Horse Thief (7 page)

“Lisa’s right,” said Carole. “And besides, we should try to clear this up for Max, too. He’s feeling really bad about leaving that money in his office, and I don’t want him thinking that he can’t invite riders to come here anymore. Pine Hollow has always been a place where you can leave doors open and not worry about a thing. We don’t lock our cubbies, do we? I would hate to see that openness and trust change. I would hate for us all to start suspecting one another of stealing things.”

Stevie saw Carole’s point. Pine Hollow was a special sort of place, and everyone—including Veronica, who often left expensive things lying around—seemed to trust one another. But she was still mad. “I bet Veronica stole that money herself just so she could point the finger at Phil!” she declared.

“I don’t know, Stevie,” Carole said reluctantly. “Veronica did seem to be telling the truth about seeing Phil come out of the office. She looked so sure of herself when she said that, and she isn’t that good of a liar.”

Stevie glowered at Carole. “What are you saying? That you think Phil did it?” she demanded.

“Of course not,” Carole said hastily. “I’m just saying that we have to keep all possibilities open, that Veronica
may not be the answer. We should try to find the real thief for Phil’s sake.”

“Yes, and for Max’s, too,” said Lisa.

T
EN MINUTES LATER
, the first round of the dressage rally was announced. There were to be four rounds of tests, exactly like the first four levels of actual dressage tests. The first level involved basic dressage movements, like fifteen- and ten-meter circles, lengthening of the stride, serpentines, leg yields, and counter-canters.

Carole had left the group and headed back to the stable to get Starlight for her turn. She paused by the fence to watch Mo, who was one of the first riders to perform. She saw the owner and riding instructor from Mendenhall reach up and shake Mo’s hand to wish her luck.

“He looks like a nice man,” Carole said to herself. The owner was tall and looked several years older than Max, with graying hair and a nice smile. Then Mo’s name was announced, and she and Indy began the first test. The ring became absolutely quiet. Show events usually took place in silence, with applause only at the end of each rider’s turn. Riders and horses needed total concentration, and the parents and spectators at the rally knew that. When Carole had first started competing in events, she had trained her father not to cheer until she had finished riding. She could see her dad now, sitting in the stands and watching intently.

Mo finished the serpentine. “She’s good,” Carole said to herself. Since Carole was the best rider at Pine Hollow, she was a pretty good judge of riding ability. She could tell that Mo had practiced a lot of dressage before. Indy moved smoothly into different steps without any visible aids from Mo.

Watching Indy, Carole still could not get over the resemblance between him and Starlight. She knew Starlight so well that she would never confuse him with Indy, as Stevie had, even from a distance. Still, the resemblance was uncanny.

L
ISA WAITED BY
the fence with Prancer. Her turn for the first round was coming up soon. Near her, Celeste waited with Gold Rush and Howard waited with Ghost.

As much as Lisa disliked Celeste, she had to admit that Celeste and Gold Rush made a striking combination. Gold Rush’s creamy mane and tail were perfectly braided—Lisa was sure Howard had something to do with that—and Celeste herself was beautifully dressed, with her strawberry blond hair tucked into a tight braid. Her blue eyes looked determined and cold.

Looking at Celeste, Lisa was reminded of something Stevie had said once. Stevie was telling one of her funny stories and describing the expression on her brothers’ faces when they were getting ready for big soccer games. “They call it their game face,” Stevie had said. “Their
faces start looking like this,” and she had set her face into grim, tight lines. Carole and Lisa had giggled—Stevie looked as if she were in pain. “Well, the idea is that they are determined to win and don’t want to show any kindness or humanity or even personality to the other guys. It’s as if a smile would be giving something away to the opponents,” she had explained.

Lisa thought she knew now what Stevie had meant by “game face.” If ever someone had on a game face, it was Celeste.

