Chapter 43 – Julie Arrives
On Thursday after rounds, Jack went to the Miller house. He had to talk to Adam and he didn't want to put it off any longer then needed. Jack hoped that he would be willing to talk. He had also planned ahead in case the girls had stayed home from school. Jack walked up and knocked on the door. He took a deep breath just before Laurel opened the door.
"Morning." Jack said when Laurel opened the door.
"Morning." Laurel said. "What can I help you with today?"
"First." Jack said. "I wanted to see if Adam was settling back in and the second thing is that I need to talk to him."
"No problem." Laurel said. "Please come in."
"Morning Mountie Jack." Jolene said when she saw him walk in.
"Morning Jolene." Jack said.
Jack looked around the house and then at Laurel. He knelt down to Jolene and Morgan-Rose's level.
"I need to talk to your daddy." Jack said. "I was thinking that you could maybe go into town and get a treat at the mercantile on me."
"Oh you don't need to do that." Laurel said.
"I don't mind." Jack said.
"It's okay." Adam said. "Girls, what do you say to the Constable."
"Thank you." Jolene and Morgan-Rose said together.
Jack reached into his front pocket and pulled some money. He handed it to Laurel. He looked at her for a moment and then stepped closer.
"I need about half an hour." Jack said. "I don't think that you and the girls need to hear this."
"Thank you." Laurel said. "Girls, you ready."
Laurel grabbed her basket and a couple things from the kitchen before heading out with the girls.
"Yes, Ma." Jolene said.
Jack waited until Laurel and the girls left and then sat at the table with Adam. Jack could see that Adam wasn't comfortable and Jack wanted to make sure he was okay before he started in on the hard questions.
"Sorry about this." Jack said. "I know that the Mounties in Union City talked to you, but since I am the actual investigator on the case, I need to talk to you."
"It is okay." Adam said. "You didn't have to give Laurel money for a treat."
"I don't mind." Jack said. "Your girls are great. I figured it would be easier for you talk without them here. I don't know what you told Laurel, but I didn't think she needed to hear it either."
"Thank you." Adam said. "I will tell you the same thing that I told the Constables in Union City – I don't remember what happened. I was just bringing a cart back into the mine when the explosion hit. The cart actually flipped up and I think that was what protected me. I vaugely remember being in the infirmary and then nothing until I woke up in the hospital three days later."
"Yeah." Jack said. "I got their report, but I have some other questions."
"Okay." Adam said. "Like what?"
"First." Jack said. "Are you okay talking about this?"
"Yes." Adam said.
"If at any point you want to stop." Jack said. "Just let me know and I can come back later. I also don't want you to talking to anyone about this investigation. I have already had trouble with Gowen and his Pinkertons. I will do what I can to protect you, but need to keep this quiet. I want you to go on with whatever you have planned, no matter what we talk about."
"Might as well get this done." Adam said. "I won't say anything. What do you want to know?"
"Before the explosion." Jack said. "Did you notice anything. Either that morning or in the days before. Anything that I should know about."
"Well." Adam said. "I know in the weeks before the explosion that Noah Stanton and Herbert Ansvil weren't getting along. Noah was butting heads with Gowen and Herbert thought Noah was being unreasonable. I am not sure what it was about. Noah was pushing us pretty hard to move into a different shaft. Noah had sent Peter to get supplies and he had just arrived back the night before everything happened. The only really strange thing was that Herbert wasn't at work that morning, it was weird. We were told he was working the afternoon/evening shift. He never did that."
"Anything else?" Jack asked.
"The shaft that Noah was working in." Adam said. "He had said he was concerned about something, but I don't remember what exactly."
"Tell me about the shaft they had been working in" Jack said.
"It was one of the newer shafts." Adam said. "It went deeper into the center of the mountain then other shafts. I was also one of few shafts that had multiple lines. I am sure that you saw that."
"I haven't." Jack said. "Mr Gowen hasn't let me into the shaft where the explosion happened. Once the last of the men were recovered, he closed off the shaft with a door and it is locked. I have been working to try and get in the shaft, but haven't been able to yet."
"Can you grab that pad of paper?" Adam said pointing to the couch.
"Here." Jack said pulling out his notebook and pencil.
"If you can get into the shafts." Adam said. "This will help."
Adam drew a crude map of where they were working and where he had left Noah and the rest.
"Okay." Adam said. "See how shaft seventeen breaks off into three more shafts on the left."
