Chapter 197 – A Plan for the Cafe

After Dee left, Wynn went back to his paperwork. He was only there to oversee the auditors, so he was able to go through the paperwork that he had gotten the day before. They had only skimmed it the day before.

"Dad." Andrew said.

"Yes." Wynn said.

"Is everything okay?" Andrew said.

"More or less." Wynn said. "There was someone that approached Beth at the school this morning. He snuck in as Beth was working before school. They are trying to figure out who he is and what he wants."

"Do you need anything from me?" Andrew asked.

"Not at the moment." Wynn said. "I am letting Sheriff Bill Avery and Sergeant Jeremiah Jacobs handle things. I am trying to focus on this investigation and the audit. Since I need to lay low, it works."

"Well let me know if you need anything." Andrew said.

"I will." Wynn said. "Elizabeth and Beth will be making a large family supper tomorrow night. We can eat and talk about the papers that you brought."

"That sounds good." Andrew said.

"I think I will stay in town." David said.

"As you wish." Wynn said. "But I would at least like to introduce you to Beth and Jack."

"We can do that." David said.

"Then I would suggest that we get back to work." Wynn said. "I am sure that others will be along shortly."

The three men were able to all get back to work and Wynn was able to get through a couple bundles of paper and find some answers to the questions that he, Jacobs and Dee had posed in the previous days. Wynn knew that there still might be more information that would be needed, but the papers that Williams had delivered were of great help. He brought several things more than what had been requested.

McGinty could see that Jack was tiring, so he made sure that he had everything that he needed and then left him with one of the guards in the house as it had been. McGinty had been glad to catch up with Jack. He liked working with him, but it hurt to see his best friend struggling. However, McGinty knew that he would do anything he could to help Jack. It went beyond helping a fellow Mountie or even their close friendship. Joe knew that Jack would lay his life down for him and Joe would do the same thing for Jack. Most people didn't realize how close they had become at the academy. Even time stationed apart did little to lessen their friendship. They could look at each other and know what the other was thinking or needed.

Joe was glad that he would be able to work closely with Jack moving forward. Benson Hills was even close enough that they could spend time together even when not working. He hoped that they could find a place between the two towns where they could meet up and go fishing from time to time. Joe was also excited that Jack and Elizabeth were expecting. He knew that Jack had dreamed of being a father, but never thought it would happen. Especially given what had happened with Rosemary and his own father. Seeing how happy Jack was, there was a part of Joe himself that wanted to find a good woman and settle down. Joe had been a little hurt when he learned Jack had gotten married and not told him, but after Jack explained everything, Joe was okay with things. He understood Jack's reasons for not telling a lot of people.

As it turned out, Joe wouldn't have been able to attend anyway, as he had been moving prisoner. He didn't have to tell Jack that he was the one who shot Henry Gowen, Jack just knew. Jack had also let him know that he had done the right thing. As much of a mess that they were in at the moment, Jack assured Joe that he did the right thing when he fired on Gowen when he tried to escape. That helped Joe a lot, he had been struggling with that. It had been the first time that he had had to fire his weapon and actually see someone go down. Yes, Joe had been in other situations, but he had usually been able to talk people into giving up, like Jack had taught him when they were at the academy.

Joe thought about things as he walked back to town. He wondered if he should talk to Wynn or Dee and apologize for what happened. He knew that he would have to think about that a little more. He was also resolved to have a long talk with Pastor Frank at some point. McGinty shook himself from his thoughts as he saw Bill stock from the back of the jail over to the schoolhouse. McGinty wondered what he had missed. He continued into town and saw Jacobs, Dee and Abigail walking toward Abigail's office. McGinty picked up his pace and met Dee and Jacobs at the steps of the mercantile.

"What happened?" McGinty asked.

"I will fill him in." Dee said. "You can head over to the office with Abigail."

"Are you sure?" Jacobs asked.

"Yes." Dee said. "You are needed there. I can handle this. As soon as I send a couple more wires and check if there were any messages, I will be over."

"Thank you." Jacobs said.

Jacobs headed across the street to the office. Dee quickly filled McGinty in on what had happened that morning as best as he knew.

"Thank you." McGinty said. "I will head over to the jail. I will have a conversation with Bill. I saw him head over to the schoolhouse, but I have other paperwork that needs to be done as well."

