Chapter 24 – Finding Answers
Jack decided to send the report back to Buxton with the driver, along with a detailed report of what Abigail wrote. He pulled her note out of his pocket and opened it up. He read through it and then set the typewriter on his desk. He quickly typed up what Abigail had written, much to the annoyance of Price. He also typed up one for his records and would have Abigail sign both of them. He then took her note and placed it in a file on his desk. Jack also typed up what Price had said about his injury. He then added why felt that he was lying. Finally, Jack typed up what had happened at the house that morning. By the time that he was finishing, he was fuming mad at Price and just wanted to kill him. Just as Jack was finishing, Bill walked. He pulled out the daily log and made a couple of notes. He then turned to Jack after seeing Price's pack.
"Here read this." Jack said, handing Bill what he had just typed up.
Bill read through everything twice and then just looked at Jack. He set the papers down and turned back toward the cell. Jack moved to stop Bill, but he didn't get around the desk fast enough.
"Price!" Bill bellowed. "Get your ass out here."
"What the hell do you want?" Price said without moving from the cot.
"I said get out here!" Bill said. "Either you come out here or I will make you."
Price finally stood and limped out of the cell and stood in front of Bill.
"Take that red serge off." Bill said.
"You can't tell me what to do." Price huffed.
"No, but I can." Jack said. "Now, I would listen to him."
Price removed his coat and Jack took it.
"What!?" Price huffed again.
"You don't deserve to wear that." Bill said. "How dare you come into my town and treat people the way that you have treated Mrs Stanton and Mrs Thornton?"
"What the hell is the big deal?" Price said. "It's not like they weren't asking for attention, like most women."
Jack could see Bill ball up his fists. As much as Jack wanted to hit Price, he couldn't. He thought for a second about letting Bill just hit him, but he knew that he couldn't.
"Bill don't." Jack said. "Not worth it."
"Fine." Bill said.
Instead of hitting Price, he pushed him back in the cell, pulled the door shut and locked it.
"At least you can't cause any more trouble there." Bill said. "You can come out when your ride back to Buxton gets here. Just know that I will be making a full report to headquarters."
"I ain't afraid of you." Price sneered. "Don't you know who my father is?"
"I don't care." Bill said. "I am a former Inspector with the Mounties and I have many friends still there. I don't care who you think you are, this is conduct unbecoming of a Mountie and I will see that you are stripped of your badge."
Jack poured a cup of coffee and walked out to the porch. Bill was not that far behind. Both needed to get some air. Jack turned when he saw Elizabeth coming toward the jail. She looked upset. Jack turned to Bill and both wondered what had happened. Elizabeth walked right up to Jack and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. When she stepped back, she handed Jack a note. She stood there while he read it. He read it and then handed it to Bill to read. After Jack handed the note to Bill he pulled Elizabeth into his arms and gave her a hug. Bill handed the note back to Jack. When he released Elizabeth he put it back in his pocket.
"I will get my kit." Bill said.
Bill turned, headed back into the jail and the back room. He grabbed his kit and came back outside.
"Elizabeth." Bill said. "Want to head back to the house with me?"
She looked at Jack and he nodded. Bill and Elizabeth headed back to the row house. Jack stayed on the porch and took a few more deep breaths. He saw McGinty leave the cafe and head back toward the jail. When he got to the porch, Jack motioned for him to sit.
"I am sorry, Joe." Jack said. "But I have to ask you a couple of hard questions. Right now I am your superior officer and not your friend asking questions, but I still want you to be completely open and honest with me."
"Okay." McGinty said. "What is going on?"
"I will tell you, but I need you to answer my questions first." Jack said. "When did you start staying here at the jail with Bill?"
"Sunday night, I think." McGinty said. "Let me think here. We got here on Wednesday night and you left on Thursday. Friday, I had late rounds. Saturday, I helped Bill at the saloon, but stayed at the house. Sunday, Price pissed me off again so yeah. Sunday night."
"Was Price at the house alone before he got injured?" Jack asked.
