by C. J. Petit
Jake left the room and continued walking to the kitchen just glancing into the other rooms as he passed by. His room was no different than it had been the day he left, which hadn’t surprised him. He then entered the kitchen and except for a light coating of dust on the large table, counters and cookstove, it was unchanged as well.
That left his father’s office as the only other important room to visit. Before he left the kitchen, Jake opened the back door and stepped onto the small back porch hoping to find Dave Forrest. While he didn’t find the foreman, he caught sight of Charlie Shimshock, the ranch’s cook as he exited his chow house. He waved when Charlie looked in his direction and the cook seemed surprised to see him before he waved back.
Jake waited as Charlie crossed the two hundred yards. He didn’t expect to learn anything more from the cook but would ask him where Dave was.
Charlie had been very surprised when he saw Jake. It took a few seconds for him to even identify him because of his changed appearance. After Jake waved, Charlie realized who was standing on the back porch and was still surprised that Jake had returned. As he hurried to the ranch house, he was forming his own questions to ask the ranch’s new boss.
Jake smiled as the cook drew near and said, “Hello, Charlie.”
“I’m happy to see you, Jake. But I’m kinda surprised, too.”
Charlie stopped a few feet before him as Jake asked, “Why would you be surprised?”
“Well, after we didn’t even hear from you in a couple of weeks, we kinda figgered you wasn’t gonna come back. Your pa was mighty pissed at you for joinin’ the army and we reckoned that you didn’t want to have anything to do with the ranch. Especially after you got the bad news.”
“Sheriff Zendt sent the telegram telling me what happened to the War Department and it only reached Fort Buford a few days ago.”
“Are you goin’ back in a little while?”
“Nope. I’m out of the army now. Where’s Dave?”
“He’s out with the herds.”
Before Jake could ask him to send someone to find him, Charlie glanced out to the open ground before he said, “I don’t wanna sound like I’m sore or nothin’, but after your pa ran off, Dave kinda thinks he owns the place now.”
“He’s the foreman, Charlie. He had to run the ranch after my father left.”
Charlie just nodded but still seemed uncomfortable.
Jake said, “Can you send one of the boys out to find him and let him know that I’m back and want to talk to him?”
“Okay, Jake. I’m glad you’re back. You sure look different after all that time in the army.”
Jake smiled as he replied, “I was just a skinny kid when I left, Charlie. They fed me three times a day, well, most of the days.”
Charlie was snickering as he turned and walked back to his chow house where Jack Hatcher, Tex Emerson and Al Pope were playing poker. He knew that they would all be pleased to know that Jake was back and the others would feel the same way. He wasn’t sure how Dave Forrest would react.
Jake entered the kitchen leaving the back door open and walked back down the hallway. He didn’t know what to expect to find in his father’s office.
When he entered the room, the first thing he noticed was that the thick door on the steel safe in the corner was wide open. He walked to the safe, dropped to his heels, noted the absence of cash then pulled out the ledgers, a bank book and the legal documents. He carried them to the desk and dropped them on the desktop before sitting in his father’s chair.
The ledgers documented expenses and income but had only been used for the past six years. Before that, his father hadn’t bothered doing any bookkeeping. It was his mother who not only convinced him to keep track of the income and outflow of money but also became his accountant.
He opened the latest ledger then flipped the pages until he reached the last entries. Learning how to document the ranch’s finances was one of her many lessons. He smiled when he saw her firm hand. Anyone who just looked at the books would have assumed it was a man holding the pen. His mother was a woman of average height and build and he thought she was one of the prettiest women he’d ever met. He realized that he wasn’t being very objective but still believed she was a very handsome woman. Despite her wonderful humor and gentle nature, she was just as confident and strong as her husband.
His mother included deposits into their bank account, so after checking the bank book, it only took a few minutes to estimate how much money his father had taken from the safe. He came up with a figure of around eight hundred dollars. He knew his father kept at least that much in the safe to meet a month’s payroll and for unexpected expenses. He closed the ledgers, then spent a few minutes reviewing the documents. He found his birth certificate and his parents’ marriage certificate as well as the deed to the Elk Ranch. He was surprised when he found his father’s last will and testament. He didn’t even know that he had one prepared. When he opened it and saw the date, he realized that it had been created a year after he’d enlisted, so he wouldn’t have known about it unless his mother had mentioned it in one of her letters.
Before he turned to the second page, he expected that after he left, his father would have named Dave Forrest as his secondary heir just out of spite. By law, his mother would inherit. But if his father didn’t want Jake to inherit even if she died, then he would need to create a will naming someone else.
So, when he found his name listed as the only heir, Jake was mystified. He left the ledgers on the desk as he folded the will, then stood and returned it and the other documents to the safe and closed the door. He spun the dial and returned to the desk. He checked each drawer looking for anything that might explain the reason for his parents’ loud disagreement. It had to be something outrageous if it provoked his father to actually strike his mother. He found nothing to give him the least hint of the cause for the fight before he slid the ledgers into the bottom drawer. He hoped that Dave would be able to at least give him a clue. He couldn’t imagine that the foreman wouldn’t have some inkling of what could have caused the heated confrontation. He then wondered if his father had been cheating on his mother. He simply couldn’t imagine anything else that could have infuriated her.