Next to Celeste, Howard was murmuring reassuringly. “You’ll win,” Lisa heard him saying. “No one here can even come close to you as a rider.” His own game face was an adoring stare at the girl who barely acknowledged his existence.

Lisa knew it was wrong to eavesdrop, but she was curious about Celeste and Howard. She wanted to know more about their odd relationship; and besides, she needed to keep her eyes and ears open if she was going to solve the theft. Besides, she could practically hear everything they were saying, anyway. If she could just get a little closer …

Trying to look unobtrusive, Lisa edged toward Celeste and Howard. Howard continued to murmur encouraging words to Celeste.

“You have iron nerves,” he was saying. “You look completely together, and we all know that poise is half the
battle in dressage. I’m actually feeling a little nervous, what with the theft and all. It’s disgraceful, how this stable is run! I really think someone should speak to the owner about security here. If there’s a thief on the loose, nothing is safe. In fact, I think all the riders are feeling unsettled after that little incident.”

“Good,” Celeste answered coolly. “I hope you’re right, Howard. I hope everyone’s confidence is shaken, because that gives me an even better chance of winning!”

Lisa’s eyes widened. Celeste was even worse than she’d thought. Talk about poor sportsmanship! Why, she even sounded glad that the money was gone. Like, really glad. That made Lisa pause. Just how glad
was
Celeste? Could Celeste be the thief? Had she taken the money just to rattle everyone else?

A
FTER LEAVING THE
Saddle Club meeting, Stevie searched for Phil. She found him talking to A.J. about the upcoming round. Stevie didn’t waste time on politeness. She dragged Phil away without any explanation and got him alone near the stable. “What’s the deal?” she asked bluntly. “What were you doing around Max’s office?”

Phil looked around, trying to act casual. “I was just hanging around.”

“Look here, Phil,” Stevie said impatiently. “I don’t believe for a second that you’re guilty, but I need your help!
Carole, Lisa, and I have made up our minds—we’re going to find the real thief so that we can clear your name.”

Phil looked pleased. “Hey, that’s really great of you—”

“Hold the gratitude,” interrupted Stevie. “Now, why were you in Max’s office?”

“I don’t remember why I went into Max’s office,” answered Phil. Then he snapped his fingers. “Oh yeah! I needed something from the tack room and I just went into Max’s office by mistake.”

Stevie sighed. Phil had visited Pine Hollow many times before, and it was very unlikely that he would make a mistake like that—even if he was distracted by the upcoming rally. She was getting more and more frustrated. Why was Phil lying to her? He didn’t even seem bothered by the fact that a lot of people thought he was a thief.

Stevie had known Phil for a long time, and if there was one thing she knew, it was that Phil was trustworthy. Even though they had squabbled a lot over who was a better rider, she had never had any reason to doubt his honesty. So why wasn’t he telling her the truth now?

Just then Denise ran past, bumping into Stevie by accident. “Oh, sorry,” she mumbled, and continued on her way.

In the corner of her mind, Stevie noticed that Denise was still looking worried and distracted. In fact, she was
completely unlike her usual calm, capable self.
Her school and workloads must really be getting to her
, Stevie thought. She made a mental note to remind her friends to be helpful to Denise. Then she turned her attention back to her number one concern.

She decided to try one more time to wheedle the information out of Phil. “Phil, think about it,” she coaxed. “I mean,
really
think about how Veronica’s accusation made you look. Do you want everyone—besides me, Carole, and Lisa and your friends at Cross County—walking around thinking you’re a thief?”

“No, of course not,” said Phil. He looked angry at the idea that other people suspected him.

Feeling more hopeful, Stevie continued, “So don’t you think we should find the thief?”

“Of course,” said Phil. “Not just for me, but for Max. He lost an awful lot of money.”

“So we need to explain what you were doing in Max’s office,” said Stevie. “Otherwise, it looks strange, you going in there so close to the time of the theft.”

