Chapter 9 – Reverand Anderson Accuses Cat

Elizabeth had no idea how she was going to reach the girl, but she would not stop until she found a way through.

"Molly." Elizabeth said. "We saw a man when we were walking here. He had a broken down black wagon. A broken down man in a broken down wagon. Roselie saw him and froze. I could see the fear in her eyes."

"Oh." Molly said. "You must mean Wendell Backus, he upsets everyone."

Elizabeth looked confused.

"Some miners find they need a drink at the end of the day." Molly said. "But Wendell has been known to haunt the saloon more then others and it has only gotten worse since the disaster."

Just then, they heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Elizabeth had more questions, but she didn't want to further upset Roselie. Molly asked Roselie to say goodnight, and when she just looked at her mother.

"Well." Molly said. "I guess hugs will have to do."

Roselie gave Elizabeth and her mother each a hug before heading back upstairs.

Once Roselie was up the stairs, Molly turned back to Elizabeth.

"Please help my little girl." Molly said tearfully.

Elizabeth sighed and knew that she had her work cut out for her. Elizabeth left shortly and headed back to Abigail's for the night. Elizabeth spent the night trying to figure out what she was going to do for Roselie. She figured that the first thing that she was going to do was talk to Jack, but she wasn't sure what she was going to even say to him or what he could do. Jack had an uneventful night as well and was able to turn in early to get some more reading done. He had read enough from the book on mining to know that the explosion should not have happened with adequate safety measures. He wasn't sure what he would be able to prove, but he knew that something was seriously wrong. He had learned that the shaft that the explosion had originated from was closed to people. Doors had been put up with a padlock on it.

Wednesday morning as Jack walked up to the jail, he saw the basset hound laying there. As he opened the door, the basset hound got up and walked in. He went right over and laid down in front of the stove. Jack shook his head. The last thing that he needed was a dog, but it looked like he had made himself at home and Jack was just going to have to deal. Jack went over and scratched the dogs head.

"Well if you are going to stay." Jack said to the dog. "You are going to need a name."

The dog just looked at Jack and flopped back down to take a nap.

"I think I am going to call you Rip." Jack said. "As in Rip Van Winkle."

After Jack got Rip settled with some water, the door opened.

"Excuse me." Reverand Anderson said. "May I have moment of your time?"

"Of course." Jack said. "What was it that you needed?"

"I can't tell you how happy I was to see this hat ride into town." Reverand Anderson said.

"Well, I am surprised." Jack said. "Considering that you are employed by Henry Gowen. That said, I just hope that you haven't been disappointed by the head that is under that hat."

"There is an unsolved case in town." Reverand Anderson said. "As the official lawman in town it falls to you to solve. My church burnt down."

"I am aware." Jack said. "It happened shortly before I arrived. To be exact, Saturday April 23rd, if I am correct."

"Yes that was the date." Reverand Anderson said. "I am pretty sure that it was intentionly done."

"That is a pretty serious charge." Jack said. "What makes you think that it was arson and not an accident?"

"It was just too coincidental." Reverand Anderson said. "It burned the night of the vigil for the lost men. The vigil was held at the mine. Someone spotted the flames when we were on our way back to town. By the time that we got to the church, it was too late."

"I see the coincidence." Jack said. "But I still don't understand why you think that it was intentionly done."

"My position here in Coal Valley has always been delicate." Reverand Anderson said. "I am employed by Pacific Northwest Mining. I have always tried to tend to the spiritual needs of the people but something changed after the accident. I just couldn't reach them. People stopped seeing me as a man of God and started seeing me as only a company man. Since that time, Cat Montgomery has enjoyed a larger audience shall we say."

"Can you blame them?" Jack said. "I have found in the past that grief effects people in strange ways. You are employed by the mining company that they just lost their husbands, fathers and sons to that company. Maybe they gathered together because they understood each other and what they were going through. I still don't see an arson case."

Reverand Anderson just looked at Jack like he wasn't understanding what he was saying.

"Maybe people don't want to worship at an alter paid for by the coal company." Jack said. "But why burn down the church?"

"People were angry." Reverand Anderson. "They lashed out at the company, at God, and in both cases their anger was misplaced and fueled by the preaching of Cat Montgomery."

"I have meet Cat." Jack said. "That is not what she preaches. Why are you angry at her?"

"Her audience had grown as people have left my flock." Reverand Anderson said.

"In my experience, I have found that if you don't meet the needs of a person that they will find someone that can." Jack said. "Are you accusing Cat Montgomery of burning your church down?"

"Oh." Reverand Anderson said. "I am not making any accusations."

"Sure sounds like it to me." Jack said.

"All I know is that my church burned to the ground." Reverand Anderson said. "The Pinkerton men were unable to determine how it started and ever since Cat Montgomery's audience has grown. I may be a man of the cloth, but don't I deserve justice as well. I am asking you to investigate, that is the duty that your uniform represents. Does it not?"

"I will have a look." Jack said. "But I can't guarantee that you will like what I find. Given the time that has passed and the fact that Gowen's Pinkertons have trampled all over the scene. Besides Cat Montgomery. Can you think of anyone else that wasn't at the vigil?"

"I don't know." Reverand Anderson said. "Mrs Montgomery sticks out since she was the only widow that wasn't there."

