Horsenapped!

by Bonnie Bryant

  “Ahhh, that feels great!” Stevie said.

  Although Carole wasn’t too enthusiastic about sticky stuff all over her riding clothes, she had to admit that there was something to be said about cool soda on a hot day.

  “Down to business, girls!” Lisa reminded her friends. She brought out the ransom note and laid it on the ground in front of her. “What exactly are we going to do to save Garnet?”

  “Well, for one thing, I don’t think it’s just Garnet,” Carole said. Both Lisa and Stevie looked at her in surprise. Carole told them about her suspicions.

  “I had already decided that Alicia took Bodoni out in his trailer because he had colic, but then when Sat withdrew too, well, it seemed suspicious.”

  Then she told about the gum she’d found.

  “You mean we’re not dealing with a single incident, it’s serial horsenapping? Or else it’s a lot of single incidents with the same MO!” Stevie said.

  “MO?” Lisa asked.

  “Modus operandi. It’s Latin for method of operation,” Carole explained. “But what it really means is that Stevie’s been watching too much television.”

  “Who cares what it’s called. What’s important here is that we nab the nappers!”

  “Before they hurt the horses,” Carole added.

  “Wait a minute,” Lisa said. “What’s this about ‘we’? Isn’t this something the owners and the police should handle?”

  “I’ve been thinking about that,” Carole said.

  “No way!” Stevie interjected. “Remember what the note said about calling the police.”

  “So, what about calling the diAngelos?” Lisa asked. “It certainly didn’t say not to do that!”

  “No, but you’re not thinking,” Stevie said. “If we call the diAngelos, or bring them the note, what are they going to do?”

  “Have us arrested?” Lisa suggested. “It might look like we are in on it.”

  “Veronica may be that stupid, but her parents aren’t,” Stevie reasoned. “No, what they’ll do is either call the police or pay the ransom.”

  “So?” Carole asked. She wanted to know what Stevie was driving at. This was beginning to get the feeling of one of Stevie’s “schemes.” Those were sometimes big trouble, and this one had trouble written all over it.

  “Don’t you see? If they call the police, then Garnet’s a goner, and probably Bodoni and Sat, too—”

  “If Bodoni and Sat were also horsenapped.”

  “Yeah, if, but it seems pretty certain to me. Anyway, calling the police is wrong.”

  “And what’s wrong about paying the ransom, getting Garnet back, and then calling the police?” Lisa asked.

  “Nothing,” Stevie said. “That is, if they get Garnet back after they pay the ransom. Just because a crook makes a deal, it doesn’t mean he’s going to hold up his end of the bargain, does it?”

  “What are you saying?” Carole asked.

  “I’m saying that if we tell anybody about this, Garnet is in danger.”

  “But it’s going to be a little hard to hide the fact that Garnet isn’t in her stall,” Lisa said sensibly.

  “Oh, no, it won’t be,” Stevie said. “See, there’s this event going on. Everybody’s too busy worrying about himself to notice anybody else. Besides, Veronica’s been disqualified because of walking out in the middle of her performance, so she won’t be here and neither will her folks.”

  “Max,” Carole said. “He’s going to notice. So will Donald and Red. After all, they are the ones who take care of Garnet most of the time.”

  “I’m working on it,” Stevie said. “I’ll come up with something.”

  “It’s going to have to be good,” Carole said. “After all, Garnet’s life is at stake.”

  “Aha! I’ve got it! We’ll tell Max that the diAngelos took Garnet to stay in their field for a couple of days because they thought there was so much going on here it was upsetting her.”

  Carole scratched her head. It had possibilities, but she wasn’t sure it would work. “Hmmm.”

  Lisa, the most logical of the three, took over. “Two things are wrong with that,” she said. “In the first place, Max will call the diAngelos to make sure Garnet is okay and to be certain they’re not upset with him.”

  “No way,” Stevie said. “At least not until after the event is over.”

  “Maybe,” Lisa conceded. “But when the event is over and Max does call them and finds out it’s not true, he’s going to say we told him that and we’ll be in a lot of trouble, if not jail.”

