Matt had just finished his breakfast and was making his way back to his office to do some hotel paperwork before the meeting at nine o'clock when his day desk clerk, Walter Simpson stopped him.

"Mr. Wentworth, a young boy just dropped this off," Walter said as he handed Matt and envelope, "The boy said he was sorry and he would have delivered it earlier if it weren't for his mother making sure he finished his breakfast. He also said something about being told that he had to wait until this morning to give it to you."

"Thank you, Walter," Matt replied before continuing on his way. When he got to his office he sat down and briefly looked at the envelope to try to determine who it came from before opening it.

As he read the letter his emotions ranged from surprise to dismay. It from Ben Robertson informing him that he and his wife would be gone by the time Matt had received the letter. Ben apologised saying that he thought it best to leave as he didn't want to go into the reasons why he had delayed the hospital contract. Whatever those reasons were, they must be big to make a man like Ben Robertson to just up and go, Matt surmised.

The rest of the letter dealt with a matter that Matt and probably nobody else didn't know about. According to Ben, there was a town ordinance that stated that any contracts or deals the town council makes on behalf of the town must be signed in writing by all standing members. Ben mentioned that it was an obscure ordinance that had never really be enacted upon. The deal with Leah Steelgrave would be the first time that it would be.

After reading the letter again, Matt stood up and began to pace the room a little. Ben was still delaying the hospital deal by leaving town but maybe there was a way around it. The only thing he could count was that this unknown ordinance remained unknown. There was already a plan formulating in his head but he would need to talk to Leah about it.

Looking at the clock in his office he noted that there was still plenty of time to work something out before the nine o'clock meeting. Without hesitating, he made left the hotel and headed to Leah's house. When he arrived there, he started to go towards the front door.

""scuse me Mister Wentworth, you have business with Miss Steelgrave?" Bannister asked as he stepped across the street. Everyone knew Matthew Wentworth, so calling him by name was hardly unusual. The other two had stepped into the street looking in both directions. Tensions were high.

"Bannister? Marshal's comin'!" McKinney called out. With the Marshal in sight, both men retreated to the porch of their cottage.

As he approached, Speed was surprised to see Matt there, red flags shot up immediately, something was wrong!

"Marshal." Bannister greeted as he too stepped away.

"Bannister, Matthew, something wrong Matt?" He asked ushering him to the door of Leah dwelling.

Matt had expected one of Leah's men to approach him but what he didn't expect was the Marshall to turn up so soon. He was hoping to have a private chat with Leah about the situation they were now in. For his plan to succeed, the less people who knew about the problem with the town ordinance the better.

"Good morning, Marshall," Matt said with a hint of joviality in his voice, "I thought I might escort Miss Steelgrave personally to the courthouse as a sign of goodwill from the town council. I see that you had the same idea. Shall we?"

Without waiting for answer, Matt knocked on the front door.

It actually did not strike Speed as odd that Matthew was there, any news was something, and this was good news. He looked back at the three men sitting on what served as a porch across the street. As Matt knocked Speed smiled. "I need to have words with Bannister and his men, let Leah know I'll be back."

"Be back Marshal?" Leah asked as she opened the door for them.

"Yes Ma'am. Need a few words with the men across the street, best strike while the iron's hot. I'll over shortly." He said and stepped across the street and Matt went inside. It had struck Speed that perhaps Matt wanted some time with Leah.

"Boys, I've news that Case has a number of men and they are headed this way." He said flatly.

"Zat so?" Bannister asked. "How many you expectin'?"

"Who saw 'em?" McKinney asked before Speed could respond.

He held up his hand, "Young Jacob Lutz. Spotted them sometime say a week ago, south of here an said there were better than a dozen with him. Not askin' for your help, just lettin' you know there might be trouble for Miss Steelgrave."

Damn sure ta be trouble for you! Santee stated. "Case'll have a score ta settle with you an' that won't come to words, Marshal."

"No, I recon you're right about that." Speed acknowledged. "You boys help pull me and Pike outta fire once, an' I'll not forget that. So speaking as a friend, you need me, I'm there. Pike would be too, if he were here, and I surely wish he was. Might want to be prepared, just in case."

Matt was relieved when the Marshall went off to speak Leah's men. What he had to say was best done in private to give Leah a chance to decide what she wanted to do next.

Looking at Leah, he smiled and tipped his hat, "Good morning. I'm sorry about this unexpected visit but there is something we need to discuss."

As he went inside, he tried to work out a way to tell her the news. Seeing that there was no way to soften it, he took off his hat and went ahead, "I received a letter this morning from Judge Robertson. It seems he and his wife have left for parts unknown. In the letter he advised me of a town ordinance which up until now had no reason to be acted upon. It was written back when Kalispell was first settled and declared a town."

