Commander Lukeman gave Matty a huge bear hug.

"It is so nice to see you again."

He looked around the Pub.

"This place has certainly changed and the village looks amazing."

"Thank you, Don. Most of these changes are due to my hubby, Bill."

Bill joined the two and shook the Commander's hand.

"It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Sir. Matty speaks so highly of you."

Commander Lukeman laughed.

"A pleasure Bill. But please call me Don.

And when did you two get married?"

Matty laughed and held up her hand, showing the beautiful engagement ring.

"We are only engaged, but the way it is here in the Bay, is if you live with someone, then he is your hubby."

She looked lovingly at Bill.

"Besides, it is only a matter of time before we make this thing legal."

Matty took a deep breath.

"I have informed all those involved to do video statements, except for Clayton Rideout and his sons Billy and Wike."

"I have instructed my Officers to watch the statements and ask any pertinent questions to make sure we have all the facts. They will also get statements from the Rideout's."

As they spoke, the six Officer took one of the villagers and sat at a table, with their Apple laptops to view the statements.

Yolanda was offering coffee to all those present.

"I assume you and Bill have your statements prepared?"

Matty pulled two flash drives from her pocket and passed them to the Commander.

Commander Lukeman walked to the nearest table and passed the flash drives to the Officer.

"Take these into evidence. I will view them later and talk to Bill and Matty."

He walked from the table and back to Matty and Bill.

"Why don't we take a walk back to your place. I saw that there is a huge extension on the lighthouse and what looks like a veranda around the back.

It is a beautiful day and I want to talk to the two of you."

Fifteen minutes later, the three were sitting on the veranda, drinking an Irish coffee and looking out over the Atlantic Ocean.

"It is truly beautiful here."

"We love it," Bill added.

Commander Lukeman turned his chair, so he could face the two.

"I don't want either of you to take any offence to what I am about to say."

"This sound serious," Matty sighed.

"It is," Commander Lukeman informed her.

"What happened here the other day, in the Bay was unfortunate, but it could have been a lot worst."

"I know we should not have handled things the way we did, Don, but it has always been the way of the Bay to look after their own."

Commander Lukeman was shaking his head.

"Its not about what you did, Matty. It is about what could have happened."

"I don't understand."

Commander Lukeman pulled out his cellphone and showed Matty and Bill a pic.

"This is what we found when we examined one of the black SUVs that Hirst and his men came to the Bay in."

"Oh my fuck," Matty gasped, as she saw the picture.

The picture showed a table containing automatic weapons.

"I ... I ..."

Commander Lukeman took the cellphone from Matty.

"There was enough ammo to take down this whole village."

Matty's already pale skin, turned white.

"That fucker Hirst brought an army with him."

"Hirst claims he knew absolutely nothing about the weapons. He took a lie detector and he passed with flying colours.

It seems that the man who assaulted Henry Tucker has quite a tainted past.

Edward Francis Vatcher is ex-military and has been connected with several paramilitary groups operating here in Canada. He has outstanding warrants in the States."

Matty started shaking, as she stood.

"I need something stronger than this," she whispered, as she walked to the bar.

"Get me one too," Bill asked.

He looked at the Commander.

"So these guys were professionals?"

The Commander shook his head.

"No. The other five are just members of a gym in Edmonton. Hirst hired them as window dressing. They were just supposed to stand around and look tough. He thought that would be enough. I believe he had no idea about Vatcher."

"How was he able to get those kinds of weapons?" Bill wondered.

"We are not sure. Vatcher is not talking."

Matty passed Bill a scotch and sat next to him.

"Wow. Fuck. I'm still shaking here."

Commander Lukeman sat back in his chair.

"You are extremely lucky that the situation came out the way it did. It may have been a lot different, if Vatcher had gotten to his vehicle.

And that is why I worry about you and your people, especially now that you have such grand plans for the Bay. I was here early this morning and took a walk around and saw all the wonderful projects that you have on the go and I talked to John Dove and he told me of other plans for the Bay."

He sipped his coffee and thought for a moment.

"It is wonderful that you are planning for the future, here in the Bay, but you must realize that with all this extra activity, you are going to attract a whole lot of people and the more people you attract, the bigger the possibility that you will also attract some undesirables."

Bill nodded.

"We have thought of that. We have plans for a new road that will keep the main flow of traffic away from the Bay and even going as far as having a gate at the entrance to the Bay to keep the traffic to just locals."

"That is all well and fine, Bill, but even with that, you are still going to have a certain element come here that you may not want, especially if you still plan to open up that little Bay, just past Sandy Cove, as a day park.

