe we heard your name mentioned when we were investigating and talking to people here in Hope Valley. You are . . .?" Constable Wilson asked.

"Her fiancé''"

"EX fiancé, and barely even that", Jack said with a scowl.

"My, my. Two fiancé's, Miss Thatcher. Why am I not surprised." Sergeant Johnson said with a snicker.

"Mr. Blackthorn, you might just be the person we need to talk to about the prisoner's past. I assume you know her well."

"Like two calves sharing a stall. We even had a kid together", Clint replied with an easy grin.

"A goat. He meant a goat", Jack said with a frown and shake of his head. He was not finding humor in Clint's statement.

"I have to ask. Did she ever steal anything from you?" Constable Wilson took out his notepad and nodded at Clint to take a seat at the desk.

"Just my heart. And I got it back. A little bruised. But the better for it. . . You sure are looking pretty, Elizabeth. Even behind bars", Clint said as he gave Elizabeth an appraising look. When he whistled and gave her a smile, she couldn't help but smile back at him even as she rolled her eyes at his theatrics.

"Thank you, Clint. That's very sweet of you to say. You are obviously much more of a gentleman than these two brutes."

"If you men don't mind, I'd like a word alone with Elizabeth. Can you let me in her cell?"

Jack watched as Clint and Elizabeth sat close on the cot, their knees almost touching as they spoke in hushed voices, except for an occasional laugh from one of them.

For once, Jack couldn't be angry at Clint. The cowboy certainly wasn't intimidated by the other Mounties and his support of Elizabeth seemed to lift her spirits.

After ten minutes, Clint stood up from the cot and hugged Elizabeth.

"Mounties, I'll be happy to talk to you but I'd like to have a word with Jack first. Come on, Jack. Walk me to the livery. We can talk about horses and such", Clint said as he left Elizabeth's cell.

"Listen, Jack. I told you before that if you hurt her, and she wanted me to come back to mess you up, I would. She seems to think you're helping her. I guess keeping her locked up keeps those other Mounties from taking her away. Elizabeth loves you. Although I can't reckon I know why. But we won't argue about that now. Importantly, she trusts you, so I won't get in the way. But you need to be honest with me. Is she in real trouble? How bad is it?" Clint asked once they were outside.

As they continued walking to the livery, Jack filled Clint in on what was happening, including that one of the victims, a wealthy businessman in his sixties who had recently taken a large sum of money out of his bank account, had just died two days ago. He hadn't told Elizabeth yet, but she was going to be charged with murder.

"If you want, I can break her out of jail tonight and the two of us can disappear for a while", Clint offered.

Jack chuckled. He didn't doubt for a minute that the theatrical cowboy would actually do it. Maybe I should take him up on it, he thought for a second before banishing the idea from his mind.

Elizabeth closed her book and tossed it on the cot next to her, where it landed on the pile of papers she had finished grading. After several days of jail, Elizabeth was growing restless.

"I need to get back to teaching. The mothers are depending on me."

Jack looked up from the paperwork on his desk. He had spent most of the day outside, covering his usual rounds while waiting to hear back about some telegrams he had sent. He could imagine that Elizabeth was tired of the four walls of the jail.

"I'm not so sure that the mothers want you around their children right now."

"For goodness sakes, I'm not accused of trying to kill a child. Just a rich old man. And his brother. Besides, give the mothers one more day with their kids and they'll be trying to kill them.

Jack chuckled. "You'll probably right. Let me see what I can do tomorrow." Returning his eyes to the papers on his desk, he picked up his pen and continued to scribble notes to himself.

"Jack?"

"Yeah?", he said looking up again.

"I'm in real trouble aren't I?"

Setting down his pen, Jack stood up and walked across the room and entered the cell through the opened door. "I'm not going to lie to you. There are a lot of victims and they're describing someone who looks like you. And between the three cities she's committed crimes in, it's hard to know what step to take next. I gave Tim a drawing of you and a photo, the one of you and your students. He's showing them to the theft victims.

Elizabeth was quiet for a moment as she looked up at Jack.

"I love you, Jack. If I didn't love you before, which I did, I would love you now. I'm not sure how I got lucky enough to get you."

"Well, you are a pretty good kisser", he responded with a smile as he held out his arms to her. "Come here".

Elizabeth stood up from the cot and walked into Jack's arms.

His warm strong hug was interrupted too soon.

"Ahem. Sorry to interrupt, Constable."

Elizabeth and Jack jumped apart at the sound of Ned Yost's voice. He looked uncomfortable as he walked across the room and handed Jack some envelopes. "Three telegrams came in for you. I thought you'd want them right away."

"Thank you, Ned."

He acts like I'm going to pounce on him, rummage through his pockets looking for money, and then leave him to die on the floor! Elizabeth thought in disgust as she saw the apprehensive look Ned gave her before scurrying out the door.

Jack pulled the slip of paper out of the top envelope in his hand.

"It's from Tim. So far two people have identified you as the culprit, another person said he couldn't be sure, and one victim said the real culprit was . . . prettier."

"For Pete's sake. Are they all blind?!" Elizabeth asked in disgust.

"What's in the next one?" she asked nodding to the remaining envelopes in Jack's hand as he pulled out another slip of paper.

"It's from some Mounties in Calgary I wired. Friends of mine. They'll keep their eyes open and see what they can find out, but the police are investigating not the Mounties."

Elizabeth gave a deep sigh and watched as Jack read the final telegram.

"Oh no. This can't be happening," he said in disbelief as he slumped down onto the edge of the cot.

"What is it? What's wrong?", Elizabeth asked anxiously.

Jack looked at the telegram again and let out a deep sigh before looking at Elizabeth. "Not good."

Finally, he gave her a weak smile. "My folks will be here tomorrow. They want to congratulate us in person on our engagement and my mom wants to see about building a school here."

"But I'm in jail!", Elizabeth wailed in horror.

I can handle this, Elizabeth decided as she lay on the cot thinking about meeting her future in-laws the next day.

We got along better the last time I was in Hamilton for the Regal Ball. I just have to keep them from talking to anyone in town. They can't hear about the cake auction . . . or the sewing . . . or my private dance lessons with Tim Smyth.

Or about how Jack's company gave me the scholarship – they'll think I only like him for his money.

I need to keep them away from Clint.

I definitely have to keep them away from Johnson and Wilson.

And somehow I have to keep them from noticing that I'm behind bars!

This was most definitely not how she imagined her engagement.

Up next: Chapter 22