Caught in the Crosshairs by Rick Steber

Author:Rick Steber
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: western caught crosshairs mystery west oregon
Publisher: Rick Steber

*****

In the weeks after the murder Justin hunkered down and worked hard. He refused to discuss what had happened, and quit going to town because he didn’t want to chance running into some well-intentioned friend who would bring up the bogged-down investigation. But Shelli, with time on her hands and Justin not around much, listened to Tina and her story about the psychic. And Shelli thought maybe, if she were to work with a psychic, she could help break the case.

“I wanted answers,” explained Shelli.

“You got more than you bargained for,” said Justin. “You got yourself a hell of a mountain of bills, that’s what you got.”

Shelli began calling the psychic hotline network she saw advertised on late night television. The psychics told her things about what had happened when Phil was killed, and about the killer. Some of the information didn’t make sense, but some, when interpreted by someone who wanted to believe, made perfect sense. Shelli and Tina burned up the phone lines as they tried to decipher the clues offered by the pay-by-the-minute psychics.

“I wrote down everything,” said Shelli. “They told me about the people involved and described them in detail; what they looked like, what they were wearing, what they said. One psychic even claimed the killer kept the rifle, and she gave me a string of clues on where I could find it – at the edge of a meadow, back in the trees, log cabin, beneath the floorboards, used as a residence only part of the year, nearby to the scene of the murder.”

When Shelli and Tina went over the clues they were convinced the rifle was located under the floorboards of the log cabin on Sixshooter Ranch. And even though it was the dead of winter and they would have to trespass on Jack Rhoden’s property, they made the decision to ride there, collect the rifle and turn the evidence over to the sheriff. They thought if they were successful this would seal the case and the killer, probably one of the Rhodens, would be tried for murder. With the weapon in hand, the killer would be forced to confess. That was the way they had it figured.

On a cold, wintry day, Shelli and Tina rode horseback onto the Sixshooter Ranch. A storm moved in, the wind picked up and it began to snow; fat snowflakes slanted down and filled in the areas between trees with a blanket of white. The two women welcomed the storm, knowing an accumulation of snow would soon wipe out any evidence of their coming and going. When they reached the cabin they dismounted, went inside the unlocked door, and pried loose a floorboard. They truly believed what the psychic had said; fully expecting the rifle that killed Phil would be concealed there. It was not. They searched the barn; still no sign of a weapon. They gave up and started for home. But as they rode, the snowstorm turned into a blizzard. They became disoriented and for

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