Chapter 15

Capital City, Alberta Canada

Monday, January 19, 1925

When Lucas finally arrived home, he found MaKayla in the library reading a book. She looked up when she heard him enter. "Good evening, governor. How was…" MaKayla stopped as she saw that Lucas looked upset. "Lucas, is everything Ok?" She asked concerned.

Lucas walked over to the couch and sat down next to her. "Sorry I wasn't home to help you put the kids down for the night." He said softly.

"It was fine. They were tired and did not give me any problems. In fact, they only wanted one story tonight." She told him, as she gently rubbed his arm.

"That's good." Lucas said tiredly. "Balfour finally exhausted all his appeals to lessen his sentence. He was officially sentenced to 25 years in prison today." He told her with a smile that did not reach his eyes. "That chapter is finally closed."

"That's a good thing, right?" She asked as she looked at him quizzically as he did not look happy. "Lucas, what's the matter? You rarely miss tucking the kids in at night except when you are out of town. This was so last minute your being late tonight." She said softly.

Lucas got up and went over to the bar and poured himself a shot of whiskey. As MaKayla watched him her concern grew. Lucas turned around to face her. "Andrew called today. He and Jenny are coming to town. They will be here on Thursday. The reason they are coming is because Andrew was looking into Matthew's death and he has a lead." Lucas said as he downed his drink.

MaKayla now knew what the problem was. Lucas could talk about his best friend without issue as long as the day of his death was not brought up. And it appeared that Andrew had hit that nerve once again.

"When we were in Hope Valley over the holidays, I found out that Andrew was looking into Matthew's death. He wasn't going to tell me until he had more information but I found out anyway. I agreed that we would look in to it together. He has a lot of questions, things that I never thought about before or maybe didn't want to think about. I don't know. But once he brought them to my attention, I too now have doubts about what happened. But today, he found out something very interesting." Lucas told her as he turned back around to pour more whiskey into his glass.

A second glass of whiskey was unusual for Lucas and now she wondered how many he had before he arrived home. "And this interesting news he found out, upset you?" MaKayla asked with trepidation.

Lucas turned back to face her. "He learned that Matthew was investigating some criminal activity in the northern territories." He said as he swallowed his whiskey in one gulp.

"With none other than Jack Thornton. Matthew ended up dead in October 1914 and six months later Jack was dead too. That can't be a coincidence, can it?" He looked for a reaction from her but saw none.

"What if Matthew is somehow the reason that Jack Sr. is dead? How can I ever look my buddy and Elizabeth in the eye again? What if Elizabeth doesn't let Jack spend any more time with us?" Lucas said as his voice started to break.

MaKayla got up and walked over to him. She saw the fear in his eyes. He was terrified of losing Jack again. "Lucas, please. You have to stop this way of thinking. If by some odd chance their deaths are related, you are not responsible for that. Elizabeth would not hold that against you. You're just catastrophizing the situation. Come sit down." She told him as she took his hand and they walked over to the couch.

"Why is Andrew coming to Capital City?" She asked him.

"Jack's superior officer is retired now and lives here in Capital City. He has agreed to speak to us about what he knows. Which from what Andrew said is not much, but if there is anything I learned in the spy game is that people tend to know more then they think they do." Lucas told her.

"Let's take this one step at a time. You and Andrew will talk to this man and then we will take it from there. Lucas, let's not borrow trouble before we have to." MaKayla said with compassion.

"MaKayla, I am so sorry. We get one mess from my past cleaned up and we barely get to breathe again and the next thing pops up. You and the kids don't deserve this. When will this end?" He said as tears prick at his eyes.

"Lucas Bouchard, I knew exactly what I was getting myself into when I married you. Do you remember my vows to you on our wedding day? I told you that I promise to be your guiding light in the darkness, a warming comfort in the cold and a shoulder to lean on when life is too much to bear on your own. Those were not just words to me Lucas. I meant them then and I mean them now." She told him as she smiled up at him.

"Do you remember what Joseph said about our wedding rings?" MaKayla asked him.

