“They’ll figure it out,” Isis interrupted my self-pitying. “They’ll have those things out in no time. You’ll be ready to jump before noon.”
“And if I’m not?” I asked sourly. “Besides, it’s not just getting these things out so I can breathe again, it’s that Gloria will get away with it. There’s no way I can prove anything. And poor Chuck…”
“What about him?” Isis said through a dribble of grain.
“He’s been completely fooled by her. He deserves someone kind and decent, not Gloria. She’s a despicable cheat with a black heart.”
“She won’t be able to fool him for long.”
“Really? He seems pretty love-struck. Men can be so blind.”
Isis chewed thoughtfully but said nothing more. Kally had found Winny and the pair bolted back into the barn, the other grooms leaping out of their way as they beelined for my stall. Chuck took a step back as Winny threw my sliding door open with enough force that it bounced back, hitting her in the shoulder. She caught it and shoved it away again, tripping over a wad of hay but never once taking her worried eyes off me.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” she looked searchingly into my eyes.
I indicated again with a grunting breath, hoping someone would be able to figure out my plight. Winny grabbed my mouth and pried it open, pulling my tongue out to the side as I tried to breath. I yanked away when she shoved her hand down my throat.
“Stop it! I’m trying to help you,” she growled angrily. Again, she tried to examine my throat but I retracted.
“Let me help,” Chuck offered, bringing my halter and lead rope with him as he stepped in. He expertly flung the crownpiece behind my ears and buckled it. “Try palpating the outside of her throat to see if there’s any mass stuck in there. If it’s choke, you might be able to feel it without having to go all the way down her esophagus.”
Winny accepted his help and the two of them examined me until Danika came in, short of breath, with Dr. Herriot in tow. After listening to Kally’s retelling of the morning and the inconclusive findings of Chuck and Winny, he began an examination of his own. Pulling various instruments from his case, he poked and prodded, once even sending a hemostat up my nose where his massive hands couldn’t fit. Still, they were inches away from the wad of sponges, which remained stubbornly in place.
“There’s obviously something wrong with her breathing,” Dr. Herriot clenched his chin and focused his eyes on me. “I just don’t know what. I’ll need to send her to the emergency clinic where they have more specialized instruments before I can really come to some kind of conclusion. However, I’m afraid she’s going to have to be withdrawn.”
Winny gasped and clutched at her heart like Dr. Herriot had plunged a dagger in. Chuck gave her a fatherly pat on the back and she laughed feebly. “I can’t believe our luck. Every time winning a show really matters, something traumatic happens. Remember that black stallion that kicked her at Gallant farms?”
Chuck nodded and recalled, “Really nailed her shoulder, if I remember right. But she pulled through.”
“But what about this time? How’s she going to pull through this?” Winny mumbled and looked up at him, teary-eyed.
I perked up as Mike came into view. “What’s going on?” he inquired, his eyes shifting from me to Winny. Winny took two steps and crumbled into him. Immediately, Mike drew her in tight and tenderly kissed the crown of her head.
“It’ll be alright. There’ll be more shows. This isn’t the end of anything,” Danika said soothingly. Winny responded with a shuddered breath and I matched it with my own groan.
Everyone was silent for a few minutes while we mulled over our unceremonious loss at the Regalia. It wasn’t a matter of points or seconds or performance in front of a cheering crowd where we’d been defeated—it was at the hands of a sneak who was too cowardly to try and win fair and square.
Kally stepped into my stall and cupped my muzzle in her hands, resting her forehead on mine in a gesture of solidarity. Suddenly, her back went rigid and she placed her hands over each of my nostrils. “She’s got an obstruction in her nose!”
“I checked,” Dr. Herriot began protesting.
“Feel for her breath,” Kally challenged him. “She’s hardly getting anything in or out. Let me borrow your hemostat.”
Danika nodded to Dr. Herriot, who handed over the same instrument he’d tried before, but with Kally’s more delicate hands, she was able to reach the extra distance and pinch onto a piece of the sponge. She gave a yank and a chunk tore loose.
Kally held up a purple piece of sponge and gave a triumphant smile. “See?”
