Jack's voice rung through the house, and Jack saw Anita and Christina emerge at the top of the stairs, their eyes wide.

"Oliver Walker, I know you're here!" Jack yelled again, standing at the foot of the stairs so her voice would echo through the house to the second story and to his office. "If you don't show your face, I'll tell everyone what I just found."

"Aunt Jack, what's going on?" Christina called, but Anita hushed her with a hand to her arm.

The two women's green eyes were wide as they watched Jack and she knew she must look like a maniac with the wicked smile on her face, but she didn't care. She had it--her final piece of proof--and nothing would stop her.

Jack's taunt finally lured Oliver from his den. He materialized at the door of his office, his paunchy face pale and eyes bloodshot. He sagged on his cane when he saw her. "What do you want, Jacqueline? There's nothing more to be done. The decision has been made."

"Well, then you must un-make it!" Jack declared, approaching him. "I have the proof I need to prove Max Slate is bribing you."

Oliver's face instantly blushed a bright crimson, and he took a small step back. "You're bluffing," he cried, spit forming at the corner of his mouth. "That's preposterous. Impossible!"

Jack retrieved the postcard from her apron and brandished it before him. "It's not impossible because I hold my evidence right here, and I'm ready to reveal all of the sordid details of the bribery to the entire town if you don't do what I say."

"Jacqueline, is that really necessary?" Anita asked, gliding down the stairs.

Her face was as pale as her husband's, and the wrinkles around his eyes showed the weight of her years. Though Anita had shown more backbone in the past few weeks than Jack thought possible, she was still a worldly woman who was watching her family's empire on the verge of collapse.

"Donovan will die in--" Jack stopped to glance at the grandfather clock in the stairwell. "Thirteen minutes, and you're the only one who can change that, my dear mayor."

Oliver set his hands on his hips, lips pursed. "Well, then, let's get this over with. Show me your so-called proof." Jack held out the postcard for his examination, and Oliver guffawed. "Why, Jacqueline, this is a blank letter!"

She couldn't resist a grin. "A blank letter from the Attorney General. But let's see what it really says, shall we?" Jack pulled out the match and struck it against the Walkers' fine paneled walls, ignoring Anita's gasp. A flame appeared and Jack held it an inch below the postcard, smiling triumphantly as the words appeared.

"Care to read it?" Jack asked, showing it to her sister while keeping a firm grip on the card. She couldn't afford for Oliver to destroy her one and only piece of evidence.

Anita slowly read the postcard's hidden message aloud, her lips quivering, and Jack studied Oliver's face. At first, it turned a deathly shade of white as he realized the import of the note. When Anita stopped reading, Jack took the note again and hid it in the folds of her apron.

Oliver was silent as he stared at the floor. With that one postcard, Jack realized his dreams of prominence in the state government were dashed. After agreeing to bribery, they would never promote him to a better position. Jack had placed him in an untenable position. If he continued with Max's plan, Jack would expose him and he would risk the destruction of his entire mayoral campaign. But if he freed Donovan, Max would turn on him and his very life would be put at risk.

"Wh-what do I do?" he stuttered, looking with wide eyes from his wife to his sister-in-law.

"The right thing," Jack said, hope soaring in her chest. "You tell the crowd gathered outside that evidence has come to light that vindicates Donovan and clears him of all charges. Then you tell Max that you'll arrest him if he doesn't leave town immediately. And you return the deed to the land to its rightful owner, Donovan. "

Oliver glared at her. "Max will kill me. He'll shoot me just like he shot the sheriff."

"So now you believe me about Titus? Come on, Oliver. Do the right thing," Jack prodded, her empathy for Oliver's position already gone.

"Darling," Anita said, resting her pale hand on her husband's arm. "She's right. You can't let a man die if he's innocent."
"That wasn't going to stop him before," Jack grumbled under her voice.

Oliver's shoulders slumped and Jack smiled. He would tell them. "Fine," he groaned. "But if Max Slate asks me, I'm telling I was coerced. He'll hold you responsible."

A shiver went down Jack's spine--of course Max Slate would blame her and Donovan. Julius's words came back to her. "This won't end till one of them was dead." Even if Oliver released Donovan, would he ever be safe while Max was still alive? Jack ignored the dark thought and focused on the glimpse of hope she now saw.

"I'll announce it immediately," Oliver said, lifting his chin and straightening his snug waistcoat.

Jack touched the spot where the postcard rested. "Just in case you lose your nerve, I'll be waiting. And don't think I won't tell them if I have to. I swear I'll tear everything to the ground before I let Donovan die."

The fire in Jack's eyes must have convinced him because Oliver made no further protests; he accepted his fate with his head bowed. "Fine," he murmured. "You win."
Jack felt a stab of triumph, but she knew the fight wasn't over. It wouldn't be over until Donovan was released from his chains and Max Slate was gone. Oliver leaned against the wall and ran a hand over his balding head, and Jack walked out of the house, her shoulders squared.

The crowd outside murmured restlessly as the men who comprised the firing squad paced in front of the jail. One man spit a wad of tobacco out of the corner of his mouth and leered at Jack as she walked to the edge of the crowd, as close to the place where Donovan would stand as possible. If something went wrong, she still needed to be able to get to him.

"There you are, Aunt Jack!" Corrie murmured, sliding into place beside her. "We've been looking for you." At Jack's pleased expression, Corrie wrinkled her nose. "What happened? Are you alright?"

"They're not going to kill him," Jack said, her eyes on the mayor's mansion.

