Driven: A Novel - - - “They Shall Eat the Fruit of Their Doings”- - - Isaiah 3:10

By Della May Olson

Cleared of the murder of his wife, Eli Cooper must face his own destiny, away from a family that still accuses him, and a son who fears him. Guilted by a dead man’s sacrifice he faces near death, amnesia, blizzards, injury, fire, outlaws, his own self-worth, and a writer of yellow journalism and advocate of women’s suffrage called Dulcie. Can he survive?

OTHER BOOKS BY DELLA MAY OLSON
LENA’S RAINBOW
TERROR ON LOCO RIDGE
GROWING UP BRONSON
CRAB APPLE PIE
The DM OLSON WESTERN SERIES which includes:
NO ESCAPE
THE TANGLED ROSE
TANGLE CREEK
DRIVEN

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Nov 2, 2021
• ISBN: 9781665541657

Della May Olson

Della May Olson grew up on a ranch in Montana schooled in the ‘code of the West’. From a two-room schoolhouse in Sun River, Montana, to graduating from Mesa Community College, in Mesa, Arizona , at the age of thirty-nine, as class Valedictorian, she never lost her love of horses, sports, poetry, drama, and writing. Her poetry, especially Christmas themed, has won her many awards. The main award being the love of family and friends as they perform her works. She has lived in Cottonwood, Arizona for the past forty-seven years. Married to her husband Merle for sixty-two years, they have four children, all living in Cottonwood, fifteen grandchildren, and forty-two great grandchildren. Humor and action are hallmarks of her stories and poetry. She believes in faith, hard work and miracles.

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2021 Della May Olson. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 10/22/2021

ISBN: 978-1-6655-4164-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6655-4165-7 (e)

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Chapter 1 The Verdict

Chapter 2 The Family

Chapter 3 The Root of Evil

Chapter 4 Journey to ________

Chapter 5 Fossil Creek

Chapter 6 Gooseberries

Chapter 7 Brother Corn

Chapter 8 The Settlement

Chapter 9 The Invalid

Chapter 10 Tree

Chapter 11 The Freighter

Chapter 12 Jeffrey

Chapter 13 Eli Cooper

Chapter 14 Cornelius Stockton

Chapter 15 The Split

Chapter 16 Solution

Chapter 17 Prisoner

Chapter 18 The Trail Ahead

Chapter 19 Chama

Chapter 20 Winter

Chapter 21 Spring

Chapter 22 The Chinook

Chapter 23 The Mending

Chapter 24 Long Term

Chapter 25 St. Louis

Chapter 26 The Artist

Chapter 27 Rimmer

Chapter 28 Dulcie

Chapter 29 South

Chapter 30 Lefty

Chapter 31 Turmoil

Chapter 32 Author’s Note

Chapter 33 The Hideout

Chapter 34 The Proposal

Chapter 35 The Guide

Chapter 36 Back of Beyond

Chapter 37 The Compound

Chapter 38 Drab

Chapter 39 Truth and Consequences

Chapter 40 The Dedication

Chapter 41 Sail Free

Chapter 42 The Speech

CHAPTER 1

The Verdict

Eli Soren Cooper, the court finds you not guilty of the murder of your wife, Caroline Kuchen Cooper. You are free to go, announced Judge Dumont Cody.

After the unwarranted, surprising confession of Lee Damon to the murder of Caroline Cooper, Eli was left confused and speechless. Eli knew the bullet that killed his wife was his. Even if it was an accident, the bullet came from his gun. The life ending missile was meant for escaped convict Clay Dockery, his wife’s lover and confederate, but Caroline, screaming a plea for Clay’s life, had unwittingly stepped in front of the gun just as it was fired.

The jury, exhausted by the stifling, hot Arizona summer heat, was about to return with their hasty decision of guilt for Eli Cooper, when the apparently demented man with long white hair burst into the courtroom claiming to be guilty of Caroline’s murder. He stopped next to the aisle seat where Eli’s mother, Jamaica Cooper sat holding her breath waiting for the jury’s decision. Lee Damon was an enigma. His relentless, unrequited love cast a dark shadow over her perfect love for her family.

