Chapter 3

When Nathan walked back into his apartment, he found Bill had spread the files across the dinning room table. Bill barely looked up when Nathan entered. Nathan went to the kitchen and put the muffins on the counter and poured himself a cup of coffee before taking a seat at the table with Bill.

"Everything okay at HQ?"

"Yes. I was able to get what I needed without seeing either O'Reilly or Collins."

"Good. Have you looked over these files?"

"Some yesterday after I pulled them."

"I am not sure that there is much here. I mean Walden gets around, but as far as I can tell he skates a fine line just staying legal. I don't know how we are going to use these to nail him."

"I noticed that as well. But there is more than you think."

"What are these other files?"

"I thought that they might be connected as well."

"But I don't see Walden's name anywhere."

"I know, but they are too similar. Here look."

Nathan rearranged some of the files, so that there were four piles. Three of the piles were of similar complaints and the fourth was of other Walden complaints.

"What am I looking at?"

Nathan pulled out a piece of paper and divided it into three sections. He then picked up the first stack of files and quickly looked through them and wrote several names plus a set of dates. He then repeated the process for each of the similar stack, then sat back and handed the paper to Bill.

"Do you see it now?"

Nathan was hoping that Bill would see it. Nathan had to admit that he hadn't seen it at first either, but the more he looked, the more he realized the similarities and that all eighteen case files were connected. He just knew it, he also knew that he had to find a way to prove it.

"Not really. I am still confused."

"Read off the first column."

"Hope Valley area. Wyman Walden principal player, Julius Spurlock muscle and Lucas Bouchard saloon owner."

"Now the second."

"Red Deer area. Wesley Wilson principal player, James Simpson muscle and Lester Balland saloon owner."

"And the last."

"Lethbridge area. Walter White principal player, Joel Smith muscle and Lewis Barrault saloon owner."

"Okay, now look at the dates of each column."

"It looks like each one takes place over a five to six month period and then nothing."

"Exactly."

Nathan laid another piece of paper in front of Bill. Bill picked it up and looked at and then looked at the first paper that Nathan had given him.

"So let me get this straight. Each of these areas had the same scam ran in the six months or so before a large factory was suppose to be built, only for the factory to pull out at the last moment."

"Yes, but that is not all."

Nathan laid a third piece of paper in front of Bill. It had the initials of each man and a physical description.

"How did you get this?"

"I made some calls last night and there were messages waiting for me this morning. I mean I knew before, but as I wrote it out, it because very clear. Look at the dates again. Notice anything else, especially when you think about things around Hope Valley."

"First of all, the descriptions of each man is way too similar to not be the same men or at least related. Now that you point it out, each of these time frames coincide with Bouchard being gone from Hope Valley."

Nathan nodded.

"Not only that, but each area is a smaller stop on the rail line. I would bet my career on the fact that in all three areas we are dealing with the same men. Three men with three names to try and get away with their scam. As far as I can tell, they have made a lot of money."

"So why didn't Bouchard leave when Walden pulled out before?"

"I have a feeling that they are up to something else and Hope Valley plays a very large part of it. Or should I say someone in Hope Valley may hold the key to what they are doing."

"What do you mean?"

"Later. Lets get this one wrapped up first. I am waiting on some more information before I am willing to share. I have taken the liberty of running all the names through Regina and Hamilton. I am waiting to hear. I have also sent the names to New Orleans, San Francisco and Chicago. Again I am waiting to hear from the authorities in the States. It is going to take some time, but I think we will have enough to arrest the whole lot of them."

"Do you know where Walden and Spurlock have been? If that is their real names."

"I believe that they are their real names. They have been in Cape Fullerton."

"Cape Fullerton? That seems like an awfully big place to be pulling this scam."

"I don't think that they are up to this scam. I think they had too much heat on them in Hope Valley and they are up to something else."

"Why do you think that they used their real names?"

"As far as I can tell, I think that they thought that Hope Valley was small enough that they wouldn't get caught. You have to remember that when Bouchard arrived, I wasn't in town yet. I think that after I arrived that Bouchard might have tried to talk Walden out of coming, but wasn't able. I also think that Bouchard staying was a cover to distance himself from the other two. I mean I think he is still working with them, but he wants to appear that he is not.

I have checked in the other areas and the saloon was purchased sight unseen as was the case in Hope Valley and it was sold or closed shortly after the Walden scam. Also if you look through all of the complaints that were filed, it seemed that the saloon in each area played a major part in what happened."

Bill flipped through several complaints from different piles.

"Why didn't anyone put this together before?"

"I think because of the different areas, different names and the time in between. I think that they are back in because they need Bouchard."

"What are you talking about?"

"I will talk about that later. I am waiting on more information and I don't want to talk about it yet. Lets go through all these files and write everything we know. I have a feeling that we will doing some traveling to put this case together. I am hoping that the information that I have requested will cut down on that, but I don't know. Lets work with what we got and I will share what I know later."

