Chapter 4 – Mystery Man (long)

Elizabeth didn't want to wake Jack, he obviously would have had a hard night if he had come downstairs to draw instead of staying in their warm bed with her. She knew that Jack wanted to make her breakfast for her birthday, but she decided to get breakfast started and then wake Jack. He couldn't be mad at her for letting him sleep. When she went to put his sketchbook away in the drawer of her desk, she noticed a box on the top and figured that it was her birthday present. She left it until Jack was awake. She decided to make one of her favorite things for breakfast – French toast. Her parents didn't really like it, so the cooks wouldn't make it that often, but they always made her a plate for special occasions. First she got a pan of ham frying and then worked on the French toast. As she lifted pieces from the skillet, she stacked them in a pan in the oven. Elizabeth was so focused in the kitchen that she didn't notice that Jack had gotten up and was sitting on the couch watching her. It was only when she turned around to set the table that she noticed that he was awake.

"Morning, love." Elizabeth said.

"Morning, Bella." Jack said. "I was going to make you breakfast this morning. Why didn't you wake me?"

"I figured since you had fallen asleep on the couch, you needed a little more rest." Elizabeth said.

"Sorry about that." Jack said. "I woke up before 5am and couldn't get back to sleep, so I figured that I would just come down here and draw for a bit."

"I saw the one that you did of me and the children." Elizabeth said. "Who was the little boy that you drew? I looked when I put the supplies away, I know that I didn't have permission, but I was gathering them to put away. Don't be mad."

"I am not mad." Jack said. "The little boy – one of the children from the settlement, he couldn't have been more than four. He followed Frank and I around the entire time."

"Why were you up so early?" Elizabeth asked. "I much prefer waking up in your arms then not."

"I don't know." Jack said. "I woke up and just couldn't get back to sleep. I didn't want to wake you so I came down here."

"Okay." Elizabeth said.

She knew that there was more going on, but she had also learned not to push Jack to talk about things. She figured that he was worried about the Garrison gang. Since she didn't like to think about Jack in danger, she also didn't want to talk about it anymore then they absolutely had to. Jack got up and came over to the table as Elizabeth dished up the fried ham and pulled the stack of French toast from the oven. After she sat down, Jack took her hand.

"Heavenly Father." Jack prayed. "Please bless this food to our bodies. I ask a special blessing on Elizabeth today as we celebrate her birthday. Please keep her and all our family safe. Thank you for all that you have given us. Amen."

"Amen." Elizabeth said. "I hope that you like French toast. It is one of my favorites. The cook would always make it for me on special occasions."

"Well." Jack said. "If you like it, it can't be that bad."

Jack just flashed Elizabeth a dimpled grin as he put a couple pieces on his plate and added a little syrup. They had a wonderful breakfast. Jack liked the French toast. It wasn't something that he had really ever had before, but it was good. When they both were finished, she looked over toward the writing desk and then back to Jack.

"I guess you already saw your present." Jack teased.

"I saw the box." Elizabeth said. "I didn't open it. I waited for you."

Jack stood up and offered his hand to Elizabeth. He led her over to the writing desk and allowed her to sit down. He stood in front of the desk and then nodded. Elizabeth opened the top of the box. Inside she saw a case and stood to lift it out. As she lifted the case from the box, Jack took the box and set it on the floor. Elizabeth set the case down and undid the latches and lifted the cover off to reveal a Royal typewriter.

"So you can type your stories." Jack said.

"I love it." Elizabeth said. "Father used to let me type a little on his old one, but I have never had anything as nice as this."

"You deserve the best." Jack said coming around the desk to kiss Elizabeth.

"Thank you so much." Elizabeth said.

She stood and kissed Jack.

"Glad you like it." He whispered. "Sit and try it out."

Elizabeth knew that she shouldn't, but did anyway. She lifted a sheet of paper, put it into the roller and sat there for a second before she typed a couple of words, then pulled the paper from the roller and handed it to Jack. He looked down and got a huge dimpled grin on his face. She had typed – You are my inspiration. Jack couldn't stop the smile on his face. He placed his hands on the desk and leaned down and claimed a kiss.

"I need to finish getting ready." Jack said, pulling away.

