Chapter Fifty-One

"A good decision is based on knowledge

and not on numbers."

~Plato

"Where are we going?" Elizabeth asked Jack, though she already had a pretty good idea of where he was leading her.

He glanced sideways and his dimples deepened as he smiled. "Hmmm, I don't know. I just thought we'd go for a stroll," he answered innocently.

Elizabeth flashed him a skeptical look. "I'm sure," she said with a laugh.

He looked back at the road ahead, still smiling and squeezed her hand tighter. They continued down the road out of town towards the woods, which had become their favorite spot when they took walks. "So, are you all ready for tomorrow?" he asked.

Elizabeth smiled wide. "Yes! I can't wait for our first day in the new school!"

Jack nodded. "Hmmm... so you won't miss the saloon and all those miners?" he teased.

Elizabeth laughed and looked at him. "I'll miss being close to the jailhouse and seeing you," she told him sincerely.

He met her gaze. "I think my daily rounds just might take me by the school," he told her. "And I can't neglect my rounds." He smiled and chuckled.

She shook her head and laughed. Jack looked back at the road and realized that they'd reach their favorite side trail. He pulled Elizabeth off to the left.

"Oh!" she exhaled with surprise at the sudden change in direction. "Where are you taking me, Constable Thornton?"

Jack looked at her and raised his eyebrows with exaggeration. He pulled her into his arms and looked into her eyes. "Do you still want to protest, Miss Thatcher?" he asked, emphasizing her formal name.

She looked up at him and shook her head once in reply. She smiled as she slid her arms around his neck. He pulled her closer and leaned in. Their lips touched but immediately parted as they were startled by the sound of loud voices on the main road. Jack pulled back and looked toward the road.

"I don't want to do this anymore," the first voice said emphatically.

"Oh, really? You certainly enjoyed taking my money up til now!" the second voice yelled.

Jack leaned further away from Elizabeth, though he kept his right hand on her shoulder. He craned his neck to see around the trees. Fortunately, the gibbous moon cast a warm glow on the road and he quickly discerned that it was Wiley, Gowen's assistant who Bill was investigating, and one of Elizabeth's students, James Fermont, arguing. Elizabeth, leaning towards Jack with her face just inches from his, reached the same conclusion, too, and gasped. Jack turned back to her and raised a finger to his lips, urging her to be silent. She pulled her head back and her eyebrows knitted into a frown. He took her hand in his and led her, crouching low, to a tree closer to the road, where they had a better vantage point to watch the exchange. The tree's low limbs hid their presence.

"I can't go to Hinton for you any more," James told Wiley.

"Why?" Wiley spat out.

"'Cause my Ma is getting upset that I'm coming home late all the time! Gabe says he ain't gonna cover for me no more! He says what you're having me do is illegal!" James countered.

"Wha..." Elizabeth began, but Jack quickly covered her mouth with his hand, silencing her. He shook his head empathically, urging her to remain silent. She flashed him an angry, confused look. He removed his hand and they both returned their attention to James and Wiley.

"Listen, boy," Wiley growled as he grabbed James' arm. "You'll be done when I tell you you're done! You got that?"

James looked at Wiley, fear filling his face. "Look, I can't!" he pleaded. "I ain't got any more excuses I can give my Ma for coming home so late! She's gonna find out what I'm doing!" He swallowed hard before adding, "And then she'll probably go to the constable."

Wiley's expression hardened and he shook James. "You better make sure that don't happen! You hear me?!"

James looked down at the road and nodded once.

Wiley shook his head and sneered at James. "Okay, run on home to your Mama, boy. Meet me here after school tomorrow. I'll have another delivery for you to make." Before he released the boy, he warned him, "And you better be here or I will find you. You don't wanna cross me, boy!"

James exhaled a shaky breath and hurried down the road toward the row houses.

From the cover of the tree, Jack watched Wiley head in the opposite direction, toward town. As Wiley passed out of sight, he looked back at Elizabeth, and was surprised to see that she was fuming. "What?" he asked.