With a rumbling snort, I expelled a few smaller pieces and they dropped onto my pile of untouched hay. Dr. Herriot bent over and snatched it up, grimly examining it in his hand. Turning to Danika, he said, “Better call Mr. Rodriguez. There is definitely something dishonest going on here.” Danika pulled her phone from her pocket and made the call.
Carlos arrived promptly after a brief phone conversation with Danika. In spite of his late night escapade with Gloria, he looked like he hadn’t missed a wink of sleep. The stress of the show was wearing on everyone but keeping up public appearances was one of his duties.
“I understand we have a situation here,” he said gravely. “May I see what you’ve found?” Dr. Herriot held out his hand and Carlos bent over slightly to examine the sponges but did not touch. “And how were they found?”
“I was called in this morning for this horse’s respiratory distress and this young lady figured out what was the cause,” Dr. Herriot said, tipping his head in Kally’s direction. She grinned but modestly dropped her gaze.
“I see,” Carlos said. “This is very serious.”
“Do you believe me now?” Winny said, a drop of sass in her tone. “I told you yesterday afternoon that there was something fishy going on.”
Danika held up her hand to temper Winny and interrupted, “I think we’re all a bit agitated at the moment. What she means to say is have you found any leads since yesterday’s discussion?”
Carlos shook his head. “Obviously, whoever this is is trying to be covert. They’d be kicked out of the show, disgraced from the sport. There’s no telling that the two events are related either. It’s still possible that Ms. Fitzgerald’s stirrup leather really was an accident.”
Isis stomped angrily. “He’s lying.”
“Of course he is. He’s trying to protect Gloria and cover his own hind end,” I answered.
“There’s only one way to stop this all from happening again,” Winny asserted.
“And how is that?” Carlos questioned, that familiar cold glint in his eye.
“Postpone the show until the cheater is caught.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
All the horses pressed their faces to the stalls, watching the commotion out in the aisle. Carlos’ hands had been tied. He couldn’t refuse not to investigate the suspicious activity. Belle’s colic and Gretchen’s broken stirrup leather could be explained away as unfortunate, but sponges up my nostrils was clearly foul play.
“Nothing in Gretchen Fitzgerald’s tack trunk,” one harsh-looking woman with tightly curled grey hair and a hook nose announced, clicking the lock back into place. All of the spare volunteers who weren’t busy with stadium jumping assignments or ushering people to their seats were called in along with the local police for the search. They’d already finished the four other barns and the row of trailers but hadn’t found anything incriminating. I was certain they wouldn’t until they got around to Gloria’s.
“What’s the meaning of this?” Harvey stormed in, his green eyes flashing hotly. He looked to the pink-cheeked volunteer who had been assigned to search Harvey’s belonging.
“Mr. Freeman,” Carlos held up his hands diplomatically to diffuse the situation. “We have been trying to contact you. There has been an unfortunate incident involving a serious violation of rules and safety. To prevent fu
rther danger to the competitors, we have invoked our right to search all participant’s belongings.”
“What are you saying?” Harvey snarled, unsatisfied with Carlos’ response.
“He’s saying someone’s cheating and they’re trying to find out who it is,” Skylar translated it into layman’s terms.
Harvey shifted his feet uneasily. “What kind of cheating?” he asked.
“Nadia Wells’ horse had sponges inserted in her nose to block breathing,” Carlos answered.
“So not drugging then, huh?” Harvey asked.
“No, not in this instance.”
Harvey suddenly seemed at ease. I knew the dark secret he was hiding, but as of yet, he’d managed to keep it from everyone else. I had no idea what he was using on his horse, but whatever it was, it was powerful and against the rules, and he knew it.
“Mr. Rodriguez? I think I might have found something.” The young man who’d been rummaging through Harvey’s belongings held up a violet sponge that had been cut into pieces. Carlos pulled a zip top bag containing the chunks that Gloria had put in my nose from his pocket and pulled them out to compare. They fit together perfectly. A half hour more of searching and they found Ritalin he’d been slipping Stoney too. Even during a random drug test, it’d be unlikely to be discovered since it wasn’t detectable in the bloodstream for long after administering.