"What?" Hannah exclaimed from her other side as she pushed through the crowd. "They're not? What changed?"

Jack shrugged. "I found evidence of Max's mayor and convinced our dear old mayor to exonerate Donovan in front of everyone."

"Oh, thank God!" Corrie said, clutching her heart.

"Don't feel too relieved," the doctor murmured behind her. "Look."

He pointed to the far edge of the crowd, and Jack felt her heart quake with fear despite her victory. Max Slate stood on the periphery of the mass of people, his hands tucked into the pockets of his jacket and his hat pulled low over his eyes. Jack knew he had to be armed just in case and suddenly she wished she'd brought her shotgun along. But there was no time to do anything, for just at that moment, Oliver exited his house and stood before the crowd, lifting one hand in the air to quiet them.

The crowd swarmed closer, nearly engulfing Jack and her friends, as they pushed forward to catch his every word. Wind gusted through the crowd, nearly upsetting Oliver's hat that he pressed to his head with one hand, his face still wan.

"Good afternoon, people of Irvington!" His rich voice boomed through the crowd, every ounce of the charisma he'd used to obtain his position in the first place returned to him. He did not even resemble the defeated politician Jack had seen only moments before in the foyer of the mansion. "We are gathered together today on November 9th, 1918 to try and punish Kitchi Donovan, a man accused of first degree murder, destruction of property, and theft. Bring him forth!"

The words weren't the abrupt change of heart Jack had expected, but there was nothing she could do as a few of the ruffians recruited for the firing squad dragged Donovan from his cell. His face was bruised and swollen and Jack saw the evidence of his burns on his arms. Still, the sight of him filled Jack with a hpe she hadn't dared to entertain. He was alive, and he was here.

Donovan's dark eyes searched the crowd for Jack and snagged on her immediately. He offered her a brief smile, and Jack wished she could tell him that he was safe, that she'd protected him, but she couldn't. The man behind him prodded him in the back and Donovan nearly fell as he stumbled forward.

"As you know, Donovan has been sentenced to death via firing squad," Oliver said and Jack saw his eyes skitter to where Max Slate stood. "However, recent evidence has come to light that I, as the representative of the law in this town, cannot ignore. This evidence proves that Kitchi Donovan is innocent of all alleged crimes, both current and in the past. I am proud to announce that he is completely exonerated and free to go!"

Silence passed over the crowd as everyone digested the unexpected outcome. Donovan-freed? Jack watched as Donovan's jaw dropped and he looked from Oliver to Jack. He knew she was responsible for this.

"Release him at once!" Oliver cried, and finally the crowd responded. Some people cheered in support of their beloved schoolteacher, and the firing squad murmured their displeasure. One of the men unlocked the shackles on Donovan's wrists and pulled them away roughly.

As soon as he was free, Jack ran forward and threw herself into his arms. She only caught sight of his blurred smile as he caught her, staggering back a few steps. She buried her head in the crook of his neck and let herself to become lost in every sensation as they touched.

"Jack," Donovan whispered, his voice rough. Just hearing him say her name again brought goosebumps to her arm. "Thank you, Jack. Thank you."

Her arms wound around his shoulders and she pulled him against her, feeling his weakness. Nothing mattered but the two of them anymore. Nothing. Donovan leaned back, the familiar mischievous smile on his face, and he held Jack's face in his hands, rough and blistered. He leaned in to kiss her, but then Max Slate's voice broke through the crowd.

"No!" the man cried, reaching into the waistband of his pants and flourished a revolver. "No, this isn't over!"

The crowd around him drew back with shrieks and cries of fear, and Max's dark eyes gleamed with hatred as he looked from Oliver to Jack and Donovan, standing in each other's arms in front of the jail. Every time Jack had seen Max Slate, he'd appeared suave and collected, but now he was unhinged, waving the gun in every direction.

Oliver was a hundred feet away, too far to stop him and unwilling to do so even if he could. "Now, Max," he said, calling over the crowd that surged away from Jack, Donovan, and Max. "Let's be reasonable about this."

"It's too late for that," he growled between clenched teeth, gesturing to Donovan with the revolver. "My brothers--both of my brothers--are dead because of this filthy Indian, and I've had enough."

Max swung the gun forward and aimed it at Donovan and Jack, clutching each other desperately. "Today, you're going to die," he said, taking a few steps towards them until he was sure to kill them with one shot.

Donovan's eyes locked with Max and she looked between the two men desperately. "No, stop this!" Jack cried, but her evidence was now inconsequential. She took a few steps towards Max, and then heard him click a bullet into the chamber.

"Please, stop!" Jack yelled, using Donovan's weakness to propel herself between him and Max's gun. Max's gun lowered a few inches and Jack's heart beat so loud that she could scarcely hear the cries of outrage from the crowd as they shrinked in fear. She knew only one thing: She would die before she let Max shoot Donovan. Jack held up both hands, palms towards Max. "Would you just stop trying to kill everyone that makes you mad?" she cried. "Your brothers died because they were greedy imbeciles, criminals! If you kill Donovan today in their name, you'll just add to the growing pile of bodies. Your brothers, Titus Fletcher, Donovan. Just--please, stop!"

Jack's impassioned plea only aggravated Max as he growled with spit flying from his mouth, "Imbeciles? Criminals? How dare you!"

The gun flew up towards Jack and suddenly she felt someone grab her arms and fling her out of the way. She fell to the ground just as the gun went off.