  “So, then, maybe the thing to do is to let him think that’s what they’ve done with Garnet and not exactly tell him.”

  “That’s okay, up to a point,” Lisa said. “And the point is the end of the event. The minute the dust settles on this three-day event, Max is going to be back to normal and he’ll call. I agree with Stevie that telling may not get the best result for Garnet, but if we haven’t gotten a better one by the end of the event, we’re going to have to tell.”

  “If we haven’t gotten a better result by then, we can pretend to discover the ransom note. How about that?” Stevie asked.

  “This all sounds pretty cloak-and-dagger to me,” Carole said.

  “Yeah, but it’s for the good of the horses, especially Garnet,” Stevie reminded her.

  “I hope those guys know what they’re doing with the horses,” Carole said. “I mean, those horses need really good care. I hate to think what would happen if the nappers got careless with the feed and grooming.”

  “Don’t worry,” Stevie said. “We’ll figure out a way to find them and save them before anything bad could happen to them. We just have to think of a way to sneak up on them. I can see it now. We’ll be on the front page of the newspaper, heck, every newspaper in the country!”

  “Wait a minute! We don’t want to sneak up on anybody!” Lisa interrupted Stevie’s daydream. “We just want to figure out where the horses are and who did the napping, and then we want to let the police take over. We don’t want to be heroines!”

  Carole nodded agreement. “I don’t know about you two, but the only thing that matters as far as I’m concerned is the safety of the horses.”

  Carole opened her soda can carefully. It didn’t explode. As she took a sip, she looked down at the ring, where the last junior rider was completing his dressage test. Carole stood up.

  “Time to go find Max and plant the idea that the diAngelos have Garnet.”

  “And then we’d better get out of here,” Stevie said. “There’s work to be done. I just got a great idea for a disguise, in case we need it. My dad has this old raincoat and a fake mustache …”

  Lisa almost laughed. When Stevie got an idea for a scheme in her head, she sometimes got carried away. An old raincoat and a fake mustache definitely meant being carried away. But, after all, Stevie was probably joking. Lisa hoped she was.

  One of the great things about The Saddle Club, as far as Lisa was concerned, was how different the three of them were. Stevie had her schemes; Carole was focused totally on the horses; and Lisa was logical. Their differences had always made them greater than the sum of their parts, but would it be enough this time?

  “Hey, I just remembered something!” Stevie said, brushing dirt off her breeches. “My mother has this gigantic magnifying glass. We’ll have lots of use for that!”

  Carole’s mind was on something else, as usual. “Maybe I should take out an ad in the paper with instructions to the horsenappers on how and when to feed those horses.”

  “Okay, first things first,” Lisa said. But nobody was listening.

  ACCORDING TO LISA, the first thing they had to do was find out if Bodoni and Sat had been horsenapped along with Garnet. Stevie was convinced it was true, based on what she referred to as “circumstantial evidence.” Carole wasn’t certain what circumstantial evidence was, but suspected it had to do with the gum. What it came down to was that Lisa assigned Carole the job of finding out for sure.

&n
bsp; The next morning, the alarm next to Carole’s head went off very early. It almost wasn’t necessary, though. She’d been awake a lot of the night figuring out exactly how she was going to do what Lisa wanted her to do. Then, every time she actually started to drift off to sleep, she started worrying about the horsenappers taking proper care of the horses, and that made her wide-awake. She was glad when it was morning and she could at least stop worrying about one thing—sleeping.

  The three girls were all staying at Stevie’s house for the duration of the combined-training event because Stevie lived the closest to Pine Hollow Stables. Carole slipped out of bed without waking her friends. In the dim gray light of dawn, she put on her riding clothes and then, carrying her boots, crept downstairs to the kitchen. She drank a glass of milk and pulled on her boots. She and Starlight had some work to do and the sooner she started out, the better. Today was the cross-country riding part of the event. That meant Starlight would have two cross-country trips. The first one wouldn’t count for a ribbon, but it might help make a difference to Garnet, Bodoni, and Sat.

