Totally Buzzed by Gale Borger

Author:Gale Borger [Borger, Gale]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Mystery
ISBN: 9781590807903
Publisher: Echelon Press Publishing
Published: 2010-08-01T00:00:00+00:00

16

The sun was sliding toward the western horizon when Alejandro found the Gamble Appaloosa Horse Farm. It looked to him as if someone had taken a small ranch and crunched it into a tiny area. The two-story house sat near the road, off to the left. What would have been the back yard and pastures were fenced enclosures looking more like dog runs than turn-out yards. A large parking area began about thirty feet east of the house where six or seven horse trailers were parked. Two large barns were situated end-to-end, each had to measure well over 100 feet in length. The back barn had an extension off to the side, which Alejandro figured was an indoor arena for winter riding. Other outbuildings lay to the east of the barns, with a gravel road cutting down the middle.

A thin, wiry man with black hair and a pocked face met Alejandro in the front parking area. He ignored Alejandro's greeting, acting as if he did not even hear him.

"So much for Midwestern hospitality," Alejandro sighed.

The little man silently directed Alejandro toward the road running down the east side of the barn. Alejandro drove until he found a gap between the barns where he was halted by another man.

Several stern-faced cowboys stood waiting. Alejandro raised a hand in greeting and only one responded with a curt nod. There was none of the joking, convivial atmosphere Alejandro was used to seeing when in the company of cowboys. The entire operation here made him nervous.

He wondered, momentarily, if he should just turn around and leave. He turned off the engine, but before he could exit the truck, they had the trailer doors open and were unloading the mares. No one spoke to him as they led the mares into the second barn. A lanky older cowboy came back out of the barn and told Alejandro he was to collect the papers for the mares.

"Sure," Alejandro said as he reached into the glove compartment for the sealed envelope he had been given in Mexico.

Thinking it was weird that no one asked where Dr. Huerta was, Alejandro closed up the empty trailer. He turned to ask one of the cowboys a question and found himself alone. He poked his head inside the back barn and noticed his four mares were still tied in the aisle. All the farm hands were gone. He thought how odd it was that after the long ride in the trailer the horses would be standing in an aisle rather than bedded down in stalls.

He stood alone next to his truck, hands on hips. He thought about the atypical behavior of the employees. The breeder had not come out to greet him. No one offered to show him around, something that happened on every horse farm no matter where you went. The older cowboy never opened the envelope to check the papers against the proper mare. The horses were still tied in the aisle. Were they staying or going? The peculiar goings-on since he arrived were sparking Alejandro's T.

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