Reverand Anderson left and Jack sat back down. His first thought that he was being set up by Gowen. Jack knew that the Gowen didn't like the widows and wondered if this was his way to get back at one of them to show that he was still in charge of the town. Jack also knew that he was duty bound to investigate. He just hoped that he would be able to navigate this in way that the people of the town still trusted him and he was able to carry out the tasks of his sworn duty. The last thing that Jack wanted was to cause more heartbreak for the widows or their children. He knew that he had to talk to people, but he also hoped that asking questions didn't upset people. Jack was still trying to navigate things with the towns people. He also knew about grief and that some people wouldn't want to talk about things because of the memories that it would bring up. Jack took a moment to take a couple deep breaths and then he grabbed his hat and walked out of the jail. He looked around and saw a few people milling around.

He then went and got Sergeant to head to the burn site, since it was over near the row houses and not as close to town as he had thought the church should be. Then Jack reasoned that the land that the church was on was probably owned by the mining company since it was fairly close to the mine and houses that they owned. As much as Pacific Northwest controlled the town of Coal Valley, they didn't really want to be a part of the town Jack reasoned. He saw no other reason to have the houses and church so far from town. The company could have built the houses and church closer and allowed the town to grow around them. It was always something that bothered Jack about the layout of things.

Jack secured Sergeant to a near by tree so he could enjoy some of the tall grass and berries that were there. Jack grabbed his large knife out of his saddle bag and put it in his belt. He then walked over to the actual remains of the building. It was the first time that he had been to the site other then to ride past. He was surprised that there was as much left as there was. He saw the damaged teacherage and breathed a sigh of relief that Elizabeth wasn't out there all alone. Granted Reverand Anderson was close by, but that was no relief to Jack. He was glad that Elizabeth was at Abigail's and in the row houses. The parsonage was set a little further back and had been spared any damage from the fire. Jack looked around for a moment and was surprised at the layout of the buildings. He wondered if the teacherage and its location had something to do with why the last teacher left. Jack was also glad that despite the damage, that the burn site didn't appear to disturbed.

As Jack walked around, he spotted something unusual. It had a different burn pattern then the rest of the wood. Jack removed his hat and careful bent down to get a better look. He used his knife to lift the item, only to realize that it was a can of something. There was also a pretty charred label that he wasn't fully able to read. He careful placed the can and label in a clean piece of cloth from his saddlebag and then placed it all in his saddle bag. He knew that he had to figure out what the can was. Jack looked around and didn't see anything else that was recognizable other then charred wood at the burn site. Something didn't feel right to Jack and he knew that he had more questions then answers, again. He hated that. Jack prided himself on having answers. He hated when what he thought would be answers just leads to more questions. Jack wasn't sure why things felt off at the burn sight, but he knew that there was more to the story then what he was looking at. He looked around one last time and wondered how they could see the flames from the mine. Maybe Reverand Anderson meant the smoke, but no his said they saw the flames. Jack would have figured that the roof and steeple would have collasped before the flames were visible over the tree tops. Jack knew that he was going to have to talk to the Reverand again and see if he changed his story. Jack also wanted to know the person who first spotted the fire and reported it.

Jack wasn't sure who he could trust, but he knew he needed to figure out what the burned can was and the only person he felt that could identify it was Ned Yost. Jack didn't want to go to him, but had no choice. Jack head back to town and straight to the mercantile.

"Ned." Jack said walking into the mercantile. "I was wondering if you could help me."

"If I can." Ned said without looking up from his ledger.

Jack laid the cloth on the counter and unwrapped it.

"I was hoping that you could tell what that can was from." Jack said.

Ned looked at for a moment and the careful picked it up and smelled the opening.

"Whale oil." Ned said making a face.

"Really." Jack said.

"Yeah." Ned said. "Hate that smell. I would know it anywhere."

"Do you sell it here?" Jack asked.

"I am not sure that you are aware." Ned said with some exasperation. "But the world hasn't used whale oil in a couple decades. Granted there are still some uses for it, but it has to be special ordered."

"Thank you." Jack said.

He wrapped the can back up and left. Jack headed over to the jail. He put the wrapped can in his desk and sat there for a moment. He knew that he needed to talk to Cat Montgomery and he couldn't put it off any longer. Elizabeth had a had a pretty good day. She talked more about the sun dials and how the day is made up of hours. She wanted the children to write or draw their most important hour of the day. Roselie didn't want to do it, so Elizabeth had her stay after school. She was sitting with the girl trying to get her to draw something. She was so worried about Roselie since she seemed to withdraw more each day. Elizabeth decided to try a different approach.

"You seem tired." Elizabeth said. "Did you have your lunch today?"

Roselie shook her head no.

"Lunch it very important." Elizabeth said. "It gives you energy to for school. You should never skip lunch. If I skip lunch my tummy growls."

Roselie gave Elizabeth a small smile at that. Elizabeth smiled back, hoping that she had broke through the wall the girl had up.

"What is wrong?" Elizabeth asked. "If you can't find the out loud words, maybe you can draw a picture of how your feeling."

Just when she thought she had made some progress and got Roselie to pick up a red crayon and started to draw. Wendell Backus walked into the saloon and up to the bar. He turned and stared at Elizabeth and Roselie. Almost as if she could sense that he was there, Roselie dropped the crayon and it rolled off the table. Roselie once again froze. Elizabeth looked around and saw Wendell.

"Roselie." Elizabeth said. "It's time to walk home."

She had to say it twice to get Roselie's attention.

"I will come with you." Elizabeth said when she saw the fear in Roselie's eyes again.

Roselie stood and took Elizabeth's hand. As they started to walk out, Elizabeth turned and gave her best teacher glare at Wendell.