Horsenapped! (3 page)

Stevie and Lisa couldn’t believe their eyes. Veronica was jabbing her spurs into Garnet’s flank. While it was true that many horses sometimes needed a reminder with spurs, Garnet wasn’t the one who needed the reminder right then. It was Veronica.

She’d only gotten about two-thirds of the way through her program. Now, with that display of misbehavior, she burst into tears, wheeled Garnet around, and galloped her out of the ring. As soon as she was in the stabling area, she dismounted and handed the reins to an astonished Donald, interrupting him in the middle of blowing a bubble with his gum.

She stormed around to face Garnet, put her hands on her hips, and spoke to her harshly. “You
ruined
my program!” she said. “I don’t ever want to see you again!” And she stomped off.

It was almost funny. Stevie giggled. Lisa tried harder and stifled it. Carole just felt sorry for Garnet. She was a good mare, just trying to do what Veronica asked. The problem was that Veronica had asked the impossible—mind reading. It was more than any horse could do. In fact, Carole told herself, reading Veronica’s mind was more than any human could do!

“Carole, you’re next,” the starter said. “Ready?”

She was. So was Starlight. When she heard the signal, she entered the ring, to the calls of “Good luck” from her friends.

Carole and Starlight completed the program without difficulty, though Carole knew that they hadn’t done as well as Stevie. Stevie, though she might sometimes be flaky and scatterbrained, was very good at dressage, better even than Carole. When the routine was over, Carole was satisfied she’d done the best she could. She was also satisfied that Stevie would have the best score in that event and that was just the way it should be. Carole patted Starlight proudly as they exited the ring. He was a young inexperienced horse who had done a pretty good job.

“Nice going, boy,” she said. He nodded as if he’d understood her. Carole thought maybe he had.

Carole took Starlight back to his stall and untacked him right away when she was done. She had about ten minutes until Lisa was due to perform her program and she wanted to be there for that.

“I hate her!” Carole heard the unpleasant whine of Veronica diAngelo. Since Veronica hated a lot of people, Carole was curious to know who in particular she was berating at that time. “I don’t ever want to see her again. That horse made me totally mess up on my dressage test!”

“Now, Veronica.” Carole could hear Mr. diAngelo’s
voice. Her father was trying to pacify her, but it wasn’t working.

“I’m telling you to sell that horse to a dog food company. Today! That’s all she’s good for!”

“I’m sure you’ll feel differently tomorrow, dear,” her mother said.

“No, I won’t. I don’t ever want to ride her and nobody else should, either. She’s awful. She didn’t do a thing I told her!”

Carole cringed listening to Veronica’s rantings. It was typical of her that she’d blame her horse for everything she herself had done wrong, but
dog food
?

“I hate her! I hate her!” Veronica continued fuming, insisting that her parents sell, “or better yet
give
her to a dog-food company!”

“Now, now, Veronica. There must be something we can do to make you feel better,” Mr. diAngelo said.

“There
is!
Get that darned horse out of my sight!”

Her mother tried another approach. “Why don’t we just take you home now and see if—say, didn’t you say something about a sale at the mall? Would you like to stop there on our way home? That would make you feel better, wouldn’t it?”

The whole thing sickened Carole. It was just typical of Veronica’s parents to think they could buy their way out of one of Veronica’s tantrums. The last thing Carole
heard as she slipped out of Starlight’s stall was Veronica informing her mother, once again, that the only thing that would make her feel better would be to destroy Garnet. Carole couldn’t stand to listen to any more. Besides, it was almost time for Lisa’s test.

She got to the gate of the ring just in time to wish Lisa good luck. Carole and Stevie practically held their breaths through all of Lisa’s performance.

“Nice corners,” Stevie said. Carole agreed.

“And look at the line of her arm and her reins. Almost perfectly straight.”

“Almost, yes. That’s good,” Carole said. “She’s really learned a lot for somebody who only began riding recently.”

Apparently the audience agreed because when Lisa was done, there was a lot of clapping. The judges, too, looked pleased. Lisa, however, had a grimace on her face when she came back to her friends.

