Mystery Ride (8 page)

“I guess we’d better go,” Carole said.

“That’s more like it,” Stevie said. “Let’s get a move on.” She and Carole hurried out of Nickel’s stall.

Lisa remembered that she hadn’t had time to tell them about the mystery rider at the edge of the woods or the second piece of red yarn. Hurriedly Lisa finished cleaning
Nickel’s stall and then went to saddle Prancer. This was all pretty confusing, she thought. Maybe MW stood for Mixed-up Weekend. Lisa lifted the saddle onto Prancer’s back and fastened the girth.

“Lisa!” came Stevie’s voice from the door of Prancer’s stall.

Lisa looked up and saw that Stevie’s hazel eyes were shining. “We’re having an emergency meeting of The Saddle Club right now!” Stevie said. “Meet us in Nickel’s stall immediately.”

Two meetings of The Saddle Club in five minutes! It was all kind of nutty. Nonchalantly, so as not to attract attention, Lisa wandered back to Nickel’s stall.

When she got there, Carole and Stevie were waiting.

“I’ve made a decision!” Stevie said dramatically. “I’ve thought things through and I know what The Saddle Club has to do.”

Carole grinned. Stevie was great at figuring out reasons for doing exactly what she wanted. Undoubtedly Stevie was about to come across with the world’s most ingenious reason for not telling about the note.

“It’s not fair to the younger kids to hide the note,” Stevie said. “They deserve a chance at solving the mystery. And if they haven’t seen the note, what chance have they got?”

“I agree one hundred percent,” said Carole. “But there is one drawback. If we tell them, Veronica will find out.”

“That’s just it,” Stevie said triumphantly. “I
want
Veronica to find out. I don’t want to beat her the easy way. I want her to know everything. Only then can we prove how truly dumb she is.”

“Hmmm,” Carole said. “I think this is a truly Stevian move. Now Veronica will have no excuses.”

“That’s it,” Stevie said. “She will have to admit that The Saddle Club has brawn
and
brains.”

“Good thinking,” Carole said. But then she suddenly got cold feet. It was nice to be fair, but who wanted to be fair to Veronica?

“Maybe we should give this more thought,” Carole said.

“After all, we found it,” Lisa said.

“No,” said Stevie heroically. “We are going to share this note with everyone. Anything less would be unworthy of The Saddle Club.”

“It isn’t easy being selfless,” said Carole with a giggle.

“Anyway, we don’t have to tell them about the bar-heeled shoe prints,” said Stevie.

“This is true,” Carole said.

“We don’t have to tell them about this, either,” said Lisa, pointing out the piece of red yarn. Chances were that
when the other riders heard about the poem, they’d get so excited they’d forget to look for other clues.

The Saddle Club left Nickel’s stall. As they walked down the aisle, they saw that most of the riders were nearly finished tacking up. From the snorts and pawing of the horses it was clear that they were ready to go.

Max was standing outside the tack room enjoying the hum of riders getting ready.

“Max, you’ve got to stop everything immediately!” said Stevie.

Max looked mildly skeptical. Stevie was always making pronouncements like this.

“We’ve found a major clue in Nickel’s stall,” Stevie said. “Everyone has to know.”

“Call everyone,” Lisa said.

“You really think I should?” Max said with a grin. “Everyone’s eager to hit the trail.”

“This is a must!” Stevie said grandly.

“Okay, if I have to,” Max said. “Riders, assemble outside Nickel’s stall.”

There was a hush, then a stampede, as everyone rushed to see what was going on.

“I guess The Saddle Club had better explain,” Max said.

“Look what we’ve found,” said Lisa, pointing to the
sheet of paper in Nickel’s stall. “It seems to be a sort of ransom note.”

Max beamed and said, “You’re kidding me.”

“No,” Lisa said. “It’s a totally weird note, but it has to mean something.”

“You’re just trying to keep the really good detectives off the trail,” said Veronica scornfully.

“So ignore it,” said Stevie furiously.

“No,” Max said. “The Saddle Club is doing something it doesn’t have to. It’s giving everyone an equal chance. I want you all to come to my office to listen to the contents of the note.”

On the way to the office Max said to Lisa, “Since you’re an experienced actress, I want you to read it.”

W
ITH RIDERS SITTING
on the floor staring up at her, Lisa lifted the paper and read the poem aloud.

When she was done, Lisa looked up. The riders were staring at her with open mouths.

“What’s a D.C.?” Amie finally asked.

“The director of the Pony Club, silly,” said Jackie. “In other words, Max.”

“I knew that,” said Amie, raising her chin. “I just wanted to see if you knew.”

“That’s the worst poem I ever heard,” Veronica said.

“It is not,” said Lisa indignantly. Having read the poem several times, she was starting to like it.

“Let me see that thing,” said Veronica, standing up impatiently.
Veronica’s riding hat was perched on top of her stiff hair, making her look like a pinhead. This hadn’t stopped her from trying to look gorgeous. She was wearing a new melton hunt jacket and a canary-yellow vest.

“It’s time for a
real
detective to get to work,” Veronica said as she took the note, spreading it out on Max’s desk so that everyone could see it. “It’s typed,” she said, “so we can’t analyze the handwriting.”

“As if you’re a handwriting analyst.” A.J. smirked.

“For your information, I know quite a bit about handwriting analysis,” said Veronica airily. She tossed her head, something she often did, but this time her hair was motionless and her riding hat jiggled.

“We could call the police and get them to dust it for fingerprints,” said May.