  Carole scribbled a note to her friends, saying she’d be back to Pine Hollow by midmorning. Then, she left the Lakes’ house, closing the kitchen door behind her quietly.

  ALTHOUGH CAROLE WASN’T always enthusiastic about getting up early, she was always happy she made the effort. There was something very special about stables and horses early in the morning. That was particularly true now, when early morning was the only time Pine Hollow wasn’t completely overrun by competitors, grooms, trainers, parents, and just plain spectators.

  It only took a few minutes for Carole to tack up Starlight. He seemed as eager for an early-morning ride as Carole was. She led him to the door of the stable, mounted up, touched the good-luck horseshoe, and they were off.

  Willow Creek, Virginia, wasn’t a very large town. A lot of the people in and around town were involved with horses, and most of them knew one another. Both Alicia Downing and Mr. Feeney had property near Pine Hollow. It wouldn’t take Carole long to visit them, particularly since she could take shortcuts across the fields behind Pine Hollow.

  The air was still cool, giving little hint of the hot, humid day to follow. Dew hung on the grasses in the fields. It would evaporate as the morning warmed, lifting slowly above the field to meet the day. Everything smelled fresh and clean. Everything looked peaceful.

  Starlight nodded his head, eager to get going.

  Alicia’s house was across three fields and a little uphill from Pine Hollow. The short ride was a good chance to let Starlight loosen up. Carole didn’t want to tire him. He had a lot of work ahead of him with the cross-country ride later on, but a relaxed trip through an open field was something they could both enjoy.

  Carole checked her watch. It was eight o’clock when she reached Alicia’s house. She could hear a radio on in the kitchen, so somebody was up. Although Carole had been worrying all night about a plan, she wasn’t like Stevie and hadn’t come up with any clever way to do the detecting. Stevie had had lots of suggestions, but most of them involved clever and devious tactics that Carole had no faith in at all. So, Carole finally settled on the obvious. She decided to ask directly.

  She tied Starlight’s reins to Alicia’s mailbox, walked up to the kitchen door, and knocked.

  “Who is it?” came the startled response.

  “Um, it’s Carole Hanson, from Pine Hollow?” she began nervously. “I was just riding by this morning. I mean, I was exercising my horse because we’re competing later on, and I thought I’d stop by because I missed seeing you on Bodoni yesterday and I was just, sort of wondering …”

  Carole knew she was stumbling through her spiel. She sounded dumb and she couldn’t help it.

  “I’m really busy right now,” Alicia said through the screen door.

  “Well, I’m sorry to interrupt,” Carole said. She wasn’t going to be put off. “I just wanted to make sure Bodoni was all right. I mean, you left in such a hurry yesterday.”

  “He’s fine,” Alicia answered curtly. “This just isn’t a good time—”

  “Is he in the barn out back?” Carole asked, persisting.

  Alicia seemed to pause. She definitely looked uncomfortable. “Of course he is,” she said. “Where else would he be? I really can’t talk to you now.”

  The door closed.

  “Bye,” Carole said politely to the air.

  But she didn’t mean it because she wasn’t ready to leave. She returned to Starlight and mounted up. She rode behind the house as if she were going back through the field, but after she’d passed the barn and was out of sight of the house, she doubled back. It took only a quick look inside to confirm her suspicion: There was no sign of Bodoni.

  “What are you looking for?” Alicia’s voice came from a few feet behind her. She had followed Carole, making sure she’d gone, and now Carole had been caught red-handed snooping around the woman’s barn.

  Carole thought fast. “I just thought I could get a little water for Starlight,” she stammered. She didn’t fool Alicia, though.

  “There’s a trough in the field, Carole,” Alicia said. “And you know it’s there. You and your horse are welcome to the water. You are not welcome in my barn. I told you this wasn’t a good time for a visit. Now, please, leave.”

  Alicia stood and watched while Carole mounted up and rode away. There would be no doubling back this time, but there was no need to do it, anyway. Alicia hadn’t exactly told her that Bodoni had been horsenapped, but it was clear that something was very wrong and that it had to do with Bodoni. Carole was even more convinced she’d been right.

