What was Mo saying? Was she actually implying that Celeste would hurt Indy? Carole couldn’t imagine what she would do if anything happened to Starlight. She was thankful that Pine Hollow didn’t have a rider like Celeste around. Veronica was mean and did some pretty vindictive things, but she wouldn’t intentionally do anything to harm a horse or a rider. Ever since her first horse, Cobalt, had died as a result of her own carelessness, Veronica had been a more careful horsewoman. Carole grew sad just thinking about it. Before she had gotten her own horse, she had spent hours taking care of Cobalt, and she still missed him.
She was brought out of her gloom by Stevie’s remark. “Pine Hollow is the best stable around,” Stevie was saying. “We can’t imagine riding anywhere else. All the riders here are really fun people—well, except for Veronica, but she’s the only bad apple in the bunch. The rest of us have a great time together, and we talk horses and riding all the time.”
“Yes, and Max and Denise are fantastic instructors,” Lisa said eagerly. “Red is our head stable hand, and he’s terrific, too. I was almost a beginner when I came here, and they’ve taught me so much.”
Amused, Carole realized that Stevie and Lisa had turned to another task at hand—recruiting Mo as a new rider for Pine Hollow! “I’d probably have to tie a red ribbon on Starlight’s bridle,” she joked, joining the conversation. “Otherwise, I might groom Indy one day by mistake!” Everyone laughed.
Mo looked more cheerful. “Thanks,” she said gratefully. “I’d love to join Pine Hollow, but it’s an hour away from my house. It would be a long haul for my parents to drive me that far and back.”
Lisa became aware of something moving to her left. She flicked her eyes there. It was Kurt. He was looking at the four girls together. He stood motionless for just a second, then his eyes met Lisa’s. It was almost a silent plea. He opened his mouth as if to speak, then closed it, hesitated for a second, and shook his head. Lisa blinked. She watched him walking away. What was with that boy?
The other girls noticed Lisa’s distraction and looked to see what had caught her attention. Kurt’s back was to them, and his shoulders were hunched.
“It’s like he has a sign on him saying, ‘Leave me alone,’ ” said Carole.
Stevie turned to Mo. “Just what is Kurt’s problem, anyway?” she asked, trying to keep her voice casual.
“Kurt’s always like that,” Mo answered, shrugging. “He’s the most antisocial person at Mendenhall. He keeps to himself, doesn’t like to talk to anyone.”
Lisa nodded. She had experienced that for herself.
“I have heard plenty of rumors about Kurt, though,” continued Mo, again dropping her voice to a whisper. “He has two older brothers, both of whom are in jail. I think one of them robbed a store.”
“That’s so awful for Kurt,” said Carole. “Maybe be won’t talk to anyone because he’s embarrassed about his family.”
“It’s not just his family,” Mo said. “I’ve heard that Kurt has had his own problems with the police. We go to the same school, and some of my friends told me that he has to report to a probation officer at least once a week.”
The Saddle Club members exchanged significant glances. Kurt had gotten into trouble with the police?
“Do you know why?” asked Lisa. “I mean, what did he do?”
“No one knows for sure,” said Mo.
“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” muttered Stevie. It was a saying that she had heard from Carole’s dad. Even if the rumors about Kurt were unconfirmed, why would the rumors exist if there wasn’t something shady about his past?
“Huh?” asked Mo, startled.
“Nothing,” said Stevie. She spotted Phil coming toward them. “Hey, Phil!” she called out, waving.
Phil walked up to the group, but his eyes were focused on Stevie. “C’mon,” he said, grinning. “Let’s take a little walk together.”
Stevie allowed herself to be pulled up, although she was reluctant to stop discussing the Mendenhall riders. Mo’s knowledge was really valuable for the investigation.
Stevie and Phil walked for a few minutes together, discussing the first two rounds of the dressage rally. Stevie wanted to tell him about their investigation, but he seemed distracted and excited about something else. All her attempts to raise the subject failed as he murmured replies like “Is that so?” and “Oh, really?”