And of course there is the possibility of having all kinds of nut cases come here, if word gets out about the rumors of gold, in Tuckamore Mountain."

"You heard about that?"

"Yes Matty. I have actually had quite a long talk with Simon Hirst, without his lawyer. That guy Penny is a bit of an ass."

"More than a bit," Matty snapped.

The Commander laughed slightly.

"Anyway, Hirst told me about the gold sample and such and he made some indication about involvement by someone in the government.

He also understands that he really fucked up and he completely underestimated the people of the Bay. I assured him that he did.

And I believe that he really wants to make things right."

"You almost sound like you are defending him, Don," Matty suggested.

Commander Lukeman shook his head.

"Not in the least. He broke the law, on so many levels, but it is still up to you, whether or not you press charges against this guy."

Matty took a deep breath.

"I do have a proposition drawn up to present to Hirst. It outlines a list of damages and retribution, that we feel he should pay, but given this info about the weapons, I may just have to revisit the whole thing."

"Well I believe that he is willing to do just about anything to keep this whole incident quiet. He realizes now that it will ruin him, if it gets out."

"Maybe we should let it get out," Matty snapped.

"It would serve him right."

Commander Lukeman nodded.

"You are probably right, Matty. But that is your decision.

What I am concerned about right now is the Bay itself."

"You think we are going to have problems in the future?"

"Bill, Tuckamore Bay is isolated. The closest law is Parsons Pond and that is just two officers and then Deer Lake. You are talking a minimum of thirty minutes for someone to get here."

"We can look after ourselves," Matty quickly added.

"I know that Matty but this situation has to open your eyes to what could happen."

"Don, I know you are concerned, but believe me there is no reason for you to worry. We have more than enough people here that can handle themselves," Matty assured him.

"But what happens if someone gets hurt, Matty? What if one of your people kill someone?"

Matty was silent.

"So what would you suggest?" she asked, finally.

"I have two young officers who are willing to move here."

"Do you really think that is necessary?" Bill needed to know.

"I mean its not as if Tuckamore Bay is a hotspot of criminal activity."

Commander Lukeman took out his cellphone and showed Bill the pic again.

"What if the next time they come here with weapons out?"

"Fuck," Bill sighed, as he stood up, took Matty's empty glass and walked to the bar.

"We could let them use the cottage," Matty suggested.

"What?"

Matty turned to Bill.

"We could let them use the cottage."

"What about Tanya?"

"We could let her have one of the new suites at the motel."

Bill passed Matty her scotch.

"No. We will need all the rooms."

"Then she can stay in the old section of the house. We don't use it anyway."

Bill went silent.

Commander Lukeman stood up and walked to the bar. He held up a scotch bottle.

"Do you mind?"

"Aren't you on duty?"

"My day off. Just wanted to come and see you guys."

Commander Lukeman poured a drink and walked back to his chair.

"We will rent a suite for the Officers, until we come up with more permanent accommodations. The RCMP will share the expenses with the Bay."

"So I have to pay for the Officers?"

"Not at all, Bill. If you will share the expense of the suite only, then I will approve the transfer of the two Officers."

Bill stared at his drink. Eventually he nodded.

"I assume you have two Officers in mind."

"Yes. Officer Temple and Officer Bradley have both agreed to a six month trial run here. After that we will switch out the Officers if they want.

It would be nice though, if we could have more permanent accommodations built for them.

"There is a great spot right at the entrance to the village, right before the Garage. We could build a small cottage, like ours and have an office built on to it. There is room there and they could park their vehicle on the Garage's lot."

Matty laughed.

"Maybe we could build a barn and have them patrol on horses."

"That actually sounds like a great idea," Bill quickly jumped in.

He looked at Commander Lukeman.

"Would it be possible to have them dress in older style RCMP uniforms?"

"I don't see an issue with that."

"Then lets give it a try over the winter. We have a spare office at the Village center we can use for them and we will put them up at the Motel, in  a suite. I will pay for the suite with the understanding that if, in the spring, we decide to make this a permanent thing, the RCMP will do two things."

"And those two things would be?"

"The RCMP shares the cost of the cottage and the barn for the horses."

Commander Lukeman laughed.

"You really want to do this mounted patrol thing?"

"It will actually fit in with our future plans and we are looking at horseback excursions, in the future."

"And the second thing?"

"I want the RCMP to give basic training to a group of men from the village."

Commander Lukeman thought for a moment.

"You want them trained for ...?"

"I am allowed to have a security force of my own. I want them properly trained and educated, to assist in the event of an incident."

Commander Lukeman offered his hand.

"You have a deal."