Bill got up and made another pot of coffee. Together they sat and went over each and every file. They wrote out what they knew and other details of the complaints. As they progressed, Nathan made several calls and took more notes. It was after lunch when Bill and Nathan took a break.

"Let's get something to eat." Bill said.

"There is a nice little café around the corner."

Bill nodded. The men went down to the café and had a nice lunch. They were sitting there having a some pie when Bill looked at Nathan.

"Okay. I am worried about you. You know about Elizabeth and don't react. You tell me that you want to talk about something, but you don't say more. You don't want to talk about a case, especially one that you know can nail a rat. So what is going on."

"Nothing is going on. Right or wrong, Elizabeth made her choice and there is nothing that I can do about it. I told you that I would talk to about the case. The other matter … well it is personal and I am trying to figure out how to talk about it."

Bill held up his hands in surrender.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to push you. I know that you still love Elizabeth and it can't be easy."

Nathan glared at Bill.

"I am not talking about it. I have to move on for Allie. What I want doesn't matter. What is important is that Allie is okay. Why do you think I took the job and left Hope Valley? As much as I wanted to stay there and have a permanent home for Allie, I … we needed to leave. I wasn't going to continue to subject Allie to the horrible things that were being said. It was effecting Allie's schoolwork."

"I understand that. So you do love her."

"I have loved her since that first day that she walked into my office. I think that there is a part of me that will always love her, but I have to move on. There is no going back after what she said to me. I may love her, but I will never trust her again."

"What did she say?"

Nathan glared at Bill.

"Come on. It can't be that bad, if you love her than you can find a way to move past what she said. Trust me when I say that if you love each other, and I know that Elizabeth loves you, even if she can't admit it even to herself. Anyway, if you love each other then you can overcome anything."

Nathan let out a harsh breath and shook his head.

"Bill, drop it. I am not going to tell you what she said. I haven't told a soul and I am not going to say, I am not like that. All I am going to say is that there is no going back after what she said to me that day."

"Fine, I will back off, but you need to talk to someone."

"I will think about it. My only concern is making sure that Allie is okay. Which leads me to what I wanted to talk to you. I know that I should have done it a long time ago, but I want to formally adopt Allie. I know that we are in Union City, but I thought it would be special if her Uncle Bill was able to do the paperwork."

"I could do that. I would be honored to do that. We would just need to get a judge here to co-sign the paperwork. Why now?"

"Like I said I should have done it a long time ago. I want it done and finalized so that Dylan can't come back and try to take her again. Also Allie said something about what would happen if anything happened to me. I want her to know that I will always be there for her."

"I understand that. Let's go back to the apartment and get back to work."

Nathan nodded. They got up, paid their tab and left. When they got back to the apartment, Nathan took a seat, leaned his head back and rubbed his temple. Bill watched Nathan and knew that things were weighing heavy on him. Bill felt bad for pushing Nathan. He knew that whatever Elizabeth had said to Nathan that it must have been horrible. As much as Bill loved Elizabeth like a daughter, he was furious with her. Bill had loved Jack like a son and did love Nathan like a son. It was because of Jack that Bill thought of Elizabeth as a daughter. He also knew that no matter what happened in Union City that he was going to sit down and have a very serious conversation with Elizabeth when he got back to Hope Valley.

Before Bill could say anything else, there was a knock at the door. Since he was closer, Bill answered it. When he opened the door, there was a young Mountie there with a small crate at his feet.

"I was looking for Inspector Grant."

"Here." Nathan said.

Nathan walked to the door, signed for the crate and dismissed the young Mountie. Nathan handed the the crate to Bill. They went to the table and opened it up.

"What is all this?"

"Information for a current case that I needed."

"Thatcher Shipping? What does Elizabeth's father's company have to do with this?"

"Fine I will tell you about it. But you need to understand what I am going to tell you can't be repeated."

"I promise. I get the job, you forget that I use to have the job that you have."

Nathan laid out what he knew about the smuggling case. He showed Bill some of the case file and explained how and why he believed William Thatcher.

"Good circumstantial case if you had a suspect and from what I can see you don't have one."

"What if is did?"

"I don't see one."

Nathan just looked at Bill.

"You didn't tell me, did you?"

Nathan just gave Bill a lopsided grin. Bill just huffed and shook his head.

"So you going to share."

Nathan pursed his lips and shook his head.

"Until I have more information, I am not sharing anything more. Now, tell me more about Martin and why you have a problem with him."

"You mean other then he is not you."

Nathan just shook his head.

"You knew that I was leaving and headquarters was going to send someone else. I told you to be nice. So again, what is your real problem with Martin?"

Bill just rolled his eyes.

"First, he doesn't seem interested in actually doing his job. All he does is complain about being stuck in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of hicks."