“Phil, we’re trying to help you and Max and you don’t even care,” Stevie finally said, exasperated.
They had reached Max’s house by now, far away from the picnicking people. Phil suddenly dragged Stevie into a private spot behind the house. “Stevie, I had to get you alone,” he said, putting his arms around her. “I couldn’t wait to tell you my surprise.”
“What is it?” she asked. Was Phil finally going to tell her why he was in Max’s office?
“I’m getting you a new bridle for your anniversary present!” Phil blurted out. “That special snaffle bridle that you wanted—it’s going to be yours in a few weeks!”
Stevie stared at him. “What?” she gulped.
“I couldn’t wait until our dinner tonight to tell you,” Phil continued excitedly. “I know that you’ve been dying for one. The only thing I’m sorry about is that you couldn’t use it today. But I had to order it from a catalog, so it’s going to take at least two weeks …”
Stevie continued to stare at Phil in disbelief as he babbled on about the gift. She was shocked that he was getting her a new bridle. They were incredibly expensive! She had looked at one in a tack shop only a few weeks before, and the price was one hundred and fifty dollars. Phil was always complaining how broke he was. So how did he suddenly find the money to buy her a new bridle?
“That’s great, Phil,” she said weakly, attempting to smile. “But it’s just too expensive. Besides, I didn’t get you anything.”
Phil didn’t seem to notice Stevie’s less-than-enthusiastic reaction. “I don’t want a gift,” he answered, giving her a little hug. “And don’t worry about the cost. I can afford it now!”
Did Stevie imagine it, or did Phil put a meaningful emphasis on the word now? She wondered again where he had gotten all that money for the bridle. She was thrilled that she was going to finally get it, but it seemed like too much money for Phil to have or to spend.
Phil took her by the hand and they started walking again. Stevie’s mind was in a whirl. Phil … money … bridle … She was starting to drive herself crazy.
Then she paused for a second and looked at her boyfriend. “What’s wrong?” he asked, pulling her hair playfully. “Do I have something on my face?”
“No,” Stevie said slowly. For the first time since the theft had taken place, she felt the tiniest tug of suspicion in her mind. Why did Phil have so much money all of a sudden? And why hadn’t he explained his presence in Max’s office yet? Why was Stevie starting to think that these two facts belonged together?
“SO WHY DID Phil drag you off like that? Did he have a sudden romantic urge that just couldn’t wait?” teased Carole, leaning against the frame of the stable door.
The afternoon session of the rally was about to begin, and the girls had just finished getting their horses ready to go. The Saddle Club had decided to huddle briefly and figure out how to proceed with their investigation.
Stevie turned a little pink. She didn’t have the heart to tell Carole and Lisa about her newfound suspicion of Phil. Besides, she consoled herself, his extravagant gift didn’t prove anything. Maybe it just proved that she had been an extra-special girlfriend for the past six months. Maybe Phil had gotten a discount on the bridle. Didn’t she know that Phil would never, ever steal anything?
“Uh, yeah,” she answered, smiling brightly. “He’s acting really goopy today. I think something’s gotten into him, and I have to say I like it!” Carole and Lisa laughed.
To divert their attention, Stevie returned to the subject of Mo. She looked around to make sure no one was listening, then said, “Can you b
elieve what Mo told us at lunchtime? What a bunch of losers at Mendenhall! I’m sure one of them is our thief.”
Lisa agreed. “It certainly reinforces the stuff we already know about Celeste, Howard, and Kurt,” she said.
“And it shows that Denise is probably not the thief,” Carole said hopefully.
“Listen,” Stevie said, “I’ve been thinking. Even if Celeste and Howard didn’t steal the money, we should still try to do something about their awful behavior.”
“But how?” Carole asked. “Mendenhall’s pretty far away—what could we do? Besides, it’s not really any of our business, and, moreover, Mo doesn’t seem to want to tell anyone in authority—not Max, not the owner of Mendenhall. I don’t know why. He seems like a nice guy. We’ve all seen him wishing the Mendenhall riders luck before they compete, and he really seems to mean it.”
