He didn’t even knock but walked through the back door. He found Rose standing in the kitchen and expected her to thank him for saving her from her cruel husband. He never had a chance to tell her that she was now widow or finally express his long-held desires. Rose had heard the gunshot and seen him riding from the north leading Emperor. So, when he walked through the doorway, she released her fury. Dave was stunned, but after her short tirade, Rose suddenly turned and quickly walked to the hallway. Dave hurried behind her telling her that she was free now and he would treat her right.
It was when she turned toward the office that Dave realized she was going to get a gun. He had to race to catch her and just as she reached for the door knob, he grabbed her arm. Then everything just happened. It was still a blur in his mind, but within seconds, Rose Elliott was dead and lying in a small pool of blood near the large fireplace.
When he finally realized what he’d done, he spent another ten minutes trying to figure out how he could avoid the noose. He knew that if he opened the safe and grabbed the money and ran, they’d catch him soon enough.
It was then that he realized that his goal of owning the Elk was still possible. He left Rose where she was, then hurriedly walked out of the house through the back door, mounted his horse and led Emperor to the barn. He quickly unsaddled the black stallion and put him in his stall before taking a shovel and a hatchet then riding back to the forest. His biggest concern was if one of the men suddenly returned. If anyone showed up, it would most likely be Big Tom and that might pose a problem.
He’d dragged Chet’s body deeper into the forest and dug a hole just deep enough to keep the critters away. He chopped more than a dozen pine branches to cover the ground because he knew it would settle. Because he needed to hurry, he just tossed the branches as he cut them without making sure that they covered the entire hole. Nobody would ever come this far into the trees anyway. Even if they did, by that time he’d own the Elk.
After he replaced Chet’s Winchester, he returned to his house to clean up. While he ate his lunch, he fabricated more details to the story he’d tell the sheriff. He waited as long as he could before he mounted his horse again and left the Elk. He had to give his alibi Chet enough time to make a clean getaway.
But even as he rode toward Fort Benton, he was thinking about the last obstacle to owning the Elk…his young friend Jake Elliott.
Dave wasn’t happy when Jake enlisted. He had tried to talk him out of it but failed. But after a year or so and Jake hadn’t even visited the ranch, Dave began to believe that Jake would never come back. It also meant that, once Jake was out of the picture, he had to shift his allegiance to Chet to gain his trust. He hoped that the massive rift between father and son would be permanent and Chet would name him as the secondary heir to the Elk. He had actually been instrumental in Chet’s decision to have one made. He didn’t know who he’d named as the heir until he read the will after he’d murdered Jake’s parents. That was when he decided to take the money from the safe which served a dual purpose. It gave him some cash in case things went wrong and it added credibility to his story of Chet’s hurried escape.
For the first week after the murders, he’d expected Jake to at least send a wire, but no one heard a word from him. With each passing day, Dave grew more confident that Jake wouldn’t return at all.
Then, seemingly out of the blue, Jake arrived at the Elk. Dave may not have expected to see him, but it didn’t take long for him to resume his starring role as Jake’s friend and confidant.
He planned to advise Jake to have a will of his own written by Jerome Wright and had no doubt that if he did, Jake would name Dave as the heir. Dave would have to wait a while before Jake had his accident, but he was back on track to possession of the Elk.
But when Jake said that he’d be leaving to chase his father, Dave’s new plans were already endangered. He’d argued and cajoled, but knew he was failing. He even offered to accompany Jake, but Jake had insisted on going alone.
Dave was still examining his options when Sara Smith entered the picture. She didn’t so much as enter as explode into the situation. Dave could tell that Jake was smitten with the younger Smith girl and decided to use it to his advantage. But he thought it was just a passing fancy until Jake stunned him by saying that he was going to marry her when he returned. His eight years would amount to nothing if that happened. He knew that he’d have to come up with some way to prevent the marriage. But Jake was moving so quickly in every direction that it was difficult for Dave to keep up.
He still hadn’t come close to deciding his next
