Clint cruised slowly down the gravel road, leaving only a thin, short-lived trail of dust behind his RV. Born and raised in just such an area, he knew to avoid kicking up a dust storm if he wanted to remain friendly with the locals. He
absolutely
wanted to remain friendly with the locals.
Doing exactly that was why he had access to most of the properties in the area, giving him the best possible chance of accomplishing his goal. If the stories he'd heard were true, and he could prove it, there was a chance of attracting grant money or donations to the foundation.
As he drove, he mentally mapped the locations he had recently stayed overnight, trying to decide where to set the night's base camp. Naturally, the next logical place was one of the few properties the owner wouldn't allow him on. He'd asked the previous year, and been refused in a vehement — even threatening — manner. The property was huge, and left a giant hole in his coverage of the area. The man's driveway was fast approaching, and he glanced that way as he passed.
He immediately let off the accelerator, having seen a woman he didn't recognize walking down the lane toward the mailbox. He'd also noticed flowers growing next to the house, and those certainly hadn't been there when the crotchety old man had chased him off the property the previous year. He pulled as far off the side of the road as he could and stopped.
God damn!
he thought as he got his first good look at her in the rearview mirror. The white t-shirt she was wearing looked as though it was ready to explode from trying to contain her tits. The rest of her wasn't bad, either. She had long blonde hair, and a pretty face. Her shorts showed off her nice legs, and a butt that was big, but not too big. He guessed she was about his mother's age.
He took a moment to compose himself, and opened the door. The heat and humidity hit him like a sledgehammer. A thunderstorm had popped up earlier, drowning the area in a downpour. The clouds had barely passed before the temperature had skyrocketed once more. All the evaporating rain water made the air feel as thick as soup, and it was the absolute hottest part of the scorching summer day.
"Afternoon," she said when he climbed out of the RV. "You lost? Afraid I may not be of much help. I barely know my own way around."
"No, I didn't recognize you, so I thought I'd stop. Isn't this..." he trailed off as the old man's name escaped him.
"Hibb Keller?" she prompted.
He snapped his fingers. "Yeah, I think that was the name. Did he move?"
"Passed away at the first of the year."
"I'm sorry."
She waved her hand in a dismissive gesture, then used it to wipe the sweat from her brow. "He lived a full life. To be perfectly honest, I hadn't seen him in over ten years."
He walked up to her and asked, "Related?"
"My uncle. He left the place to me." She chuckled, shrugged, and clarified, "Well, he left it to the family, and nobody else wanted it." She held out her hand and said, "I'm Alice Keller."
Clint shook her hand and said, "Clint Drake."
"Let me guess. You want to look through all the junk he had stacked everywhere?"
That explained the old man's territorial behavior. If he was a collector, having some stranger on the property with his
treasures
was absolutely intolerable. He knew the type quite well.
He shook his head. "I work with the Raptor Research Foundation. People in the area have been telling stories about a strange owl. I've heard what I believe were calls from Boreal Owls in the area a couple of times, and it always seems to come from this direction."
"I've certainly got some hooters," she said.
You can say that again,
he thought, having to fight to keep his eyes from dropping down to her breasts.
She continued, "They're living in the barns and out in the woods. Hear them all the time and see them once in a while."
"Those are probably Horned Owls. Boreals make a completely different sound, and if they're actually here, they're an oddity. This is easily two hundred miles south of their normal breeding range."
From farther up the drive, he heard a man's voice say, "You again?"
Shit,
Clint thought, recognizing the old man as Hibb's friend, from his previous stop at the property.
Shaking his finger as he approached, the gray-haired man said, "If you think you're going to take advantage of Alice here because Hibb passed on, you best be rethinking it."
"It's fine, Floyd," Alice said. "He's looking for owls, not uncle Hibbs collection."
The old man walked up next to Alice and stared daggers at Clint. "Hmph! Owls. Big load of hogwash, I say."
"We're trying to sell things, remember?" Alice said, and then patted the old man on the shoulder.
"Sell them for what they're worth. Not peanuts or pilfering."
Hearing that they were selling sparked an idea for a possible inroad. "If you're looking to sell, I know someone who buys. They call themselves Barn Owl Treasures."
The old man snorted and rolled his eyes.
Alice said, "I actually called them. They said they'd put me on the list, but I haven't heard anything back."
Clint smiled and said, "I know the owner's son, though. Looking for owls, I spend a lot of time in barns. When I see something interesting, I pass along the tip. I've hit pay dirt often enough that he takes me seriously."
"Really? It would be nice to clean out at least a little of this stuff," Alice said longingly.