"Okay." Dee said. "If you need anything, we will be at the office with the auditors."

"Got it." McGinty said.

Dee headed up the steps into the mercantile and McGinty headed to the jail.

When Elizabeth Rose, Patty and Charlotte got back to the cafe they all took a moment to write out what had happened that morning in case it was needed. When they were done with that they immediately jumped back into help Ann.

"Everything okay?" Ann asked.

"Yes." Elizabeth Rose said. "We're sorry we left so abruptly. We had to deal with something."

"No it was okay." Ann said. "The rush was winding down as it was."

"Still." Elizabeth Rose said. "If you need to sit down and take a break, the three of us can handle things for a bit."

"I might sit down and have a bite to eat." Ann said.

"Do you what you need to do?" Patty said. "We can handle things."

The ladies went about cleaning up the cafe from the breakfast rush and getting things ready for lunch. Because of how busy they were at lunch, Ann was going to talk to Abigail again about the boxed lunches to go for the men. Ann had learned that most of the lumberjacks and other men coming in were single and staying out at the mill. As Ann sat down with a scone and a cup of tea, she looked at Elizabeth Rose. Ann thought that maybe she might be able to talk to Abigail with her and show her how valuable it would be.

"Elizabeth." Ann said.

"Yes." Elizabeth Rose said.

"Can you come sit for a moment?" Ann asked.

Elizabeth Rose handed the knife to Patty and went to sit with Ann for a moment.

"I mentioned this to Abigail before." Ann said. "But I don't think that she can see how it would work. I know that it might be hard to start with but, I think that it might be a great business opportunity."

"What are you talking about?" Elizabeth Rose asked.

"I told her about this little cafe in the town that Tom worked at before we came out here." Ann said. "The ladies did a to-go box for the workers. The men who came in the morning would order one or two sandwiches and a cookie or Abigail could do scones. The ladies would add a couple pennies for the to-go box. Some of the men would just order the sandwiches and then bring their own lunch pail."

"I think that would be a wonderful idea." Elizabeth Rose said. "I can see a lot of the men doing that, especially with all the new men coming in at the mill. What would you do for sandwiches?"

"We could do chicken, meatloaf or roast beef." Ann said. "All we have to do is cook extra as the supper hour is winding down and then it would be fine for sandwiches the next morning. It would mean baking a lot more bread and ordering more cheese, but I think it would be great. Everyone loves Abigail's cookies and scones so it would be easy to put a lunch together. It would mean ordering more of those bags up front as well as some of those to-go boxes. It would be easy to order and store them. You would only make up a box when it was needed."

"Like I said it would be a great idea." Elizabeth Rose said. "Abigail could have a set menu of what the sandwiches would be. I think that roast beef a couple times a week, meatloaf, chicken."

"You could do bacon as well." Patty said. "My brothers told me about these bacon sandwiches that were popular overseas. They are bacon and mayo. You can add veggies if you want. My brothers added cucumbers and lettuce when it was available."

"Like the old fashioned tea sandwiches back home." Ann said.

"Yes, something like that." Patty said.

"I think that they would be easy to do." Charlotte said. "It would also make it easy for the guys to have a good meal and not worry about being late getting back to work. Ned said that a lot of the men come to buy jerky and cheese to have for their noon meal because they don't have time to come into town to sit and eat. He had had to order a lot more jerky. I think that the sandwiches would go over better. Just be careful about stepping on toes."

"That was what I was thinking." Ann said. "I think we could even figure out a way to do the orders and take them out to the mill later so that the sandwiches stay fresh. I don't think that Ned would mind as he has been doing plenty of other business. There will also always be men who prefer the jerky and cheese."

"I will talk to Abigail more about it." Elizabeth Rose said. "I will look into a few things and talk to her next week."

"Thank you." Ann said. "I don't want Abigail to think I am trying to take over, but I see it as a great way to expand and have another income stream."

"No, I agree." Elizabeth Rose said. "Abigail just has so much going on, that she can't even think about taking something else on, but hopefully we can get it up and going and show her how easy it will be. I can see it paying for itself in a couple of weeks."