She angrily pulled her hand from his. "How could you let him badger James like that?" she asked him, her voice sharp. "Why didn't you stop him, Jack? Why?!"

Jack nodded his head, acknowledging her concern. "Elizabeth..." he began, but she interrupted him.

"He was shaking him and threatening him, Jack! And you let him do it! Why?!" She was yelling now.

He reached out and pulled her hands into his before answering. "Elizabeth, trust me. If he had tried to hurt James..."

"He was hurting him!" she countered, trying unsuccessfully to pull her hands from his. "He was shaking him!"

"You have to trust me, Elizabeth! I know what I'm doing..."

She stopped him short, again. "I don't care if you know what you're doing! One of my students was being threatened, Jack!"

"Elizabeth," he pleaded. "It's police business. You need to trust me."

She's studied his face for a moment and inhaled deeply before replying, "You need to trust me. It may be police business, but James is my student. And if he's in danger... I mean that man was threatening him, Jack! He's going to hurt James! I know it! And you're the constable. You need to stop..."

"Bill is investigating Wiley," Jack broke in. "I had to find out what he was doing with James. I needed to hear what they were saying. If he had tried to hit him or hurt him, I would've stopped it, Elizabeth."

Elizabeth's expression softened a bit. "Bill's investigating him? Why?"

Jack exhaled, relieved that Elizabeth's anger was abating. "It turns out that Wiley has a rather complicated past and he's, obviously, causing problems here in Coal Valley."

"What kind of problems?" she asked. "I mean other than intimidating James."

"Big ones," he answered. "But we're close to catching him and locking him up for good."

"Oh my!" Elizabeth exclaimed. She paused for a moment, considering all that Jack had just told her, before asking, "How does sweet, little Coal Valley always seem to find itself in the clutches of some very unsavory characters?"

Jack chuckled at her observation. "I don't know. Just lucky, I guess. Come on," he directed as he tugged her hand.

"Where are we going?" she asked, following his lead back to the road.

"We need to catch up with James. I want to tell him not to go near Wiley, again. I want to be sure that he doesn't meet Wiley tomorrow after school," he explained. "He needs to stay as far away from him as he can now. I don't want him to be in any more danger than he already is."

Elizabeth pulled his hand, stopping him. He gave her a confused look. "Thank you for looking out for my students. And thanks for trusting me." She gave him a warm smile.

He leaned in and gave her a quick kiss. "Of course I trust you. I love you," he whispered and gave her a warm smile before pulling her down the road.

She smiled and followed him as they rushed down the road, searching for James.

A short while later, several people were congregated at the Fermonts' row house. Elizabeth and Jack had caught up with James and insisted they talk with him and his mother. James had begged them not to tell his mother, but his pleading was not successful. Jack wanted to talk with Gabe, as well. So, James' younger brother was sent to fetch Gabe and his mother, Cat Montgomery. The entire party had gathered in the living room.

"James, what on Earth were you thinking? Consorting with that criminal?" Doris Fermont implored her son, clearly very disturbed about this news.

"Ma, I didn't know he was a criminal!" James fired back. "He came up to Gabe and me a couple weeks back and told us he had some work for us. He said he'd pay us good money. And he did!"

"Then how is it that you ended up working for him but not Gabe?" Doris countered.

James's mouth opened and closed, but he didn't say anything. Gabe interjected, "I was too busy with school and helping at home."

Cat looked at him, an amused expression on her face. "Really?" she asked, skepticism in her voice.

Gabe looked at her and nodded his head. Cat shook her head, clearly not believing his excuse.

Doris looked from Cat back to Gabe. "That was a nice try, Gabe, but I believe James just wanted the money and didn't care what the job was." She flashed a pointed stare at her eldest son.

James withered under her scrutiny. "I was just trying to earn money for the family," he insisted.

Doris nodded. "Okay, so where's all the money? I haven't see a penny, yet!"