"Okay." Jack said. "What about it?"
"Noah had closed off the center shaft of the three." Adam said. "He had gone down there and didn't like the way it smelled. He wouldn't let anyone down there after we had initially broke through and got it partial timbered. We were working in the parallel shafts, but Noah was being extra cautious."
"Okay." Jack said. "That will help. Is there anything else?"
"I don't know." Adam said. "Noah was antsy that morning. We were deeper then we should have been because the vents. Noah had tried to keep people closer to where the vents were, but Gowen was pushing for more coal to be brought out. I know that Noah wouldn't have put us in danger on purpose. I thought Noah was antsy because Herbert was gone. Normally they had worked together. With Herbert gone, Noah had to actually lead the men into the mine. It wasn't that Noah was afraid of hard work, because he was always willing to swing a pickaxe, but he had been spending more time out of the mine keeping things moving."
"Thank you for your information." Jack said. "If you think of anything else, please just write it down and then we can talk."
"The explosion wasn't an accident was it?" Adam asked.
"I don't know for sure." Jack said. "Why do you say that?" From everything I have read, it shouldn't have happened."
"Thank you for telling me." Adam said. "Now what is going to happen? I don't know why I thought that. It was something that I thought about when I was in the hospital and learned I was the only survivor. It just didn't seem right. Landslides are a bigger danger then explosions. Usually the canary would warn the men before an explosion. It would give people time to at least get out of that particular shaft."
"I am going to try and get some more information and then report to my superiors." Jack said. "Thank you for your time. And please remember to keep what we talked about to yourself."
"I will." Adam said.
Jack headed back to town. He stopped at the mercantile and checked to see if he had any messages. He then rode out to check a few things. He wanted to look at the mine from the mountain. He was trying to get a better idea of the shafts. He thought about talking to some of the other miners, as well as the women who were in the mine to see if he could put together a decent map of the inside. What Jack wanted to see was where the vents were.
After leaving the house, Laurel walked the girls to the mercantile and got them a treat. She then dropped them at school. Elizabeth was surprised to see the girls walk in and went to the back to meet them.
"Jolene, Morgan-Rose" Elizabeth asked. "I thought you were going to stay home and spend the day with your father."
"We changed our minds." Jolene said. "Pa said he had business to take care of."
"My daddy only had one leg, now." Morgan-Rose said saddly.
"Well." Elizabeth said. "What matters is that he's home now, right?"
"Yes, ma'am." Jolene said.
She then grabbed her sister's hand and they went and sat down. Elizabeth wasn't sure what happened, but if the children wanted to be there, she wasn't going to stop them. She continued with the lessons and the rest of the day went rather smoothly. She started to tell the students about entomology, the study of insects, and that it was something that she wanted to study that year. The students were excited because it was something different that they had never studied before. Elizabeth was glad that the students were excited about studying insects, it wasn't her favorite thing, but she would do it for the children. She let the children go with a plan to clean up and then find Jack.
Jack got back into town right about three in the afternoon. He hadn't been back long when he saw a stagecoach pulling in. He wasn't expecting a stagecoach, especially since Adam Miller had just came home the day before. Jack walked over to where the stagecoach was pulling up and he saw a Mountie in a red serge getting out.
"You must be Jack Thornton." The Mountie said.
"Yes, I am." Jack said. "Who might you be, sir?"
"Constable Patrick O'Reilly." He said snapping to a salute.
Jack returned the salute.
"And where is your horse, Constable." Jack asked.
Just about that time, Elizabeth was coming around the corner of the boardwalk. She saw Jack standing near the stagecoach talking to another Mountie. She thought something might be wrong, so she headed over that way.
"Well." Patrick said. "She wanted to make a grand entrance."
Patrick turned to look where the stage had just come from.
"And who might she be?" Jack asked confused.
Just at that moment a young woman came around the corner riding a horse. Elizabeth let out a squeal and headed for her.
"Oh my goodness." Elizabeth exclaimed as she headed for the woman on the horse. "Oh, my gosh! Oh my goodness! What are you doing here?"
Jack just looked at Patrick and then back to where Elizabeth was heading to the woman on the horse.
"Well." Julie said. "You didn't think I was going to let you have all the fun out in the wild, wild west, did you?"
"You came all by yourself?" Elizabeth asked taking the reins from Julie.
"Hardly." Julie said. "Daddy got me my own personal Mountie as an escort."
