Moonlight: Star of the Show (4 page)

Chapter Four

“S
O
, what do we do now?” Rosie asked, pink-faced and harassed as Dancer pulled hard on her reins, diving for a particularly tasty-looking bit of hedge. They’d managed to fit in two long gallops and the jumps through the wood that they’d found the day before on the way over to Harry Franklin’s. Now they’d dismounted and were loitering in a field that overlooked the dealer’s sprawling yard and paddocks, positioned behind a not particularly tall hedge.

“Obvious – let’s just go down there and confront him,” Charlie suggested, as Pirate pawed the ground, impatient with all the hanging about.

“We can’t just tell him we’re looking for a stolen pony and he’s our number-one suspect,”
Mia scoffed. “He’d throw us out in no time. No, we need to look round his yard without arousing suspicion.”

“I don’t get why we can’t just stay here and keep an eye on the place,” Rosie muttered, leaning against Dancer’s roan neck and giving her a hug as the pony happily munched the mouthful of hedge she’d snaffled.

As they got into an argument about what to do next, Alice looked down at the yard and saw a big white horse being ridden along the lane by a huge, burly looking man not wearing a hard hat. As he turned into the drive that led to the yard, she saw him look up and figured that it must be Harry.

“Duck!” she shouted. She wasn’t quite sure why, even as she obeyed her own panicky order.

The other three quickly followed, but the hedge was small and, even though they managed to hide, their four restless ponies were still highly visible from every direction, including the one
from which Harry Franklin was now rapidly approaching.

Despite realising how ridiculous it was, Alice stayed down because she wasn’t sure what to do next. She could feel Scout’s warm, inquisitive breath on her neck and hear Charlie’s muffled squeals as she gripped onto Pirate’s reins and was dragged across the grass by the restless pony. Alice got as small as she could, not daring to look up. Over the sound of Dancer noisily cropping grass and munching, Alice heard hoof beats getting louder and louder until they stopped right in front of her.

“What the heck are you lot up to?” a deep, mountainous voice rumbled from high above them.

A man with a harshly bristled chin and cold, black eyes stared down at them from a massive white horse. A dog growled menacingly from the other side of the hedge. Rosie whimpered.

“Well, what do you think we’re up to?” Mia suddenly took her hands from over her head,
stood up and brushed the grass from her bright pink jodhpurs. Her large dark eyes looked directly back at Harry, as if it were perfectly normal to hide behind hedges. “I’ve come to look for a pony. Why do most people visit a dealer?”

You had to hand it to her, Mia could think on her feet. Well, her knees, actually.

“Most people who visit a dealer,” Harry grumbled, looking critically at Wish, “use the front gate.”

He turned the big white horse and whistled to the dog.

“Come on, Growler.”

The lurcher came into view: a huge, tall dog with rough brindle fur and big, slavering jaws.

“If it’s a pony you’re after, you better follow me. You can jump the hedge, I take it?”

“Of course,” Rosie simpered and immediately wished she hadn’t said it. Dancer could probably eat her way through, but jump it?

They mounted, and with the shortest of approaches Charlie faced Pirate at the jump, flew over and galloped off down the field. Alice followed and Scout leaped it without hesitation, with an anxious Mia jumping Wish, who looked as if she was having a whale of a time, hot on Scout’s heels. Behind them all Rosie flapped but Dancer slid to a goggled-eyed halt once, then twice.

“Don’t just leave me!” Rosie cried, getting desperate.

Alice slowed Scout and arced him back up the hill to give Rosie a lead, but suddenly Dancer must have had the same thought as Rosie because the next second the strawberry pony took off from standstill, stag-leaping the low hedge. Rosie parted company with Dancer in mid air and landed on the other side of the hedge on her feet, much to her surprise, still hanging onto the reins. Rosie wasted no time in flinging herself back into the saddle and hung on stirrupless as Dancer
whinnied loudly and raced down the hill to catch up with the others.

