After Laura arrived to watch Jack, Elizabeth walked to town and to meet Nathan at the Mountie office. Usually she stayed and ate breakfast with Laura and Jack before school, but today she had a phone call to make. She was glad Nathan had agreed to let her call from the Mountie office so there would be privacy. Elizabeth hadn't talked to her father since she started courting Nathan and she wanted to let him know that before asking him about Charles.

Elizabeth saw Newton tied up outside the office. Nathan had most likely already been out on rounds this morning. She pet Newton on the nose before walking up the stairs and knocking on the door. Elizabeth entered as soon as she heard Nathan's voice.

"Good morning sweetheart, are you ready to call your father?" Nathan stood to greet her. He put his arms around her as she put her hands on his chest.

"I'm ready. I know we need to ask him about Charles but first I want to tell him about us."

"Us?"

"Yes. I haven't talked to my parents since we started courting. I have talked about you in the past so I don't think it'll be a huge surprise but I still would like to tell them."

Nathan leaned down and kissed her softly. He wanted the kiss to last longer but he knew that they needed to make the call so Elizabeth could walk to the school. Nathan had moved a chair next to his before she arrived so he led her over to the chair and moved the phone in front of her. He thought it would be best for her to lead the call, rather than him to call as a Mountie.

"Hi Fiona, can you connect me to my father William Thatcher in Hamilton?"

Elizabeth sat waiting for the call to connect. She reached out and took Nathan's hand as she held the receiver up to her ear with the other hand. She heard a click on the other end and then heard her father's voice.

"Hello? Elizabeth?"

"Hello father."

"Is everything alright? You usually don't call in the morning, don't you have school?"

"I do, I wanted to talk to you before I need to go there. Do you have a few minutes to talk?"

"Yes of course. What is going on?"

"First, I wanted to let you know I am here with Nathan Grant, the constable here in Hope Valley. He and I have recently started courting. I love him father and I wanted to let you and mother know."

"I see. Are you happy Elizabeth?"

"I am," Elizabeth looked into Nathan's eyes and smiled, "very happy."

"That is all your mother and I want for you. I know we weren't supportive of your last relationship but I have realized that it was wrong. Perhaps you can come to visit and bring the young man with you so we can meet him."

"I would love for you both to meet Nathan. And his daughter too."

"Daughter?"

"Nathan adopted his niece recently. He has raised her since she was 4 and she is a wonderful girl. Maybe we can all come and visit one day soon. For now, there is another reason I called, other than to share our good news."

"Ok, what is the other reason?" William asked.

"Charles recently showed up in town. He is working with a man named Edward Morton at some type of business but no one can get a straight answer from them. We don't know why they are here or what reason they could have for conducting business in Hope Valley rather than a bigger town like Capital City or Hamilton. Do you know anything about Charles' business that would help us know why he is here?"

"Elizabeth, if Charles is there it is not good." William said.

"Mr. Thatcher, sir. Nathan Grant here. What do you mean?"

"Nathan, if I can call you that, first of all congratulations on your courtship with my daughter. I look forward to meeting you and talking with you more. Charles Kensington used to work for me. My company is very important to me. I heard about deals that Charles was conducting on my behalf which were not entirely legal. Once I learned of this, I fired him immediately but my lawyers said it would be better to keep the circumstances quiet. So I paid him a severance to leave and he started his own company."

"Father, I always heard that Charles left to open his company and it was a mutual decision."

"I'm sorry, Elizabeth. That was the story the lawyers put out there in the papers. But Charles has always been cutting corners and looking for the next big deal to make money. If he is involved with this Edward Morton, neither one of them is up to anything good. I haven't talked to Charles in years but I still talk to his father from time to time. I will try to see if he knows why Charles is there and I can call you back."

"Thank you father. I have to go to school here soon but if you find out anything, you can call Nathan."

"I will do that. I will talk to you both soon, goodbye."

"Goodbye," Elizabeth said as she hung up the phone. She turned to Nathan, "Thank you for being here with me. Hopefully he can find out something to help us."

Nathan nodded, "Can I walk you to school Mrs. Thornton?"

"I'd love that constable," Elizabeth said with a wink as both of them stood.

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Ned was sorting mail behind the counter in the mercantile as Florence unboxed some items onto the shelves. Fiona was sitting by the switchboard reading a new book that she had gotten from the library that morning. Elizabeth had given Fiona a key to the library since she was the only person other than Elizabeth who was there almost every day. Elizabeth had also given a copy of the key to Nathan in case of emergency since his office was across the street, but the three of them were the only ones with keys. Fiona had stopped early before the mercantile opened since she had finished the last book yesterday.

Fiona looked up from her book as she heard the chime on the door. She saw Edward Morton walk in with a man she didn't recognize. She tried to listen as the two men approached Ned, but she kept her head down in her book.