The intruder locked eyes with Jamaica, a beautiful woman still in her prime. She possessed a type of ageless beauty to which the years only added. You will have to forgive me, Mrs. Cooper, said the intruder. I know you love me. I had a hard time choosing between you and Caroline, but Caroline, my dear, was available and you were not. She won. Too bad.

Jamaica stiffened and screamed, you are lying! I don’t know you!. Her face turned ashen in color as she slumped into the arms of Rayne Cooper, her husband, seated next to her on the bench.

The courtroom erupted in pandemonium. The perplexed judge was trying to restore order. The man continued to the front of the room. Take him away, screamed the judge.

Wait, defiantly yelled the man as he proceeded forwards. I killed Caroline Cooper. Eli Cooper is innocent! Caroline was supposed to run away with me. She had other ideas. I was furious. I shot her. He held out his hands to be cuffed.

The pandemonium could not be stilled. The Cooper family was trying to console their mother. Why? Why is this man confessing to something he didn’t do? He is committing suicide.

Rayne shook his wife. You know why he is doing this, don’t you? Look at me! A grand gesture of his love. He is saving your son for you. Jamaica fainted.

The base of the judge’s gavel broke from the handle and flew into the crowd narrowly missing Naomi Kuchen, Caroline’s painted mother, in the face. Undaunted Judge Dumont Cody reached inside his robe, brought out a pistol and fired it two times into the ceiling. Flakes of plaster, dust, and stunned silence fell over the room.

The court will remain in session while we confer with this stranger. Please remain seated. And quiet. Judge Du Cody, the lawyers, and the instigator of this new crises left a stunned courtroom to confer in the judge’s chamber. Ten minutes later they returned to an anxious courtroom. The judge asked Eli to approach the bench.

Do you know this man? he asked Eli referring to the stranger?

His name is Lee Damon. He is a . . . a friend of my mother’s. Eli stammered feeling the heat of her gaze upon him.

We have accepted his confession, the judge said to Eli in a quiet voice. He then made the pronouncement to those assembled in a voice of thunder proclaiming the innocence and freedom of Eli Cooper.

No! No! cried Eli. It was me! I killed her. It was an accident. She tried to stop me. The bullet was meant for Clay Dockery. The outlaw.

Pandemonium erupted again in the new Prescott, Arizona courthouse. Eli’s family was screaming at him to keep his mouth shut. Others were cheering. Protests were heard from the small Kuchen clan.

Judge Du Cody, as he was affectionately called, pounded his fist and yelled, "Order in the court! Order in the court! Why are you protesting, young man? Do you have a death wish? I will repeat this once more to the crowd and then you and everyone will clear out or I will arrest the lot of you.

We have questioned Lee Damon. Everything he confessed fits the evidence in the murder of Caroline Cooper. Damon apparently had a tryst with the victim, Caroline Cooper. A tryst gone wrong by the appearance of Clay Dockery who had recently escaped from Yuma prison. Damon’s shot killed Caroline Cooper. Rayne Cooper who chanced upon the scene, shot and killed Clay Dockery, who by the way had a price on his head. It seems Rayne Cooper is the only one to prosper from this sordid mess. Lee Damon brought with him a signed and notarized confession. Both attorneys and myself have accepted the confession as valid. Court is dismissed. Please return quietly to your homes.

The Cooper family was elated with the innocent verdict. They were choking their son, brother, uncle Eli, and each other with undying adulation. They had stood together in support of Eli, even as the giant sequoias entwine their shallow roots for support against the storms. Eli wished he could enjoy the victory as much as his family, but the lump in his stomach weighed him down. He knew Lee Damon adored his mother. He did not know what his mother’s feelings were for the white haired albino. To Eli his mother was the ice that never melted on the summit of the distant San Francisco Peaks. To the rest of the family she was the ray of sunshine that melted the ice. Lee Damon was a white haired enigma. Or angel? If he wanted to die for Caroline’s murder, so be it.

CHAPTER 2

The Family

The Cooper family gathered at the home of Katherine Cooper Bingham, Eli’s sister. Katherine’s husband was an entrepreneur, having dabbled in railroads, mining, banking, and now politics. They lived in one of Prescott’s showplace houses. Scandal was unbecoming to their lifestyle.

Eli was late to the family gathering because he had stayed behind pleading unsuccessfully for leniency for Lee Damon.