“I made so many mistakes!” she said to Carole and Stevie.

“Sure you did,” Carole said philosophically. “But you also did an awful lot right. You did a good job out there. Next time, you’ll do better. That’s all.”

“I guess you’re right. But trotting on the wrong diagonal? I shouldn’t have done that.”

“No, you shouldn’t,” Stevie said. “But you handled the change of gaits perfectly. I’m sure the judges noticed that
more. Come on. I’ll help you untack Pepper. He deserves a treat and I know where we can find some carrots.”

Stevie held the reins while Lisa dismounted. Then Lisa patted Pepper’s neck and rubbed his cheek. He’d done everything she had asked of him and that was a lot.

“Good job, Pepper,” she said. “I’ll try to do better next time, and when I do, you will, too. Want some carrots now?” Pepper started for his stall without further prompting. “And Max says horses don’t understand English!” Lisa joked, smiling at last.

Carole went with her friends, but watching Lisa hug Pepper reminded her that there was another horse that needed some consoling in the form of a carrot, and that was Garnet. Although the mare had also done everything her rider had asked, she’d gotten no thanks at all. When Stevie found the carrots Max had stowed in the refrigerator, Carole picked up a few extras for Garnet, whose stall was near Pepper’s.

It wasn’t easy to walk through the stable today because of all the competitors, plus parents and grandparents. Red O’Malley, Pine Hollow’s chief stablehand, groomed one rider’s horse while Donald led one horse to his stall and carried tack for another over his arm. The place was buzzing with activity.

The three girls were almost unaware of what was going on around them. It was always that way when they were talking about horses. The subject was dressage competition
and the importance of dressage skills to all riding—not just for Greek military maneuvers—while they walked Pepper back to his stall. They were so involved in their conversation that Carole almost didn’t notice that Garnet’s stall was empty until she was standing in it, holding three carrots in her right hand.

“Garnet?” she said. Then she felt silly. It wasn’t as if she could call her and she’d come out of hiding. There was no place for a full-grown Arabian mare to hide in a ten-by-ten-foot box stall.

“Where is she?” Carole asked, peering out over the wall to the stall, wondering if the mare might be cross-tied somewhere in the hall. “Did we pass her or something?”

Stevie was standing in the hall. She looked both ways. “No, not here. Where do you think she went?”

It wasn’t as if the diAngelos would take Garnet home. This
was
her home. Then Veronica’s words came echoing through Carole’s head.

“Oh, no!” Carole said.

“What is it?” Stevie asked.

“Dog food!” Carole said, stepping out into the hallway.

“Huh?”

Carole explained. She hadn’t had time to tell her friends about Veronica’s tantrum. Besides, it hadn’t seemed any different from any other tantrum Veronica had ever had, and she hadn’t taken Veronica’s demands
any more seriously than her parents had. But now, there wasn’t any sign of Garnet. Had Carole underestimated Veronica’s hold on her parents?

“Dog food? Give me a break!” Lisa said, emerging from Pepper’s stall with his tack in her hands. “There must be another answer. Let’s look in the stall and see if there are any clues.”

“Sure, we can be horse detectives,” Stevie said. “It’s a puzzle and we’ll solve it.”

Skeptically, Carole returned to Garnet’s stall. Stevie and Lisa were right behind her. At first, everything looked normal, just empty. The straw was pretty fresh, indicating that Garnet hadn’t spent much time there since she’d been groomed. There was plenty of water in her bucket, confirming the same thing.

The words
dog food
kept running through Carole’s head. They seemed to blank out all other thoughts.

“Hey, what’s this?” Lisa asked. She pointed to a piece of paper stuck to the wooden beam above the door to the stall. “I don’t remember seeing that there before.”

Stevie gave her a boost and she reached up, pulling the paper down. It wasn’t easy because it was stuck up there with chewing gum. When Lisa landed and took the remaining wad of sticky gum off the paper, she opened the page and scanned the words printed there in block letters.

“Oh, no,” she said.

“Dog food?” Carole asked.

