When Calls the Heart Season 12 Episode 9: Buried Treasure

Bill arrives at the Mountie office and Nathan relays that Sonny Garrison has escaped Granville Prison. They believe Sonny is headed to the Martel Ranch to find the rest of his stolen loot. As Rosemary and Elizabeth walk with Little Jack and Goldie, Rosemary tells Elizabeth that she is beginning to understand Ava and thinks she did a good job as Gwendolen in the play. Nathan asks to speak with Elizabeth and Rosemary takes the children to the mercantile; Nathan tells Elizabeth that he and Bill are headed out on a stakeout, and she tells him to be safe and eyes the Sonny Garrison “WANTED” poster.

At the mercantile Ned gives Ava a note that came for her: someone claims to have lost a trunk at the train station that fits the same description as Ava's. Ava insists that the trunk is hers, but Rosemary notices that the note is suspicious and nudges Elizabeth. As Joseph, Minnie and Angela get ready to leave on the train for the Schwartzman School, they relay tips to Mei and Mike about covering for them at the café. Minnie is upset that Angela forgot her scarf and tells them that if Angela wants to live alone at this school she needs to show that she is responsible and ready.

Rosemary bursts into the newspaper office with Elizabeth, exclaiming that she knew Ava had been hiding something and that now they have proof. Elizabeth tells her that they have only a theory, but Rosemary thinks that it is too strange a coincidence that two identical trunks could go missing in the same manner, and says that with local law enforcement out of town it is on them to find proof. Nathan and Bill come across a cabin as they explore on horseback in the woods.

Woody whistles as he walks alone in the woods, hears someone matching his whistling, and Sonny Garrison pops out and greets him as his cousin. Sonny asks whether he has “it,” and Woody shows Sonny a map.

At the stables Henry tells Lucas that McGinty has his hooks in every landowner in the back country. Lucas asks Henry for help in what to do, and Henry tells him to stop negotiating and to make an executive order; the cattlemen may make Lucas pay, and he may lose votes and his governorship, but he will get his park. Lucas agrees, and Henry says he will write something up. Minnie, Joseph and Angela meet Ms. Clementine Gamble at the Schwartzman School, and Clementine takes Angela's arm and starts a tour of the school.

Edie checks into the hotel and apologises to Lee for all of the McGinty trouble. Lucas joins them, and Edie relays how the Mounties told her of her late Uncle Ernie's dealings and suggested that she find safe harbour for the time being. Lucas asks whether she might want to join him for dinner — a “working” dinner — and she agrees.

Oliver and Allie review their map at a table inside the café. Woody Garrison approaches and asks whether they can help him with a map of the woods in this area, shows them the map that his cousin made while stumbling over his cousin's name being “Jake, Jack, Jackson…,” and says he is looking for a tree that his parents carved their initials into; Allie and Oliver offer to take him there. Molly overhears, and on Woody's way out he bumps into her and tells her to watch it.

Rosemary and Elizabeth ask Hickam and Lee at the saloon about Ava's trunk, as Rosemary wants to see it. As Rosemary tries to come up with another plan, they see Ava loading the trunk out of the hotel room's window; Ava throws the trunk over the balcony and it lands on a truck bed below. Rosemary attempts to confront Ava by jumping out at her, but Ava moves back inside the hotel room window before Rosemary catches her.

Woody meets Allie and Oliver at the trailhead as discussed, and Allie gives him paper and charcoal so that he can rub his parents' carved initials from the tree into the paper to remember it.

Rosemary and Elizabeth storm into the saloon as Ava descends the stairs, and Mike carries “Ava's” trunk inside because he noticed it was outside in the truck bed. Elizabeth approaches Ava and asks whether they can talk, and Ava says now is as good a time as any. Rosemary, Lee, Mike and Elizabeth ask Ava to tell them the truth, and she reveals that she is not an heiress and that her parents are not travelling the globe.

She asks them whether they have heard of Clive Maxwell, says that he is a conman and that she was his plant, and tells them that Clive pickpocketed a Pinkerton and blamed her, so she ran to Hope Valley because the Pinkertons are after her. Elizabeth tells Ava to talk to Nathan when he is back, and that if she does the right thing this may all go away. Clementine tells Angela more about the activities available at the Schwartzman School and brings Angela, Minnie and Joseph into a room full of students, where they discuss reading and listening to new books together.

As Oliver and Allie walk with Woody in the woods, Woody learns that Oliver is a Mountie cadet. As Woody makes to leave, Sonny Garrison comes out from behind a tree with a shovel, and Oliver recognises Sonny from the “WANTED” posters. Sonny grabs Allie and tells Oliver that he is going to help them find the “X” on the map, and Woody warns Oliver not to rile up his cousin. As they continue on the path, Allie grabs the ribbon from her hair and leaves it dangling on a tree along the trail.

Lucas comes to Lee's office and apologises to him for the park taking so long and for compromising their friendship. Lee asks how Lucas will get the park done and what it will cost him, but Lucas tells him it is nothing for Lee to worry about.

