"Alright. We know you went to see Jeanette Aucoin, so if that's what this is about, you can dispense with that formality. So, spill it. What's really going on here?" Bill said as Lucas instructed Edwin to shut the door.

Bouchard had gathered Avery, Grant, Gowen, and Mitchell in his office to inform them of the risk to Aucoin and his plans to address it. He waited until Edwin retook his seat to answer Bill's question.

"I received a note from James Malory a few days ago. He wanted to confess to me that Jeanette Aucoin was not Casimir Shaw."

"She wasn't?" Mitchell asked.

"No. I should have recognized it at the time, but things were happening too fast. I remember hearing about Shaw when I was in San Francisco in fourteen and fifteen, and he or she was well established. I know for a fact that Jeanette was living at Cape Fullerton and, I believe, was engaged in honest employment. She couldn't have been Shaw back then so I believe his persona is something she had adopted more recently – perhaps on her own or perhaps by instruction from who she was working for."

"Who she was working for?" Bill asked.

"Yes. Malory's note said that Shaw was a middleman and that they were sent by someone else. I don't believe that Jeanette's plan was to ever physically harm me – or anyone else. Rather, things got out of hand."

Nathan furrowed his brow. "Assuming this is true, why would Malory be writing you about it?"

"I believe he was going to give me the name of who they were working for. He was afraid of what would happen to him if that information got into the wrong hands before it got to me, so he requested an in-person meeting. He did this at least 3 days before his hanging. I will not divulge how his letter got to me, but it got to me outside of the usual channels."

"You mean Prison security," Avery clarified.

"Correct."

"So, he wanted to meet but killed himself before you could respond?" Henry asked.

"He wanted to meet, but he died. I question whether he hung himself."

"You do?" Mitchell asked.

"I do."

"On what basis?" Nathan asked.

"On the basis of the timing of the letter and its contents and on the basis of information I've received concerning certain events at Granville Prison on the evening of his death."

"What events are those?" Bill asked.

"That's not pertinent to why I've called this meeting. Suffice it to say, I believe his death was not an accident, which brings me to why I've called you all here. I need to remove Jeanette Aucoin from the Women's Reformatory and house her in the Hope Valley Jail."

"What?!" Mitchell responded.

"Out of the question," Grant replied.

"With Malory dying under highly suspicious circumstances, I believe that Jeanette's life is also in danger. It appears she may already have suffered repercussions from my visit a couple of days ago. I will not have her killed on my watch."

"Granville and the Women's Reformatory are completely different prisons. Why would you think one applied to the other?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah, unless you think all of our prison system is compromised," Henry replied.

Lucas looked at the group earnestly. "That's a distinct possibility."

Grant smirked. "Anyone else you think is in on this big conspiracy?"

"Indeed, I do," Lucas responded. "Which is why I've hired an independent investigator to pursue this case - which means that Jeanette must be protected. She's a key witness. If we are to uncover a greater plot…"

"Send her someplace else," Nathan replied. "This town has had enough trouble because of you and your associations."

"May I remind you, Constable, that if it weren't for me, there would be no 'this town.' I nearly lost my life running for a job I did not want in order to save this town, and I gave up every dream I'd ever had for the welfare of this town, so for you to sit in my office and question my loyalty to this town is completely inappropriate. My whole life is geared toward serving this town and this province and seeing that they prosper – and it is my judgment as governor that a real and present danger exists to the welfare of ALL in our district that must be stopped. It involves murder, rum-running, and who knows what other crimes. So, we can do it the easy way or the hard way, but Jeanette is coming to Hope Valley, and she will be held in our jail. I will provide additional security as well."

"You don't have that authority, Lucas," Bill replied. "The Mounties are federal, not provincial."

"But the jail is provincial property," Lucas replied. "And as governor, I have every authority to use emergency powers to requisition a cell in the jailhouse to temporarily keep Ms. Aucoin until a more suitable arrangement can be determined. I would prefer to have the cooperation of our local constabulary, but if I can't have that, I will do whatever is required in order to see to it that it is done."

