Ned Yost stood before the assembly, pointing to a chalkboard that he had drawn a barely discernible diagram of fossil layers with rudimentarily drawn animals deposited throughout, as he continued his defense of what was then understood within scientific journals. "So you see, the dinosaurs, which aren't alive today, are in this layer, which is said to have been deposited at least one hundred million years ago…"

"Based on what?" Jed Campbell asked.

"Whuh-why the observed rate of sedimentation multiplied by the thickness of the layer…."

"And there is no other way that said sedimentation could be laid down? Say, for instance, a global flood?" he asked.

"Scientists say…"

"I know what scientists say," Jed replied. "Just because I'm a farmer doesn't mean I'm some dumb hick that doesn't read. There's a lot of science involved in farming, and I'll tell you that you don't get something from nothing and that the changes that evolutionists refer to in different plant species are variations of the same kind, changing through natural compatibility or grafting…things like that. But you can't turn an asparagus into a grapefruit because they aren't the same kind…"

"Jed, you're looking at this too simplistically…"

"I'm looking at it realistically. Your story isn't half as baked as you'd like us to think it is."

"Gentlemen," Lee responded, tapping his gavel on his mayoral desk. "Deciding whose story is baked or half baked isn't what we've gathered here today to discuss. Rather, it's should Darwinism be taught in our public schools per the board of education's edict, or should Governor Bouchard go back to Capital City and change the regulation through executive action, which brings us to the point. What say you, governor?"

Lucas had barely been listening as each of the parents and citizens spoke, already knowing how he was going to decide – which became evident when the governor missed Lee's question.

"Lucas?"

Bouchard snapped to attention and looked at Lee and then the group, slightly disoriented. "I…um. What was the question?" He swallowed.

"I was just asking if you had anything to say about what you've heard so far today," Coulter responded.

Lucas nodded, then looked across the room. "What does Mrs. Thornton think? She's the one who knows her students and is qualified to know what she needs to teach."

Elizabeth stood. "Well, I personally do not have a problem teaching the theory and don't see that it has to be taught in a way that conflicts with Theism."

"It has in many of the schools it's been added to," Joseph said, speaking up. "There are teachers who are using the teaching of this theory to attack other aspects of Scripture. It's hard enough to raise kids the way they should go without having the school system fight against us."

Elizabeth looked at Canfield. "And I can assure you that I would never do that."

"I know that," Joseph replied. "But we're talking about what's best for the district as a whole, and some may not be as conscientious as you. As a pastor and as a parent, I think I need to point that out."

All eyes turned toward Lucas.

"Okay, then. I guess my decision is to instruct the school board to amend their regulation to allow teachers to tailor their lessons to the students they teach and to stress that the subject should not be taught with an aim of proselytizing them away from their faith," Lucas said.

"But you're still going to let it be taught?" Jed asked.

Lucas stood. "I trust Elizabeth's teaching. Now, if you'll excuse me."

"Uh, Lucas…we have one other agenda item," Lee said as the parents mumbled amongst themselves. "The land for Coulter Lumber."

Lucas thought only a moment. "Work something out with Maisey. I will not get in the middle of this dispute."

"But, the jobs!" Coulter replied.

"Speak with Maisey," Bouchard reiterated. "Edwin. Henry. Would you come into my office for a moment?"

Just then, Elizabeth walked up, followed by Nathan. "Lucas?"

Bouchard stopped, looking at both Elizabeth and Nathan. "Yes?"

"Thank you. I am so glad you have confidence in what I'm teaching. I…."

"You're welcome. If you'll excuse me…" he said before abruptly walking away and heading to his office.

Nathan looked at Elizabeth with confusion and they were joined by Bill.

"What's with him?" Avery asked.

"I don't know," Grant replied.


Lucas entered the room, walking straight past Henry and Edwin and moving toward his desk. Leaning forward, he picked up a piece of paper and walked it to his PR assistant. "Edwin, I need you to cancel the interview with the Beagle for tomorrow and get two tickets back to Capital City. Something has come up, and we need to return."

Edwin tilted his head. "Come up? I…"

"Please do so now. I need to speak with Henry alone," he said, nodding toward the door.

Mitchell straightened his spine and gave a disapproving look but turned and exited the office.

"Henry, while I'm away, I need you to see to the situation with Coulter Lumber and Maisey Hickam. I don't have the time nor the patience to deal with another disagreement between these two…"

"Alright," Henry asked. "What's this about?"

"It's about Jeanette Aucoin."


"I can't believe that Lucas didn't even allow you to present your plans for the new site," Rosemary said as she and Lee gathered near Elizabeth, Nathan, and Bill. "It was almost like the needs of this community meant nothing to him."