The judge was tired of the whole thing, He wanted to get home to his wife and his horses. Who is Damon Lee? he asked. Does he and your mother have something going? Are you confederates? Explain him to me?

The more Eli tried to explain the situation the more tangled it became. Mostly because he did not understand the situation himself.

The wild west is dying, said the judge. We are looking at statehood. Let your tangled web fade with the past. We have a confessed killer. Let it ease the stigma that hangs over your Bloody Basin. Go now and join your family. Make something good of yourself.

Eli could not bounce with his new freedom. Something wasn’t right. He slowly dragged himself to his sister’s house.

Why had the family stood by him during his ordeal? His brother David had come from Cuba at the last minute to act as his attorney. His father was willing to contrive evidence. The whole family stayed in Prescott and were in attendance every day of the trial. Eli discounted their love for him. As he searched for an answer, Eli had given the overruling power of pride credit for his family’s unity. No Cooper wanted their name to be muddied any more than it had been in the bloody war that had raged in Tangle Creek Basin between the sheepmen and the cattlemen. True they had come out victorious, but it had changed their lives forever. Even now their home was referred to as Bloody Basin, a name that stigmatized the basin forever, along with the Cooper’s who lived there. To have one of the Cooper’s convicted of murder would only add fuel for the old ladies sitting around quilts stitching half truths into reality. It would have given credence to the gossip of old men with one elbow resting on a mahogany bar and a drink of whiskey in the opposite hand. The need to impress an audience made the stories grow and grow. Eli’s innocense would be taking the prime rib roast from their home grown banquet of suppositions.

The thought of his family wanting his money never entered his mind. He could only laugh at Caroline when shortly after their unlikely union she slyly curtsied around seeking to know where he kept his money. He found out too late that the reason she married him was because she and her confederate, Clay Dockery, knew he had stolen five thousand dollars from the sheepmen. They wanted the money for their own ungodly pleasures. But Clay had the misfortune of being caught with a herd of stolen cattle, giving him a one way ticket to Yuma prison, and Caroline had become pregnant with Eli’s child, a prisoner of her own carelessness and her husband’s rage.

Eli hoped to salvage the marriage when the child, Lester, was born, but Caroline had already established herself as the madam of Tangle Creek Basin, offering her favors to the outlaws who inhabited the wild rugged Mazatzal Mountains on the far side of the Verde River. Eli liked to aggravate her by hiding small sums of money in knot holes in trees or under rocks where he knew she would find it. She could not give up the idea that he was holding out on her.

He had no idea what became of the money that belonged to the sheepmen. He was in the last bloody battle when the war came to an end. He should have found the money when the leader’s buggy overturned sending the leader and all his possessions to an untimely grave. No one doubted that he found the strong box in question. But then, no one saw Lee Damon watching the melee from behind a jumble of man sized boulders. No one saw the smile on his face. No one missed him. Especially not Jamaica Cooper.

The Cooper’s had met Lee Damon on their journey from Utah to Arizona when they stopped at Lee’s Ferry on the Colorado River and stayed for a period of time hoping to restore Jamaica’s declining health. Lee’s Ferry was the only crossing of the Colorado in hundreds of miles before it plunged into the Grand Canyon. John D. Lee, his wife Emma, and various children operating the ferry welcomed them.

Eli was a nursing baby at the time, their only child. On the way to Arizona his mother was captured and used unmercifully by a band of renegade Indians. She was close to death when Rayne rescued her. She had, also, become pregnant. She was in a stupor from the treatment she had received at the hands of the Indians. It was all Rayne could do to see past the incident, and to convince her of his genuine undying love.

The baby, Eli, was a victim as well. His mother was unable to care for him. His desperate father fed him canned milk from the thumb of a leather glove. He was rocked to sleep in the back of the wagon carrying their supplies. His half sister, Sadie May was born in Flagstaff nine months later. The parents were too busy to attend to Eli who was left to play in the dirt by himself while they tried to convince themselves that the half Indian baby was a gift from heaven.

While the Cooper’s were at Lee’s Ferry, Emma Lee was surprised by a Christmas visit from a laggard foster son called Damon Lee. The first thing he did was take his mother into her bedroom and empty a bag full of money on the bed. Merry Christmas, he said grinning from ear to ear like a puppy dog awaiting approval. She was skeptical of its origin, but gratefully accepted it as it fell from a bag with the name Holbrook Bank written on one side.