Once they reached the rambling, untidy yard, Harry dismounted and handed his big white horse to a tall skinny stable lad who led it to a corner stable. Harry gruffly told the girls they could tie up their ponies. Luckily Mia, ever organised, had made everyone bring their own headcollars on this ride, so they didn’t have to use Harry’s and risk the ponies picking up any infections.

“So, what sort of pony is it you’re after?” Harry asked, staring at Wish again.

“What sort have you got?” Mia replied, casually.

“Depends what sort you’re looking for.”

Mia forced a smile, thinking that he was clearly going to be slippery. All they had to do now was work out whether that slipperiness was normal or if it was to do with Harry harbouring stolen ponies. Mia took a deep breath, holding her nerve.

“I’m looking for a jumping pony. I want to enter the Fratton Cup next week and showjumping isn’t Wish’s strength. Better in the show ring,” Mia explained, proudly pointing out her palomino. Wish raised her exquisite head on cue and looked into the distance at something no one else could see, posing beautifully.

Harry rubbed his chin with a huge, slablike hand, making a sound like sandpaper against rough wood. “You’re sure it’s a jumping pony you’re after? Not a better show pony?”

“I don’t happen to think there is a better one than Wish, actually,” Mia replied, her almond eyes widening as she failed for a second to hide the irritation in her voice. “There aren’t many that can match her in the show ring, for your information.”

Harry’s eyes were dark and unfathomable. He shrugged. “A jumping pony, then. Well, I’ve got this one. She’s not a looker but she can jump all right.”

They all crowded round the stable door and saw a small dun mare, with a caramel coat and black mane and tail, rolling her eyes and flattening back her ears.

“I don’t think so,” Mia said, hastily stepping back. “I need something a little bigger, I think – fourteen-two would be perfect.”

Harry looked at Mia with narrow eyes then nodded, and they followed him to the next stable. Behind her back Mia was making wild waving movements with her hands. The others looked at each other blankly, following her a couple of steps behind.

“You all right?” Harry asked, and Mia pretended she was fanning her face because of the heat.

Charlie, who was always the first to crack whatever the situation, started to giggle and had to turn away from the others in case she caught Rosie’s or Alice’s eye and got set off properly.

“There’s Popsicle here. He jumps like a cat.”

“I’d rather one that jumped like a pony,”
Mia replied with a smile. Popsicle was chestnut.

“There’s always Badger, I suppose,” Harry said slowly.

“Badger?” Charlie repeated, swallowing her giggles in an instant. “I bet he’s black and white, with a name like that.”

“You’re right, young lady,” Harry replied with a lopsided smile. “He is.”

They all crowded forward in a rush, but Badger was a heavy cob with a hogged mane and tail, nothing like the lighter-weight Moonlight. Rosie was unable to stop herself from sighing. Mia coughed loudly to cover it and asked if there were any more she could see. While Harry walked over to a stable at the far end of the yard, Mia hissed at the others to stop following her round like sheep and investigate the rest of the stables while she kept Harry occupied.

So, as she talked over the possibility of an undersized skewbald pony in the corner, Alice, Charlie and Rosie wandered round, dodging the
skinny stable lad, who’d picked up a broom and started sweeping the yard. They looked over the other stable doors, trying to be casual, which was quite difficult with Growler following their every step, staring menacingly from underneath his shaggy eyebrows.

They weren’t having any luck. Most of the ponies were cobby types, and Rosie fell in love with one sorrel pony, with a deep chestnut body and pale mane and tail. So far everything was looking above board… until Charlie whispered to Alice that she’d seen from up on the hill that there were more stables out the back of the main yard. But when they tried to nip round there to get a closer look, Harry suddenly turned sharply and with one shot of his bullet-black eyes stopped them dead in their tracks.

Mia clocked his reaction at once.

“Well,” she said breezily, “you haven’t really got anything round here that I like. Can I see the ones in the stables round the back?”