"So, you're giving me no choice," Nathan replied.

"No. I'm giving you a choice, Nathan. You can do the right thing, even if you find it distasteful. You once told me that the reason you became a Mountie is that you wanted to protect the people, keep them safe, to keep order, and that part of that was holding people accountable for their actions. What better way to do that than to help find a killer, a corrupter of justice, a destroyer of everything that is good? You can resist me. That's your prerogative. And I will work around you. But I'd much rather have you on my side…to have my back, as you promised."

Grant stared at Lucas and swallowed, his past words and deeds coming to mind, as well as the implications of what he was asking. Finally, he flinched. "Let's put it to a vote."

Lucas shook his head over Grant's stubbornness. "Alright. A vote it is. Gentlemen, all in favor of housing Ms. Aucoin in the Hope Valley Jail until more suitable arrangements can be made, raise your hand." Bill and Henry raised their hands.

"Edwin?"

"It's a political quagmire, Lucas. Send her any other place. Just not here."

"Your answer is no."

"My answer is no."

"And you, constable?"

"No," Nathan responded.

"And my answer is yes," Lucas responded. "Three to two, the yeses have it. Please ready the jail for her arrival. I'll call and make the arrangements."

Nathan's jaw tightened, and his face turned slightly flush, but he didn't argue. "Fine," he said, turning and stomping out of the office.

"Edwin, please go make travel arrangements and ask the Pinkertons in Capital City to call me. Special Agent Pershing is the contact I would ask for. I believe him to be discrete."

"But…"

"I need this done immediately. I've already taken the time to draw up the order and will telegraph it to the Minister of Justice as soon as I'm done with this meeting."

"For the rest of you," Lucas said. "Bill, a friend of mine, Parker Scott, is the detective I've hired in order to handle this investigation. I need for you to cooperate with him in any way he needs regarding your investigation concerning Jeanette, Malory, and my shooting."

"You really think the prison is compromised?"

"Park visited Jeanette the day after I did and said there was bruising on her body in the shape of a hand. She was very reluctant to speak to him at all."

"How do you know she didn't get into a scuffle?" Henry asked. "Beautiful woman like her…I'm sure someone would do it just for spite."

"I don't, for sure," Lucas said. "But the Jeanette I knew abhorred violence."

"Is that why she took Elizabeth and Rosemary hostage and threatened you with a gun?"

"Threatened. I knew she would never shoot. She doesn't have it in her. There's an entirely different side to her. You just don't know what she's been through."

Henry pondered his words and nodded.

"Well, if you really believe she is the key to something bigger, count me in. I'll help however I can," Avery responded.

"Thank you, Bill. Maybe talking Nathan down a bit would help. I generally use a gentler hand but I believe the situation to be urgent. We must get her out of there and to safety. Sooner rather than later.

"Are these the only records?"

"Yes, Mr. Scott. The department doesn't keep detailed notes on its informants, so I'm afraid that's it."

Parker shook his head as he picked up three pages of notes concerning the Treasury 's relationship with informant Jeanette Alcoin. Normally, such records would be locked away under lock and key, but by special order of the governor, they were opened to Mr. Scott. Now, alone in a back room amidst dusty books, he sat with a thin folder and nothing to go on. The first page consisted of notes on some small businesses from her time as an accountant in Cape Fullerton. The businesses were involved in bootlegging, which, considering the charges Alcoin now sat in prison for, was somewhat ironic. She had discovered their efforts through balancing the books and making payments that she had recognized were going to fraudulent accounts. Lucas had told him very little about her other than that smuggling liquor was part of her former life. He'd seemed disappointed that she returned to it. Perhaps this link showed Scott where it had happened.

Reading through the first two pages, he discovered nothing of importance, certainly nothing to link her to Malory. But it was on the third page that his eyebrows raised. "Well, what have we here?"

"Welcome, Maisey. Please come in."

"Thank you, Mrs. Coulter."

"Oh, please. It's Rosemary. Would you like anything to drink? Tea? Coffee?" Coulter asked as the Mayor of Benson Hills made her way into the Coulter's row house.