"Well, you did allow the school issue to go on and on," Bill responded, critiquing Coulter's job as Mayor in managing the event.

"The school was important," Elizabeth said.

"So are the jobs with the new site," Lee responded. "I'm of half a mind to go in there and have it out with him. He's been avoiding making a decision on this ever since he got here."

"Well, in Lucas's defense," Elizabeth responded. "He is having to listen to a lot of people."

"If he would only listen!" Rosemary said. "He acted like he didn't even want to be bothered with any of this, and if that's the case, he shouldn't be governor. That's just how I feel about it."

"He probably just has something on his mind," Bill responded. "Let's go see what's going on with him." As the whole group started to advance, Avery turned and shook his head. "Nathan and I will handle it."

"But…"

"You're too emotional," Bill said. "We're more likely to get something out of him if he's not put on the defense the moment we walk into the room."

Rosemary frowned. "Why, Bill Avery, if you think…"

Lee turned and gently grasped his wife's shoulders. "Bill's right, sweetheart. We're both a little angry. Let's let them talk to him, and we can talk to him later."


Nathan and Bill walked through the saloon and to the back hallway, stopping when they saw Edwin Mitchell with his ear to the door to Lucas's office, which he'd left cracked open. Quietly, they stepped behind him. From there, they could hear what was being said in the office.

"But why go now?" Henry said.

"Because of this," Lucas replied, showing him the note. "It arrived in the mail yesterday afternoon. I don't know what it means, but I need to find out if it's true."

Henry read the note. "What on earth?"

Bill and Nathan looked at one another, perplexed, just as Edwin felt their presence and turned around.

"Um…the governor is busy in a meeting," Edwin said, his words being ignored by Bill and Nathan, who pushed past him into Bouchard's office.

"What's this about a letter?" Avery asked.

Lucas's eyes darted toward the two men with surprise, but he quickly schooled his expression to one of neutrality as he retrieved the note from Henry's hand and stuck it in his breast pocket. "Just business," he responded, walking toward his desk. "Did you need something?"

"You left in a hurry," Nathan said. "We wanted to check and make sure everything was okay."

"I'm fine. Something personal has come up, and I need to go," Bouchard responded, opening his drawer and replacing his pen and other items to their spots in order to leave a tidy desk.

"Personal – in Capital City?" Grant asked.

Lucas stared at him unflinchingly. "Yes. It may be difficult for you to believe, Nathan, but I do have quite a busy life outside of Hope Valley."

"Hey, I didn't mean…" Nathan said.

"Listen, Lucas, if there is some sort of trouble..." Bill said, his intuition and read of Bouchard telling him that something was.

Lucas maintained an even composure. "Nothing for you to worry about. I should be back in a few days. Now, if you have nothing else that requires my attention, I need to repack for the trip back to Capital City."

Bouchard passed the two men and then turned to Gowen. "I will telephone when I'm done with my visit to see if there are any issues which require my attention. You have my full authority to handle anything that should come up." He then turned to Mitchell. "Edwin, have you called the train station yet?"

"Just about to do that," Mitchell responded, turning and leaving his office. Lucas then looked at the two lawmen who had barged in.

"See yourself out, gentlemen," he said before walking away.


In his room at the hotel, Edwin Mitchell muttered to himself the entire time he repacked his suitcase, wondering why Lucas would suddenly change plans that he'd so assiduously prepared. Taking time to pick up the phone, he asked Florence to call the depot and then finished reserving the governor's cabin. He was replacing the receiver he stopped. His eyes shifted. Slowly, he raised the receiver back to his ear, and his fingers tapped the phone cradle several times, bringing Florence back online. "Yes. I need you to dial Union City."


On the train ride back to Capital City, Lucas scarcely spoke, and he listened even less as Edwin advised on everything from which interview to give next to how to get into the graces with the elderly mother of the head of Parliament at the upcoming end of Summer Celebration.

"The way to some men's hearts is through their women – and in this case, Fulcher's mother, Prudence, is the one it would be 'prudent' to meet," Mitchell joked, disappointed when Bouchard didn't react.

Something didn't feel right and hadn't for quite some time. Nobody knew better than he did what persuasive powers Alcoin could have, using every asset at her disposal to get her way. But to see her rise to be one of the leading criminals in North America? He never would have guessed it. Unless, of course, it wasn't true.