"Yeah." McGinty said. "Plenty. He didn't want to help Bill with anything that was 'town related' as he said. He kept reminding both of us that he was there to cover rounds and look for the Garrison gang. Everything else was Bill's problem. That was part of the reason that he pissed me off."
"Thank you for being honest." Jack said. "Couple more questions. First when you were at the house, did you at any time go upstairs?"
"Yes." McGinty said. "There was a basket of clean laundry dropped off. I took it and set it just inside your bedroom door. Price made a comment that it must be nice to afford to be able to pay others to do a wife's work."
"Okay." Jack said. "Did you ever go into my bedroom?"
"No Sir." McGinty said. "I would never. It is not proper for a man to enter into a bedroom that is not his own. My mother would kick my ass if I ever went into a woman's room without being invited. I still have trouble when it is for official business."
"Good to know." Jack said. "Thank you for your honesty. Also thank you for everything that you have done to help."
"You're welcome." McGinty said. "Now mind telling me what is going on."
"Well it started this morning when Price walked out of his room in his underwear in front of Elizabeth." Jack said. "Then when I brought him into town after yelling at him, I was informed by Mrs Stanton why he wasn't welcome at the cafe. Then I learned that he was spending cash at the mercantile. Finally, I was informed by my wife, someone had gone through our things and there was money and items missing. Sorry, but I had to ask you before I could explain. I never thought it was you, but you understand."
"Yes." McGinty said. "I am sorry. I should have shared my concerns with Bill and maybe this wouldn't have happened."
"It is not your fault." Jack said. "I thought that I would be able to trust fellow Mounties."
Jack stood up and headed back into the jail. He sat back down at his desk and put a new sheet of paper in the typewriter and typed up what Elizabeth had written, making a second copy as well. He then eyed Price's pack and jacket. Jack stood up and was going to get McGinty when he spotted Ned heading his way. Ned just handed him a folded message and walked away without saying anything. Jack read the message and let out a frustrated groan.
"Keep an eye on Price." Jack said. "Bill locked him in a cell. Don't talk to him, but keep an eye on him and write down if he says anything."
With that Jack walked off toward the cafe. He needed to talk to Clara. He found her in the kitchen with Abigail. There weren't many customers in the dining room since it was past the breakfast rush. Jack was glad that it wasn't busy, he didn't want to make Clara uncomfortable. Jack also knew that he needed to talk to her. He hoped that it would be easy and since it wasn't busy that she would be okay talking to him.
"Clara." Jack said softly. "I was wondering if I could talk to you."
Clara looked at Abigail and then back at Jack. Abigail nodded that it was okay. Jack could sense that she was fearful.
"Clara, it is okay." Jack said. "Abigail told me that something happened with a customer. I am sorry that it happened and I am sorry that I wasn't here for you, but would you be able to tell me what happened? It is very important. I want to understand what happened and who did it. Can you help me, please?"
Clara sat down. Jack took a seat at the table and pulled out his notebook. He waited until Clara was ready. She looked at Abigail and she gave Clara a reassuring nod. Clara took a deep breath and looked at Jack.
"That other Mountie grabbed me." Clara said.
"Do you know which one it was?" Jack asked.
"I don't know his name, but it was the shorter blond haired one." Clara said.
"Did he do anything else?" Jack asked.
"When he had a hold of my arm he said something." Clara said.
"Could you please tell me what he said?" Jack asked. "I don't mean to embarrass you, but it is important."
Clara took another deep breath. Abigail came over and sat with her. She took Clara's hands and looked at her.
"Clara." Abigail said. "Please tell Jack everything. It is okay. We aren't judging you, he wants to help you."
"Okay." Clara said. "He said that he could use a pretty girl like me and he could do whatever he wanted to me and there would be no one to stop him since he was a Mountie. When I told him to leave me alone, he tightened his grip on my arm and leaned closer and said that if I didn't want attention then I shouldn't advertise it. I didn't know what he meant until after Abigail explained it to me. I was so scared, and Abigail wanted me to tell Bill, but I was so scared. Mr Avery is not a Mountie anymore and the other man is. I was really scared that he would do something to me. I have tried to avoid him, but it was hard before he got hurt. He would come in here all the time, until Abigail told him he wasn't welcome."