Phil leaned forward and gave Stevie a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’ve got to go check on Teddy,” he said. “Good luck in the first round.” He tweaked her nose, winked at her, and hurried off, leaving her more frustrated than ever.

I’ll get it out of him somehow
, she thought.

T
HE FIRST ROUND
of the dressage rally was over. Stevie had been one of the final riders to go, and although she and Belle had performed well, she hadn’t been able to concentrate as much as she normally did. It had taken her longer than usual to get Belle to lengthen her strides, and her circles had been a bit wobbly. Stevie could feel the mare’s confusion at her occasional inattention. Normally, anything less than a perfect dressage performance would have thrown Stevie into a pit of despair, but right now she was too worried about the theft.

Carole had competed right after Stevie. She and Starlight turned in a beautiful round. Carole let hardly anything affect her riding, even though dressage wasn’t a craze with her the way it was with Stevie.

After taking care of their horses, the two girls met up with Lisa, who was waiting for them near the refreshment table. When the first round had ended, the area around the show ring had become crowded with parents and spectators who were taking advantage of the break to stretch their legs. The sun was getting higher in the sky, and Pine Hollow was taking on a relaxed, picniclike atmosphere. On any other day, the girls would have been loving every minute of the rally.

They saw their parents near the refreshment table, drinking juice and munching cookies. “I hope my dad doesn’t eat
all
the oatmeal cookies,” Carole said when she saw him. “I usually stop him after four or five.”

Lisa giggled at Carole’s maternal tone. She knew that her friend often acted like that because her mother had died a few years before. Carole helped her father with housework and often fussed over whether he was eating healthy foods or dating the right women.

Stevie didn’t appear to hear either Carole or Lisa. She was looking around impatiently, and her friends knew she was worrying about solving the theft. “We need privacy,” muttered Stevie. She grabbed Carole and Lisa each by the arm and dragged them through the crowd. They finally found a quiet spot near Max’s house.

“Now, look,” Stevie began in a businesslike voice. “We have a half hour before the second round of the
rally, and all of us are scheduled to go late in the round. That gives us a little time to investigate the crime before our turns. Then we have the lunch break before the final two rounds, and we’ll use that time to give each other updates on what we found out. Now let’s really get down to business. Who had the best motive for taking the money? Who’s on our list of suspects? I, for one, still put my money on Veronica.”

“I’ve been thinking,” said Lisa. “The person who took the money must have been in the room when Max was lecturing us about proper behavior. Remember? We were all dragged in there and then Stevie found the money on the floor and Max put it up on the shelf with the CARL jar.”

“Lots of people go in and out of that office,” said Carole. “It could have been anyone.”

“No, Lisa’s right,” Stevie said thoughtfully. “When Max put that money away, he shoved it far behind those books. He did the same thing with the CARL jar. The people in that room were the only ones who saw him hide the money.”

“That really narrows the list of suspects,” said Carole. “Especially since you can exclude us.”

“And Phil,” Stevie reminded her. Carole and Lisa agreed.

“So that leaves Denise, Veronica, Celeste, Howard, Mo, and Kurt. Max doesn’t count, of course, because why
would he steal from himself?” said Lisa, checking off the names on her fingers.

“You can cross Denise off the list, too,” suggested Carole. “She would never do anything like this.”

“I agree,” Stevie said, but she suddenly looked worried.

“What is it?” Carole asked.

“I just remembered,” answered Stevie. “When I was trying to talk to Phil a little while ago, I saw Denise hurry past. She looked awful—white-faced and jittery and really nervous. She bumped into me and barely even noticed. In fact, she’s been like that all week—except she looked even worse when I saw her. I thought it was just the stress of the rally getting to her, but now …”

The three girls looked at each other. “And she
does
need money for her college tuition,” Carole said slowly, voicing the thought in all of their minds. She hated to say it out loud. Denise had been such a good friend to them, but they also couldn’t forget how desperate she had looked when talking about her tuition.