He began to examine the rest of the office to see what else was missing. He took his time examining each wall and found everything where he remembered. That in itself posed a new question. His father’s rifles were all there, including his favorite, the Winchester ’76 that Jake had intended to buy when he bumped into Kay Smith.
There were six long guns, including the ’76, a Winchester ’73 rifle, a ’73 carbine and a Sharps musket chambered for the .45 caliber cartridge. There was one twelve-gauge double-barreled shotgun and the oddity of the group, a British-made Martini-Henry rifle. It was similar to the Sharps, but its cartridge was quite different. The British breech-loader fired a tapered cartridge that held a slightly thicker paper-wrapped bullet than the Sharps’ .45. His father only had two boxes of ammunition for the Martini-Henry when he bought it, and Jake had never seen it fired before he enlisted.
He stood and walked around the desk to the gun display. He didn’t take down any of the long guns from the rack on the wall but opened the top drawer of the wide cabinet beneath. He found the rows of Winchester-branded ammunition neatly ordered by caliber. After closing the top drawer, he opened the second and found the Sharps and Martini-Henry cartridges and the shotgun shells. He opened both lids of the British rifle’s cartridges and was surprised to find only three missing.
Jake then closed the middle drawer and slid the bottom one out. There were four Colt model 1873 pistols all chambered to use the Winchester .44 cartridge. He lifted one from the drawer and found it well-oiled with empty chambers. After he returned the pistol, he closed the drawer and left the office. He’d ask Dave if his father had bought more guns while he was gone. He couldn’t imagine his father running off without taking at least one of the Winchesters and leaving his ’76 behind.
He soon entered his own bedroom and walked to his large chest of drawers. In her letters, his mother had assured him that she kept all of his things where he’d left them in the wish that he’d soon return. He hoped that his father hadn’t taken his guns.
Before he opened the bottom drawer where he stored his Colt and gunbelt, he worked his way down from the top. He smiled when he found his neatly folded shirts in the top drawer. He needed some civilian clothes, and his shirts should still fit. They were baggy enough before he left. He checked the second drawer with his britches, which he knew would be too short and too tight, then the sock and underwear drawer. He could tell that his mother not only kept his clothes, but periodically laundered them to keep them from mildew.
He finally opened the fourth drawer and was relieved when he found his set of saddlebags. He lifted them out then set them on the top of the dresser. He opened the right side and slid out his Colt. Before he’d enlisted, he’d unloaded it, cleaned it thoroughly then coated the metal with gun oil. He then wrapped it in oil cloth and a cotton towel. He suspected that once he was wearing his blue uniform, they wouldn’t let him keep the pistol. He only learned otherwise when he joined his unit. Many of the other troopers carried their own pistols and some had Winchesters, which the army still didn’t issue to its soldiers. Jake wasn’t about to return to the ranch for his own weapons. He hadn’t been back since he enlisted and now regretted it, but not because of the guns.
He unfolded the cloth and found his Colt in the same condition he’d left it. He’d have to clean it again, but he preferred the .45 version, probably just because his father didn’t. He left it on the dresser then removed his gunbelt and two boxes of .45 Long Colt ammunition from the left saddlebag. He returned the empty saddlebags to his drawer, closed it and then walked to his closet.
Jake opened the door and found his two coats and two jackets on hangers and his four different hats on the top shelf. His two pairs of boots were clean and appeared to be recently polished, which made him feel even more guilty. They still fit because his feet hadn’t grown that much, and they were roomy before he escaped into the army. But tucked into the corner was his own Winchester ’76. After the Kay Smith incident, his father had bought the one he wanted, so he had to wait another month before Mister Bannister received another shipment. He reminded himself to pay a visit to S.D. Bannister Firearms tomorrow to buy more ammunition.
He hadn’t wrapped the rifle, but did empty it, clean it and coat it with a thin layer of grease. He left it where it was for now. He had a lot more to do before he’d need it. But finding his room virtually unchanged since he left was a bit unnerving. Except for the same light layer of dust that seemed to be the only evidence of his mother’s passing, it was as if he had just gone to town for a few hours.
Jake left his room and walked to the kitchen to make some coffee while he waited for Dave Forrest. He’d talk to the others in the chow house before supper.
He had just built the fire in the cookstove and set the coffeepot on a hot plate when he heard a horse loudly pull to a stop just outside the open back door. Dave Forrest was here.
Jake stepped closer to the doorway just as Dave leapt onto the short back porch and trotted into the kitchen. Dave grinned, took two long strides and embraced Jake like a son.
“Where have you been, Jake?” Dave asked as he stepped back and scanned him from his boots to his sandy brown hair.
Jake smiled before he replied, “I’ll tell you after we sit down.”
Dave nodded as he and Jake turned to the big kitchen table and found their seats.
Jake said, “I didn’t get the sheriff’s telegram until three days ago. He didn’t know where I was, so he sent it to the War Department. Why didn’t anyone know where I was? My mother wrote to me at Fort Buford.”