Lucas smiled at her. "He said words can be fleeting and in troubling times hard to believe or to even remember. It is during those times; that the wedding ring becomes the enduring symbol of the promises that we made to each other. That the circle of our rings has long been a symbol of unending strength with no weakness." Lucas said with a gentle smile at his wife.

"Look at the ring on your finger. "Nothing is stronger than you and I together. We've got this." She said as she gently touched his hand and then traced the ring on his finger.

"I love you MaKayla. Someday I will make this all up to you. I promise." He told her.

She took his hand and put it on her abdomen. "Do you feel our child moving around in there? There is nothing to make up to me. You have given me everything I have ever wanted. Now how about we go upstairs and you show me just how much you love me." She said with an alluring smile, as she took his hand and lead him up the stairs.

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Capital City, Alberta Canada

Friday, January 23, 1925

Lucas and Andrew were led into the drawing room of Sam Collins' home. "My husband will be right with you." The older woman told them. "Would either of you like something to drink?" Mrs. Collins asked.

"No thank you. We are fine." Lucas told her.

A few minutes later an older gentlemen entered the room. "Good afternoon. Governor, it is a pleasure to meet you, especially since I voted for you." Sam Collins said with a smile as he extended his hand to Lucas who stood up to greet the Superintendent. "And you, young man must be Andrew Donovan." Sam said as he shook Andrew's hand.

Collins took a seat across from the men. "As I told you on the telephone Mr. Donovan, I do remember being contacted by Mr. Aucoin. As I recall he was a saloon owner in New Orleans. Normally I would never take information given by an informant I was not familiar with but Daniel Sterling asked me to speak to him. Daniel explained that Mr. Aucoin was a former agent with the CSIS and if he was calling with information, I needed to listen to him."

"Do you remember what information Mr. Aucoin wanted to pass along?" Lucas asked.

"Since Daniel first contacted me, I have been giving it a lot of thought. It was regarding gun runners. He found out where a lot of the guns were being sent from and if I remember correctly felt he could be of assistance to us with stopping the flow of weapons. Unfortunately, at the time, I was not well and needed to leave to have surgery. Sam told them.

"So, you never met Aucoin yourself?" Andrew asked.

"No, I left for Capital City to have surgery right after speaking with him. In turn I then spoke to Constable Jack Thornton about my conversation with Aucoin. I relayed the information that Aucoin had conveyed to me. Jack was one of the finest Mounties we had, he was leading one of our divisions in the territories. I knew he was the best man to work with Aucoin since I could not. I told Aucoin to get in touch with Thornton when he had more information. I believe that he was to meet with Jack at Fort McPherson around July 15, 1914. Anything discussed by Thornton and Aucoin would be in Jack's reports. It is so unfortunate that we can't ask Jack but as you are aware Constable Thornton died in a training accident in April 1915." Sam said sadly.

Is there anything else you remember about your initial conversation with Aucoin?" Andrew asked.

"Yes, as a matter of fact I do recall a great deal. He told me how he happened to come across this information. He said that he had overheard a conversation at his saloon and on his own decided to look into it further. I believe he said he joined the men in question in a poker game at his establishment. He told the men that he had money troubles and was in need of a lot of money fast or he would lose his business. He preceded to lose at poker and one of the men offered to make him a loan. A few days later the man who had given him the loan returned to the saloon. Aucoin convinced the man that he needed more money and he was willing to do anything to get it. That man put him in touch with an acquaintance that was looking for someone to do something less than legal shall we say." Collins told the men.

"Do you know what kind of job they offered him?" Lucas asked.

"At the time that we spoke I don't believe that he had met with the man yet so he did not know exactly what they intended for him to do but he had a pretty good hunch." Collins informed the men.

"And what is that Aucoin thought they wanted him to do?" Lucas asked afraid of the answer.

"Run guns over the border, of course." Collins told them as Lucas shook his head in consternation.

"Superintendent, did Aucoin give you the name of the man that gave him the initial loan?" Lucas asked.

"I'm sorry Governor, it was long time ago I don't recall if he gave me the name or not. Sorry." Collins told him.

"Was his name perhaps Amos Dixon?" Lucas asked anxiously.

Collins was silent for minute. "Sorry, but I'm really not sure. Do you know this man?" Collins asked him.