“Mr. Freeman, do you have something you’d like to confess?” Carlos turned to ask Harvey, wearing the same devilish look a barn cat got right before he pounced on a mouse.
Harvey’s usually confident air had disintegrated and he looked sickly. “I think I need to speak with my lawyer.”
“Here’s an extra set of keys too,” the volunteer held up a small set of keys, dangling off the same keychain each competitor had been issued to lock our tack room upon arrival.
“And I suppose you don’t know how those got in their either?” Carlos said, almost taunting him. “These wouldn’t happen to belong to the horse at the end of the aisle who had to drop out due to colic, would they? Or maybe Ms. Fitzgerald’s?”
“I don’t know!” Harvey said, exasperatedly. He knew he was in trouble and the increasing amount of evidence was incriminating him more and more. “Someone must have put them there. I didn’t do anything to anyone else’s horse!”
Carlos smirked and took a few steps backward, then about-faced and marched to Belle’s abandoned stall. The key fit on the first try. “I think you need to come with me,” Carlos said solemnly.
As if reading Harvey’s mind, Carlos snapped his fingers and ushered two security guards in to prompt him to follow. My heart ached for Harvey. I would never condone performance enhancing drugs, and I would be the first to insist any competitor who’d do so face the consequences, but being disgraced from the sport for intentionally harming others’ horses when he hadn’t done it was unfair. Drugging horses wasn’t anywhere near the same level of evil as Gloria’s sinister plot. Harvey had been her target all along to take the fall, thus ridding her of his stiff competition. Her incredible cunning knew no bounds.
“But he didn’t do it!” Stoney whinnied after his rider. He stomped anxiously and danced about his stall. Chaos murmured something to Stoney that was inaudible to me. Whatever her soothing words were, he seemed to hear them. He quieted down and hung his head in the corner.
Winny returned with Mike in tow. They’d left when Ms. Diederich had arrived after the morning commotion and commanded that it was time to go walk the stadium course. When Winny started to protest, Ms. Diederich interrupted abruptly, “You are here to compete. Kally will care for the horses.”
Winny made no further effort to put up a fight, and I wouldn’t have either. Besides, I had recovered. No lasting damage had been done, other than being a little drowsy from staying up all night, gasping for air. It was put behind me with a full stomach and a determination to out-ride Gloria.
Kally pulled Isis and I out into the crossties and simultaneously began grooming us for the final phase. She worked quickly and I couldn’t help but notice she carried her head a little higher.
“Hold still,” Kally scolded as she snugly strapped on my jumping boots. I could hardly contain my excitement. Winny and I were almost done and we had a shot at taking the competition if we were controlled, yet bold in the stadium round.
Katie stumbled into the barn, choking back tears. “Have you heard?” she gulped.
Winny rushed over to her. “What? What’s wrong?”
“They just disqualified Harvey. Said they have evidence of him cheating, that he put the sponges up your horse’s nose. I don’t think he’s capable of that. Do you?”
Winny’s mouth gaped open, then closed. “I don’t know. If they have evidence, it’d be pretty hard to refute.”
“But aren’t you willing to defend him? What if he was set up?” Katie sobbed. “Riders are supposed to stick together.”
Winny was speechless. Mike took three long strides to her side and gently defended her. “But what if he did? That wouldn’t be fair to ask Nadia to defend someone who might have done something incredibly low. If it were Bullet, you’d be thinking differently.”
Katie wiped both eyes with her fingertips and sniffed. “You’re right,” she admitted. “I’m just so shocked. And tired. These competitions always take a toll on me.”
“I think she had a soft spot for Harvey,” Isis observed, looking over her shoulder.
I shifted on my feet and agreed. “He was quite the charmer. But everyone’s got to know that dishonesty is going to catch up with them eventually.”
“But he didn’t do what they’re accusing him of,” Isis retorted.
“Yeah,” I snorted, “but really, what’s the difference? Drugging your horse or interfering with another’s boils down to the same thing: cheating is cheating, and he did cheat.”