Julie climbed down giggling and hugged Elizabeth. Jack was still confused, but by that point, he was helping Patrick who was helping the driver get Julie's trunks and his bags down, as well as things that had been sent on the stagecoach.
"Of course." Julie said looking past Elizabeth. "I am much more interested in your man in a red serge."
Elizabeth lead the horse as her and Julie walked over to wear Jack and Patrick were standing. Before she could warn Julie before she stepped in a pile of horse manure. Julie just looked down and giggled. She kept moving cleaning her shoe in the dirt.
"That didn't happen." Julie said.
"You said you wanted to experience the wild west." Elizabeth said with a laugh.
"And here I am." Julie said. "Into it with both feet, so to speak."
Julie walked up to Jack.
"Hi." She said. "I am Julie Thatcher, Elizabeth sister."
She put out her gloved hand, expecting Jack to kiss it, except Jack didn't kiss it. He just shook her hand awkwardly. Jack dropped her hand and put both his hands behind his back like he was back in formation.
"A pleasure to meet you, ma'am." Jack said.
Julie let out a deep sigh. Jack just looked at her and then he looked over her shoulder and saw Elizabeth. She was standing there with Constable O'Reilly's horse. The sun was hitting her, making her hair almost glow. She had a smile on her face and Jack just want to walk over and kiss her. Jack watched as Elizabeth tucked a loose curl back behind her ear. He wanted to be the one that did that. He had to shake is head to focus. Jack and Patrick carried Julie's trunks over to the cafe and then they headed to the jail. Elizabeth showed Julie her classroom at the saloon, before heading over to the cafe. Abigail brought an extra pillow and blanket in for Julie to sleep in the extra bed in Elizabeth's room.
"Thank you so much, Mrs Stanton." Julie said.
"Oh, please call me Abigail." Abigail said.
Abigail looked at all of Julie's stuff and just had to ask.
"H-how long did you say you'd be staying?" Abigail asked.
"Don't be alarmed." Elizabeth said. "For Julie, this is hardly a week's worth of clothes."
"Well." Julie said. "You never know what an occasion might call for."
Julie had set a dress on Elizabeth's bed for her to hand up. Elizabeth picked it up and looked at it. It was amazing and she could have seen herself wearing something very similar back in Hamilton. She also quickly realized how impractical it was in Coal Valley. Elizabeth missed some of the things from Hamilton, but looking at what Julie had brought for clothes, she quickly realized how unprepared Julie was for her stay. Elizabeth couldn't see one sensible dress or any sensible shoes. Julie brought clothes like she was planning on high tea and a night at the theater.
"I do apologize." Julie said. "For not sending advance warning of my visit. I wanted to surprise Elizabeth."
"Something she's been doing since she came out of the womb." Elizabeth said. "Feet first, no less."
"Well." Abigail said. "It's no trouble at all. We're happy to have you."
As they were talking, Julie continued to lay blouses and things for Elizabeth to hang up. Elizabeth looked and wasn't sure she was going to have enough room in her wardrobe.
"I love you home." Julie said. "It so … so … rustic, so quaint."
Julie giggled like what she had just said wasn't an insult. Elizabeth was appalled at the way Julie was acting. She knew she had to say something. Elizabeth wasn't going to allow Julie to put down her town. Elizabeth had worked hard to get past that people had thought of her as a spoilt Hamilton princess and now, that was exactly how Julie was acting.
"I think what Julie meant to say is –." Elizabeth said.
"It is okay, Elizabeth." Abigail said. "'Rustic' and 'quaint' work quiet well for this town."
Abigail turned and left leaving the sisters some time to catch up. Abigail wasn't quiet sure what to make of Julie. The only thing that she knew was that Elizabeth didn't appear to pleased that Julie was there. She might have been excited to see her at first, but by the time the got to the cafe, Abigail was sure that Elizabeth wasn't having any fun. It was then Jack's word came back to Abigail. She wondered if Julie had come to bring her sister back to Hamilton. Abigail wasn't going to panic, but she was going to watch what happened and talk to Elizabeth as some point. Either way, Abigail knew that it was going to be a long week or however long Julie was staying. Abigail had admired the way that Elizabeth tried to fit in, but Julie appeared more like the spoiled Hamilton princess that people thought Elizabeth was. Abigail was worried that Julie might hurt Elizabeth's standing in the community with some people. She knew that she was going to have quash gossip and rumors at the cafe.