Elizabeth wasn't sure what had made her more angry, the fact this man came to her house spouting what had to be lies, or that she had let it happen, allowing Allie to hear everything. Either way, she had had enough and found herself slowly standing up, trying to remain calm. "Superintendent Hargraves," she began, "How dare you sit there, in my house, where my son could overhear you saying those awful things about someone important to him. Not to mention, you have no right to talk to Allie about her dad like that. Please leave my house right now, and don't ever come back, or I will be forced to press charges against you, even if you are a Mountie Superintendent."
Andrew Hargraves sat there for a few moments before calmly saying, "Mrs. Thornton, I suggest you rethink those words, as they could be considered threats against law enforcement, and that that could end up causing you problems. For now, I am going to leave, on my own terms, and you will have to wait and see if there are any repercussions you will have to face." Slowly standing up, he placed his hat on his head, and nodded to each person in the room before walking out the door.
It was only Allie's tears that kept Elizabeth from following that man into town and giving him a piece of her mind. How dare he come into her home and say those horrible, terrible things about Nathan. She looked over at Rosemary, who was speechless. But it was Allie's sob's that grounded her for the moment. Together they walked to the sofa and sat down, with Rosemary following.
"Oh, Allie," Elizabeth murmured to her, among other soothing words and sounds, like she did for Jack when he was upset.
In a soft voice, Rosemary said, "I know it doesn't help right now, but no one who knows your dad would ever even think of believing what that man said"
"You don't believe him then, even though he is a Superintendent?" Allie asked through her tears.
"No honey," Elizabeth said, "We don't." Gently pulling away, she made sure Allie was looking her in the eyes before she continued. "Allie, what happened to Jack's father at Fort Clay was nothing more than an accident. A terrible accident for sure, but it was no one's fault, least of all your dad's. I need you to believe that, okay?"
"Okay" she said softly, hoping her teacher was right.
Elizabeth smiled and gently wiped the tears from her cheeks before placing a kiss on her head, and pulling her close. Allie sank into Elizabeth's arms, drawing strength from the woman she looked up too. Suddenly, she took a deep breath and pulled away, startling Elizabeth and Rosemary.
"I am glad my Dad's not in town right now, he was just starting to go back to the fun Uncle Nathan he was before all this happened to him."
Elizabeth agreed, but still couldn't shake the feeling that the timing was a little too coincidental. She was about to voice her thoughts when Lee let himself in, after a quick knock on the door.
"Elizabeth, you are not going to believe… Oh hi, sweetheart, I thought you were at the office." Lee called.
"What is it I won't believe, Lee?" Elizabeth asked, hoping his answer had nothing to do with Superintendent Hargraves.
"There's a Mountie Superintendent in town, and he wants to present a plaque to hang in the Mountie office, in horror of Jack," his enthusiasm suddenly left. "What?" he asked, looking at the two ladies.
"Elizabeth, you and Allie go find Bill, Lee and I will stay with Jack and then come into town a little later."
Elizabeth gave her friend a hug, and headed for the door, with Allie right behind her.
The water tower in the distance had never been a more welcome sight to Nathan as it was at that moment. He and Newton had been going almost nonstop since leaving Buxton, following Hargraves back to Hope Valley. A few miles back, he felt the beginning of a headache, followed by some dizzy spells. Figuring it was because he hadn't eaten or drank anything since early this morning, he tried to ignore it the best he could, knowing that whatever Hargraves was up to would involve him in one way or another. After what felt like forever, he finally found himself at the livery, asking Robert to cool out Newton and make sure he was taken care of properly after the distance they'd covered that day. His first step was to find Bill, after the last entanglement with the Superintendent he knew Bill would be on his side, but also that he would want the details. Walking out of the livery, he quite literally bumped into the man himself.
"Constable Grant," Hargraves said, "Why are you here in Hope Valley, I thought your orders were to report to Union City?"
"I felt like my presence would be more useful here, sir." he answered.
"This day keeps getting better and better, Constable, thank you for helping me out."
"What do you mean, sir?" Nathan asked, emphasizing the title a little.
Trying to keep the smile from his face, Andrew let the question hang for a moment. Enjoying the suspense. Finally, he answered, "Well, you had orders to report to Union City and yet you're here in Hope Valley. And if I am not mistaken, that could be seen as dereliction of duty, which, as you know, carries a punishment with it. Oh, and weren't you told last time, that one more problem and your career with the Mounties would be over?"
