The girls sighed with relief as they whispered their “good nights” to Derek and hurried into the house. They crept upstairs to their bedroom as silently as possible. McKenzie took the bag of horse hairs from her pocket and laid it on the dresser.
“Boy, that was close,” Bailey said as she climbed into bed. “Do you think Derek knows we went to Old Towne?”
“I don’t think so, or he would have told us. He was making rounds, so I don’t think he saw a thing.” McKenzie climbed into her bunk and flipped off the light switch with her foot.
Bailey whispered, “Do you think that horse was Diamond Girl?”
“I don’t know, but I hope so,” McKenzie said as she pulled the covers to her chin. “We need to get to town tomorrow and send those hairs to Kate by overnight mail. If it’s stolen, the thief won’t keep the horse there forever, so we have to move fast before he decides to move her.”
“Why is that guy hiding the horse there?” Bailey asked. “If he wants her for the money, why hasn’t he sold her?”
“Maybe he doesn’t want to sell her. Maybe he wants to keep her for himself. She is a prize-winning rodeo horse, you know. She brings in quite a bit of money,” McKenzie answered.
“Maybe he’ll enter her in the rodeo,” Bailey suggested. “If the horse is really Diamond Girl, no one would recognize her. She would win for sure.”
The moonlight cast a soft glow about the room. McKenzie peered over the top bunk and saw Bailey’s black hair framing her pale face in the dark.
McKenzie thought for a moment. “That’s possible, but Emma will be at the rodeo. Surely the thief knows that. Emma would recognize Diamond Girl even if she’s been dyed brown and covered with white splotches. I think we’ve overlooked a clue, but I don’t know what it is.”
“Do you think we should tell Emma that we found a horse at Old Towne?’ Bailey asked.
“Yes,” McKenzie agreed. “She needs to know someone is hiding a strange horse on her land. Let’s tell her first thing in the morning.”
Sunlight was beaming through the window when McKenzie woke up. She flung the covers off and stretched her legs, listening to Bailey’s soft, steady breathing coming from the bottom bunk.
Her eyes opened wide when she glanced at the digital clock on the desk. “Bailey,” McKenzie exclaimed. “It’s after nine o’clock!”
Bailey rolled over and rubbed her eyes. “We’re supposed to be doing chores. How did we sleep this late?”
McKenzie jumped out of bed and reached for her jeans. “I can’t believe Emma didn’t wake us. We have a lot of work to do today.”
Within minutes both girls scrambled down the stairs to the kitchen. The house was quiet, so McKenzie knew Emma had probably been up for hours. Though the girls usually woke on their own, McKenzie couldn’t help wondering why Emma hadn’t awakened them. The girls downed some orange juice, grabbed a couple of bagels, and hurried to the stables.
At first McKenzie didn’t see any stable hands. But then she saw Derek leading a caramel-colored Thoroughbred into the stable.
“Hey, Derek,” McKenzie called out as she hurried down the aisle toward him. “Have you seen Emma?”
“You girls are a couple of sleepyheads. I’ve been waiting for you to get up.” He closed the stall door behind the horse. “Why don’t you ride into White Sulfur Springs with me when I go get feed. Emma had a little accident this morning.”
McKenzie caught her breath. “What happened? Is she hurt bad?”
Derek opened the stable door for them as they stepped outside. “She was trying to break that little filly to ride. It threw her off, and she landed on her arm. You know Emma, she didn’t want to go to the doctor, but I was afraid she broke it. She wouldn’t let me take her, so I called her mom to come over. They left for the emergency room about an hour ago.”
Bailey’s eyes grew wide with worry. “Will she be okay?”
“I’m sure she’ll be fine.” Derek smiled as he walked toward his black pickup truck. “Why don’t we go find her now?”
Bailey opened the passenger door of the pickup and crawled inside. Then McKenzie remembered the bag of horse hair. “I need to mail a package. Can you wait a couple of minutes while I get it ready?”
“Sure, I’ll be waiting,” Derek said.
McKenzie hurried toward the house with Bailey close behind her.