Winny patted Katie’s shoulder and when Katie reassured her she was well enough, Winny returned to help Kally finish up the final touches of my once-more sleekly plaited mane.
“Is Gretchen not back yet?” Winny asked Kally.
“She said she wants me to bring Isis down to the warm up ring for her. She’s still studying the course, I guess.”
Winny shrugged. “At some point, walking distances won’t help any more than sitting back and taking a mental break.”
“Tell that to Gretchen,” Kally snorted. “After yesterday’s faults, she’s got no room for error if she’s planning on moving up in the ranks. She’s going to die if she doesn’t get short-listed for the U.S. team.”
Kally walked around Isis and me, studying us from head to toe. We were in tiptop shape and gleaming from her hard work. I felt radiant.
“Ready, then?” Mike shoved off from leaning on the stall door. “Let me give you a leg up, Nadia.”
Kally threw Isis’ reins over her head and started off towards the freshly harrowed warm up ring where a few riders were already popping over the jumps.
Winny led me out into the open and pulled down the stirrups, giving her leg to Mike. Halfway up, he gave her a nonchalant slap on the butt—something he’d been doing for a few years now. Instinctively, Winny yelped and kicked out, the heel of her boot striking Mike’s jaw. He stumbled back in shock and moved his mouth around like it’d been unhinged.
“Geez, Nadia. A bit nervous, huh?”
The surprise of Mike’s touch had rocketed her into the saddle and I could see her face was burning. “Sorry, Mike. You caught me off guard.”
“I guess,” Mike grinned, still rubbing his face.
We walked briskly to the arena. I took several deep breaths of fresh air and restrained the temptation to let out a snort and a playful buck. I couldn’t believe how well things had been going. Despite Gloria’s best efforts to thwart us, we still had an unbelievable shot at winning. Surely the scouts for the Olympics were impressed by our performance. I tightened my lips and could only hope.
The noise from the
spectators reminded me of the low hum of a bee swarm. People were in constant commotion as they filed to their seats in the stands where the dressage had been only a few days earlier. Ushers corralled the patrons, vendors handed out piping hot pretzels and freshly grilled burgers, members of the press snapped photos left and right.
I looked up at the big screen that was flashing the current standings of competitors. My heart skipped a beat to see my name in a three-way tie for first with Gloria and Katie. Next to Harvey’s name, a red DQ signaled his disgrace. Disqualified. Surely he was the talk of the day already. His devoted fans were probably in shock, speculating as to why their favorite rider and horse had been ejected from the competition. Because he was out, the final battle for first would be between Winny, Gloria and Katie.
“There’s Gretchen,” Winny pointed ahead to our blonde friend who was being tossed atop Isis’ back by Pete. I couldn’t help but notice he pulled a very similar move to Mike but instead of a kick to the face, Gretchen squealed with laughter.
As we approached, Madeline’s smiling gaze turned from her sister and Pete and found its way to us. Her grin diminished and she shifted uncomfortably in the sand.
“Hey,” Pete grunted as we pulled up beside Isis. “Looks like that dude that was in love with you got caught cheating. So, he stuffed sponges up your horse’s nose? Pretty lame.”
Winny fiddled with the reins. “I’m not entirely sure it was him. It all seemed too convenient to me. But, he definitely was up to something sneaky.”
“Well, whatever it was, it helped you out,” Pete smirked. “Tied for first, huh? Gretchen’s, what, seventeenth now?” He patted her knee.
Gretchen’s face screwed into a sour expression. “Sixteenth,” she corrected him.
Madeline’s chocolate brown eyes flashed from her leather boots that she’d been dragging through the sand to Mike’s face, then back to the ground. She hadn’t said a word since we arrived and was practically squirming with discomfort.
The ring was filling up quickly. Though dressage and cross country took a good portion of the day to complete, show jumping went relatively fast. In just a few minutes, a horse and rider were tested again on their speed, agility and accuracy in the final phase. I suppose most of the riders at the bottom were hoping to merely complete their round but for those still vying for the top, the test would make or break our position.
Road to the Regalia (Nadia and Winny Book 2) Page 15
