Amelia walked down the street after Ethan took off for the telegraph office. She wished him luck at getting more information back from the wires he sent out but at this point, it was just like casting a net in the water and hoping for the best to catch something.

She walked past Axelrod's store and saw Simon standing there, a frown on his face. He looked so out of place in their town. She couldn't wait until he and the others left and she knew they would after Darrin had gotten enough money from the storeowners as part of his scheme.

The streets were quiet, most of the children were still in school and it had heated up so people stayed inside for the early afternoon. She had some errands to run and then she'd be heading back to the ranch. Ethan would be working tonight and no doubt waiting for more information to come back on Butch Walton and anyone who would have killed him. She had her own theories about that but kept them to herself. She thought that more than likely that it had to do with what had happened back in San Francisco and she didn't want to think about it. Remembering what had happened wouldn't help her and if it had gotten this man killed…then it wasn't worth remembering. Not if lives were in danger.

When she'd returned to Paradise with Bella and the other women, she thought she'd left it behind. She didn't expect to slip seamlessly back into the life she'd left but she'd wanted to start over including with Ethan and the children. A part of her cringed when she thought of the last words she'd said to him before walking away. She sounded like she couldn't handle anything when all that was happened is that something happened when she nearly lost him that had scared her so much.

The relief of him once again living through it hadn't eased her feeling. But you couldn't run away from love even when it hurt to be reminded of the cost of it. She'd carried both the good and the bad of her love for one man with her and it had sent her right back…at least until what had happened.

She ran into Bella who was being hounded by Ernie near the saloon.

"All I asked was a question," the reporter said, "He came from San Francisco, so did you and now he's dead."

Bella just shook her head at him.

"If you think I had anything to do with that…"

He just looked at her.

"Did you know anything about him?"

Bella sighed.

"He was at one of my parties," she said, "but I had a lot of them and many people dropped by…hundreds in all."

"But you remember him…"

"Yes…he seemed rather genteel and well mannered," she said, "but I didn't know him."

Amelia stepped in between them.

"Ernie, what are you doing here?"

He held his ground.

"Amelia, I'm doing my job and I'm trying to learn more about a man who's been murdered."

"You were from San Francisco too," Amelia said, "Why don't you tell us what you know about him?"

Ernie rubbed behind an ear.

"I didn't know him," he said, "I just recognized him, that's all. He worked for a business that the newspaper profiled in one of its editions."

"What kind of business," Amelia asked.

"Furniture I believe," he said, "including that imported from other places."

Bella nodded.

"Yes I bought some pieces for the Center."

"That's all I know about him," Ernie said, "It's a shame now that he's dead."

Bella shook her head.

"The rest of the town acts like it's glad he got killed," she said, "Like he deserved it but then some of these businessmen will believe anything."

Ernie's brows arched.

"You don't believe he was caught destroying property?"

Bella shook her head.

"No…the town just needs a scapegoat like they do with us," she said, "Someone to blame for everything that goes wrong."

Amelia nodded.

"It's always been that way and they used to blame Ethan for almost everything wrong…until they needed him of course."

Ernie looked at her strangely.

"Are you and Ethan….?"

"We were engaged before I left Paradise…but I've known him quite a while and he's the most honest man."

Bella nodded.

"I can vouch for him even if we were sometimes on opposite sides of the street."

Amelia folded her arms.

"Why do you want to know anyway?"

Ernie just shrugged.

"No reason…"

But Amelia didn't believe him. He always seemed to have a reason for everything.

Ethan waited patiently for the wires to be sent out to different cities and towns. San Francisco would receive a couple of them, all about Walton. He hoped he'd get something useful back that would help him nail his killer or killers. He still had his eye sharply on Burke and Trevor. …but was a far distance away from proving it.

Dakota walked up to him.

"Got the news on Daggett?"

Ethan nodded.

"No recent spotting but they think he might be heading to Carson City."

Dakota looked relieved.

"Didn't want to have to deal with him on top of everything else…so what's up with Walton?"

"I sent the wires out and it'll take a day or so to hear back," Ethan said, "then I'll decide what to do."

Dakota sighed.

"You don't have enough to do anything with those two men."

Ethan set his jaw.

"Not yet…but I know they did it…I just don't know why."

"The town won't care Ethan," Dakota said, "They're about to give them medals…in fact I heard Axelrod and Amos are going to meet to see if they can get town proclamations for both men."

That disgusted Ethan but he knew he couldn't stop the businessmen from rewarding cold blooded killers. After all, he had no proof and didn't know if he'd find any to nail them.

"We've got to work faster," he said, "Look harder for witnesses."

"We're not going to find any Ethan…no one's come forward and no one's going to do that."

Ethan felt frustration fill him because he knew that Dakota was probably right. But he knew he had to think of something before the two men got away with murder.

Amelia had enough of it and when Bella had walked away to go to talk with Tiny about shoeing a horse, she had kept walking hoping to lose the pesky reporter. She decided to head to the bank, the one that she used to own or at least manage.

"I'm done talking to you," she said, "I have business to conduct so why don't you find something useful to do instead?"

Ernie just grinned.

"I'm going to get to the bottom of this murder."

She looked point blank at him.

"No you won't…because you don't care enough about the man who got killed and any family he might have left."

"Who's to say he wasn't involved in something?"

"Why don't you write it that way along with the rest of your fiction?"

She was so angry with him at times like right now when he didn't care enough to look for the truth rather than reporting what he thought was true as fact. She just couldn't believe he'd found his way all the way here which was just her luck.

"Oh so you don't like the truth?"

"It's not the truth," she said, "You're so wrong about many things but you don't care and that's why you just hurt people…and just for headlines…"

"Amelia…"

But she started walking faster towards the bank and was just about to go inside when a man came out of the bank.

She saw his face and her body froze…just like time froze just then. There was nothing about him she didn't remember, the details of his face, and the hardness of his body and the rough timbre of his voice.

He just stared at her back and then he smiled.

"What a nice surprise," he said, "I'd heard you came here…"

She tried to stifle back so many emotions which rushed through her then because to feel them…would be to release them and she couldn't do that.

So she turned around him suddenly and she started to walk quickly to her horse because she had to get out of here. She had to warn Ethan…no she didn't want to find him…she just wanted to get away.

She got on her horse, pulled the reins and her horse galloped off. She wanted to go back to the ranch…not knowing why but as she sped down the road, she heard the sound of hoof beats behind her and knew he'd come after her.