A Deadly Affair at Bobtail Ridge

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Book: A Deadly Affair at Bobtail Ridge Read Free
Author: Terry Shames
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Bolton, a black man in his forties, is sitting two tables over from us doesn’t ease Truly’s discomfort.
    â€œTell me what you were doing in San Antonio last week,” I say. Truly is in demand all over the area because of his sure-handed way with cattle and horses. He’s a little old to break a horse, but he knows how to talk to them and handle them to soften them up so a younger man can get into the saddle. Some people call him a horse whisperer, which irritates him because it’s a silly idea.
    â€œThis man outside San Anton’ had a pasture full of horses—good-looking horses. More than a dozen. Kept them up well, but he never rode them.”
    â€œWhat did he keep them for then?”
    Truly laughs and scratches his chin. He knows that feeding and housing a dozen horses that you can’t ride or put to work must be the most ridiculous thing I ever heard. “I asked him that. He said he rescued those horses a few years ago. Can you imagine that? They was wild. He fed them up and gave them a good place to live.”
    â€œCan’t have been cheap.”
    â€œNo, sir. But in the long run, he’s going to get something out of it. They’ll bring a good price.”
    â€œTruly, you might have figured I didn’t get you down here to find out what some crazy rancher is doing with his horses.” I tell him about the incident with the padlock being cut and Jenny’s horses getting out. “I want to make sure that kind of nonsense doesn’t happen anymore while Jenny is distracted with her mamma.”
    Truly takes his time answering. He mops up the last of his beans with the last of the cornbread. He’s a slow eater. I’ve long since finished up my enchiladas. “Chief Craddock, I know you don’t think horses are smart, but if something doesn’t seem right to them they’ll make enough of a fuss to alert you.”
    â€œThey wandered up the street when somebody left the gate open. I don’t know how smart that is.”
    He nods. “They will wander, but like you say, they didn’t go far.”
    â€œI suppose.”
    â€œAnd you haven’t mentioned this problem to Ms. Sandstone?”
    â€œI don’t want to. She has enough to worry about with her mother in the hospital.”
    â€œI hear that.” He nods several times. “Tell you what I’ll do. I’ll get me a bedroll and sleep in the barn nights until things settle down.”
    â€œCome on, Truly, you don’t need to do that. We’re too old to sleep on the ground.”
    â€œSpeak for yourself.”
    We laugh. That’s as close to humor as Truly gets. “The problem is, I don’t want Jenny to find you there. Then I’d have to tell her what’s going on. I don’t want to worry her if I don’t have to.”
    â€œPut it out of your mind. I’ll get down there after dark and be up and out before daylight.”
    â€œYou know I’m going to insist on paying you for your time.”
    â€œNo, sir. You’re incurring no debt to me. Never have, never will.” When I was chief the first time around, I saved Truly from spending the rest of his life in jail, and he’s never forgotten it. He stands and picks up his hat. It’d be a contest to decide which of us has a shabbier hat. “Let me know when you think the danger has passed.”
    I’m following Truly out the door when Gabe LoPresto steps up to us. “Samuel, you got a minute?” Ever since Gabe went off on a tear with a young girl and got his ego whipped, he’s been less blustery.
    â€œSure, what’s up?”
    â€œI want to mention something to you. I saw Ellen Forester’s husband in town a couple of days ago. He behaving himself?”
    Ellen moved into town recently and opened an art gallery and workshop where she teaches art. The business is thriving. Who would have guessed there were so many would-be artists in a

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