“We need an envelope for the hair. Hopefully Emma has one in the office,” McKenzie said as the screen door banged behind her. She hurried down the hall and into the office. She opened the supply drawer and found a brown envelope. “Perfect,” she said as she grabbed it and headed upstairs.
“I’ll look up Kate’s address.” Bailey pulled her pink-andgreen-striped address book out of her drawer. She not only had the Camp Club girls’ addresses in it but also their phone numbers and e-mail addresses. Flipping the pages, she quickly found the address.
McKenzie printed Kate’s name and address on the envelope then stuffed the bag of horse hair inside. She added a short note which read, “Please hurry. We need your help— BFF, McKenzie and Bailey.”
On her way out the door, McKenzie grabbed the small backpack she sometimes carried for a purse. Overnight mail would cost a lot, and she hoped she had enough money.
The girls hurried downstairs and out the door. McKenzie had a funny feeling as she crawled in the pickup beside Derek. She felt guilty wondering if he was a horse thief. Then she remembered that her dad had once told her that guilt was God’s way of speaking to His children. Was God trying to tell her something now about Derek?
As she leaned her head back in the seat, her mind wandered. They needed to solve the mystery of Diamond Girl’s disappearance, but they also needed to focus on the rodeo that started tomorrow. In the afternoon, the judging of the Junior Miss Rodeo Queen contest would begin. She would be judged on her appearance, personality, and how well she handled her horse while riding. She shuddered at the thought of standing before the judges.
“You two are awfully quiet this morning,” Derek said, interrupting her thoughts. “Did you have too late of a night last night?”
“We just have a lot to think about,” Bailey answered.
McKenzie stared out the window at the distant mountains. About twenty minutes later Derek pulled into the parking lot of Mountainview Medical Center.
McKenzie wrinkled her nose at the smell of antiseptic as she stepped inside the hospital. Derek stopped at the front desk and asked the receptionist about Emma. After listening to her directions, the girls followed Derek down the hallway to a small room. A middle-aged, blond-haired woman who looked like an older version of Emma smiled at them as they entered.
Emma sat on the bed with her arm in a sling, her eyes rimmed by dark circles. “Hey girls, Derek.” She held out her uninjured arm toward the girls.
McKenzie stepped to Emma’s side and put her arms around her. Emma winced.
“I’m sorry, Emma,” McKenzie said. “Did I hurt you?”
“No, no,” Emma said, forcing a smile to her face. “I’m fine.”
“What did the doc say?” Derek asked. “Is your arm broken?”
“Just a sprain, but I get a sling anyway.” Emma shifted, holding her arm gingerly. “I also get to spend the night here. The doctor wants to make sure I don’t have a concussion.”
She looked apologetically at Derek and the girls. “I’m really sorry about all this, guys. I know it’s bad timing with the rodeo almost here.”
“Don’t worry about anything,” Derek said. “We’ll take care of things at the stables.”
“I’m waiting for the nurse to come back and take me to my room,” Emma said with a frown.
Emma’s mom, Mrs. Wilson, turned to the girls. “Emma asked me to stay with you girls tonight. If that’s okay with you, I’ll be out to the house after she gets settled here.”
The girls told Mrs. Wilson that would be fine. They said their good-byes and headed back to the pickup. McKenzie asked Derek if he would drop them off a
t the post office.
A few minutes later he pulled into a parking spot of the post office while McKenzie pulled out some money before leaving her backpack on the seat. Once inside she paid the clerk, and he told them that Kate should get the package by ten o’clock the next morning.
“Hopefully, Kate can test the hairs and call us with the results later in the afternoon. And let’s hope that’s soon enough,” McKenzie said as they walked back to the pickup.
The girls rode in silence as Derek drove to the feed store. McKenzie rolled down the window and let the warm air blow through her hair.
“Are you girls eager for the rodeo? I’ve watched you practice. You’ve both improved a lot since you came to Emma’s.” Derek tuned the radio to a country music station.
“McKenzie will win her category. She’s really good. She finishes a lot faster than me,” Bailey said as she folded her arms across her chest.
“Oh, I’m not that good,” McKenzie said, turning to Bailey. “There are a lot of riders who are better than I am.”