Lucas closed his eyes and lowered his head for a moment. "Yes. I do. Things are starting to make a lot more sense to me." Lucas told them as old scenarios started to play out in a different way. "For the record, Matthew Aucoin did not lose at poker unless someone was cheating or he was playing a mark." Lucas said as he smiled knowingly, envisioning Matthew putting on a show.

"Superintendent, is it possible for us to get access to Jack's reports from that time?" Lucas asked.

"Normally, the answer to that question would be no." Sam said with a chuckle. "But after all, you are the Governor of Alberta, so in your case the answer would be yes. I'm afraid though, that they would all be archived and could take a while to get. You would need to put in a request. I would think the timeframe you would want is from July 1914 until Jack's death in April 1915. I would ask to see my reports from the same timeframe as well to verify that I have remember everything correctly." Collins told them.

"Thank you for taking the time to meet with us. This has been very enlightening." Lucas told him.

"I'm glad to have been of some assistance in your endeavor. I hope you are able to find out what you need." Collins told the men as they stood to leave.

"We are well on our way, sir." Lucas told him as they shook hands and left.

As Lucas and Andrew came outside, Lucas said to Declan. "Please drive us back to the mansion." Lucas told his bodyguard.

As the men slipped into the backseat, Andrew couldn't take it. "Come on spill, Lucas. You obviously got more out of that conversation then I did. I'm dying here." Andrew told him with anticipation.

"In November 1915, Jeanette contacted me and told me she was in debt to a man named Amos Dixon. She owed him a great deal of money. Matthew had been gone a little over a year and I had assumed that Jeanette was just not good at running a business; and that she had gotten herself into financial trouble." He told him shaking his head at how wrong he possibly was about Jeanette's ability to run a business.

"I now believe she was not quite up front up with me. I think she was trying to pay off the debt that Matthew had incurred while running his con. Not a debt she incurred from poor management. Dixon kept raising the interest on the loan making it impossible for her to pay it off. He eventually threatened her, which is when she reached out to me for help. She would not accept my money outright, but she did allow me to go another route to help her. To get her out of the debt that she owed Dixon, I challenged him to a game of five card stud to clear the debt. He agreed but only because he was sure he would win." Lucas told him with a flash of anger.

Andrew cocked his head knowingly. "Because he was cheating, which meant you had to cheat to beat him." Andrew said with a sad chuckle.

"Yes. Unfortunately, he found out that I cheated too and he tried to burn down her business in retaliation. He almost succeeded in totally destroying the place and killing Jeanette. We both left New Orleans after he was sent to prison. Fate was not kind to us, as he got out of prison way before he should have. Apparently, he greased the pocket of someone of importance to get out early." Lucas said in disgust.

"He eventually found me in Hope Valley and ended up holding Elizabeth hostage to force me to give him back the money I had won in our card game. Nathan and I thankfully ended up stopping him. He is now serving time in Granville Prison. He is one of the prisoners I have on a watch list and I will be notified immediately if he is released. Tomorrow we will go to the prison and have a chat with Mr. Dixon." Lucas said with a devilish smile.

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The men arrived home and MaKayla was relieved to see that Lucas seemed to be in a better frame of mind. "Did everything go all right with Superintendent Collins?" She asked hopefully.

"It was very enlightening. We can discuss it later." Lucas told her as he kissed her on the forehead. "I'm starving, is dinner ready?" Lucas asked

"It will be in about 15 minutes." MaKayla told him.

"Good. I have one quick telephone call to make and I will join you all in the dining room." Lucas said with a smile.

Once Lucas entered the dining room, he smiled. It felt good to see his family all together gathered around the table. Seamus Donovan, Andrew, Jenny, MaKayla, Ciara, Matthew and soon a new little one. He wanted to savor this moment to hold on to it no matter what happened going forward.

When dinner was finished, Andrew stood up. "I have an announcement I would like to make." He said as everyone looked at him, even the twins were focused on him.

Looking down at his wife. "Jenny and I are expecting a baby in early July." He said with the broadest grin. MaKayla immediately jumped up and went over to her brother, hugging him tight.