“She never mentioned it to any of us, so we didn’t know. You were pretty determined to make your own way when you left, so when you didn’t even send a telegram for a week, we figured that you weren’t even coming back. We didn’t even know if you were still alive, Jake.”
“Well, I’m back now, so tell me what happened. Arv Zendt explained what you wrote in your statement, but I want you to give me any details that you might not have written.”
Before he began his telling Jake all he knew, Dave asked, “How long are you staying, Jake? Did the army give you a furlough?”
“No. They mustered me out. I’m not putting my uniform on again.”
Dave seemed surprised as he nodded, then began describing the events of the second of July.
As Jake listened, he didn’t hear anything that wasn’t in Dave’s statement. He was disappointed, but when Dave finished, Jake would ask questions that should give him more details.
“…I didn’t go into the house until I was sure that your father wouldn’t be coming back. I didn’t want to disturb your mother if she was upset. It’s not my place. I’m just an employee.”
Jake said, “It was my place, Dave. I should have been here for her. How badly was she hurt when you found her?”
“Pretty bad. At least you didn’t get to see her looking like that.”
Jake’s guilt rose a few notches before he asked, “Did you hear anything that might give me a clue about what caused the argument?”
Dave shook his head as he replied, “Nope. I was kinda busy with my gut problems, but I can tell you it was even louder than those melees you and your father had. When I found your mother later, I felt really bad for not going to the house. You know, I could have pretended that I needed to talk to your father.”
Jake thought he couldn’t feel guiltier but did before he said, “It’s not your fault, Dave. I forgot to ask the sheriff if he sent any telegrams to other towns to arrest my father. Did he do that? Did they even issue an arrest warrant?”
“No to both questions. The prosecutor said that he’d never get a jury to convict your pa based on what I told the sheriff. He said that any decent defense lawyer would be able to explain it all away. He could even tell the jury that I was the one who murdered your mother.”
Jake sighed but knew that the prosecutor was right. There was only one witness, and he spent most of that time in the privy or in his on small house on his bunk.
After a brief pause, Jake said. “He was probably right, but I don’t need a judge or jury. I’ll find my father and deliver justice for my mother.”
Dave’s eyebrows popped up as he exclaimed, “You can’t leave, Jake! You need to run the Elk!”
“You can run it, Dave. I’ll leave on Monday to find him. I’ll come back once a month or so until I find him just to check on everything and to give you more cash to pay the boys. I see that my father emptied the safe. Did you check the bank account?”
“Nope. Only your folks and you can do that. But I don’t think he could have gone to the bank anyway. It was after they closed on Saturday and he wasn’t gonna show his face in town on Monday.”
“I know that, but he could have reached Helena by Tuesday. Then he just had to open a new bank account there and have them wire the Fort Benton Bank to transfer all the money. He would have known that even if I received the telegram right away, I couldn’t get here before he was able to empty the bank account.”
“What happens if he did that?”
“Then we sell a couple of hundred head. What’s the current count, anyway?”
“Um, if you include all of them, it’s just short of thirty-two hundred.”
Jake nodded then asked, “Why didn’t my father take any of the guns from the office? Did he buy a new one that struck his fancy?”
Dave hesitated for a few seconds before he answered, “I’m not sure, Jake. We got along fine after you left, but about six months ago, he started treating me different. It was almost like I was a stranger. He could have bought a new Winchester, but he wouldn’t tell me about it.”
“Did you see if he had one on his horse when he left?”
“Nope. It would have been on the other side of his horse an
yway.”
“Why didn’t he take Emperor? He loved that horse.”
“I reckon he didn’t want to stick out. Emperor would be easy to spot. He picked two of the plainest geldings we had in the corral. I couldn’t pick them out if I tried. That’s another reason that you won’t be able to find him, Jake. It’s been almost three weeks and he could have changed his name already. You oughta stay here and take over.”
“If he opened a new bank account, it would have had to be in his own name to avoid suspicion. I’ll ask John Vindaloos at the bank tomorrow. Even if he hasn’t tried to do that, I still intend to find him. I know that I can’t track him, but I owe it to my mother to make him pay for what he did.”
Then Jake paused before asking the question he wasn’t sure he could force himself to voice.
“Dave, where is my mother buried?”
Dave looked down at the tabletop as he quietly replied, “I had her buried next to your brothers. We had Reverend Ord say the prayers. All of us were there, and a lot of folks from town showed up, too. Everybody liked your mother. She was a good woman.”
“She was the best woman God ever put on this earth. Thank you for doing that, Dave. I’ll pay her a visit in a little while to apologize. If I hadn’t run off, she’d still be here.”
“Don’t go blaming yourself, Jake. Hell, I was here, and I didn’t stop it. I should feel worse than you do. But even I couldn’t predict your father would do anything like that. He was a hard man, but he had to be. For all his thunder, I never saw him even raise his hand against another man, much less a woman. You owe it to your mother to stay here and run the place. She probably wants you to find your own good woman and fill this house with youngsters.”
“I’m sure she does. But that will have to wait.”
“I wish you wouldn’t go, Jake. It’ll be good having you around again. I missed all those good times we used to have.”