"Don't say a word, Nathan." a familiar gruff voice said from behind him. Sending a silent prayer to heaven, he thanked God for Bill being in the right place at the right time.
"Andrew, why don't we take this conversation to my office. You remember the way, right?" Bill asked.
Choosing not to give his former mentor the satisfaction of an answer, he straightened his shoulders and started for the Judge's office. After taking a few steps, he turned around and said, "Why don't we talk at the RCMP office instead, this is, after all, Mountie business."
"True, but my office has nicer chairs." Bill told him before grabbing Nathan's arm and walking towards his office.
Elizabeth and Allie were walking into town, and Elizabeth used the time to try to calm her emotions. How dare this man come into her town and start telling stories like that about Nathan. And how dare he use Jack's memory as a way to spread these awful lies. Why did people have to be so cruel? She wondered. Her thoughts were interrupted when Allie called out, "Dad!?" and ran towards the two men in red serge standing near the livery. Forgetting what she had been thinking about, she hurried to catch up with Allie, feeling the familiar pull inside her whenever Nathan was around.
"Allie, Elizabeth, what are you doing here?" Bill asked, getting worried about the attention they were getting from the rest of the town.
Seeing Allie was about to answer, Elizabeth reached out and gently touched the girl's arm, indicating she would answer. "Superintendent Hargraves paid a visit to my house earlier, and I was hoping to discuss it with you, Bill."
Knowing that Elizabeth had heard whatever Hargraves wanted to say, was the last thing Nathan wanted to hear. Seeing the look in Allie's eyes, he knew she had heard as well. Suddenly overcome with everything that had happened, the euphoria of being with Elizabeth and his new family the last few days, the frustration of being called away, the surprise of seeing Hargraves in Buxton. Add to that the anger and uncertainty of what Andrew was going to do or say to the people of Hope Valley, and the exhaustion of having just come back from Buxton, suddenly overwhelmed him. The world started spinning, and his knees began to buckle until finally nothing.
Elizabeth had seen it in his eyes, the frustration, the anger, and the exhaustion, and had managed to reach Nathan just as his knees gave out. "Nathan?" she cried as she and Bill were suddenly the only thing holding him up. Thankfully, Dr. Carter had been on her way out of the Café and saw what happened. She ran to the group and instructed them to follow her to the infirmary.
Lucas and Henry, having seen Nathan collapse, rushed over to help. Soon they had him lying on the examination bed, and Faith pulled the curtain for some privacy as she began her examination.
Elizabeth, having grabbed his hand, was on the other side of the bed, doing her best to keep calm. Seeing the look of relief on the doctor's face, Elizabeth sank down in the chair behind her. "What happened, Faith?" she asked, trying to keep her voice steady.
"He's going to be fine, Elizabeth. It looks like an extreme case of exhaustion. Nothing that a little rest, some fluids and good food won't fix. I'll let the others know, and then have Minnie bring over some food for him. Molly and I will mix up some liquids for him to drink, but in the meantime, just sit with him in case he wakes up."
The doctor came around the bed and pulled her friend into a hug. "He's going to be okay, Elizabeth, I promise."
Elizabeth nodded and whispered, "Thank you, Faith. Can you send Allie in?"
"Of course." Faith said, as she left.
Feeling the hand she was holding began to squeeze hers, she looked back towards the bed just in time to see the most beautiful blue eyes looking back at her. She smiled, and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead.
"What's going on?" Nathan asked, looking around.
"You're in the infirmary," she didn't get to finish because Allie came running in and took up a spot on the opposite side of the bed.
"Dad, are you okay?" she asked, worry written all over her face, looking between her dad and Mrs. Thornton.
"He's okay, Allie. Dr. Carter says it's exhaustion. Probably from not having anything to eat since breakfast." Elizabeth explained, looking at Nathan while she said it.
"What exactly happened, Elizabeth?" Nathan asked. His memory was still a little hazy.
"You collapsed in the middle of the road, while we were talking. Thank goodness Bill was there, and Henry and Lucas too. I am not sure whether I could have carried you here by myself." Elizabeth teased.
Nathan groaned, thinking of all the ribbing he was going to get from Bill not to mention Lucas, for this
"Oh good, you're awake" they heard Faith say as she was coming around the curtain, holding a tray of food from the café, and Bill not far behind.