“I don’t know about that,” Bailey said dismally. “You’ll still win, and I bet you win the Junior Miss Rodeo Queen contest, too.”
McKenzie didn’t know what to say to cheer Bailey up. She knew how badly her younger friend wanted to keep up with her. Though Bailey rode well, McKenzie knew she would have tough competition at the rodeo. Many of the competitors had their own horses and rode daily. Bailey didn’t have her own horse and had few opportunities to ride.
“Hey, why don’t you enter the sheep chase, Bailey?” Derek asked.
“That’s a great idea,” McKenzie said cheerfully. “I’ve done that before. It’s a lot of fun, but I’m too old now.”
“What’s the sheep chase?” Bailey looked at McKenzie.
“Kids are turned loose in a pen of sheep. The first kid to catch a sheep and hold on to it is the winner. You could do that,” McKenzie said with a smile.
“Sounds cool to me,” Derek said as he pulled into the parking lot of the feed store. “How about it?”
“I don’t know,” Bailey said reluctantly. Then she continued, “I suppose I could try. It does sound like fun.”
Derek parked at the loading dock beside a pickup with Cedar Creek Ranch printed across the door. He turned to the girls and handed McKenzie a few bills. “Go on in and grab a couple of drinks. My treat.”
McKenzie hesitated and then thanked Derek. Within a couple of minutes, the girls returned with icy cold drinks.
“When are we going to tell Emma about the horse in the dugout?” Bailey said after Derek went inside the store.
“I don’t know,” McKenzie replied. “Now that she hurt her arm, I hate to give her something else to worry about.”
Bailey nodded in agreement. “And we can’t tell her we suspect Derek when we don’t know for sure,” she whispered.
Derek loaded the back of the pickup with feed. Then they headed back to Sunshine Stables. While Derek unloaded the pickup, the girls went to the house.
McKenzie dropped her backpack to the floor, and then the girls headed back outside to the stables. They needed to help the stable hands with the extra chores because Emma was gone.
The rest of the afternoon flew by in a blur and in the early evening, they went inside and found Mrs. Wilson cooking in the kitchen.
“I found a recipe for orange chicken and fried rice on the counter,” Mrs. Wilson said cheerfully. “Emma must have been planning on fixing it for supper, so I decided to try it.”
Bailey’s eyes lit up. “My grandma from China sent the recipe to my mom. It’s my favorite. I told Emma about it and she wanted to try it.”
McKenzie was glad Mrs. Wilson was staying with them. She knew Bailey was worried about not doing well in the rodeo. Ever since Emma had gotten hurt, Bailey had been quieter, but having Mrs. Wilson in the house seemed to perk her up.
After supper the girls practiced barrel racing. McKenzie and Bailey timed each other. McKenzie gave Bailey a few pointers on tightening her turns around the barrels. Soon, she had improved her time by a couple of seconds.
After heading inside the house, McKenzie noticed the backpack she had dropped earlier. As she picked it up, she noticed the zipper was partially open. She was sure she had zipped it closed before going into the post office earlier in the day. Who would have opened it? As she flung the backpack onto her shoulder, she noticed a sheet of paper stuffed inside. She pulled it out and gasped.
A handwritten message read:
“Tell no one about the mystery horse
if you ever want to see it alive again.”
At the Rodeo
“Who wrote this note and put it in my backpack?” McKenzie’s hand trembled as she handed it to Bailey.
“Didn’t you have it with you all the time we were in town?” Bailey asked.
McKenzie thought for a minute. “I left it in the pickup when I went to the hospital, the post office, and the feed store.”
“Derek waited in the pickup while we went to the post office,” Bailey said as she chewed on a fingernail.
McKenzie didn’t answer. Derek was the only person who had been alone with the backpack. Had he written the note? Could he really be the thief after all?
More than anything, McKenzie wanted to talk to Emma. But that was out of the question now. The thief had threatened to kill the horse if they told anyone.
McKenzie was getting more scared by the minute. She needed time to think. She had to find some way to get help without Diamond Girl getting hurt. She clenched her eyes shut and prayed, asking God to help her and to keep the horse safe.