Jack headed up to get dressed for the day. Since he wasn't going on rounds, he didn't wear his uniform. Since Bill was staying in the back room of the jail. Jack had worked it out with him to leave an extra uniform at the jail in case he needed to change. Just after Christmas, Jack had ordered an extra full uniform which then gave him ten pairs of pants and five serges plus his dress uniform. He also ordered and broke in an extra pair of boots, giving him three plus his dress boots. He kept a full uniform including boots, a belt and knife at the jail. Bill didn't mind and Jack didn't need to wear his uniform all the time. Pretty much everyone knew who he was. Jack was just glad that he didn't have to always wear the serge, as much as he liked it, it also liked regular clothes. Jack also had a separate gun belt that he could wear when out of uniform. Besides it being the first thing they teach at the academy, Jack felt that being armed was better especially with everything that was going on. He had also gotten another knife that he could slip into his boots when he was out of uniform.

While Jack dressed, Elizabeth cleaned up the breakfast dishes. She had set them out to dry just as Jack came back downstairs. She was a little surprised that he wasn't in uniform, but she didn't say anything. She knew that red serge or not, Jack was always a Mountie. Elizabeth noticed that Jack was wearing a pair of denim jeans that she had never seen before.

"Where did you get those?" Elizabeth asked.

"Ma sent them." Jack said. "She says it is what a lot of the ranchers are wearing. They are actually pretty comfortable. Since I don't have to always be in uniform, I may as well be comfortable. She sent three pairs and I was thinking of getting a couple more."

"I like them." Elizabeth said.

That she did. They weren't really tighter than the pants that Jack normally wore, just more form fitting. They seemed to hug his butt and she didn't mind looking at him that way. She tried to pull her eyes off of Jack and get to the task at hand. She started to get lunch ready for each of them. Jack sometimes still went and had something at the cafe, but more often than not, he just ate what Elizabeth made him. She was glad that they had the ability to enjoy the cafe, but she also knew that it was better in the long run if Jack didn't eat there everyday.

While Elizabeth was making their lunches, Jack couldn't help but notice that she kept glancing at him. He knew that the jeans were a little tighter and more form fitting then what he usually wore. Jack thought that it was cute that Elizabeth was checking out his body. When Elizabeth looked up and she saw that Jack saw her looking, she blushed. He loved when she did that. It was so adorable, he couldn't help but smile. He hoped that they never lost that desire to check each other out when they thought that the other wasn't looking. It was so funny that Jack could make her blush after they had been together so often. It was even funnier when he was fully dressed and could make Elizabeth blush with a look. She had seen him naked and explored his body, but she blushed when he caught her checking out his body in clothes.

Elizabeth gathered her things for school and Jack helped her with her coat. They stepped out onto the porch, she linked her arm with his and they walked arm in arm to town. As usual when Jack walked Elizabeth to school, he got the stove going. He noticed they were a little low on firewood, so he carried a few arm loads into the school from where it was stacked under the back steps. He also noticed that it was getting a little low. He made a mental note to split wood. He thought that maybe he could even do that that morning, depending on what was waiting for him at the office. He still couldn't shake that feeling, but it was clear to him that it was something to do with Elizabeth, so he wanted to stay close. Splitting and delivering wood to the school would accomplish that.

After Jack left Elizabeth at the school, he headed to the jail. He wanted to talk to Bill about the man the girls had described. He also planned on talking to Lee, but wanted to talk to Bill first. Jack was frustrated and knew that he needed to do something physical that day or he was going to really go off on someone. First thing that Jack did was get some coffee. Before Bill got back from breakfast, Jack made a copy of the drawing that Laura had made. Bill agreed that the man sounded familiar, but he couldn't place him. They went to talk to Lee together. Lee said the same thing, the man sounded familiar but couldn't place him. The one thing that Lee was sure of, was that it wasn't one of his men. He said that he knew all of his men and the drawing wasn't one of them. He suggested that they check with the railroad office. Even though they were still in the process of working on things for laying a spur line to the sawmill, the railroad had an office here since it was looking at laying track through Hope Valley.

After a quick stop at the railroad office, Bill and Jack returned to the jail even more frustrated. Everyone agreed that the man sounded/looked familiar but couldn't place him. Jack and Bill were both frustrated. How can no one place the person, but all agree that he was familiar? Neither Jack or Bill could understand how that could happen. They both thought that they had a good lead with Lee and/or the railroad.

"I need to do something." Jack announced. "Both the office and the school could use some more wood, so I will be out splitting wood. You know where to find me."

"Mind if I keep that picture." Bill asked.

"It is a copy that I made this morning." Jack said. "So go ahead. I will leave Laura's original in my desk."

