Kill the Ones You Love by Robert Scott Read Free Book Online Page A

incident, “After what I thought was a very successful year, with great promise and leadership potential, I thought that Gabriel would serve as an officer in the air force. I think he would have served well as an officer in the air force.
    â€œHe came to my office in the springtime of 2002 to say he was leaving the ROTC program. When I asked him why, he told me he had to protect his mother. After that first year, he said he knew the military was going to cost him timewise. I asked him, ‘Isn’t that something that law enforcement agencies would do?’ He said, ‘No, they can’t. I have to protect my mother.’ Out of respect for Gabriel, I didn’t pursue it. That was the first time his mother came up in conversation with me.”
    To another person, Gabe said that he dropped out of ROTC because he did not want to kill innocent women and children. And to others, he said that he did not want to drag Jessica around the country and the world as a military wife. Just what the truth really was, Gabe probably didn’t even know himself in years to come. He seemed to believe whatever he was telling someone at a particular time.

    Gabe was not accepted into a flight-training program or even the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, because he had no degree from BYU. His studies there had slackened to such a degree that he didn’t finish college. Deciding to cover up this fact, Gabe told Jessica and her parents that he decided not to become an air force pilot because it would mean moving Jessica from place to place, depending upon where he might be stationed. Gabe sugarcoated all of this by stating that he was giving up his dream because he didn’t want Jessica to “endure the rigors” of being a military wife. This story became his most persistent one, but he would use the other stories as well, when he could get away with them.
    All of that might not have been so bad, but because he had not performed the requirements in college, the air force now demanded that Gabe pay back all the money he had received from them while at BYU. Gabe did everything in his power to dodge and weave his way around paying anything back to them.
    By his dereliction, Gabe had squandered his opportunity; even worse, he had no job and no prospects of a good-paying job at any time soon. He began running up huge amounts on credit cards, just so they could stay afloat and pay bills. Gabe talked Jessica into letting him invest funds from her settlement that were not used in the down payment of the house in Provo. She allowed him to do so; he promptly lost all of that money in bad investments.
    Jesse noted that around this time Gabe started drinking beers and smoking dope. He seemed to have fallen back into the malaise of his high-school years before meeting Esther Eschler. The sunny, outgoing Gabe was starting to be eclipsed by a restless, sullen Gabe. He even told Jesse not to let Jessica know about his drinking and smoking dope: “It’s better that she doesn’t know.” And since she was the one out working, while he sat around the house getting stoned or drunk, he was able to get away with it.
    Life had not turned out as planned for Gabe or Jessica Morris. He had made many, many promises to her, and most of them had been hollow. She was, however, still in love with him. To try and get back on their feet, the young couple sold the house in Provo. They moved up to a place in Blackfoot, Idaho.
    Jessica recalled, “We bought a house in Blackfoot, and I got a job working at the state hospital. From selling the house in Provo, we essentially came out even.”
    The Popes were glad to have Jessica nearby again, but they were much less enthusiastic about Gabe’s presence. As usual, Jessica seemed to be the one putting all her energy into the marriage. And it was Jessica who had the energy and drive when it came to anything concerning family finances. Gabe was always drifting off into