Having lived for some time in San Francisco before coming to Hope Valley, he could now recall hearing the name Shaw around some of the gambling houses that he had visited. But Jeanette was in Cape Fullerton at the time, working as an assistant to a tax accountant making a relatively low sum of money. So, he wondered how it was possible in 1914 for her to already have a name for herself as Shaw running rum. And then there was the element of how successful she'd grown in that amount of time. Someone who would control that sort of territory would have to have an incredible network of connections to not only afford to start up the enterprise but to navigate the many legal hurdles she'd face. Did Jeanette really have that in her? He wondered. Or did she take over where the real Casimir left off, the original likely being dead? If Malory's note was correct and "Shaw" was just a middleman, then who was the one who employed her – and why had she never mentioned him or her before? With so much on his mind, Bouchard would have little sleep until his questions were answered.


"Henry, what did Lucas say before he left so suddenly? It has several of us worried."

Elizabeth Thornton had found Bouchard's business partner inside the Queen of Hearts reading a newspaper at the start of the new day. Having seen Lucas's strange behavior the night before, she couldn't help but see if she could wheedle out the truth herself.

Gowen looked up at his friend and then down again at his coffee cup as he laid down the newspaper. "I can't really say," he replied. "But what I will say is if what I read is true, it's not good."

"What do you mean?"

Gowen considered his words. "The governor has many enemies. Some we know. Some we don't know. And some, we may know but don't know that we know."

She squinted her eyes in confusion.

"He needs to get to the bottom of it quickly because there may be a certain danger still lurking about."

"Danger?"

"Yeah. That's all I can say for now," he responded, picking up his coffee and taking a drink.


After her talk with Henry, Elizabeth promptly made a beeline to the Mountie office to speak with her boyfriend.

"Hey," Nathan said upon seeing her enter.

"I think Lucas is in trouble," she said, concern in her voice.

"In what way?" he asked, in mild annoyance that she was pursuing this path.

"I stopped into the Queen of Hearts this morning to talk to Henry about it."

"Wait. You went to Henry?"

"Yes. I needed to see if I could find out why he was acting the way he was. It's not like Lucas to just whisk into town and then leave again, leaving all matters unsettled - except for the school, of course – and then leave without explanation."

"Elizabeth, I really don't think it's our place to pry into Lucas's business."

"Of course, it's our place," she responded. "Lucas is one of us. He was so distracted during that meeting. And he's been through so much already. If he's having trouble, we should try to help."

"If he wanted our help, he'd ask for it."

"Would he?"

Just then, the door to the office opened, and Bill Avery entered. "Bouchard's gone to see Jeanette Aucoin."

"Jeanette!" Grant and Thornton said.

"What for?" the Mountie added.

"You tell me," Bill responded. "A contact of mine at the Reformatory said he'd made an appointment to speak with her alone this morning. Given their history, I'd think she'd be the last one he'd want to talk to unless it was serious."

"Henry said there could be some danger."

"You talked with Henry?" Bill asked.

"Yes. He said something about if what he read was true, and something about enemies of Lucas, who we know and some we don't know. Beyond that, he wouldn't say."

"You know Bouchard's secretiveness has caused more trouble for this town," Avery responded.

"Lucas hasn't caused trouble for the town," Elizabeth said in defense. "Trouble has followed him."

Avery shook his head. "Exactly what Nathan said when he went after Amos Dixon. What do you think, Nathan?"

Grant's eyes darted toward the other two, and he shrugged. "I have no idea what to think, Bill. This is just hitting us."

"I know. But, you can be sure of one thing," Avery said. "If Jeanette Aucoin is involved, it's not going to be good."


The Women's Reformatory at Capital City was a much smaller and better-funded facility than the Provincial Prison for Women in Union City. It was generally reserved for higher profile cases, like Jeanette Aucoin's, which required higher security. With only fifty beds, it contained some of the worst of the worst, and being an accomplice to a governors-elect's near assassination gained her a prime spot in the facility.

She entered the room at around eleven-fifteen, fifteen minutes later than Lucas's appointment. And when she stepped inside, the governor ruffled some feathers by demanding to be alone. She looked small and tired, yet somehow younger, without any makeup. Gone were her stylish clothes, exchanged for a prisoner's garb. And at once Lucas felt sorry for her and also angry that she had put herself in this position. She had a chance to go straight, to live a better life, but had rejected it for a life of crime. But still, she was a woman he once cared for, still cared for in terms of her humanity. And so, it hurt his heart to see her like this.

The moment the visitation room door shut, the old Jeanette was back. With her seductive smile, she walked toward him.
"What a surprise to see you, Chéri. I wasn't aware I would be getting conjugal visits," she smiled.

Lucas pursed his lips. "Come sit down. We need to talk."

Sighing, Aucoin made her way over to the small table in the room and took a seat. "You always were a little slow to warm up – until you learned to trust me. But I suppose you regret that now."