"Well, that probably could have gone better," Bill exclaimed after seeing for himself that Nathan was okay before asking, "Nathan, what in the world happened?"
"I don't know Bill, but can we just move on from this?" Nathan pleaded.
"This part, yes, but tell me what's going on with Hargraves? And why are you in Hope Valley anyway, shouldn't you be in Union City by now?"
"Gentleman," Faith interrupted, "Can the questions wait until after we get Nathan feeling better?"
Bill sighed, trying to show how worried he actually was. Andrew being here, and Nathan showing up when he was ordered somewhere else could not add up to anything good, not to mention the worry of thinking something was wrong with Nathan.
"Yes," he agreed, "But Hargraves mentioned something about making sure you are held accountable for your actions, and stormed off to the Jail. Nathan, what is he talking about?"
"Honestly, I don't know. I was told to report to Buxton, meet up with other Mounties and then go to Union City. Gabe and I got to Buxton and found Hargraves waiting in the RCMP Office. He said that the other Mounties had gone ahead, but we could take the next train. Turns out that wasn't true either, but when I went to question him, Hargreaves had already left. Early, he had mentioned a visit to Hope Valley to present a plaque for Constable Thornton as an official memorial at the jail. Some of the things he said didn't add up, and when I realized we really weren't needed in Union City, I came back to Hope Valley. He mentioned charging me with dereliction of duty for not obeying my orders. Then this happened."
Gabriel Kinslow finally made it to Hope Valley, even after all the issues he had run into on the way. After Nathan had left Buxton, Gabe and Constable Collins went back to the RCMP office to talk. Thankfully, Superintendent Hargraves had left, so they could speak in private. Having explained what had brought him and Nathan to Buxton, Constable Collins then explained that he had been called to Union City the night before. No one there had any record of the orders being issued, so he stayed the night and had come back this morning. The simple conclusion was Hargraves had lured him and Nathan to Buxton, to give him time to go to Hope Valley, but there was no indication of why he would do that.
Constable Collins had sat down in the chair and noticed a torn piece of paper had gotten stuck under the desk. He picked it up and placed it on the desk for both men to see. It looked like the bottom half of a supply order form, with the letter A, followed by the words Office, Dixon, Valley, written vertically. "Well, that's not helpful," Constable Collins said with a frown. After a moment, he continued, "Wait, wasn't there an incident in Hope Valley some time ago that involved someone name Dixon? Do you think this has something to do with Hope Valley?"
"I seem to remember Nathan mentioning something about that. How the saloon owner had tried to fix a problem but just made things worse. I can't recall the name exactly, but one of the names was Dixon, that I remember."
"Constable Kinsow, do you think it's possible that Superintendent Hargraves is…" he couldn't bring himself to say the word, but it was too painful. His came from a Mountie family, both past and present, and had grown up knowing they were good, honest men who wanted to do the right thing. The idea that one of them had betrayed the brotherhood was unfathomable to him.
"Seems like it might be worth it to find out." Gabe said, standing up and heading out the door. If this was true, he needed to catch Nathan as soon as possible. Who knows what he would be returning too. "Larry," he said, looking the other Constable in the eyes. "Is there anyone you trust, implicitly, that might be able to help us with this?" Having known Constable Collins since they were boys, Gabe knew that he had a lot of family within the different ranks of the Mounties, but had always refused to take advantage of that fact. He hoped his friend would understand what he was saying.
After a few moments, Constable Collins reluctantly nodded his head. Releasing the breath he was holding, Gabe headed out the door, to the livery, hoping Nathan wasn't too far ahead of him. Unfortunately, a few miles out of Buxton, his horse had thrown a shoe, but he was able to find a blacksmith and soon was on his way again.
The young man at the stables offered to cool down and take care of his horse, as he was just finishing with Constable Grant's horse. Thanking the young man, Gabe headed towards the RCMP office. The scene felt oddly familiar as he walked in to see Superintendent Hargraves sitting at the desk, a big smile on his face.
"Constable Kinslow, you disobeyed orders too?" he asked.
Choosing not to answer that question, he looked around, asking, "Where is Constable Grant? I saw his horse at the livery a few minutes ago?"
"Never mind about that, Constable. For now, please go to the infirmary and stand guard. Constable Grant is not allowed to leave that building unless I am accompanying him. But make no mistake, you will be punished for your disobedience at a later time."