McKenzie was so concerned about the threatening note that she had little time to think about the Rodeo Queen contest tomorrow.
When she woke in the morning, worrisome thoughts filled her mind. She peered at Bailey, who was lying wide-awake on the bottom bunk.
“I can’t believe the rodeo starts today,” McKenzie said. “I am so nervous about the pageant. What if I mess up?”
“You won’t, but I’ll take your place if you want,” Bailey said with a slight grin.
“Believe me, I’d let you if I could.” McKenzie sat up and swung her legs over the side of the top bunk. “I’d rather be in the sheep chase with you.”
“You’re kidding,” Bailey said. Then she added longingly, “I would give anything to be in the pageant.”
McKenzie hopped from her bunk and pulled on a pair of jeans. After finishing chores, Derek planned to take the horses to the rodeo grounds. He would settle them into their stalls until Mrs. Wilson brought the girls in later. That way McKenzie would have plenty of time to get ready for the pageant.
Then, after the crowning of the Rodeo Queen and the Junior Miss Rodeo Queen, Bailey would take part in the kids’ sheep chase. Following that, the girls would compete in the barrel-racing and calf-roping contests.
Finally the girls finished the morning chores and helped Derek and Ian load their horses into the trailer. They watched as Derek pulled out of the driveway and disappeared down the road in a cloud of dust.
McKenzie glanced at her watch. “Kate should have received our package by now. I’m going to call her and see if she’s found out anything about the hair yet.”
She scrolled through the list of names in her cell phone and clicked on Kate’s name. After a few rings, a familiar voice came on the line. McKenzie heard a dog bark in the background.
“Hi, Kate. Did you get the package?” McKenzie asked.
“I don’t know. I haven’t been home all morning. Mom made an appointment for Biscuit to get his shots. We won’t be home till after lunch,” Kate said.
McKenzie groaned. “This is really important. I have the feeling that guy will move the horse soon. We need to find out if the horse is Diamond Girl, so we can rescue her before she disappears again.”
“Mom wants to stop at a sale at the shoe store, but I’ll see if I can hurry her. I’ll tell her it’s important that we get home,” Kate said.
&nbs
p; “Thanks, Kate. Call me as soon as you get the results, okay? And give Biscuit a hug from his Auntie McKenzie.” After saying good-bye, McKenzie flipped the phone shut and filled Bailey in on the conversation.
After eating a quick lunch, the girls headed to their bedroom. McKenzie pulled on her new black jeans and the sparkly green blouse. Bailey looked longingly at McKenzie as she helped apply her makeup. But a smile twitched the corners of Bailey’s mouth when McKenzie asked her to french braid her hair.
As Bailey worked, McKenzie thought about the contest. Her stomach churned at the thought of the judging. She had an interview with the judges, and then she must ride her horse in a specific pattern before them.
“Are you girls about ready to go?” Mrs. Wilson hollered up the stairs.
“Just finishing up,” Bailey called through the open door. Then she tied a green bow onto McKenzie’s braid. “There. We’re done.”
The girls grabbed their backpacks filled with a change of clothes for the rodeo events. McKenzie grabbed the threatening note and stuffed it into her jeans pocket. A few minutes later, the girls tossed their bags and cowboy hats into the back seat of Mrs. Wilson’s car.
Mrs. Wilson told them that Emma would soon be released from the hospital. The doctors had found no sign of a concussion. Once she’d dropped the girls off at the rodeo, Mrs. Wilson would pick up her daughter.
The girls sighed with relief at the news. All too soon they pulled into the parking lot of the rodeo grounds. Mrs. Wilson stopped the car outside the building where the judges were waiting. McKenzie agreed to meet Bailey at the stalls after the interview, and then Mrs. Wilson and Bailey went on to the stables to find Derek and the horses.
McKenzie clutched her cowboy hat as she headed to the building where the judges held the interviews. She sat on a folding chair in the room with ten other girls. As she waited her turn, she glanced at the other competitors. She knew they were all probably wondering who would be crowned the next Junior Miss Rodeo Queen.
Camp Club Girls Get a Clue! Page 28
