Poverty Hill
Copyright© 2026 by Asa Strong
Chapter 3
Mark looked at me like I was out of my mind. “The hell you say. You mean you found a dead body?”
“Ayup,” I said as I loosened the cinch on Dumb Ass’s saddle.
“Judas Priest, that’s all you got to say, just ayup?”
I threw the saddle into the horse trailer and then turned towards Mark. “Ayup!”
“OK Amos, where’d you find this body?”
“Oh, up the road a piece, bout half mile off the fire trail.”
“You gonna show me where it’s at, or continue to play the dumb cowboy?”
I looked around, things were gettin’ purty intense with the reunion goin’ on. “Well, I don’t think he’s goin’ anywhere anytime soon. You might want to get this here situation taken care of first.”
Mark shook his head and walked back to where the crowd was gathered. He spoke to another deputy for a few minutes, then to Alice’s parents. Finally, he made his way back to where I’d finally removed the packs from Li’l Lady.
“Now, you gonna show me were you found this dead guy?”
“Ayup, soon as I get the horses taken care of we can head out.”
I put some oats in the feed troughs in the trailer and loaded the horses. Once I had the tailgate latched up I walked back to Mark’s Bronco.
“Well, let’s get a move on there deputy, we’re burnin’ daylight.” I said, with a smile.
I couldn’t help but put a needle in Mark’s ass. When I seated myself on the passenger side of the Bronco I turned towards him, “Hey, now since this is official business, you gonna turn on the siren and that fancy blue light you carry on top this thing? I always wanted to ride in one of these things wid ‘em on!”
Mark looked at me and shook his head, “Where the hell you come up with this shit. We don’t need no siren and lights.”
He put the Bronco in gear and we headed up the road in the direction I’d ridden down from with Alice.
“How much further we gotta go?” He asked me.
I answered, “A ways, I’ll holler when we get there.”
A few minutes later, I could see where I’d come down off the mountain.
“Stop here, were close.”
Mark pulled the Bronco off to the side of the road and we both got out.
Now, this part of the road was too steep for a vehicle to make its way off road. I figured that the dead guy must have entered the woods a ways back down the road we’d just driven over.
“Let’s see if’n we can find where he left the road.” I shot over my shoulder as I started walkin’ back down the fire road. Mark followed behind and it weren’t long afore I could see where the guy had driven off the fire trail. It looked like at one time there had been a dirt trail going up towards the side of the mountain. But, except for the faint depression in the snow caused by the truck’s tires, there hadn’t been anything up this way for a long time.
As we followed the trail into the woods, I kept an eye open to see if there were any sign of anyone else being around. I did see where it looked like the guy stopped the car and got out. The shrubs on the side of the trail looked disturbed, as if he had walked into the woods towards the mountainside. But it also could just have been an elk looking for dinner.
I didn’t say anythin’ to Mark and we kept walking towards the mountainside.
It weren’t long afore we reached the Chevy 4X4. It had warmed up some and I guess that was helping to decompose the body. The smell was getting powerful; I’m here to tell yah.
Mark spent a few minutes looking into the Chevy and then asked me, “OK, now where’s the body?”
I looked at him, “Foll’er your nose, you can’t miss it.”
We walked over to where I’d found the dead man and Mark started to walk around him.
“Mark, you keep fidgeting around like that and you’re gonna make it hard for your people to figger out what happened.”
He nodded his head in understanding and we started walking back to his Bronco.
When we reached the Bronco, Mark called into the Sheriff’s office in Steamboat Springs. It weren’t all that good of a connection and the person on the other end must have been askin’ to repeat hisself. I could see that Mark was gettin’ tired of repeating what he’d just said. Finally, I guess they finally got the idea that there was a dead man and told Mark to stay where he was and they’d send out an investigator.
When he finally ended the conversation I asked him, “OK, now how bout getting me back to my truck?”
“I can’t do that, the sheriff said to stay here.”
“Mark, it’ll take a good hour for anybody can get here from the Springs. I got horses to take care of, and not to mention I could use a good hot shower to boot.”
I’m sorry Amos, but I gotta stay here.
“I just shook my head, turned around, and started walking back down the fire trail.
Now there are boots and then there are boots. A dude will get himself a nice pair of fancy boots with a low heal on ‘em; they’re easy to walk in and comfortable. A cowboy on the other hand, well he needs a high heel on his boots; keeps ‘em from slipin’ through the stirrups when he’s ridin’. But, I’m here to tell ya, they’re a bitch to walk in and can hurt like hell if’n you walk very far.
I was not pleased with having to walk a few miles back to my truck.
“Amos, where you goin’”, Mark hollered.
“You can’t leave, the investigator’s gonna want to take a statement from ya.”
I turned around, “Well, you all know where I live. If’n I ain’t there, try Lucy’s.”
I’d walked a quarter a mile or so when Mark pulled up aside me.
To read the complete story you need to be logged in:
Log In or
Register for a Free account
(Why register?)
* Allows you 3 stories to read in 24 hours.