“Remember what Mo told us about Celeste being his favorite? If that’s true, I can see how he wouldn’t listen to Mo,” said Lisa.
Stevie shook her head impatiently. “Well, if Mo won’t speak up, why can’t we? I’m not shy. Maybe it will mean more coming from outsiders, since we have nothing to gain by telling the truth about Celeste and Howard. More importantly, we have to stop Celeste and Howard from harming any more riders. If there’s danger to a horse or rider involved, we should be involved, too, don’t you think?”
Even Carole was forced to see the logic in that. She loved horses and riding so much, she would do anything to keep them from being harmed.
“Well, we can’t solve all the problems in one day,” said Lisa sensibly. “Let’s just concentrate on the theft, and then later we’ll figure out what to do about Celeste and Howard.”
“Always the voice of reason,” Stevie said, grinning at her.
“Speaking of reason,” said Carole, glancing at her watch, “we’ve lost track of time. We’re on in a few minutes, Lisa!”
“Oops,” said Lisa, turning to go get Prancer. She and Carole rushed to mount up and get to the show ring.
Stevie was late on the list for the third round, so she had almost an hour to wait. Normally she would feel frustrated at having to wait so long to compete in dressage, but today was different. She had work to do!
A FEW MINUTES later, Stevie poked her head into the locker room. Almost everyone else was either competing or waiting to compete. The place was strangely silent. She had seen a rider emerge about a minute before, and then no one else came out.
“Yoo-hoo,” she called tentatively. “Anyone in here?” She stepped into the room. Quickly she found Veronica’s cubby and reached down and opened it. She started feeling around inside.
Stevie knew that if Max caught her snooping in Veronica’s cubby, she would be in big trouble no matter what reason she came up with. But she couldn’t help herself. She wanted so badly to prove that Veronica was the thief. She kept looking quickly over her shoulder, ears tuned for anyone behind her. Every noise—the creaking of the stable floor as she bent down, the far-off rustling of the few horses and ponies left in the stable—seemed especially magnified to her.
Her search, however, turned up nothing. Veronica’s cubby contained exactly what Stevie should have expected: a couple of lipsticks, a hairbrush, a nail file, and an extra pair of riding gloves. Everything looked ordinary—or, rather, ordinary in Veronica terms, since her gloves looked incredibly expensive and everything else was beauty-related. But there was no money anywhere.
Then Stevie slipped out to examine Danny’s stall. The gray horse wasn’t there, since Veronica was in the show ring. Once again, Stevie found nothing unexpected.
Where could she be hiding the money? Stevie thought. She knew that Veronica couldn’t possibly carry the money around with her. Her riding jacket and breeches were too form-fitting to hide a bulging envelope of bills. And the money from the CARL jar would weigh at least ten pounds, Stevie thought.
Taking a deep breath, Stevie decided to return to the scene of the crime—Max’s office. She walked softly through the tack room, then opened the door to the office as quietly as she could and peeked in. No one was around.
She stepped in and began searching for clues. Her heart was pounding. She could feel it beating against her throat. “That’s silly, you know your heart is farther down,” she told herself, willing herself to calm down. She knew that if Max caught her snooping around in his office, she’d be history.
She carefully reached up and felt along the shelf where the money had been kept. Nothing. Then she examined the table under which she had found the money. Just the same old catalogs on top, and nothing on the floor but the usual dust.
Stevie sighed in frustration. Wanting to take one last look at the shelf, she stretched up on her tiptoes. Then she noticed something. A tiny scrap of something was caught on a corner of a book, near the spot where the money had been. What was it? It looked like dark fabric …
Stevie heard someone coming. She grabbed the scrap quickly and started to scurry out. But she was too late. Denise burst into the office and stopped short when she saw Stevie.
“Oh, hi, Stevie,” she said, glancing around. She still looked pale and nervous, and her eyes darted in a jittery way.
Stevie was feeling jittery herself from her clandestine snooping. “Hi, Denise,” she answered nervously.
Denise looked around the office again. She looked as if she wanted to say something but was too uncomfortable to do it.