James looked down at his feet and shuffled them against the wood floor before finally mumbling, "Under the floor."

All eyes flew to James, including Jack's and Elizabeth's from where they stood near the dining table.

"Under the floor?!" Doris asked loudly.

James nodded without looking up.

"What floor?" Doris demanded.

James swallowed and answered, "There's a loose floor board under my bed." His eyes remained locked downward.

Doris pursed her lips and considered this for a moment before ordering, "Go get it."

James's eyes flew to meet his mother's, shock and anger mixing in his expression. She stared at him, unblinking. Finally, resigning himself, he headed up the stairs. Doris looked to Jack and shook her head. "I just don't understand him!"

"I think Wiley probably made it sound quite simple and innocent. And the money was appealing, I'm sure," Jack told her.

"Gabriel," Cat sought her son's attention. "What exactly was your role in all this? I understand you weren't working for Wiley, but were you helping James?"

Gabe looked at his mother and hesitated before answering. "Well, he asked me to tell his Ma he was with me if she asked me where he'd been. But she only asked me once!"

Cat nodded. "And you lied to her?"

Gabe exhaled and looked away before nodding.

"I see," Cat acknowledged. "There will be extra chores for you this week, young man."

Gabe's head swiveled to face her. "But I told him I wasn't gonna lie for him anymore! I told him he better quit working for Wiley because I thought that man was doing something illegal! I warned him!" he pleaded his case.

Cat shook her head. "I understand that. But, you shouldn't have lied to Mrs. Fermont. And you should've told either me, or her, or Mountie Jack if you thought Wiley was doing something illegal. Perhaps doing some extra chores..." She stopped short as another thought occurred to her. She turned to Jack. "Constable, could you use an able-bodied young man to help clean the jailhouse? Perhaps that would give him some time to consider making better choices."

Jack nodded. "I think that would be a fine idea," he agreed. "Perhaps later in the week. I'll get back with you, Cat, and we'll arrange that."

Cat nodded. "Thank you, Jack."

Gabe sighed and walked away, heading to the window, clearly displeased with the direction the conversation had taken.

"What are you going to do about that Mr. Wiley?" Doris asked Jack.

"Inspector Avery and I are working on bringing him to justice," he told her. Then, he glanced around the room. "I'm asking all of you to please keep this in confidence. We do not want Wiley to know he is being watched or that we suspect anything. So, it's crucial that you all keep this to yourself. Do you all understand?"

Cat, Doris, and Elizabeth nodded. James had come back downstairs as Jack was talking and nodded, as well. Gabe stood looking out the window, his back to everyone. "Gabe?" Jack called. Gabe nodded. "Sure," he mumbled without turning around.

James handed a sock filled with money to his mother. She opened the sock and pulled out the coins. She looked through the money before looking back at James. "This is a lot of money! How much?"

"Almost five dollars," he answered,

Her eyes widened. "Five dollars?!" she gasped. "What were you going to do with this money?"

"I don't know. I was holding on to it. Saving it, I guess. I kept thinking I should probably give it to you, but didn't know how I could tell you I'd gotten it. I tried to spend some of it, but I just couldn't," he explained, shrugging his shoulders.

Doris nodded. "Well, I'm relieved to hear that you do have some Christian conscience left in you."

"Mrs. Fermont," Elizabeth interjected. "I believe you should keep James home from school tomorrow."

Doris raised her eyebrows in question.

Elizabeth nodded. "Mountie Jack and I spoke about this and, since Mr. Wiley will be looking for James after school, it would be best if he doesn't go any where near town tomorrow."

"Keep him here, inside the house, ma'am," Jack added.

"Alright," she agreed. "There's extra chores for you to do here, too," she assured James, bringing a frown to his face. Then, she looked at Jack and asked with trepidation, "You don't suppose he'd come here looking for him?"