  Carole was pretty sure that if she spoke with Mr. Feeney, she’d get the same reaction she’d had from Alicia. She concluded, then, that there was no point in talking to him. She’d go right to the horse’s mouth.

  Mr. Feeney had a small stable to the side of his house. Carole approached it from the side away from the house. The stable was unlocked. She and Starlight stepped in. It was empty—just as she had expected. She had been in enough hot water for one day.

  Carole checked her watch. It was time to get back to Pine Hollow. There was a lot of work to be done, not the least of which was the cross-country competition.

  As Carole headed back over the fields to Pine Hollow, Max, Red, and Donald were working on the finishing touches for the junior course. The cross-country trail would take the riders in open areas as well as wooded ones. There were a lot of obstacles the riders and horses had to clear. It was a little bit like a hunting trail and Carole suspected it would turn out to be a lot of fun. Max saw her and waved. Red did, too. Donald regarded her quizzically. Carole thought maybe he was worried that she would overtire Starlight.

  She leaned forward and patted Starlight’s neck. He wasn’t tired at all. He loved a brisk ride in the early morning. Just to prove it, he whipped his tail up brightly and lengthened his stride. He was ready.

  STEVIE AIMED THE hose at Topside for a final rinse. She’d shampooed every inch of him so his coat would gleam for the afternoon competition. Now, satisfied, she turned off the water and tugged gently at his lead rope to move him from the bathing area. It was time to dry him and finish his grooming.

  The horse didn’t budge. “Come on, boy,” Stevie said. He still didn’t want to move. Stevie knew what the problem was. He loved being bathed and he didn’t want it to stop. He was just like her little brother Michael. He never wanted to get out of the tub, either. The only way she’d ever been able to get him out was to tell him that Alex or Chad, her two other brothers, were playing with his Nintendo games. She had the funniest feeling that ploy wouldn’t work with Topside.

  “Yeah,” she said to him. “You’re always glad to share your Nintendo games, aren’t you?”

  Topside didn’t answer. It was as if he had decided he wouldn’t move or react to anything until he got more shower time.

  “Okay, that’s it!” she said in her most motherlike voice. “If you don’t get out of the
shower right this minute, there will be no dessert for you tonight!” She tugged at the lead rope as she spoke.

  For some reason, Topside got the message. He followed Stevie to the area where she could dry him off. Stevie was relieved he’d obeyed, but she did wonder what, exactly, she was going to have to give him for dessert.

  “He looks great!” Lisa said. She was in the hallway where her horse, Pepper, was cross-tied for his grooming.

  “Thanks,” Stevie said. “And Pepper looks ready for the Embassy Ball!”

  Lisa nodded proudly. Pepper was a dappled gray. His coat didn’t shine the way Topside’s deep, rich brown did, but it certainly looked better when he was well curried and brushed.

  “I was just wondering why horses are willing to stand still so long to be fussed over with grooming. Do you know?” Lisa asked.

  “Sure. They love it,” Stevie said. “They love the attention, and a lot of the stuff, like the bathing, brushing, and combing, just feels good. I don’t think horses are too enthusiastic about having their feet picked, but a lot of them know that it feels better when it’s done, so they put up with it.”

  That sounded reasonable to Lisa. Then something else occurred to her. “Well, if that’s the case, how come we have to be careful on the trail not to let them get near a dirt or mud patch because they’ll roll in it?”

  “Hmmm,” Stevie said thoughtfully. “Good question.”

  “Two answers,” Carole said, joining her friends. She was leading Starlight back to his stall from her morning adventure. “In the first place, they do it to scratch or cool off. In the second place, they do it so they get very dirty so they have to be groomed all the more.”

  “Now, there’s horse logic,” Lisa said.

  “And it makes complete sense,” Stevie said.

  “If you’re a horse!” Lisa concluded.

  “Excuse me! Excuse me, coming through!” It was Donald, pushing a wheelbarrow of fresh hay. The three girls and their horses were blocking the aisle. Donald would have to duck under their cross-ties to make it through the traffic jam. The girls didn’t have a chance to move before he began threading a path around the horses, and he was gone before they could clear a way for him.