Bill left on the train first thing the next morning. He had arrived at the train station a few minutes before the train was scheduled to leave and he had to talk to the Mounties in the station to even get on the train. The train was full but he found one seat near the window where he could look at the papers he brought with him. He was still trying to piece together some things when he arrived in Capital City.

It was a short trip to the Capital City jail. He decided to go straight there instead of stopping at headquarters. He would go there if he needed to but he didn't want to give anyone a chance to warn the jail if someone in the Mounties was behind this. He was hoping the warden wasn't in on it and that he could find out some useful information today.

Bill walked in to the main entrance and introduced himself as Judge Bill Avery. He said he needed to speak to someone about a prisoner however it was confidential. The officer at the entrance called for the warden. When the warden arrived, he led Bill to his office.

"What can I help you with Judge Avery?"

"Yes sir. I am working on a case regarding a prisoner here, Edward Morton. He has made threats to someone and I was wondering if you could tell me if he has had visitors while he has been here."

The warden walked over to his desk looking in the books there. He also went to a filing cabinet and pulled out a file. "No, no visitors. He has received a number of letters from his brother though."

"His brother?" Bill asked. "And those letters are inspected before they are given to the prisoner?"

"Just to see who they are from so they can be catalogued. What the prisoners don't know is I actually have one of my secretaries who makes copies of all the letters before we give them to the prisoners. I don't like anything to go on in this prison that I don't know about."

'Thank goodness for a competent leader,' Bill thought. "Would it be possible for me to see those letters?"

"I can get you a copy if you can come back tomorrow. That would help your case right?"

"Absolutely. I will be here. Thank you."

Bill shook hands with the warden making plans to come back first thing in the morning. Bill would go to the train station to buy tickets for his return trip. He would also stop by a local hotel to find a room for the night. He decided not to let anyone know at headquarters that he was in town. Now that he knew letters existed he didn't want to take any chances.

Bill called Gabe back in Hope Valley.

"Bill, did you find anything?" Gabe asked.

"Maybe, I went to the jail today and talked to the warden. I am going back in the morning. I decided not to go to headquarters."

"Wait, why what happened?"

"The warden may have something for me tomorrow. I don't want to take the chance of someone from headquarters calling him and not getting the information. This could be what we need to find him Gabe," Bill said. He didn't want to say too much information over the phone either.

"Ok, I understand. You'll be back tomorrow?"

"Yes, I already bought my ticket for the morning train so I should be in Hope Valley tomorrow night."

"I'll be in the office so come by if you can."

Bill hung up and sat back in the chair in his room. He thought back over his conversation with the warden about Edward. A brother? Bill had done checks into Edward Morton when he came into town. He was an only child. He also had no living relatives. Who were the letters from? Could they be from Charles? From Hargraves?

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Bill arrived at the jail early. The warden was waiting for him and took him to the office immediately. On the warden's desk was a large stack of letters tied by string.

"I didn't realize how many of them there would be," Bill said.

"Some of them aren't very long but we wanted to make sure you had it all. I hope you find what you are looking for."

"Thank you. I need to get to my train. I appreciate it."

Bill put the letters in his briefcase and walked quickly to the train. He had spent the money for a compartment on the train, expecting to need privacy to read the letters. He sat down but waited until the train started to move to open the first letter. He opened the envelope and saw the paper.

It was a list of words with no specific meaning that was evident.

A code of some sorts.

This wasn't going to be as easy as he thought.