"Tea would be nice," she responded, causing Rosemary to move toward the kitchen.

"Your husband is not here yet?" Maisey said, taking a seat on the sofa.

"Oh, Lee is upstairs putting Goldie down for her nap. Lunch should be ready in a few minutes. I hope you like Shepherd's Pie."

Hickam nodded. "It's a quaint little place you have here. Feels very comfortable."

"It is," Rosemary said, pouring the tea into three cups. "I can't believe I've been here for over ten years. I mean when I first arrived, I was a much different person than I am today. I never figured I would settle in a place like this."

"Maisey!"

Lee's voice was heard from the stairwell as he came down to join his guest. The couple had invited the rival mayor to their house for lunch to discuss what compromises she might have concerning Lee buying property in Benson Hills to start a new site. At first, the mayor declined, but for whatever reason, she seemed to have a change of heart. Both were anxious to hear her offer.

"Lee," she said, beginning to stand, but Coulter asked her to stay seated.

"You're our guest. Please make yourself comfortable."

A few minutes later, the three adults were seated at the kitchen table, and what was polite conversation had turned to business.

"Maisey. Just think of the families that live in Benson Hills and what this will mean for them – employment for both areas and, more than that, time to spend together," Rosemary said.

"Benson Hills's value is in its heritage. It's where the pioneers first settled around here, even before they settled in Coal Valley" Maisey countered. "People's grandparents have worked the farms around there and the beauty of the Mountainside….I just can't imagine being without it."

"Times change, Maisey. And what's more important? The people or the place?" she asked.

"Rosie and I were shopping there a few weeks ago, and I ran into one of the coal families. They were lamenting the way that they're having to move from the place they've loved so much, but the jobs just aren't there," Lee added.

"I know it's been quite burdensome, but I'm trying to find work for those families."

"Work is here!" Lee asked. "Look around Hope Valley. We haven't scarred the land to where it's no longer recognizable, nor have we brought any untoward elements here. We've worked to preserve what we've had for so long, and we've been successful. It's taken a lot of work and some sacrifice."

"Yes, but sometimes we need to make a sacrifice – for the greater good," Rosemary added.

Maisey looked at the couple, then again at their house. She nodded. "I know the people need help, but I'm also very well aware of the need for the land to survive. I'll do it."

Rosemary and Lee looked at one another and smiled.

"On one condition," Hickam continued.

"Name it," Lee responded.

Lucas had just finished speaking on the telephone with Special Agent Pershing, who was busy rounding up a team of six Pinkertons to escort and guard Jeanette on the trip from the Capital City Women's Reformatory to Hope Valley. He wished strongly that this part of his life would have long since gone away and was fully aware of the risk he was taking in taking her under his wing, but he believed at this point that the safest place for her was away from the big city. Where she went from there, he would determine later. Edwin had already taken his order to the telegraph office and he expected a call from the prison warden soon as to the arrangements for her transfer. Beyond that, he was simply waiting for Parker's call concerning his research for the day and to tell him that he wanted his old friend to travel back with Alcoin to see if he might get any more out of her and to watch over her as well. If his increased security through the prison system was not enough to keep her from getting hurt, he had no other choice but to take matters into his own hands.

He picked up a notepad to write down his own thoughts on the matter and had just jotted down a few lines when a soft tap came on his door. Looking up, he was surprised to see it was Elizabeth. Immediately, he stood.

"Do you have a minute? If you're not too busy?"

"Of course," Lucas replied, his heart feeling that familiar tug to hold her in his arms as he once did. But he stayed standing with his arms at his side.

"I thought I would bring you my proposed lesson plan for you to share with the Board of Education next time you're there to see them."
"Ah," he said, offering her a seat on the newer settee he had purchased for his office, one that two people could sit on without feeling cramped.

Sitting next to her, he leafed through the pages for a moment, nodding his approval. "This seems like a fair compromise. Thank you."

Elizabeth smiled softly. "You're welcome."