Elizabeth comes into the saloon and asks Mike whether he has seen Allie or Oliver, as they were supposed to go over their report with her. Molly mentions that she overheard them offer to take a rude hotel guest on a hike, and Mike says that the guest is Woody Garrison; Molly notes that she heard him on the phone at the mercantile talking to someone called Sonny. Elizabeth wonders whether it really is Woody and Sonny Garrison, and Henry tells her that those two are part of the Garrison Gang and that Sonny recently escaped from prison.

Molly mentions that she heard that they were heading towards a lover's tree in the woods, and Mike, Henry and Elizabeth leave quickly to find them. Woody, Sonny, Oliver and Allie come to the tree where the Garrisons presume their gold is buried.

Elizabeth heads out on horseback to find Allie and Oliver, and Henry and Mike head with her to find Nathan and Bill, who are out on a stakeout after Sonny Garrison. Nathan and Bill wonder whether they are missing something and question whether Ernie Martel was connected with the Garrisons at all; they raise the idea that Ernie came across the Garrison's gold by accident and used it from time to time without telling Edie. They head back to town to regroup and leave a Mountie to stake out the area in case Sonny returns.

Elizabeth continues riding through the woods and sees Allie's hair ribbon on the tree, and rides that way.

Oliver digs as instructed and comes across something solid in the ground: a large trunk. When Sonny goes to open it he sees that the locks are open already, and the trunk is empty. Sonny gets angry and yells at Woody. Allie says that there is more to the story as Elizabeth approaches and watches from afar, and wonders whether Jake Garrison never meant to share the gold with his family in the first place and misled them here. Oliver then wonders whether Woody came back and stole all the gold himself.

Henry runs into Bill and Nathan on horseback, and they realise where the tree is that Allie and Oliver took the Garrisons to, and head that way.

Allie and Oliver try to escape but Sonny stops them. Elizabeth approaches and rings a bell loudly, acting as though she was out looking for her students in the woods, and Allie and Oliver say that they brought friends and introduce Sonny and Woody to Elizabeth as their teacher. Bill, Nathan and Henry see Allie's hair ribbon and keep riding onward. Elizabeth tries to leave with the children but Sonny stops them again, and Oliver charges at Sonny and tells the others to run. Nathan rides up on his horse and knocks Sonny over and arrests Sonny Garrison.

In town outside of the jail Bill tells Nathan well done and they shake hands. Allie runs to hug Nathan, and he, Bill, Oliver, Elizabeth and Allie head to the saloon to meet Henry. Nathan tells Oliver that this will earn him high marks, and Elizabeth and Nathan tell Allie that they were impressed with her use of her hair ribbon. When they enter the saloon everyone erupts in applause for them, and Mike runs in breathless and upset that he could not find Allie and Oliver, and then sees that they are safely there.

Rosemary hugs Elizabeth and talks about how excited she is to write about this in the paper, and mentions that Ava Riella has a confession to make and that she would like Nathan's help in righting a wrong; Nathan says he would be happy to oblige.

Edie and Lucas sit at a table inside the café together, and she says that if they had drinks she would toast to a successful working relationship. Mike and Mei enter and realise that they left the café open while they were gone and need to serve Lucas and Edie; Mike takes their orders and they both say they will have whatever the special is. Lucas tells Edie that he will be signing the executive order to designate the land with the original boundaries for the national park.

She says she will concede as the opposition's representation, but as a friend tells him that he is declaring war and that McGinty will do everything to stop him or take revenge. Lucas asks whether they will still be friends, and Edie says of course.

At the Canfields', Angela tells Minnie that she could not sleep as her mind is spinning, and tells her mother that she does not want to go to the school because she does not know how she will take care of herself and does not think she is ready. Minnie tells Angela that she saw the community that the girls at the school brought her and that she really thinks Angela should try it, even though she is scared. Elizabeth and Rosemary greet Ava at the hotel to see her off to her court hearing, they hug her, and Ava leaves in a car.

As they wave goodbye, Mike frantically runs out of the hotel chasing after the car with Ava's trunk that she left behind.

The Garrison gold thread is resolved in form but not in substance. Oliver digs up the trunk at the tree and the locks are already open and the trunk is empty. Sonny accuses Woody, Woody protests, and the episode offers two competing explanations through the children: Allie suggests that Jake Garrison never intended to share the gold with his family and misled them to this spot, and Oliver suggests that Woody came back and took it himself. The episode does not confirm either one, and it does not say who emptied the trunk.

Sonny Garrison is arrested by Nathan at the tree after Elizabeth's intervention, and the town applauds the group when they reach the saloon. Ava's confession is resolved in the sense that she tells the truth and leaves for her court hearing, and Rosemary asks for Nathan's help in righting the wrong; the outcome of the hearing is not shown in this episode. Lucas tells Edie that he will sign the executive order with the park's original boundaries, which is a decision rather than a result — the order itself is signed later, and Edie warns that McGinty will do everything to stop him or take revenge.

What remains unresolved or unconfirmed: the location of the gold, and whether Woody or Jake Garrison took it. Angela has not decided about the Schwartzman School — she tells Minnie she does not feel ready, Minnie tells her to try, and the episode ends without an answer. Ava's trunk is left behind and Mike chases the car with it; the episode does not say what happens to it. Nathan and Bill's revised theory that Ernie Martel found the gold by accident is stated as a possibility and is not confirmed within the episode.