“No, worse,” Lisa said. “It’s a ransom note. Garnet’s been horsenapped!”

Carole took the paper and read it herself.

“WE HAVE YOUR HORSE. IF YOU EVER WANT TO SEE IT AGAIN, GET $10,000 CASH AND WAIT FOR ANOTHER NOTE FROM US. DO NOT CALL THE POLICE OR IT’LL BE CURTAINS FOR THE NAG!”

 

“H
ORSENAPPED
? Y
OU MUST
be kidding!” Stevie said.

“I’m not kidding. That’s what this says.” Lisa handed her the note to read.

“Poor Garnet,” Carole said.

“We’ve got to call the police,” Lisa said sensibly.

“No way!” Carole told her. “These guys said not to. We can’t endanger Garnet’s life!”

“Then we’d better get this to Mr. diAngelo. It’s a good thing he’s so rich. He’ll never even notice the ten thousand dollars is gone,” Stevie said.

Carole’s mind was racing and she didn’t like any of the thoughts that were racing through it. “Wait a second,” she said. “There’s more to this than meets the eye. Much more, maybe. Don’t go rushing off to tell anybody anything. First, we have to think.”

“Well, if we’re going to think, let’s at least find some peace and quiet. This place is a zoo today,” Stevie said.

“Okay,” Carole agreed. “You two finish up the work on Pepper. I’ll get us some sodas and I’ll meet you at the hill above the paddock. Everybody’s by the ring so we should have a little quiet. Five minutes, okay?”

“Okay,” Stevie said. She and Lisa got right to work.

Carole had work to do, too. Her first step, as promised, was the cooler, where she picked up three sodas. Her second stop was the tented stabling area. She headed straight for Bodoni’s empty stall and began to examine it carefully. The stalls had been created from walls of metal bars latched together. She entered the stall and looked back at the entry. The poles there reached to the top of the tent. Carole’s eyes ran upward along the gray metal pole. And then they stopped. There, more than six feet above the ground, was a smear of something. Carole stood on her toes and reached up. Her fingers barely touched it, but there was no mistake. It was the remains of a small gob of chewing gum. Unless she was very mistaken, Alicia hadn’t withdrawn from the competition because Bodoni was colicky. She’d withdrawn because he’d been horsenapped!

Carole’s next job was to find where Bill Feeney’s horse, Saturday’s Child, was stalled before he’d withdrawn so mysteriously from the competition. She hadn’t seen any
signs from his stable. She could just wander around the tent, or she could—

“Oh, Donald!” she called to the stablehand as he raced past her. He slowed down. She jogged along with him. “Do you know where Saturday’s Child is?”

“I’m in a real rush, Carole,” he said. He began running even faster as if to prove it.

“I know. You don’t have to do anything. Just tell me where the horse is.”

“How should I know?” he asked. “All I heard is that his owner—”

“—
her
owner,” Carole corrected him. Even in a terrible rush, she couldn’t let him make a mistake like that. “Saturday’s Child is a mare.”

“Right. Anyway, she withdrew.”

“I know. But where
was
she stabled?”

He slowed for a second and glanced around as if he was trying to orient himself. “Over there, I think,” he said, pointing to the far corner of the tent. “I’m not sure, though.”

Before Carole could ask him anything else, he dashed off. She headed in the direction he’d pointed. While it was true that there were over fifty horses entered in the competition, and more than thirty of them were housed in this tent, it seemed odd that a busy and conscientious stablehand like Donald couldn’t remember where one was housed, especially a valuable Thoroughbred like Sat.

When Carole reached the section he’d pointed to, she found a stack of the temporary walls that had formed stalls. If there had been a stall here and if Sat had been in it, it was gone now. For a moment, she began to examine the pile of poles and walls, but realized soon it wasn’t going to do her any good. She wasn’t sure that this was where Sat’s stall had been and if she
did
find a wad of gum, what would it tell her? People were forever parking gum in places they shouldn’t. It wouldn’t mean anything. Something stopped her eyes. It was the remains of a wad of gum stuck to a long pole. But, as she’d already told herself, it didn’t mean anything. Probably.