Lucas stood and placed her folder on his desk, and Thornton stood to join him.

"So, is everything else going okay…in your life, that is?" she asked.

Lucas looked out his office window. 'It's fine."

Elizabeth pursed her lips. "Fine?"

Lucas walked over to his globe liquor bar which he seldom visited these days given the need for total sobriety in doing his job, and he poured a glass of Bourbon. "My life is like a fairy tale…written by Mary Shelley." He took a swig of the liquor and returned to his desk.

"That bad?"

Lucas sighed. "Very complicated."

"How so?"

He pondered whether or not to tell her and considered she would find out anyway. "I think you should know. I'm bringing Jeanette Aucoin to Hope Valley to keep her safe."

"What?!" Elizabeth said. "Lucas! How could you?!"
"Please sit down and allow me to explain."

"I don't see what possible justification you could have for doing that to this town…to me - after she held me at gunpoint."

Lucas nodded. "I understand why this is very upsetting to you, but I can't let them kill her."

"Kill her? Who?" she said, her expression morphing from anger to concern.

He shook his head. "Whoever killed Malory. James Malory sent me a letter indicating that Jeanette is not Casimir Shaw, or perhaps she used that name for a time, but that there was someone higher up who had hired them to get to me. I believe he was going to tell me who that someone was when he was killed."

"But his death was a suicide."

"No," he responded. "I don't believe it was. So, once I knew that, I had to leave and see if Jeanette would tell me who it was."

"That was the night of the school meeting."

"Yes. I had just received his letter," he responded. "Seeing her again wasn't something that I'd ever planned, but it reminded me that whatever it is she's done in her life, she was once important to me, and she doesn't deserve this. I truly don't believe she wanted to see me shot, and I don't believe she would have hurt you either. Jeanette isn't like that at all. She abhors violence."

"So, you think someone else set her up to it?" she asked.

"Yes. Someone dangerous. I don't believe she would have done it if she weren't frightened for her life. And that's why I need to get her to safety. They've already gone after her since I visited. I must get her away from Capital City."

"When you say they, do you mean the prison she's in?"

"Yes."

"And you believe she'll be safe here?"

"I'm hiring additional security to ensure her safety. Of course, Nathan isn't happy about it."

"I would imagine not."

"But it's the only thing I can think to do right now. A friend of mine, Parker Scott, he's an excellent Private Detective who has worked for the Department of Justice, he'll be coming with her. If everything I believe is correct, someone much more dangerous than Jeanette is still out there, indicating that not only am I unsafe, but a killer is on the loose, and nobody is safe."

"But if Jeanette worked for this person, how do you know she's safe?"

He looked at Elizabeth with tender eyes. "Because I know her. I know who she really is."

Elizabeth tilted her head incredulously.

"Please. Sit down."

Elizabeth did as instructed, and Lucas pulled up a chair across from her so he could speak with her face-to-face.

"Jeanette grew up in a brothel."

Elizabeth's eyes widened at the revelation, but she remained silent.

"Her father left her mother when she was expecting Jeanette, and she had no way to make ends meet, so she did the only thing she felt she could do to earn enough money to feed two mouths, and that was to sell herself. So the only kind of men that Jeanette got to know were the vermin who would step off of the train that was nearby or the ships and use and abuse the women she knew of as her special aunts. She routinely witnessed beatings and drunkenness….men forcing themselves on women to do some of the most unseemly things, and she personally found two of the women she knew there dead from Opium overdose before she was twelve years old."

"Oh, my," Elizabeth said, her eyes tearing up.

"Being as beautiful as she was, she had to fend for herself more than once, and when it became clear to her mother that she would be asked to join them, she gave her a choice. Sell your wares or find a man. She was fifteen at the time.

Up until that time, the Madame of the brothel had basically used her for slave labor, cooking, and cleaning up. But Jeanette wanted more than that life, so she went out onto the streets and wound up at a tavern on Canal Street right at the edge of the French Quarter, Tony's Tavern. Most people thought it was Italian, but the owner was a man named Antoine Alcoin, and we called him Tony. To call him by his proper name would result in fisticuffs. I made that mistake only once.