"Thank you for telling me Clara." Jack said. "I promise that he can't hurt you. And again, I am so sorry that this happened and that I wasn't here to help you."
Jack stood and nodded to both women and excused himself out the side door. Jack got back to the jail about the time that Bill and Elizabeth returned. Bill could tell Jack was fuming mad, so Bill turned to Elizabeth and suggested that she head to the cafe for a cup of tea. He said would send word to Cat that something came up and could she continue to take the children for the afternoon. Elizabeth knew that Cat would take the children and so did Jack, so it wasn't a problem. Elizabeth turned and headed to the cafe. Bill and Jack headed into the jail. Bill wrote a quick note and sent McGinty to take it to Mrs Montgomery at the schoolhouse. McGinty quickly took the note and headed to the schoolhouse. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he could see the anger in both Jack and Bill and really didn't want to be at the jail at the moment. Jack handed Bill the latest wire message and then set about typing up Clara's statement.
When he had everything typed up, he put them in a folder. He headed to the cafe to get the ladies to sign the statements. He was glad that the lunch rush hadn't started. He had the women each read their statements and if they agreed with how it was written to sign both copies. All three read through and signed both copies, then handed them back to Jack. They were happy that Jack was handling this and hoped that it was quickly resolved. Jack then encouraged Elizabeth to stay at the cafe and that he would try to have a late lunch, but it probably wasn't going to happen. She let him know that it was okay. She let him know that she was going to go to the mercantile and then she wanted to head to the house. She just wanted to be alone. Jack promised to try to be home early and that they would have supper together. With that he headed back to the jail.
When Jack got back to the jail, he and Bill went through Price's pack. While McGinty watched. They found cash and the hair pins. They also found a couple of other things. Jack recognized one of the items as his father's pocket watch. They documented everything that they found and everything else that was in the pack. They then went through the pockets of Price's serge they had him remove and found about thirty-five dollars cash in there. They also found a couple sets of handcuff keys that were hidden in the lining of a pocket. Once everything was documented, all three signed the report. Everything else was packed back into Price's pack. They put all of the Mountie issue items on the bottom and personal items on top. The stolen items, money and keys were placed in the safe, along with his gun and knife.
Jack was furious. He was glad that Price was currently locked in a cell. He knew that Bill was angry as well. If there was one thing that neither of them could stand it was a dirty Mountie. Jack needed some air and he also needed to send a couple more telegrams. He grabbed his jacket and headed for the mercantile. When he got there, he quickly wrote out the two messages that he needed to send. He hated to send the two messages, but he knew that he had too. When he handed them to Ned, his eyes got a little big, but didn't say anything. Jack asked him to mark them as extremely urgent. Jack then turned, left the mercantile and headed back to the jail. This was not how Jack thought his day was going to go. He had planned on talking to Frank and seeing if he could learn anything else. He also wanted to try and ride north to see if he could find where Price was injured or injured himself. He had no intention of arresting a fellow Mountie when he got up that morning. Besides everything else going on, he still had the Garrison gang to worry about. He just wanted to catch them and return to when the biggest concern would be breaking up a fight at the saloon.
As if on cue, it started to lightly snow. Jack figured that would cause those from Buxton to slow or possibly even be forced to stay the night. McGinty couldn't stand being in the jail and not doing anything. Since it was lightly snowing, he asked if he could head out and do rounds early and maybe if the weather held, ride by the settlement. Jack reminded him to take a lantern and provisions. McGinty said that he had everything and if it got too bad, he would seek shelter. Bill and Jack nodded to him and McGinty left. There wasn't much that Jack and Bill could do about the Garrisons at the moment, but both knew that it was still a pressing matter. Bill finished writing up what he needed to about the finger prints that he had lifted.