"Andrew that is wonderful." She said as she then leaned over and hugged her sister-in-law too. "Our new little one and your baby will be great friends. This is wonderful. We really have to get Sarah to move this way, so we can all be together again raising our families." MaKayla said wistfully.

"That is wonderful news son. I am very happy for both of you." Seamus told him.

Lucas patted his brother-in-law on the back. "Fantastic news." He said happily. Lucas turned his attention to the twins who did not quite know what was going on. "Aunt Jenny is going to have a baby. Soon you will have a new little cousin to play with." Lucas told them.

Not quite understanding, they both happily said. "Baby" and started clapping, causing the adults to break out into laughter.

Later after putting the twins to bed and saying goodnight to their guests, Lucas and MaKayla retired to their room. Sitting on the couch in their room, snuggled together in front of the fire, Lucas kissed his wife's temple. "Tomorrow, Andrew and I are going to make a trip to Granville prison to see an inmate named Amos Dixon. Do you remember me telling you about him?" He asked.

"Yes, the man who was threatening Jeanette about repaying a loan he gave her." MaKayla told him.

"Yes. Except now, I think that loan was part of a sting operation that Matthew was running. I'm fairly certain Jeanette did not know what Matthew was up too. The pieces of what happened ten years ago are taking on a new shape. I am hopeful we will have some answers soon." He told her as he hugged her tightly.

"Don't worry about me and the twins. We will be fine. You do whatever is necessary to find the answers you need. We will be here." MaKayla said as she raised her head to give him a gentle kiss.

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Granville State Prison

Saturday, January 24, 1925

Lucas and Andrew walked into the interrogation room at the prison. Amos Dixon was sitting at a table. "When they told me I had a visitor. I have to say I never expected you Bouchard." Dixon said with a sneer.

"I assume you've kept up on the news, Dixon. Therefore, you know it's now Governor Bouchard." Lucas said coldly. "I'm going to ask you some questions and I want straight answers. Keep in mind, I now have the clout to make your life in this place a living hell and don't think for one second that I won't exercise that clout if I need to." Lucas said giving him a cocky dimpled grin.

"What questions?" Dixon asked with a scowl as Bouchard walked around.

"It was Matthew Aucoin not his wife who borrowed money from you back in 1914, correct?" Lucas asked.

Dixon huffed out a laugh as stared intently at Lucas. "Yes. Your friend said he was in financial trouble and needed money. He was a horrible poker player. I had given him a large loan but he came back to me and said he needed more money, a lot more." Dixon told him.

"Did you give it to him?" Lucas asked

"No, he wanted a substantial amount. But I had an acquaintance who had a job he needed done and it paid well. Aucoin seemed like a good fit so I sent him to talk to him." Dixon said begrudgingly.

"Do you know what kind of job it was?" Lucas asked.

"No, it was on a need-to-know basis. I had no need to know." Dixon told him.

"Aucoin was killed several months after you introduced him to this acquaintance." Lucas said with anger. "With Aucoin dead you went after his widow for the money that he borrowed from you. Do I have that correct, Dixon?"

"Wasn't my fault he was killed. The way I heard it, they were gunning for you, not Aucoin. Dead or alive the money was still owed; wasn't my fault his widow couldn't keep up with the payments. I'm just sorry they didn't get both of you at the same time. Could have saved me a lot of hassle. You have been a major pain for me for a long time Bouchard." He said menacingly.

Andrew observed Lucas. This was a side of Lucas he had never seen before. Cold, menacing yet charming as hell. Skills he had obviously needed to stay a step or two ahead of those who threatened harm to others and eventually himself as a ramification of his need to help others. As he studied Lucas, he wondered if Lucas regretted joining the CSIS after graduation. Andrew suspected that he did not, as he always put his needs last on the priority list. He was a man to be admired for sure.

Lucas walked over to the table and put his hands down on top and leaned forward. "First, Matthew Aucoin was not a horrible poker play. The truth of the matter is that you got played Amos. Now who was the man that you sent Aucoin to talk to?" Lucas said with an eerie softness.

Dixon swallowed hard, if he lied to Bouchard and he found out, he had no doubt that Bouchard would make good on his threat. And right now, he had more to lose messing with Bouchard.

"Wyman Walden"