"Tony was Jeanette's husband?"

"Yes. He was fifty-eight years old and a widower when she walked into his establishment, and he gave her a job waiting tables. Having grown up the way she did, Jeanette didn't know how to treat men in any other way than to flatter them and treat them in a seductive manner. Still, he considered himself a gentleman and did not marry her or…sleep with her….until she turned eighteen. He was sixty-one and that was about the only gentlemanly thing I remember him doing. He took care of her, but he made her work, which I suppose she didn't mind. But she was very beautiful and had this larger-than-life personality that drew men to her like a moth to a flame. But she never strayed, and he never ceased to remind her that she was where she was because of him, and that she needn't think she could go anywhere else or be anyone else without him. They lived together for ten years, and I was with them when he died in 1913. We were playing poker and he was cleaning me out, until he said he needed to get up and get a breath of fresh air. I knew he hadn't been feeling well, so I was a bit concerned and was watching him as he walked toward the bar. He had Jeanette bring him a drink and then criticized her for how she made it, telling her that she hadn't learned anything in the ten years they'd been together, and then he drank it down, set it on the counter, took two steps, and collapsed. He was dead before his body hit the floor."

"Oh, Lucas!"

"She was devastated. She was a widow at 28 years old and deeply in debt, and I stepped in to help her manage his business. At first, I thought it would go under. Tony's records were such a mess that I could hardly make heads or tails of them, so I began to get things organized. I would work the back room, and Jeanette would handle the tavern as well as deal with anything on the outside – except for tending bar, which I would do at night while she waited on customers and entertained them. It was during this time that we began to develop a romantic relationship with one another. I believe we both were lonely and represented something to each other that was something of an escape. She would frequently have these bouts of melancholy where I would find her curled up in a ball, crying about how she would never be anything. And I told her very clearly that she was smart and beautiful and she could be anything she wanted to be. Little did I know what she would become."

"Where did the bootlegging come in?" Elizabeth asked.

Lucas shook his head. "Later. About six months later, I began to court her. I was keeping the records, which I had pulled together on everything from who owed her money to what money was going out to what inventory we had in stock. And I noticed that we had ordered quite a few crates of some very expensive French cognac, which I knew her clientele didn't drink. I had just inventoried the storehouse, in fact, and hadn't seen any of it. So, I questioned her. At first, she denied she was buying the liquor, but when I pressed her with receipts, she admitted that she'd been purchasing it for several months and a rum runner named St. Georges was taking it and selling it for premium prices in Tennessee – which was a dry state. Needless to say, I wasn't pleased. But she did like she normally would when she'd get in trouble and began to weep, telling me how stressed the entire situation was making her and how it would be only for a little while until she could get on her feet again. I felt so sorry for her that I relented, and soon, she was pulling me into her schemes in the name of it being fun. After a few months of doing this, St. Georges was arrested on an unrelated charge, and she decided to drive the shipments to Tennessee herself. I couldn't allow her to do that alone, and so we hit the road. We were almost arrested in Memphis, and the local police took shots at us, which is when I decided the price for her 'fun' was too much and decided to get out. I know I was foolish, but I cared for her. We discussed marrying but never seriously so. We had a different outlook on life, and I knew that the life she represented was not what I wanted. And so, I broke it off."

"And yet you somehow stayed together when Amos Dixon came calling?" she asked.

Lucas shook his head. "No. We weren't together at that time. In fact, I left Tony's Tavern and was working as a flight instructor at the local airfield and was giving balloon rides."

Elizabeth smiled. "So that's where…"

"Yes. It was in New Orleans. But I didn't entirely abandon her. We would stay in touch and have lunch about once a week. Until one day, she called me in a panic and told me that her shipment was stolen, and she didn't have the money to pay for it, and that she had taken out a loan from someone who had jacked up the interest so high that she couldn't pay for it. She was ten thousand dollars in debt and terrified of what he would do."

"And that's when you gambled in exchange for forgiving her loan."