"Mr. Yost, I'd like to introduce you to Charles Kensington. He is visiting from Hamilton. We wanted to talk to you about a business opportunity involving your mercantile here," Edward said.

"What type of opportunity?" Ned asked.

"Would you like to speak somewhere private?" Charles asked, looking around and seeing Florence and Fiona.

"I don't think that is necessary."

"We wanted to talk to you about an offer to purchase the mercantile and…" Edward started before Ned interrupted him.

"I'll stop you both right there, I will not be selling."

"Perhaps you would like to see the offer we have," Charles said, holding out a contract for Ned.

Without looking at the paper Ned said, "I don't need to see the offer. If you both would excuse me I need to get back to work."

Fiona noticed that neither one of the men looked happy as they walked out the door. The door slammed behind them and the building shook. "Well, I never!" Florence said as she walked to the counter.

"Florence, can you watch the switchboard for a few minutes? I need to go talk to Bill."

Florence nodded and went to go sit in front of the switchboard. Fiona walked quickly out of the back door of the mercantile and over to the judges office.

–––––––––––––––––

Bill and Nathan stood in the judge's office later that night. Allie was spending the night at Opal's house so after a quick dinner at home, Nathan came back into town to work with Bill. The two of them stood in the office with maps and paperwork all over the desk. Fiona had talked to Bill earlier about the conversation in the mercantile. Bill couldn't figure out why Edward and Charles would want to buy a mercantile in a small town. Nathan had also noticed them looking at some of the other businesses in town. He had asked Elizabeth to leave the library locked for the last couple days just in case.

Both of them were looking through the information they had collected when there was a knock on the door. Bill and Nathan looked at each other and then back at the door. Nathan started to put the papers away but Bill put his hands on the papers and shook his head. Bill walked over to the door and he looked out the small window at the side. When he saw who it was, he opened the door slightly and motioned for the person to come inside.

Lucas walked in the office and Bill shut the door behind him. Nathan was surprised because Bill trusted Lucas enough to let him in the office with all the papers. Also he was surprised because Lucas was there at night when the saloon was the busiest of the day.

"What are you doing here Lucas? Shouldn't you be at the saloon?" Nathan asked.

"I have Gustav keeping an eye on things. I saw Edward Morton and Charles Kensington having dinner in the saloon so I came here while they were occupied. I set them up in a private room and told Gustav to take a little longer to bring the food."

"Why would you need to do that?" Bill asked as all three of the men stood in front of the desk.

"Edward came to me after he set up in town. He wanted to purchase half of the saloon. He said it was so he could expand the rooms upstairs to have more availability for visitors coming to town. He said his company would front all of the money for the expansion. I had my lawyer look over the papers and it appears legit but something else is going on," Lucas said.

"Why didn't you come to us sooner?" Nathan said.

"I didn't want them to suspect anything. I knew that you and Bill had to be looking into them and I wanted to see if I could figure out what Edward was up to. Now that Charles is here though, it feels like they are trying to move whatever it is along."

"First the saloon, then the mercantile. He already owns his office. I'm curious if he has made any other offers," Bill said.

"I need to get back to the saloon, but if there is anything else I can do let me know," Lucas said.

"For right now, let them think you are still looking into the contract. We will find a way to get a message to you if needed," Nathan said.

Lucas nodded and walked out the door, Bill locking it behind him. Nathan went to the papers on the desk and started to write down what Lucas had told them. The phone rang a couple minutes after Lucas left.

Nathan listened to the one side of the conversation until Bill hung up the phone. "What was that about?"

"That was a friend of mine from the academy Albert Wade. He is a superintendent from headquarters. He checked with a couple people in Hamilton about Charles Kensington and the business relationship between Edward Morton. Apparently this is not the first small town that the two of them have set up shop in."

"How many other towns have they done this with?"

"Five. In all of them, Edward comes to town first. He sets up an office and then tries to buy ownership in other businesses in town, the ones that are vital to the town's survival. Charles comes in at the end to finalize everything. After they own the businesses, they will shut everything down and move onto the next one," Bill explained.

"But what is the reason for doing all of this? There have to be easier ways to make money. And purchasing the saloon and mercantile in Hope Valley can't be worth that much to them."

"It would be worth a lot more than you think. I also had Albert look into CMK Properties. He couldn't find the owner's name but it had another company listed in the documents when the company was created. That company is owned by Charles Kensington."

"So he owns the land outside of Hope Valley too," Nathan said.

"He does. The surveyors who came to Hope Valley recently filed paperwork in Capital City. It was for equipment and tools to be brought out on the next train coming near here. The surveyors found something on that land that would make all the land and businesses in Hope Valley worth more."

"Ok Bill, enough already. What did they find?"

"Oil."