Jack shook his head. "No, ma'am. I think he's going to be busy in town tomorrow. Besides, he won't be looking for James until after school. So, we, Miss Thatcher and I, believe it would be best for James to stay away from town all day tomorrow."

She nodded, "We'll do that."

"Thank you," Jack said. Then, he looked toward the window. "Gabe?" he called.

Gabe turned around.

"Would you step outside with me?" Jack asked. "I have a couple of questions to ask you. Then, you and your mother can head home."

Gabe walked to the door and Jack followed him outside.

Those remaining inside were silent for several moments. Finally, James asked Elizabeth, "Miss Thatcher, how'd you and Mountie Jack find out about me and Mr. Wiley?"

Elizabeth's mouth fell slightly ajar as she was surprised by the question. She tried to quickly formulate a reply that didn't include revealing that she and Jack had been in a rather intimate moment when they overheard the conversation. "Oh," she began, stalling. Her cheeks filled with a bit of color as she remembered the moment. "Well... uhhh... well... You see, Mountie Jack and I were just, um... taking a walk when we heard you and Mr. Wiley."

Cat and Doris quickly realized what Elizabeth was not telling them and looked at each other, exchanging knowing smiles. Elizabeth noticed their reactions and grew more uncomfortable. Fortunately, her answer seemed to satisfy James.

The door opened and Jack stuck his head inside. "Cat, I'm finished questioning Gabe. You two can head home now."

Cat nodded. "Goodnight Doris, Elizabeth." She headed to the door. As she walked by Jack, she told him, "Thank you, Jack!"

Jack nodded and then looked back inside, "James?"

James didn't look up.

"James?" Doris called, her head motioning toward Jack. "Go on. Mountie Jack wants to ask you some questions."

He threw an angry look at his mother before he headed to the door.

Several minutes later, Elizabeth and Jack were heading back to town, holding hands as they walked.

"Jack, what do you think Wiley had James doing for him?" she asked.

"He gave James envelopes to take to the store over in Hinton," he answered.

"Envelopes?" she asked, puzzled.

Jack nodded. "James doesn't know what was in the envelopes but they probably had money in them. And instructions to wire the money to a bank or someone, probably in America. James would take them to the store keeper. Then, he'd wait for the store keeper to hand him another envelope, a sealed envelope, that he would bring back to Wiley. "

"Money? Why not just get Mr. Yost to wire it?"

"He wouldn't want to send stolen money from the company store," Jack answered.

"Stolen?" she gasped loudly.

"Shh," Jack cautioned, glancing around to be sure they were alone. It was now quite dark, as the moon had slid across the sky and wasn't as bright as earlier, so he couldn't be sure if they were alone or not.

"Stolen from whom?" she whispered.

"That's for Bill and I to find out," he told her.

Elizabeth considered that for a moment. "I just can't believe..." she began but stopped when Jack suddenly pulled her off the road. Her head swiveled toward him and she realized he was taking her down their favorite side trail for the second time that evening.

She followed him and, after several feet, he turned around and pulled her into his arms. "Now, where were we?"

Elizabeth smiled. "You mean before we were rudely interrupted by that criminal?" she asked, teasing,

"Suspected criminal," he corrected.

"Oh, excuse me. Suspect," she offered, mocking. "Anyway, I think we were right about here."

They looked into each other's eyes and laughed just before their lips met. This time, they weren't rudely interrupted.


Author's Notes: I hope you are continuing to enjoy the story! I really appreciate the story follows, favorites, and reviews! It's very nice to know people are reading and even better that you are enjoying the story. Please write a review if you have a few moments. Also, I noticed that some of you may not be Hearties, yet! If you like my story, I urge you to check out the series, When Calls the Heart, on which it is based. Season One is available for download on iTunes, Netflix, and Amazon Prime. Or DVDs can be purchased from Walmart, Fishflix, Christianbook, and other retailers. Check it out! Season Two starts April 25th on Hallmark Channel! My goal is to wrap up this story before the premiere. Stay tuned!