"That's correct."

"And then he found out and burned down her business?"

"Also correct. I rushed into the building just in time to save her. He was arrested, and knowing how many contacts he had in New Orleans and how he could make people disappear, we decided to hit the road again. I drove her to Cape Fullerton and got her settled and then decided it was best we split up so it would be harder to track us. I lived in San Francisco for about a year before I received a call from her one day telling me about Hope Valley. And the rest is history.

In another life with other circumstances, perhaps she and I could have made a decent life together. But we just don't see things the same way. And, while I will always care for her, I never cared for her like when I met you."

Elizabeth looked into his gentle eyes and began to remember the reasons she had fallen deeply for him. His sweetness, kindness, and generosity of spirit that he possessed that was unequaled with anyone she'd known.

"And so, you feel a responsibility still to care for her," she said. "And that's why you're bringing her to Hope Valley?"

Lucas nodded.

Elizabeth stood from her chair and began to walk toward the door, then turned toward him. "Thank you for telling me her story. While I cannot forget what she did the night she kidnapped me, you've helped me to see that there is a lot more to her story and that perhaps she's gotten herself into a position where she was pushed into this."

"I would bank on it," he said. "Which is why we must find the mastermind of this all and deal with him once and for all."

"And do so while keeping everyone safe?" Elizabeth replied.

"Yes," Lucas said as he stood next to his former fiancée beside the bookcase. Elizabeth turned and wrapped her arms around his waist, and for a short moment, Lucas closed his eyes, memorizing the warmth of her body next to his. While she was doing this, Nathan appeared just at his office door and his lips parted. He watched as they hugged one another and held one another for just a short time.

"I suppose I need to be getting back to work now," Bouchard finally said.

"Oh, yes," Elizabeth responded, backing away. "I…um…" she caught a flash of red in her peripheral vision, and her eyes went wide. "Oh, Nathan! I didn't see you standing there!"

Grant paused, looking at the two of them without smiling. "I, um…I just got here. I wanted to tell the Governor that the Minister of Justice spoke to Headquarters, and I have been given orders to see to it that those guarding Ms. Alcoin have everything they need."

"I see," Lucas said. "Thank you. I have spoken with the Pinkertons and will be speaking in a few moments to my friend Parker Scott about catching the evening train. If they're able to accomplish that, Jeanette should arrive sometime tomorrow night."

Nathan nodded. "Noted," he said as he continued to stand.

"Is there anything else you wanted, Constable?"

Grant looked at Elizabeth and then at Lucas. "No. Nothing. Unless Elizabeth would like to have lunch with me?"

Elizabeth looked at Nathan and shook her head. "No. I'm sorry, but I told Rosemary I would stop by after I came here. Maisey Hickam is having lunch with them, and I want to know everything she said."

"Oh. Okay. Well, maybe later tonight," he said.

"Maybe," Elizabeth responded, then turned to Lucas. "Thank you for our talk, Lucas, and for taking my proposals to the Board. I hope they will set their minds at ease."

"I'm sure they will. It's a very good plan," he smiled.

"Thank you," she said before turning back to Nathan. "Goodbye, Nathan."

"Goodbye…Elizabeth," Grant said, watching her walk out the door. He turned to Bouchard. "I guess I should be going too. Have…work to do."

"Alright. Thank you for stopping by."

"Not a problem. And if you need anything else, you will find me in my office. Thank you…Your Excellency."

Lucas glanced up at him, wondering if the address was made with sarcasm or in earnest. He couldn't tell. "You're welcome, constable. Have a good day."

"Rosemary? Hello? Is anybody home?" Elizabeth walked through the Coulter's open front door expecting to see her friends inside the house, but the rowhouse was quiet. She furrowed her brow but then smiled when she heard Goldie's chatter in the backyard, so she walked to the kitchen door. "There you are!" she said.

Rosemary jumped from her seat in the 'kissing chairs' that Lee and Joseph had built for the Coulter's backyard. "Oh, Elizabeth! You scared me to death. How did you…?"

