So, if the letter was a well-written lie, what was Dave’s real reason for leaving? He had a notion but wanted to hear Sara’s thoughts.
Jake asked, “Okay. If we assume that the letter was just a fairy tale, then what drove Dave to leave the way he did?”
“Maybe he was worried that his hidden past was about to be exposed. It would have to be much worse than what he wrote about. Maybe he was wanted somewhere and was using an assumed name.”
“That’s what I was thinking, too. But why would it suddenly become a problem after eight years?”
Sara shrugged then replied, “That’s where I can’t help, Jake. I never met the man. All I know is how you described him, and you make it sound as if he was ready for sainthood.”
“I know. I’d liked him as soon as he arrived on the Elk. He was always nice to me and it wasn’t long before I saw him as a replacement for my father. Despite explaining how much he loved Violet, it was even difficult for me to believe he’d committed adultery with his sister-in-law.”
“Did he visit any women while he was here? I meant calling on a woman socially, not spending a night with the painted ladies. I heard you tell Jack Parker that he could get married now that he had his own house. Dave Forrest lived there for six years on his own, so he had the time, a house, and a solid position to offer a prospective wife as well.”
Again, Jake had to dredge up years of memories before answering. He tried to recall a single instance where Dave had been seen with a woman. He could have gone to town to meet someone, but Jake couldn’t remember ever seeing him with a lady visitor.
He finally replied, “No. I never saw him visiting a woman socially, but he might have been seeing someone in town.”
Sara stood and began collecting their dirty dishes, so Jake followed suit and after they’d been set into the sink, he said, “I’ll take care of the sheets and leave the dishes to you, ma’am.”
“That’s a fair trade, Mister Elliott.”
Jake smiled before he headed to the hallway. He was still pondering the letter and Dave’s unexpected and sudden departure as he entered the bathroom.
After washing the sheets and letting the water drain, Jake carried them out to the clothesline and stretched them across the taut cord. He then returned to the house and entered the office. Once inside, he opened the ammunition drawer and wasn’t surprised to find all of the Martini-Henry cartridges gone.
He then stepped behind the desk and took his father’s seat. Now that he was ready to believe that Dave’s letter was a lie, he needed to develop another reason for his behavior. He still found it difficult to imagine the likeable foreman as an outlaw. But if he was a wanted man, then it would explain almost everything.
Once he decided to follow that path, Jake had to find a reason why Dave would suddenly worry about having his past exposed. He hadn’t run away after his mother’s murder but had skedaddled right after Jake had ridden west to find his father. Jake recalled how vehemently Dave had objected to his leaving the Elk. Dave knew he’d be heading to Helena, so maybe it had something to do with his destination. Maybe Dave was wanted by the law in Lewis and Clark County.
Jake then stood and left the office to ask Sara’s opinion of his new theory. But what would he do even if it was right? Would he even bother trying to find an answer? Even if Dave did have a price on his head, it would have been at least eight years old and was probably under a different name. Trying to match it to Dave’s description would have been virtually impossible.
As she washed the dishes, Sara was pleased that Jake had finally accepted the possibility that the letter was fraudulent. While she hadn’t formed her own theory for the foreman’s hasty exit, she believed it had something to do with what had happened in this house on the second of July. If it hadn’t been for the long delay after Jake’s mother had been murdered, she would have suspected the foreman to be the killer and not his father. Jake’s father had run away from the Elk that same day which marked him as the murderer. She just wished that Jake had found his father to find out why he’d committed the heinous crime.
Jake soon entered the kitchen and took a seat at the table just as Sara set the last plate in the drying rack.
She sat next to him and asked, “Did you come up with a reason why Mister Forrest would invent the story?”
“Maybe. He was strongly opposed to my plan to leave the Elk to find my father. I believed he was just trying to protect me. He also knew that if my father killed me, then there would be no one else to run the ranch. At least not legally. But once I accepted that the letter was probably just a product of his imagination, I took a different perspective about his adamant arguments for me to stay. What if he had been working a ranch near Helena and committed some crime. They’d issue an arrest warrant and when they couldn’t find him, they’d probably send out wanted posters if it was serious. He would have had to get far enough away that he wouldn’t be found, so he came to the Elk. What do you think?”
Sara reviewed his new theory for a minute or so before she replied, “That’s possible, but it would be difficult to prove after so long; wouldn’t it?”
“Yes, ma’am. I don’t know if I’ll ever find the answers