John D was away at the time. The Lee daughter’s enjoyed caring for Eli, whom they had taught to walk, and spoon fed from their daily fare. Jamaica was beginning to blossom again under the care and advice of Emma Lee. Of course she welcomed the son of her friend, Emma.

Damon was quick to help Jamaica with her chores, and one day suggested she walk up the river with him to his favorite fishing hole. She readily accepted thinking fish for supper would be great. Fishing with Damon became a habit. They found talking to each other as natural as talking to a child. It was easy to talk to someone who did not judge her, or even better, was not afraid of offending her by a slip of the tongue dredging up a nightmare past. One day as they were sitting on the bank of the river dangling their toes in the water, Jamaica smiled. The next day they laughed together at the antics of a roadrunner chasing a scorpion. Damon Lee fell madly in love with Jamaica Cooper. The next day some ruffians on the far side of the river hollered for the ferry.

Damon Lee, as he called himself then, jumped to his feet saying it was time for him to go. He pulled Jamaica to her feet and kissed her hard. She was too astonished to return the kiss. He ran to the house to retrieve his things. When he came out she met him with her beloved, all time favorite, butterscotch colored mare, with whom she was obsessed and would never think of parting.

I don’t know what you are running from, but take Butterball. She can outrun or outlast any nag you have here, she said. Without saying anything he tied his bundle behind the saddle, mounted the horse, and was off to a running start. She watched as he disappeared around a bend of the Paria River, a tributary of the Colorado that wound its way down through the primitive badlands of southern Utah to join the Colorado. She knew she would never see him again.

And she hadn’t. That is until he turned up with the sheepmen who started the war with the cattlemen, giving the peaceful basin along Tangle Creek the unwanted name of Bloody Basin.

- - -

Sadie May, his dusky, dark haired, olive skinned sister, the one who robbed him of his childhood, was the first to greet Eli as he entered Katherine’s house. Congratulations, brother, I knew your were innocent all along. Now we can all share in the money. Before he could protest she pecked him on the cheek and made way for his sister Hester who carried a baby in her arms, with two more little ones tugging at her skirt. She congratulated him and told him not to pay attention to Sadie May. You have earned every cent, she said. His mother’s kiss was quick and cold. She was fighting back tears. He watched as she skirted the crowd and disappeared. He looked for his son, Lester, but he was clinging to his sister Katherine. When Eli called to him he hung his head and hid behind Katherine. She mouthed we need to talk. Eli’s brother David came in along with Rayne Cooper, the father of the clan.

David had come from Cuba to act as defense council for his brother. He had lost a leg in the Cuban war with Spain, had fallen in love with his Cuban nurse, and stayed there. What’s going on? he demanded. We all know Damon is innocent. He is, isn’t he? He looked askance at his family. Well?

Why look a gift horse in the mouth, said Sadie May.

I may be lame, but I am not deaf. I hear you whispering about Eli’s buried treasure. Come on, brother, you got a stash hidden somewhere?

Rayne interrupted. What’s wrong with you people? Your brother just escaped hanging. You should be celebrating. Forget about Lee Damon. We may never know what prompted his confession.

David wasn’t finished. I met Lee Damon in Tucson when studying law. He had just won a small flock of sheep in a poker game. He, also, won Sonja’s grandfather in the deal as a shepherd to the flock. When I told Lee of my family living in the basin, he seemed overjoyed, and promptly merged his flock with the sheepmen coming here. When Sonja’s grandfather died, I rescued her and brought her here to stay with you until I finished my law degree and then we would be married. Yes, I had fallen in love with her and thought she loved me. She was killed, murdered, in the bloody sheep war. I believe she was out riding with Eli when it happened. I need to know more about that and why Eli keeps putting flowers on her grave. I hope he has a million dollars. I don’t care.

It was Katherine’s turn to speak. I don’t care if Eli found the sheepmen’s money. It was dirty. It was used to hire gunmen to run us out of the basin. All I want is Lester. Please, Eli. I can give him so much more than you can. Katherine was step-mother to two of Job’s children by a former wife, but had been unable to have a child of her own.