“Nothing round there that you’d be interested in,” Harry said, in a voice that had turned to steel. Even Mia faltered in her step. In an instant she realised that there was something, or some pony, round in the back stables that Harry Franklin didn’t want them to see.

“Can’t be sure until I’ve been round there myself…” Mia persisted. They
had
to get a look.

But as Mia made a move forward, Harry took a step sideways and blocked her path.

“Like I said, nothing round there for you to be bothering with, young madam.”

Mia half smiled.

“So, you
do
have more ponies round there then?” she asked sweetly.

Harry kept his stare level.

“I don’t know exactly what you lot are after, but you’re not going to find it on this yard. Got it?” he said quietly.

His face was like flint. His black eyes twitched. Charlie and Alice were nodding their heads,
starting to back away, while Mia stared at Harry long and hard as she tried to battle him down with her fierceness. But she was fast learning that no one could out-fierce Harry Franklin and, seeing that standing there all day staring at each other would get her nowhere, Mia finally conceded defeat as graciously as possible.

“We may have been unlucky today, but I’ll be keeping an eye on which ponies go in and which go out. That way I can spot a good one if it arrives,” Mia said smoothly. “Or leaves.”

“I think it’s you who ought to be leaving. And if I see you hanging around here again…” Harry said menacingly, taking a step towards them. He let his threat sink in for a second as the girls gulped, then continued. “After all, it’s obvious you’re not serious about looking for a new pony.”

“Oh, I am serious, Mr Franklin, it’s just that I have a very specific pony in mind and I suspected he might be on your yard, that’s all.”

Mia might have been acting cool as she turned
away and walked briskly back to Wish, but her hands were shaking as she fumbled with her headcollar. Wish didn’t help by nudging her for treats. She looked sideways and noticed that Alice and Rosie were having the same problem, but Charlie had Pirate free and was already mounted. Mia, Rosie and Alice weren’t far behind. This time they left through the front entrance and Harry watched until they’d turned out onto the lane.

“He’s hiding something – it
must
be Harry Franklin who stole Moonlight!” Mia said, looking scared but triumphant as they trotted the ponies quickly away from the yard. “Moonlight has to be hidden round the back. Why else would he behave so oddly about us going round there?”

They all started talking at once, except Alice. She looked down and patted her jodhpur pocket. Her heart sank. She pulled Scout up and called out to the others, who stopped.

“I’ve left my gloves in the yard – I must have
dropped them somehow.” Alice wouldn’t really have cared, but they were a present from her grandparents and she didn’t want to lose them.

“We’ll wait here then,” Rosie said quickly, “but don’t be long. I need to get back for my lunch – I’m in danger of fading away.”

“Aren’t you all coming with me?” Alice asked, looking round wildly. Her hands started to shake. Again.

“Someone has to hold the ponies,” Mia pointed out.

“Isn’t
anyone
going to come?” Alice said, looking at Charlie desperately.

“You’ll be much quicker on your own,” Charlie said, smiling sweetly.

Alice sighed, feeling abandoned as she dismounted and handed Scout’s reins to Rosie. Friends indeed, she said to herself as she trudged back up the lane alone, trying to distract herself from how terrified she was feeling inside. Jumping in the Fratton Cup would be
nothing 
compared to this, she thought, as she crept back into the yard on jelly-like legs.

Alice was in luck. The yard was silent except for the occasional stomp of a pony’s hoof and the rhythmical munching of hay. And there were her gloves, still lying where she’d tied Scout. For half a second she wondered if she could just take a quick peep round the back. It was her chance to be a hero!

Then again, she didn’t think her heart would stand it. Harry Franklin might be round there
right now
– she’d bump straight into him! No, just get the gloves and run, she told herself firmly. But as she reached down for them Alice heard Harry’s muffled voice coming from inside his office. She tiptoed a step closer and listened in.

“You’ll have to come and fetch him sooner.”