"I'm not here to talk about us," he said firmly. "I'm here to talk to you about James Malory."

She raised and lowered her eyebrows, slouching back in her seat. "He took his life."

"Did he?" Lucas asked.

Jeanette's eyes turned toward his. "That's what the newspaper said. Do you know differently?"

Lucas nodded, pulling out the note Malory sent him and sliding it across the table. "I received this. It had to be written a couple of days before Malory died. And now, I have questions."

Reading the words, Jeanette's expression remained as it had been, except for a slight slackening of her jaw as she stared at the paper. Setting it back on the table, she didn't look up. "Looks like my friend Jimmy was playing games."

"Was he?" Lucas replied. "Jeanette, I know you couldn't have gotten to where you were without a lot of help – from accountant's assistance to America's most wanted? You weren't working alone."

"Oh, please, Chéri. Certainly, you haven't forgotten how resourceful I can be?"

"You're resourceful. And you're persuasive."

"Some of my many talents," she stated, raising her bare foot under the table and placing it in Lucas's lap.

Bouchard's eyes widened and he stood up from his seat, leaning over the desk. "But what you didn't have at the time was money. The whole reason we went on the run is because you owned Dixon ten thousand dollars for the contraband liquor you, then, couldn't get rid of. You left New Orleans with barely the clothes on your back and got a job as an assistant to some tax accountant at Cape Fullerton. Unless you were embezzling funds – which, there was no report of any such incident - someone had to help you. I need to know who."

"I help myself," she responded.

"Casimir Shaw existed before you went up there. He started in San Francisco and Seattle before showing up in Canada. Either you aren't really Shaw, or you adopted his name once you got started."

"You always did have a wonderful imagination, Lucas," she said. "But I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about."

"Jeanette. This situation is very serious, so don't play games. With Malory dead, your life could be in danger, as well as my own. I need you to tell me who you were working for. Who sent you to me."

Jeanette was quiet for a time but then turned toward Bouchard. "I sent myself. That's the only way it works since I have nobody to look out for me. But I was contacted. I will not tell you by whom. But I will tell you to be careful, Lucas. Whatever Malory thought he was going to tell you is ancient history now and you don't want to go unearthing things that should stay buried. Please, listen to me – Chéri – for your sake and mine."


Lucas left the penitentiary feeling he was no further along than he was before. He knew that Jeanette knew more than she was letting on, and he saw the tinge of fear in her eyes when she said goodbye and was taken away. Something was definitely off and someone was still out there who needed to be captured. Returning to his office, he ordered increased security around Aucoin. She may have been a scoundrel, but he still felt responsible for ensuring she stayed safe. After signing those papers and giving them to Edwin to return to the prison, he made another call – to a friend and colleague he'd gone to school with while living in Montreal who was working as a Private Detective supporting the nation's Deputy Department of Justice. Parker Scott was a bit eccentric, but he had been a good friend and was one of the best.

"Parker Scott, please…Yes. Please tell him it's Lucas Bouchard."

A few seconds later, the telephone in Scott's office rang. Business had been slow due to some internal politics within the Provincial Police, and the call caused the young detective to nearly come out of his chair. Fumbling to sit up, he moved some papers aside and finally found the phone.

"Yes, Angela."

"A Mr. Lucas Bouchard from Capital City calling."

Parker smiled. "Send the call through."

Seconds later, the two men exchanged greetings, and Parker leaned back in his chair as Bouchard explained the reason for the call.

"I received a note from the man who shot me – James Malory."

"The man who hanged himself," Parker replied, aware of the case.

"Perhaps."

"You have doubts?"

"Malory wanted to meet. The letter he wrote was about two days before his supposed suicide. He was going to tell me about who had set him up to come after me – it wasn't Jeanette Aucoin. But before we could meet, he was dead."

"I see why you would think that's suspicious. How can I help?"

"I just finished speaking with Jeanette. She provided no additional information, but I had the sense that she was scared."

"So, why not speak with the police?"

"I may," he replied. "But Malory asked me to tell no one. Presumably, I believe he was concerned about people within the system who might tip whoever is behind this off. So, I thought I'd reach out to you instead since you are a private investigator. Would it be possible for you to travel to Capital City and help investigate this matter? I don't have the wherewithal to do this alone, and you're the first person I thought of outside of my assigned guards and the Mountie in my hometown."

"And you don't trust them?"

"I do. But I want to be careful about too much getting out."

"I understand, and I'll be happy to help you," he replied, looking at his desk and picking up some papers. "If I can just find the newspaper for the latest train schedule."