Mystery Ride (4 page)

Stevie felt her face burn. Why did Veronica have to see things first? She wouldn’t have minded if any other rider had noticed that the lead rope, halter, and bucket were missing.

Desperately Stevie looked around, hoping to find another clue. A moment later she spotted one.

“Veronica,” Stevie said triumphantly, “I think you’ve overlooked the most important clue of all.”

“I don’t think so,” said Veronica.

“Then what about this?” said Stevie. She picked a piece of red yarn from a splinter on the door of Nickel’s stall. “I
deduce that the thief was wearing red,” Stevie said. “Hmmm.” She examined the yarn more closely. “I deduce that it was a sweater.” With a grin, she said to Veronica, “Find a red sweater, and you will find the thief.”

There was a gasp from the younger riders as they crowded around Stevie to see the yarn.

“Good work,” came Max’s voice from outside the stall. Everyone turned, and Lisa noticed that Max didn’t look as worried as he had before. In fact, he looked downright cheerful. “Everybody come out into the yard, and let’s talk,” he said.

Out in the cool air of the yard, Max waited until the riders were standing around him in a circle.

“Would anyone like to send out a posse to catch this dastardly pony rustler?” asked Max, grinning widely. Every hand in the circle went up.

“Better get started,” Max said. “A pony rustler can travel a long way before sunset.”

The riders turned to each other, chattering.

“Before you leave, let’s go over the riding rules,” Max said. The riders sighed, but they listened because they knew that the rules were devised for their safety.

“Riders must stay in groups of two or three,” Max said. “There will be no, I repeat no, riding alone.” He looked from face to face to make sure that his words had penetrated.
The riders nodded because they knew how dangerous it could be to ride alone. “You must observe all the rules of trail etiquette,” Max said. “And you may ride only on land where we have permission to ride.”

“That means stay away from the Biddies’,” piped Jackie.

“That’s right,” Max said. “The fields are privately owned. We ride there on sufferance. If anyone doesn’t want us to ride in their fields, we can’t. And the Biddies
don’t.”

The riders nodded again.

“Next rule. Riders may not gallop on trails for any reason,” Max said.

Stevie stifled a groan. Galloping was one of her favorite things, but she knew that Max was right. With so many young riders in the group, galloping simply wasn’t safe.

“All riders must return to the stable as soon as Deborah rings the Pine Hollow bell,” Max said. “Night falls quickly this time of year, so no matter what you’ve found, even if you think you’re on the verge of a major breakthrough, you must turn for home as soon as you hear the bell. After all, you’ll have all day tomorrow and Sunday morning to solve the mystery.”

“We can do it,” Amie said to her friends Jackie and Jessica.

“You’ll be riding with me,” Max said.

“We don’t need help,” Amie said stoutly. “We can solve it on our own.”

“Don’t worry,” Max said. “I’m not going to help you solve the mystery. I’ll follow where you lead. I won’t give advice. I’ll be there for safety.” Amie, Jackie, and Jessica looked relieved.

“Red will go with May, Jasmine, and Corey,” said Max.

Stevie turned to Lisa and Carole. “Now the real hunt begins,” she said. “Without Veronica there to get in the way, we can really do our stuff.”

“At last we can detect,” Lisa said as they hurried toward the stable to get their horses. They had only a couple of hours before sunset, and there was a lot to do.

T
HE THREE GIRLS
met at the good-luck horseshoe at the main entrance to the barn. It was a Pine Hollow tradition to touch the shoe before a ride. Maybe it didn’t have magical powers, but it reminded riders to be careful, which was probably the reason that Pine Hollow had never had a serious accident.

“Where to?” said Lisa as the girls rode off at a brisk walk.

“Let’s go back to the spot where we heard the mysterious hoofbeats,” said Carole.

“What hoofbeats?” Stevie said.

Lisa and Carole looked at her with amazement. “The ones we heard yesterday,” Carole said.

“As in clop, clop, clop,” Lisa said.

“Who says those were hoofbeats?” said Stevie airily. “We never actually saw a horse.”

“What else could they have been?” said Lisa.

Stevie shrugged. “A couple of branches banging together in the wind.”

