Buck McDivit was my (Eric Wilder’s) first protagonist in Ghost of a Chance. He is set to encore in my novel in progress tentatively titled Panther Stalking. Ghost took place in east
In Panther Stalking Buck does some detective work for Clayton O’Meara, his former employer. O’Meara owns a large cattle spread and some of his cows are coming up missing. There are complications. One of Clayton’s employees and maybe even his longtime business partner are possibly involved. Buck’s former girlfriend has a secret that could cause him a problem. A rural community of right-wing whackos has focused their attention on him, and an all female commune in the middle of Clayton’s ranch complicates the situation. Look for Panther Stalking early in 2009. Until then, here is a short excerpt from the work in progress:
Shorty’s horse sidled forward, directed only by instinct as their path began dropping downward into a deep hole in the ground - a narrow canyon fully one hundred feet below the area’s normal surface. The deeply dissected gully disappeared into blackness and Shorty quickly melded into the shadows as he hurried after Garth and Johnny.
Spooked by being herded away from their normal nighttime shelter, the cattle continued voicing their alarm, their hooves clattering against cobbles in the dry streambed and echoing against steep walls of the narrow canyon. No light penetrated the thick mass of tree limbs that enclosed the deep void almost like a dark tunnel. The three men had an answer, treading their way by the spare illumination of headlamps they wore on their hats. It was all they needed.
The canyon followed a straight line for almost a mile. No one, even were they near, would have detected the presence of the rustlers, their mounts or the lowing cattle thanks to the foliage-covered tunnel. The three men soon slowed the cattle and herded them up a camouflaged trail, flicking off their headlamps as they exited the trees. Though still dark, full moon and starlight seemed like Broadway on New Year’s Eve compared with the eerily-lit tunnel they had just exited.
Up ahead they saw an oilfield tank battery and a slow-moving pumping unit singing a sad tune with its moving rods. A cattle trailer attached to an old Ford pickup awaited them, along with a newer Chevy and horse trailer. Shorty dismounted without bothering to tie his colt. Opening the trailer’s rear gate, he yanked out a ramp so that Garth and Johnny could begin herding the cows into the trailer.
“We got too many. They ain’t all gonna fit,” Shorty said.