Small Town Filly (Sandbar Stables Cozy Mystery Book 1) by Bethanie Cushman

almost disappointed. Catching something—or someone—would have been scary, but at least they would have known what they were dealing with.
    Finding nothing was far more disquieting.
                  Then, on the fifth morning after Sunrise had been spray-painted, Alex arrived to see Lance at the hay barn getting out the bales for the morning feed. She got out and started over to him, intending to help out, but as soon as he saw the car he walked out to meet her.
                  "What happened?" she said, instantly afraid of what she might hear.
                  He raised one hand to stop her. "Didn't find anything. But Fanny did start barking last night around two in the morning."
                  "Were you in the house?"
                  "No. Since our little glue trap caught nothing, I just felt better staying out in the barn again. So that's where I was when I heard the barking."
                  "Was…was somebody in the barn?"
                  "No. This time, Fanny was behind the house when she sounded off."
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

CHAPTER SIXTEEN
                  "The house!" Alex turned to look at it. "Was somebody trying to break in?"
                  "I don't think so. I crept over there fast and didn't see a thing. The doors were still locked." He sighed, and she could hear his frustration. "I really thought I'd catch them this time. But I didn't see or hear anything."
                  "Nothing disturbed around the barn, either?"
                  "No. It could have just been somebody out for a midnight walk on the beach. It happens."
                  "Okay. Yeah, I guess it could have been anything. Even another stray dog." But as Lance started back towards the hay barn, Alex looked back at the house again.
                  "I'm going to go take a look," she said. "I brought a few things from the store, and I've got to put them away. I'll be back out in a minute."
                  "Sure thing," said Lance, and he went back to his work.
                  Alex got the bag of groceries out of the car and took them to the house. She went in through the front door, which faced the inside of the property, and walked through the house to the kitchen. After putting away the bread, lunchmeat, chocolate chip cookies and grapes, she decided to make some coffee. They'd certainly be needing it throughout the morning.
                  Alex took the carafe to the sink so she could fill it with water—and nearly dropped it as she jumped back.
                  The small window over the sink had a hole in it. Shards of glass lay in the sink, along with a fist-sized rock that seemed to be covered in heavily taped paper.
                  At first she was afraid to touch anything. Then she set down the carafe and, very gingerly, moved aside a couple of pieces of glass. Then she lifted the rock out of the sink and set it down on the counter.
                  She pulled a paper towel from the roll and used it to brush off any bits of glass from the rock. Then she found a small knife and used it to cut through the layers of cellophane tape that held the paper around the rock.
                  Finally, her hands shaking, Alex got the paper free. It appeared to have some kind of printing on it. She pressed it down flat on the counter so she could read it.
    The words had been spelled out with letters cut from a magazine and taped to the paper, which only made it creepier.
    YOU'RE BOOTED
    GET OUT
    HORSES ARE RUBBISH
                  She could not decide whether she was more angry or frightened. In a moment, she was back outside and running to the barn with the awful note still in her hand.
                  Lance heard her running and met her at the entrance to the barn aisle. "I found out