“Branches don’t go clop,” said Carole.

“A jackrabbit bouncing down the road,” Stevie offered.

“It would have to have been a two-thousand-pound jackrabbit with metal shoes,” Lisa said. “How do you shoe a two-thousand-pound jackrabbit?”

“
Very
carefully,” Carole said. Lisa groaned.

“Maybe it was a tractor, or a shutter banging in the wind. Or a deer,” Stevie said impatiently.

“Maybe it was a creature from another planet, but it sounded like a horse to me!” Carole said. She looked over her shoulder at Stevie. Stevie’s cheeks were flushed, and her eyes were bright. Carole knew that look. Stevie had an idea, and when Stevie had an idea, she wouldn’t soon give it up.

“Maybe,” Stevie said. “But I think that if we want to discover the clues to this mystery, we should ride toward May’s house,” Stevie said.

“Why?” Lisa said. “Max said that May’s saddle had nothing to do with the MW.”

“And you believe him?” said Stevie.

“Of course I do,” Lisa said. “When Max says something, he means it.”

“Not on a Mystery Weekend,” Stevie said. “Don’t forget that Max is fiendishly sneaky.”

“He’s not the only one who’s fiendishly sneaky,” Lisa said with a sigh. “Don’t you think there’s such a thing as being too clever?”

“No way,” Stevie said. She looked at Lisa and Carole with a challenging grin. “Do you want to poke around near Pine Hollow looking for what
might
have been a horse, or do you want some real excitement?”

Carole thought about that. They had spent most of the afternoon in the barn, and she wouldn’t mind a nice long ride. The spot where they’d heard the mystery rider had been close to the barn, so searching it wouldn’t be much of an adventure. May’s house, on the other hand, was on the far edge of the woods.

And besides, Carole could feel Starlight yearning for some real exercise. The sharp fall air had filled him with energy.

“I’m beginning to see what you mean,” Carole said.

Lisa, riding last on Prancer, thought that the whole thing was illogical. Max had looked stricken when May announced that her saddle had been stolen, and he had
looked happy and relieved when The Saddle Club discovered that Nickel was missing. This could mean only one thing—Nickel’s disappearance was the Mystery Weekend puzzle, and the disappearance of May’s saddle was real.

“Let’s think about the clues in Nickel’s stall,” Stevie persisted. “His halter, lead rope, and bucket are gone, so that means whoever took him must be keeping him somewhere. And they wouldn’t keep him near Pine Hollow.”

Lisa realized that Stevie was right.

“And his tack is gone, so whoever took him probably rode him on the getaway,” Stevie said. “And because Nickel was still there when the Pony Clubbers went upstairs, he probably hasn’t been gone long. So he’s up ahead somewhere,” she said triumphantly. “He has to be.”

“You could be right,” Carole said. Suddenly she had a vision of Nickel cantering down this trail.

Stevie turned to Lisa and said, “Are you game?”

“Totally,” Lisa said with a grin. But she had another logical thought. “If we canter, we’ll miss all the clues.”

“We’ll trot,” Stevie said from the front. “Belle and Starlight and Prancer can trot faster than Nickel can canter, so we’re bound to catch up with him.”

“Let’s go,” Carole said.

“Think red yarn,” Lisa called out. “Think clues.”

Stevie pressed her knees gently against Belle’s flanks.
Belle nickered and burst into a trot, sending up a spray of dry leaves.

At last
, Carole thought, urging Starlight into a brisk, exhilarating trot. She knew that if she wanted to be a vet, or a horse breeder, or a trainer, she had a lot of schooling in front of her, but sometimes she wished she could do nothing but ride.

Lisa looked from side to side, hunting for bits of red yarn in the woods. The leaves were gold, orange, copper, bronze, brown, pink, and scarlet—it wouldn’t be easy to spot a snippet of red yarn among them.

“Which way?” Stevie called back as she stopped Belle at a fork in the trail. “You’re good at maps, Lisa. Which way to May’s house?” Carole and Lisa rode up to Stevie.

“I know she lives on the far edge of the woods,” said Lisa. “And I know her lawn slopes down to Willow Creek. But the creek curves so much it’s not easy to know where it is at any given moment.”