Uh-oh, Stevie thought in despair. She’s about to ask me what I was doing in here.… She’s going to find out I was spying.… She could already see the potential scenario: Max finding out that she was a snoop and then banishing her and Belle from Pine Hollow forever.
“Uh, Stevie, can I have some privacy?” Denise asked hesitantly. “I really need to make a phone …”
Before Denise could finish her sentence, Stevie waved good-bye and shot out the door.
IT TOOK A good three minutes for Stevie’s heart to stop thumping. While she waited it occurred to her that perhaps she wasn’t cut out for a life of sneaking and snooping. Her pounding heart would set off any decent burglar alarm! Finally, feeling calmer, she took a deep breath and wandered through the indoor ring, patting some of the horses as she passed them. That was when she spotted Celeste walking ahead of her. There was something about the way she was walking and casting furtive glances around her that made Stevie highly suspicious. Celeste looked guiltier than Stevie had felt in Max’s office!
Ducking behind one of the horses, Stevie waited until Celeste was gone and then checked out the indoor ring. Except for a few riders and horses, it was empty. Gold Rush and Ghost were standing tethered in a corner.
Acting on a hunch, Stevie quickly checked over Ghost. Her suspicions were soon confirmed: His right stirrup iron was dangling loosely. Someone had cut partway through the strap. It was the sort of thing no one would notice until Howard got on the horse and started to ride. The stress of riding would probably make the stirrup fall off, right in the middle of a dressage maneuver.
Stevie was furious. What a sneak Celeste was! She would even stoop to sabotage the tack of her devoted admirer!
“Celeste has got to be the thief,” Stevie told herself. “And I’m going to prove it!” She realized, reluctantly, that she was coming to the conclusion that Veronica had nothing to do with the theft. None of the evidence pointed her way, in spite of her threats to Phil for teasing her and her blatantly ridiculous accusation.
Stevie went back to the locker room. She knew that while Veronica kept beauty supplies in her cubby, Lisa, who was a straight-A student, often kept school supplies in hers. Stevie searched through Lisa’s cubby—she knew that Lisa wouldn’t mind in this instance—and found a piece of paper, a pencil, and some tape. She wrote an anonymous note to Howard telling him to check his right stirrup iron before he rode Ghost again. Then she taped it to his saddle where he would be sure to see it.
Stevie hurried off to find Carole and Lisa and tell them what she had seen. On her way out of
the indoor ring, she encountered Mo coming in.
“Hey!” said Mo, startled. “What’s the hurry? I’ve been looking for you and your friends—I’ve got to tell you something.”
“Sorry,” Stevie said breathlessly. “I’ve got to find Carole and Lisa. I forgot to … uh … lend Carole my dressage riding whip.”
“Wait, before you go,” pleaded Mo, “I saw something you should know about. I’m probably all wrong—it doesn’t make any sense because she’s so nice and all—but that girl, Denise … she was in an empty stall a few minutes ago. Maybe I shouldn’t say this, but … well, she was counting out a fistful of money!”
STEVIE STARED AT Mo in horror. Was it possible? Could Denise be the thief? Maybe there was some other explanation for what Mo had seen.
“Oh,” Stevie said, too stunned to respond. Denise? “See you later.” Then she abruptly left. Now she really couldn’t wait to find Carole and Lisa.
She caught up with them near the show ring, standing by Prancer and Starlight. They had just finished competing in the third round of the rally, which had required a serpentine at canter, flying changes, and half-passes at trots.
“I think I was too slow on the flying change,” Lisa was saying.
“No, you did great,” Carole said. “I really think you’ll get a ribbon in this round.” Then she saw Stevie coming up to them, and from the look on Stevie’s face, she knew that the recap of the rally was temporarily stalled.
“Boy, have I got news,” Stevie announced. She led them into the stable and they huddled in an empty stall, first checking to see that no one was around. Stevie quickly described what she was sure Celeste had done in the indoor ring to Howard’s horse, and then, more reluctantly, she told them what Mo had said about Denise. Carole and Lisa were equally horrified.
Horse Thief Page 7