"I agree." Ann said. "The last place that my Tom worked, he was the only one married. So all the other men got sandwiches from the cafe. They would get one or two and then something sweet. The boss would have coffee and water available for the men at lunch time. Occasionally, they would get fruit and have that for an extra charge. Fridays were cheese sandwiches, so the men either ordered those or went and got jerky for themselves."

"I am sure that Lee would do that." Charlotte said. "Especially if it means that his men will be back at work on time. I think that the cheese sandwiches on Friday are a good idea. It would be easy and it would also not step on Ned's toes. You could make a cheese sandwich and a cookie for a lower price."

"I agree." Elizabeth Rose said. "Let's get ready for lunch. I will look into the details and talk to Abigail next week. If I have any other questions, I will come talk to you Ann."

"Thank you." Ann said.

The ladies went back to work and while they were doing that Elizabeth Rose was thinking about contacting a friend that did something similar for the doctors and Mounties in Hamilton.

While the ladies were making plans over at the cafe, Jacobs and Abigail entered her office to find the three men hard at work. Abigail went to her desk and Jacobs immediately went to sit next to Wynn. There was so much that Jacobs was thinking about and needed to work out. He took a moment and wrote a few notes so that he could refer back to them. He knew that there were things that he needed to order for both Hope Valley and Benson Hills, but he also knew that they could wait at the moment since they would arrive in time to make a difference at the moment.

After Jacobs was done making his notes and looking through the wires that had come through that were sitting between him and Wynn, he was handed the bundles of papers that Wynn had gotten through that morning.

"Please look through these." Wynn said. "I was able to answer several questions, but you might see something that I didn't."

"I can do that." Jacobs said. "I need to speak to you about something, but it can wait."

Wynn nodded and grabbed a new bundle of papers. Jacobs started going through the papers that he had been handed. He grabbed the master list of questions and then made notes in his own copy of notes. Jacobs then started looking for more answers. Abigail was working the cafe books, so she could be there in case there were questions.

It was more than twenty minutes after Jacobs and Abigail had entered the office that Dee came back in. He immediately went and handed an envelope to Abigail and then sat down, handing the remaining stack to his father. Abigail read her message as Wynn started looking at the ones that Dee had handed him. It was Andrew that saw the look on Abigail's face.

"Mrs Stanton." Andrew said. "Is everything alright?"

Andrew's works caused both Jacobs and Wynn to look up.

"I don't know." Abigail said. "This is a wire from the Assistant Superintendent to Western Schools saying that Elizabeth Thatcher has been suspended because she didn't actually graduate, but her father had bought her license. It says that until she can prove that her license is real and she actually attended teacher college, she is not allowed to teach."

"Nonsense." Andrew said. "I have proof that Beth attended school. The money for her education came out of her trust fund. Also I was there when she graduated. She didn't know that I was there, but I saw her graduate. She wrote to Sophie about how hard she worked to graduate six months early."

"Then I wouldn't worry about things." Jacobs said. "I have a feeling that the wire you, Abigail, just received was a last ditch attempt to discredit Elizabeth from someone that was angry his actions have caught up with him."

"I agree." Wynn said. "Especially since I have a wire here from the Ministry of Education telling me that Elizabeth Thornton is in good standing for teaching and can continue to teach as long as she wants and you want her here, despite being married."

"Good." Abigail said. "But you know that we are going to have to talk to Elizabeth about this. If we don't and she finds out, she will not be happy."

"I know." Wynn said. "But please let me do it. I know that she didn't do anything wrong and we have proof. Right now, we need to find a way to shut Higgins and his son down."

"Is there anything else in the wires?" Jacobs asked.

"Lots of support for Beth, Charlotte and my wife." Wynn said. "What isn't clear is if Higgins sent his son or the son came because he was angry his father was removed from his position."

"I will get to the bottom of it later." Jacobs said. "Elizabeth can teach, we will deal with things later. It is Friday and there is still plenty of work to do."

"I agree." Wynn said. "Let's focus on what we have in front of us. We can deal with the audit and the paperwork that was delivered. Young Mr Higgins can spend the weekend in jail if he doesn't want to talk to us."

"Then I say we table things with Higgins for the rest of the day." Abigail said. "We can gather information and talk to the people involved tomorrow."

"I agree." Jacobs said.