Jack wasn't sure what Bill was going to do, but he needed to work out the frustration he was feeling. A long time ago, Jack had learned that the best way to work out some frustration was to split a load of wood. Not only was it physical and a good workout, but it also gave the weird satisfaction of breaking something. Since coming to Hope Valley, Jack had split a lot of wood, but didn't mind one bit. He had three buildings plus the row house to split for. He also knew that it would give him time to think about everything that was going on. Jack grabbed both axes and headed to the livery to get the wagon and horses. First thing Jack did was have Kevin sharpen both axes. Jack also wanted to take both horses out, so he borrowed a large wagon. He got Thor and Sergeant harnessed as he knew that Mountie horses were trained with harnesses in case it was needed in an emergency.

Jack had ridden Thor a couple of times, but he wanted to see how he was with the wagon. Thor didn't like the harness or the wagon at first, but settled down after Sergeant nipped at him showing him who was boss. After that Thor was fine just following along with what Sergeant was doing. Jack smiled at the way that Sergeant put Thor in his place and showed him who was in charge. Not that Jack didn't like Thor, but there was a special bond with Sergeant since he had had him since early on in the academy.

The town had a spot where fallen or dead trees were brought and could be split. It was mostly the jail, cafe or schoolhouse that used that wood, but others had used it when in serious need. Lee's men would saw the wood into manageable pieces that could be split. Jack was surprised at how much wood was still there given that it was past the middle of January. Then again, most people just got their firewood from Lee now that he had the sawmill up and running. That was another thing that Jack loved about Lee, he didn't waste any part of the trees that his men cut. If for some reason, there was wood that wasn't acceptable for regular lumber, it was turned into firewood and sold by the bundle. Lee had even found a way to use the sawdust that was created. Jack knew Lee to be resourceful, but seeing him use every fiber of wood was great. It was also good for business as most of the stoves were easily able to burn wood as easily as coal. Since the mine had closed, coal wasn't as available in town. It could still be bought, but it was more expensive than the wood was. Most of the families had switched to wood. Jack was glad that they had switched to wood as he felt that it burned cleaner and didn't leave that dark smoke residue on everything.

Jack decided to load about half the wagon with pieces that he could split in town and then went ahead and split some larger pieces to finish filling the wagon. He started back toward town and headed for the jail first. He unloaded the entire wagon in short order. He then headed back out and again loaded a few pieces to be split in town and then loaded the rest of the wagon with split wood for the schoolhouse. Jack carefully pulled the wagon up near the school. First he arranged the wood that was already under there to one side so it would be easy to stack the fresh stuff. Once he had the wood unloaded he went to the jail and unloaded the rest. He set the axes inside the back door and went to return the wagon.

At the livery, Jack unharnessed the horses and then brushed them down. After he had fed and watered the horses, he got each a treat before heading back toward the jail. He checked his watch and saw that he had time to grab his lunch from the jail and then head to the school to eat with Elizabeth. It wasn't something that he did often, but today was different. It was a nice day so many of the students had chosen to eat outside in the sun. Jack joined Elizabeth on the steps and for a nice lunch. A number of the boys wanted Jack to sit with them, but he just waved and pointed at Elizabeth.

"If it is nice." Jack said. "We should take the horses for a ride this weekend. Thor was a little antsy today but settled well after a little bit of exercise."

"Sounds good." Elizabeth said. "Thanks for the load of firewood."

"You're welcome." Jack said. "But I actually had a different reason for wanting to haul wood today."

"And what would that be?" Elizabeth teased.

"To be close to you." Jack teased back.

Jack finished his food and left the empty pail with Elizabeth. He really wanted to kiss her, but knew that he couldn't/shouldn't in front of the children. So he stood up, flashed her a dimpled grin and raised his eyebrows a couple of times.

"See you after school." Jack said.

"I will be here." Elizabeth teased.

Jack walked away before he did what he wanted. Even though they were married, Jack was aware of the children and didn't want the parents to complain. As he was heading back down main street, he ran into Pastor Frank.

"Bill said I should talk to you." Frank said.

"I was just heading back to the jail." Jack said. "Let's go talk there."

The two walked the short distance, but Jack's mind was already running over a dozen different things. He figured that he knew what this was about, but had no idea what the pastor was going to say. They entered the jail and Jack motioned for Frank to sit. Jack poured each of them a cup of coffee before taking a seat at his desk.

