He untied Vulcan, mounted and turned him west to visit Mister Wright. If he hadn’t arrived yet, Jake would wait in his outer office. When he’d left, the attorney didn’t have a clerk, but did have a secretary, so the outer office should be open.
When he entered the outer office five minutes later, he found the secretary already at his desk but had never met the man.
The man behind the desk looked at him and asked, “May I help you?”
“My name is Jake Elliott and I’d like to talk to Mister Wright. Is he in yet?”
“Not yet. But he’s been expecting you. Please have a seat. He should be here shortly.”
Jake replied, “Thank you,” then as he sat down in one of the four chairs against the back wall facing the secretary, he said, “I haven’t met you before, so I don’t know your name. Have you worked for Mister Wright very long?”
“For two years now. My name is Boyd Rhys. I took over for his previous secretary when he went to Bismarck to clerk for another lawyer. He was upset that Mister Wright wouldn’t help him study for the bar.”
“And you have no ambitions to become an attorney?”
“None at all. I enjoy keeping the office in order.”
Jake nodded but found it difficult to understand why anyone would be satisfied by just sorting files. Lack of ambition wasn’t unusual, but he still couldn’t comprehend the lack of initiative.
For another ten minutes, he sat and just watched Mister Rhys shifting papers from one stack to another. Then he heard footsteps coming down the hall and turned his eyes to the doorway.
Jerome Wright passed into the front office and immediately spotted Jake.
“Jake! I thought you’d be stopping by. Come into my office. I’m sure you have many questions.”
Jake stood and said, “I hope you can answer some of them, Mister Wright.”
The lawyer grinned as he said, “Call me Jerome. You’re my most important client now.”
Jake smiled back before following the attorney into this office and closing the door behind him. He’d been surprised that Mister Wright apparently already considered Jake the owner of the Elk, so maybe he knew more than anyone else about where his father was. Maybe he even heard news that his father had died.
Jake sat in front of Jerome’s dark polished desk as the lawyer took his seat on the other side. Jake’s hat was on his lap when Mister Wright removed his Stetson and set it on his desktop.
“Mister Wright…”
“Jerome.”
“I’m sorry. Jerome, my first question is about the ranch. I’m living in the big ranch house and the boys are already calling me ‘boss’. I understand that the prosecutor didn’t issue a warrant for his arrest, so as far as the law is concerned, the Elk still belongs to my father.”
Jerome quickly said, “I hope that you don’t expect me to pressure Mister Allen to charge him with murder, Jake. I can’t do that.”
“I didn’t have any problem with the prosecutor’s decision. He simply didn’t have enough evidence to go to court.”
Jerome exhaled in relief then asked, “What you want to know is if your father can return and resume work as if nothing had happened; is that right?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I suspected that he might do that for the first two weeks and worried that you might return and there would be another murder on the ranch. I was about to send a wire to the army asking about your plans when you arrived on Friday. It was a great relief to me, and when I heard that you and Sara Smith were engaged, I was immensely pleased. That only lasted until I discovered that you were planning to find your father. Is that true, Jake? Are you going to start a futile search even though you have your whole future laid out before you?”
Jake was getting a bit annoyed at having to explain to everyone why he had to leave, but felt he needed to tell Jerome. It should be the last time he had to provide his reasons before he left.
“I have to go, Jerome. I know I’ll probably come up empty, and it could take me into the fall before I either find him or give up. But I have to make the attempt, or I’ll never be able to live in peace knowing my father could suddenly appear at the door.”
Jerome had been studying Jake’s face as if he was questioning an opposing attorney’s prime witness. So, before Jake finished answering his question, he knew that there was no point in trying to get him to change his mind.
The lawyer then leaned back in his chair and said, “I understand. Do you really think it could take you that long before you realized the futility of your search?”
“Maybe not. Now that I know Sara is waiting for my return, I suspect it will be much sooner.
“That’s something, I suppose.”
Then Jake asked, “Jerome, you probably knew my father better than me or any of the men on the ranch. Can you think of any reason why he and my mother had such a violent argument? I can’t even recall a single time my father even raised his voice against her, much less threatened her.”
Jerome sighed, then after a ten-second pause, he said, “At the end of June, your father came to my office with an unusual request. He knew whatever he told me was protected by law, but I was startled