Carole and Stevie looked confused.

“What I mean is that I don’t have any idea,” Lisa said.

“Oh. Me neither,” Stevie said. They looked at Carole.

“You’re going to think I’m crazy,” Carole said, “but I feel like there’s a clue here.”

“Really?” Lisa said.

“Maybe it’s my military background,” Carole said. Carole’s
father was a colonel in the Marine Corps. These days he spent most of his time in an office in Quantico, Virginia, but he’d had training in reconnaissance. “Dad says that if you’re really alert, if you really keep your mind on things, you can practically smell a trail.”

Stevie started sniffing wildly. “To me it smells mostly like leaves,” she said.

“If we can’t smell the trail, maybe we can see it,” said Carole. She slipped her feet out of the stirrups and waited a second for Starlight to get used to the fact that she would be dismounting. She put her left hand on Starlight’s neck and her right hand on the pommel of the saddle. She jumped down lightly, landing on her toes.

“Carole can make even dismounting look great,” said Lisa to Stevie.

Carole moved leaves with the well-worn toe of her riding boot. “I see hoofprints,” she said. “Lots of hoofprints.” She walked to each side of the trail, moving leaves with her toe, bending to look at the soft earth. “Yes,” she said, straightening up, “I can say without doubt that horses have been using this riding trail.”

Stevie and Lisa exchanged grins. One of the great things about Carole was that, even though she was a terrific rider who knew almost everything there was to know about horses, she didn’t take herself too seriously.

“Something tells me we should go right,” Carole said as she went back to Starlight’s left side and checked his girth.

“The nose knows,” said Stevie. “If your nose tells you the trail of the thief goes right, let’s follow it.”

“No guarantees,” said Carole as she swung back up into the saddle.

The trail led through a stand of rhododendrons and past a hollow full of skunk cabbage that was still bright green. Carole thought that one of the best things about these woods was that they had so much variety.

Starlight’s gait changed, and Carole saw that there was a puddle in the trail. With true horse wisdom Starlight was minding his steps before he got to the puddle because he knew that the spongy rim could be full of treacherous surprises.

“Mud ahead,” Carole called over her shoulder to warn Stevie and Lisa.

Lifting his feet out of the muck, practically dancing, Starlight ventured around the edge of the puddle.

“Hey,” said Lisa behind her.

Carole felt a shiver run down Starlight’s flanks. “It’s just mud,” she said to him. “Just gunky black stuff. Ignore it.” She knew that the puddle couldn’t be too deep, since it was part of the trail. But she wished that Lisa hadn’t called
out. Starlight had great gaits and high intelligence, but he was also easy to spook.

“I saw something,” Lisa said, her voice ringing out in the quiet woods.

That did it. Starlight plunged through the puddle, sending up a shower of mud.

“Uggg!” came Stevie’s voice.

On the far side of the puddle Carole leaned over Starlight’s neck and said, “Easy, easy.”

A shudder went through Starlight. He danced from hoof to hoof, testing the ground. When he didn’t sink, he subsided with a grumpy snort.

Carole turned. Lisa had dismounted and was looking at something.

“There’s a hoofprint,” Lisa said. “I mean, it’s not a usual hoofprint.”

“You’ve got to see this,” Stevie said. “I think Lisa found your clue.”

Carole looked at the puddle. It seemed wide, it seemed inky, it seemed totally treacherous. Then she realized that she was seeing it with Starlight’s eyes. Horses may be smart, but they don’t know everything. “We’re going back,” Carole said firmly to Starlight.

Carefully, daintily, he picked his way around the edge of the puddle.

Lisa looked up at Carole, feeling rather proud of herself. “This print is fresh,” she said. “There’s still water in it. It can’t have been made more than a few minutes ago.”

Carole lined up Starlight with the other horses and dismounted.

“See?” said Lisa.

Carole squatted to look. The hoofprint was sharp. Even more important, it was filled with water. Carole knew that when a horse steps on soggy ground, it’s a lot like squeezing a sponge. The hoof’s impression fills with water. But then the water soaks back into the earth in a few minutes.