"I think I know this is about." Jack said. "That said, what's going on?"

"I heard that you and Bill were trying to identify a man." Frank said. "When I ran into Bill and he was showing a picture around, I told him that man looked familiar. That was when he said, to find you. Where did you get that description and picture?"

"Two of Elizabeth's older girls." Jack said. "Each of them saw the man independently while they were heading into school yesterday morning. Since we were out at the settlement, Elizabeth just had the girls write out the description of the man. She didn't even know that Laura had actually drawn the picture until I showed her last night."

"Why would they worry about someone that they had seen walking?" Frank asked.

"Well." Jack said. "On Monday, when we got the alert to keep an eye out for the Garrison gang, I decided to talk to the students, since a number of them come in from the surrounding area. Now I didn't mention the gang specifically. All I did was talk to the students about how if someone made them feel uncomfortable for whatever reason, that they were to talk to another adult. If they were really concerned, they could talk to me or Sheriff Avery. I also reminded them to be aware of strangers and to be careful when they were heading to and from school."

"That was a good idea." Frank said. "I have learned that kids usually can sense a person better than most adults."

"That was what I was thinking as well." Jack said. "Anyway, Nellie and Laura both went to Elizabeth yesterday before or during school and talked about a man they had seen. Neither could really explain why the man made them uncomfortable, but did what we asked. Elizabeth had each write out the description. Laura was able to draw a picture and even describe what the man was wearing and the horse he was riding. She also said he smelled like tobacco and alcohol. I have always trusted when a child, horse or dog didn't like someone. I have never been wrong to trust those feelings. I didn't want to scare the kids, but I knew that they would be honest without judgment. Here, have a better look at the originals the girls gave Elizabeth."

Jack opened his top desk drawer and handed three sheets of paper to Frank. On the top was the picture that Laura had drawn. Frank took the papers and looked at the top one for quite some time and then quickly looked at the descriptions. Finally he looked up at Jack.

"His name is Jesse Flynn." Frank said. "He has run with the Garrison gang since he was a teenager. We actually used to be pretty close."

Jack was surprised, but tried not to let it show. He knew he had to get as much information as he could, then he would have to talk to Bill and let headquarters know. He just wasn't sure what he was going to do about anything at the moment.

"Are you sure?" Jack asked.

"I haven't seen him since I went to jail." Frank said. "But yes, I am sure that is Jesse. If he is around, he is most likely looking for me. Jake probably sent him here to get me because they are planning a job and need a good powder man. Jake and the others will be close, but won't risk coming into town. At least not in the daylight, maybe not at all, but trust me that will be close and Jake will keep Jesse on a short leash. Since Jesse has never actually appeared on a wanted poster, Jake likes to use him to scout and run errands."

"If he had been with the Garrisons for years." Jack said. "How has he never been on a wanted poster?"

"Easy." Frank said. "Jesse was always the one to go and check out a bank or place. He then would stay out of sight and be a lookout, catching back up with the gang after the robbery. I think that there was a vague description of Jesse a number of years ago, but he was only about eighteen then. He would be about twenty-five now. A boy does a lot of growing up in that time, so it would be easy to miss him."

"Couple of questions." Jack said. "First, any idea what they would be planning. Second, should we be worried about this Jesse."

"I haven't seen Jesse since I went to prison." Frank said. "Well actually before that. The last time that I saw any of the gang was when I rode away and Jake shot me. Last I knew, Jesse wasn't a violent man. He had a rough time growing up. At the age of sixteen, he left the orphanage and joined Jake Garrison. As far as what they are planning? If they want me, it must be a bank or possibly to stop a train. Now I am just guessing, but those are the two most common ones if they are looking for a powder man."

"Thanks." Jack said. "Can we talk more later? Also let me know if Jesse makes contact."

"Okay." Frank said.

Frank left and Jack slammed his fist on the desk. He didn't want to spook the gang and drive them further underground, but he knew that he needed to let Headquarters know what was going on. He just wished that he knew more of what they were planning. Jack groaned. He realized that he wasn't going to get any more wood split that day and he was looking forward to that physical work. Not only was Jack looking forward to the physical work, he actually needed the physical work. Jack let out another frustrated sigh. He shook his head and tried to get his thoughts in order. He opened his desk and pulled out a couple sheets of paper. He started drafting what he was going to wire headquarters. He also wanted to write a more detailed letter and get that posted before the late stage came in and picked up the mail.