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  Photo Copyright Bob Bradshaw
 
     A Novel
 
    By
    Jim Oakley
 
 
 

   Copyright © 1998 by Jim Oakley 
Chapter 33

Sally drafted her newspaper column by mid-morning and ate lunch at her desk while proofing her work.  
As she opened her car door, Sally glanced toward the heavens putting the morning behind her. Now she had to meet Gus.  
 She wondered if she could ever really overcome her fear of riding a horse. If a blind man could ride a horse in a parade, it was time she got past her childhood fear. Gus was the man who could help her. She so admired the courage of the unsighted man, realizing he was no fool. Something about him still echoed inside her.  
The drive from Prescott to Sedona was about 50 miles even with the Cherry Road shortcut to the I-17 Freeway. Once on the freeway, the drive took her through a mountain pass and into the Verde Valley with its meandering river.  
Today the water was racing along its banks from the afternoon storm. It was monsoon season which was characterized with sudden cloud bursts. Small fierce storms often came over the Mingus mountains toward Sedona. As the storm brewed, the air was forced up into the atmosphere where it was cooled.   
When the air came cascading down the other side of the mountains, the friction in the raindrops and moisture triggered an abnormal amount of lightning. Thunder bolts striking trees were a daily occurrence on the Sedona side of the mountain.  
 Although the sky was clearing over her, Sally could see flickers of lightning loitering over Sedona in the distance, lending further credence to Sedona's mysterium.   
The drive was pleasant and uneventful except for an accident which had occurred at the I-17 Freeway and Sedona turnoff. A pickup truck pulling a horse trailer had apparently misjudged  the turn at the freeway entrance. It had cut the corner too short, running off the embankment and then rolling on its side.  
It appeared to Sally the accident must have just happened and the highway patrol had arrived. Two cars were there with revolving red and blue lights. The officers were placing flares to guide the traffic around the accident. Sally complimented the patrolmen in her mind for the speedy response, yet wondered how they had arrived so quickly.  
Gus and Sally arrived at the Red Bell Inn parking lot at the same moment as if destiny had a specific plan for them.   

They pulled up next to each other in the parking lot, smiling at the synchronicity which placed them together at the same moment.  
They walked toward the coffee shop, Gus indicated relief at not being late because of his errands. He asked if she had a pleasant drive.  
Sally said, "It was especially beautiful around the last bend in the road. The first time you see Bell Rock is spectacular. I thought I might be a little late myself when an accident at the freeway held me up. The police were already there. Funny how they got there so quickly."  
"Oh?"  There was a slight apprehension Gus's voice.  
"Yes, a dumpy old black truck with a homemade camper and horse trailer missed the freeway entrance and overturned."  
Something about the mention of a homemade camper took form in the back of Gus's mind. He stopped dead in his tracks as they entered the lobby.  
He didn't want to ask the next question because of its possible and tragic implications, yet the question clamored out of him grasping for an answer.  
"Was the overturned horse trailer gray and rusty red?"  
"Yes. How did you know?"  
A jolt of sharp anguish hit Gus and he came to full alert. He had put the pieces together in his recognition of the truck and trailer that seemed almost too far fetched to be believed.  
He asked another question, "Could the police have been chasing the truck and trailer when it overturned?"  
"That may have been the reason they were there so quickly," responded Sally, "I never considered that."  
"Snake Buckman!" he said. "Was there a horse in  the overturned trailer?"  
"I didn't see, but it's possible."  
Gus stepped to the phone, dialed the ranch but got the interrupt operator saying the phone was temporally out of service.  
"Come on, Sally, we have to leave right now. I have to check back at the ranch. I think we may have a stolen horse."  
Sally leapt into the truck, "Oh no, not the horse in the parade?"  
"I'm afraid so."  
Gus told her about the card game with Snake in which he had won Biff, and Snake's drunken nature. He described how Snake carried a grudge for years trying to get the horse back. Likely hearing about or seeing Biffer in the parade, coupled with all the 4th of July parties set him off on a bizarre scheme to steal Biff.  
 

 
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