Eli had heard enough. You can all go to hell! I don’t have any money, but you are welcome to any you can find. I have one more thing I need to do tomorrow. Then I will be back for Lester and we will go where we will never bother you again.

CHAPTER 3

The Root of Evil

After a night in the forest, where sleep had refused to ease his troubled mind, Eli was ready to take his son and disappear far into the White Mountains or even into New Mexico, where he could forget his unfaithful wife, and accusing family. But first and foremost he had to visit Lee Damon.

Jamaica was just leaving the jail as Eli entered. His mother looked twenty years older. A sorrowful old woman. Eli could not know the depths of her suffering. He did not know why she was here at the jail. He could only think the worst. She put her hands to her face. You did not see me, she pleaded. I hope you are happy.

The jailer would not allow Eli inside the cell, but gave him five minutes to talk to the prisoner through the bars. He could see Lee sitting on the bunk with a handkerchief to his mouth. The handkerchief was red with blood. The man was suppressing a cough.

Eli began, I do not know what your motives are, Lee Damon, and I don’t care. I do know you are in love with my mother. I no longer care about that any more. I don’t believe you killed my wife. Was this, your confession, a last desperate chance to see my mother? Wasn’t giving her the yellow horse enough? I know it was you. It caused only grief and suspicion. Why save her ungrateful little boy’s life? I owe you nothing.

Don’t think I did this out of love for you. I am not that gallant, snarled Lee Damon.

You are crazy! You know that, don’t you?

But not as crazy as your whore of a wife Caroline, you blind fool. Yes, I used her, just like a dozen other men I know. She was only after your money. I suppose you know that?

The joke was on her, I did not have any. Funny, isn’t it? The sheepmen caused more havoc with their five thousand dollars than all the sheep in the country. If there was any money, I never saw it. And it may surprise you to know, I knew about her outlaw visitors from across the river. She deserved to die, but not like she did,

Lee Damon threw back his head and roared. It was halfway a cry of anguish and halfway a laugh of derision ending in him coughing uncontrollably into his handkerchief. Money! The root of all evil, eh? he rasped. Then gaining control he continued, I’ll tell you the root of all evil. It is not money. It is the likes of women like your sweet Caroline. Yeh, I knew your bride. Didn’t everybody? I knew I could not have the Cooper woman. Mother love for a skunk like you, and the rest of her brood, prevented that. But I could have Caroline anytime I wanted. That is until that no good crook Clay Dockery escaped from Yuma prison and showed up on your doorstep to claim your wife, his partner in crime. I found her by the river and commenced our usual play of words leading to you know what. She laughed and told me she was leaving with Clay Dockery. I told her I had the money she wanted. Yes, I have it! Don’t look so shocked. Under the seventh rock from the right, I told her. She laughed again. Your mother never laughed at me. She understood me. Caroline should not have laughed. I was about to strangle her right then, but then Dockery stepped into the picture and she ran to meet him. I should have killed them both while I had the chance. But like a coward I hid in the bushes behind the house and waited. I knew I could not outdraw Dockery in a head on shootout. He was carrying iron on both hips. Then idiot you came along with your idiot father. Man, it was like a railroad station around there with people coming and going.

Eli interrupted the narrative. Then you must have seen what happened next. You must have seen it was an accident. I intended to shoot Dockery, but Caroline stepped in front of the gun. Why didn’t you tell that to the judge? I may have wanted her dead, but not like that. Why are you willing to hang when the truth would set you free? Both of us free!

Something snapped in my head. I wanted her dead. More than you did. Did you look at her body? There should have been my bullet hole in her back as well as yours in the front.

Eli interrupted. I only heard one shot. You’re crazy.

Call it a miracle! Two minds thinking as one. Two gunshots at precisely the same time. Sorry, boy, you had an accident. I was deliberate.

But why confess? My mother thinks you are some kind of savior.

Let her think it. That is the promise I exact of you.

You are sick. Is that it? Her savior is about to die anyway. That’s it! Your cough and that bloody rag you are trying to conceal say it all. Of all the . . . . Don’t worry your secret is safe with me. I hope the gallows ends your misery!

Seventh rock from the right. Go. I’ve seen enough of you! Lee Damon turned and went to the barred window where he could watch the noose being formed.

Eli’s next