"You left the front door wide open. Did you mean to do that?"

Rosemary frowned and paused, closing her eyes. "No. No, I didn't," she said quietly.

Elizabeth walked down the stairs and joined her. "Is everything okay?"

Coulter smiled a half-smile and again closed her eyes, shaking her head. "Not really. Yes…."

"Not really? Yes? Rosemary that doesn't make sense."

Rosemary sighed. "We had Maisey over for lunch."

"Yes, you said you were going to."

"Well, she has agreed to allow Lee to build the new site in Benson Hills."

"Oh! Rosemary, that's wonderful!" she said, then noting her friend's demeanor, looked concerned. "Isn't it?"

"On one condition. That we move there."

Elizabeth raised her eyebrows with surprise. "Move? From Hope Valley? But this is your home. Your friends are here. I'm here…"

"I know. But she made a good case that there is more for our family in Benson Hills, more for children, more amenities, a better business situation for Lee – and the men who work for him would have the benefit of having him near them. Plus, she feels if he actually lives in the community, he will be less apt to do something that would damage it because it would be his community too."

"And how do you feel about that?"

"I don't want to go," she said. "But then again, I see her point and, well…I have to think about what is best for my child. We love Hope Valley, and our friends, our neighbors… but I want Goldie to be able to experience all of the good things in life that she possibly can, so if it requires moving to Benson Hills to do that – it may be a sacrifice that we need to make."

Elizabeth stared at her friend in disbelief, feeling hurt over her willingness to leave town and a little guilt over her own unwillingness to not. Had she done the right thing? The thought crossed her mind only for a brief moment, and she tried to push it away, but Elizabeth couldn't help but wonder how their lives would have been different had she gone with Lucas that fateful night in 1920.

Henry and Edwin had just left Lucas's office, each with their own list of things to do, when the phone call came. Answering, Lucas immediately knew that it was Parker as he was anxious to make the final arrangements for his friend to accompany Alcoin. But before he could say anything, Parker had a little news of his own.

"I think I may have found something," he said. "Not sure what it means yet, but it seems a pretty big coincidence."

"Go on," Lucas said with curiosity.

"You know she was working in Cape Fullerton as some sort of an accountant or something."

"Accountant's Assistant for some Tax firm."

"Correct. Do you know who one of her main clients was – who then brought her to Union City to work for him in his business?"

Lucas shook his head, having known she had moved to Union City due to the harsh weather in Cape Fullerton, but not knowing for whom she worked.

"A real estate and investment manager by the name of Walden. Wyman Walden. Heard of him?"

Lucas's face went pale. Jeanette worked for Walden? Was this why she disappeared when he was trying to take Walden down? Catching his breath, he willed himself to think clearly. If she was working for that man who had caused so much trouble for him and the people of Hope Valley, the situation had changed. He needed to know more.

"I most certainly have. He was the man who framed me."

"Apparently, she used her skills as a tax consultant to determine which properties were ripe for takeover. She also kept the Treasury well aware of Walden's activities as well."

"A double agent," Bouchard replied.

"It would appear."

Lucas thought for a moment about how he wanted this investigation to go. He needed to get to the bottom of it all. Walden couldn't have hired her to come after him the night he was shot because he was in jail, and his assets seized. So who?

"I am getting Jeanette transferred to Hope Valley later tonight. She'll be safer here. I have hired Pinkerton Security since I'm not sure who we can trust within the prison system. It will all happen quickly and very discreetly. I would like for you to go with her, to protect her, but also to see what else you can find out both about this Walden situation and about who put her up to approaching me on election day."

"You've got it," Parker replied. "Anything else?"

Lucas shook his head. "No. Just keep this between you and me for right now. I'd like to get a better handle on what is happening before informing anyone else so we have time to understand what needs to happen next."

"I understand. Mum's the word. I guess I need to go pack. What time should I be at the prison?"

"Meet at the train station. The exchange will happen there - around eight."

"Better yet. I guess I'll see you soon, then."

"Yes. We'll meet soon. Godspeed, my friend."

"To you as well."