After placing his hat on the side table, he continued, "The town ordinance states that all land as well as all other official dealings done by on behalf of the town of Kalispell by the town council must be in written down. This explains why the judge had to draw up a contract and why he sent it Helena to be scrutinised. What he explain in the letter was that this contract as well as the temporary one we were planning to sign this morning must be signed by all sitting members of the town council. Ben Robertson, by leaving town, has now put an end to any plans you may have."

She blinked a couple of times before dropping her head. Then it came back up. "All sitting members, well then, you can't be a sitting member if you've town. Can you? Has he moved, or simply ran out on his duty to the town?" There was a renewed fire in her eyes.

"So what you're saying amounts to, the man made a plan to meet within the hour, this morning, and has left town in a personal effort to prevent the transfer of the property as he said he would." She continued. She laughed. "And you all were afraid of my fathers involvement, well, I can tell you this Ben Robertson has abandoned his duties and should, no, must be removed from the Town Council. That seems fair."

"I now have yet another option I did not have before, Matthew, he has given me cause to wire Helena and bring down this entire charade! Robertson will have to leave Montana when I finish with him. If I were you, I would be at the Municipal Building at nine o'clock as arranged with a plan to over ride, or just ignore this preposterous ordinance!" Then she paused.

"I know it is not you, Matthew, nor any of the others, so why would Ben Robertson risk everything to block a simple land transaction, which benefits the town?

Matt smiled, "I've already got a plan and I'm glad that you think that something should be done."

He showed Leah to a nearby chair and motioned for a her to sit on it. After she had, he took another which was opposite. "What I have in mind will involved a lot risk but if it works out the payment will be worth it. Ben Robertson went looking for some way to make sure you were stopped on purpose. I had no idea it existed and I'm pretty sure no-one else would as the original town ordinances would be buried somewhere deep in the town records and it would take a lot of looking to find each one of them."

"Now, Ben wouldn't have done this out of spite or even because he doesn't like the Steelgrave name. I believe he was pushed into doing it and leaving town was just a last ditch effort to stop the hospital. I suspect that whoever is behind all of this knows something about the judge that he doesn't want to get out. My years of experience in dealing with this sort thing tells me that it has to be big in order for the judge to throw away eveything like this."

He sighed, "What I am counting on for this plan to work is that nobody goes digging around in the town records. Essentially, my plan is that we go ahead with signing the temporary contract as if there is nothing wrong. The mayoral election is in a couple of months and by then the official contract should be back. The new mayor and the town council he appoints will sign it and by then what we do now won't matter."

"Yes! Yesterday Marshal Guyer told me you and he had spoken to the Judge, and things were worked out on the contract. I had no idea he would do such a thing. Leave town? What is the man thinking, Matt? If it has to be done quietly then so be it, but a motion to remove him at this point seems to solve any future problems he might pose." She stated angrily.

I have no idea what the man's problem is, none at all. I should have known better than to allow him to get his hands on the right of ways, but I trusted him. Damn him! " She blurted out. "Well Matt, you do what you think is best in this case. I think," She exhaled as if regrouping.

"I think removing him may well happen after the election, and I think you have a good plan. So I will follow your lead. We'll sign the temporary contact and begin construction. Stopping it might be a real problem for whoever is behind this."

"Yes, going ahead with the hospital is the only thing we can do. Hopefully, by the time or if somebody bothers to check the town records, construction will be too far gone to stop it. The only thing we have to worry about any future repercussions."

Pausing, he leaned back in the chair a little, "At the moment, I can control the situation but after the mayoral election, I won't be able to. The new mayor will appoint his own town council and I may not be on it. Your father is already ahead of us in the matter with Cole Latham nominating as one of the contenders. If Latham gets in, then you can be sure that he will find out about our ruse."

Leah sat almost emotionless, the news of the ordinance not crushing, as so much of this business had been, However, it rekindled the fire of her drive to see this though, no matter what the cost. "Cole Latham is a snake, pure and simple, but besides you, who might the others be? Surely it's not just Latham running, is it? I mean there has to be others interested in the job."

Cole Latham, Elias' lap dog of a lawyer, and tattletale of all things going on in Kalispell, especially with her and she supposed anything she was doing or not doing. Latham would be a monumental problem, more so than Richard Orr had been, or, for that matter, ever could be. He would be doing what he was told by her father! She knew that Elias could give a damn about a hospital, she also knew that he would likely stop at nothing to prevent her from being successful in any venture.