“After The Saddle Club has smeared their greasy fingerprints all over it?” said Veronica. “I don’t think so. In any case, what crime has been committed? Someone has written a perfectly dreadful poem, but that’s not illegal.”

At this, Max’s expression became rather stiff, Stevie noticed.

“The real meaning is in the poem,” Veronica said. “Some of us understand it, but some of us are too dim.”

“Time to hit the trail,” Max said, stepping forward. “Let the hunt begin.”

As the riders broke into groups Max winked at Stevie, Carole, and Lisa. They could tell he was pleased that they’d shared their discovery of the note.

Jessica, Jackie, and Amie were giggling in the corner, saying something about red yarn.

“They found red yarn, too,” said Lisa. “There seems to be a lot of it around.”

“But what does it mean?” said Carole. “Yesterday we found yarn on the door of Nickel’s stall. Today we found more. Amie, Jackie, and Jessica have found some, too. Where is all this yarn coming from?”

“Somewhere, somebody has part of a red sweater,” Stevie said.

“The fact that we found red yarn yesterday and today means the thief has been here twice,” Carole said.

“Why would the thief visit an empty stall?” Lisa asked.

“To leave the ransom note,” said Stevie.

“Yes!” said Carole. “Let’s take another look at that note.”

They went over it line by line. “ ‘A different type of tree.’ What’s that?” said Stevie.

“ ‘Water twice and hills to climb,’ ” said Lisa. “The woods are full of hills and streams.”

Carole groaned. “But which hills and streams?”

“It doesn’t say anything about barred shoes,” said Lisa sadly.

“It only makes the mystery more complicated,” said Stevie, putting the note back on Max’s desk. “Come on. We’d better saddle up. Everyone else is getting ready to go.”

“Maybe the fresh air will clear our heads,” Lisa said.

“Maybe,” Stevie said doubtfully.

The tack room was empty because the other riders had already gotten their saddles.

“I’m looking forward to a nice brisk trot,” said Lisa.

“Too bad we can’t gallop,” said Carole. “That would really clear our minds.”

The gasp from Stevie was low, but filled with horror. “My saddle is gone.”

T
HEY STARED AT
the empty rack where the saddle had been.

“It’s a trick,” Stevie said. “And it’s not funny.”

“Why would it be a trick?” Carole asked.

“It’s Max,” Stevie said. “He must have sneaked in during breakfast.”

“Would Max do that?” Lisa asked.

“Sure he would,” Stevie said. “It’s part of the mystery.”

But Stevie wasn’t as confident as she sounded. Would Max really steal her saddle as part of an MW? Somehow she didn’t think he would do something that made her feel so terrible.

Then Stevie remembered May’s tear-stained face the
day the MW began. She’d been so sure May’s story about her saddle being stolen was part of the game. But later Judy Barker had told the Pony Clubbers that there was a tack thief on the loose—and now Stevie’s saddle was missing.

Stevie shivered and shook her head, dismissing the terrible thought.

“If it’s not Max, maybe it’s A.J.,” Stevie said. “I bet this is his idea of a joke.”

“A.J. can be a little strange sometimes, but I can’t see him doing anything this mean,” Carole said.

“Well, who did, then?” asked Stevie.

Lisa and Carole shrugged helplessly.

“We’d better tell Max,” Carole said. “He needs to know.”

“If he doesn’t already,” Stevie said glumly. The Saddle Club headed off to look for him. They found Max outside, watching Mystery Teams ride off in all directions.

“My saddle’s gone,” Stevie said miserably.

Max’s blue eyes flashed. “I’m calling the police,” he said. “Officer Kent will want to know.” Max was silent for a minute, then he spoke up again. “Stevie, find yourself another saddle and hit the trail. I don’t want your weekend ruined.” He spun on his heel and headed briskly toward his office.

“Come on,” Lisa said. “Let’s go.” They ran back to the tack room.

Carole grabbed Starlight’s saddle from its rack and his bridle from its hook. Lisa got Prancer’s tack. Stevie hesitated and then took Topside’s saddle. Topside wasn’t being ridden on the Mystery Weekend, so he wouldn’t need it.

Stevie took the saddle to Belle’s stall. It was too broad for the mare, so she returned to the tack room for an extra saddle pad. Stevie finished saddling Belle and set off to meet Lisa and Carole at the good-luck horseshoe.

“If we ever needed luck, we need it today,” Lisa said.

Stevie touched the horseshoe twice.

“How is Topside’s saddle on Belle?” Lisa asked.

“Belle’s not comfortable,” Stevie said. “She knows it’s the wrong saddle.” In fact, Belle was twitching her coat and looking cross.

Carole gave Stevie a sympathetic look. “There’s nothing worse than putting the wrong saddle on a horse.”

“It’s like wearing someone else’s riding boots,” Stevie said.

Carole looked down at her own riding boots, which were scuffed and scarred. Somehow she never had to worry about anyone else wearing her boots.

“Hey,” Carole said, staring at the ground next to her foot. “Look at that.”

Beside the doorway was the fresh print of a bar-heeled shoe.

Stevie jumped down from Belle to look. She touched the rim. “It’s fresh,” she said. “It’s wet.” She looked toward the woods. “Max’s thief must have just been here.” She climbed back on Belle. “Let’s go.”

“I forgot to tell you,” Lisa said, clapping her hand to her forehead. “There’s been so much going on. When I was out here before breakfast I saw someone riding in the mist. Over there.” She pointed to the two maple trees where the rider had disappeared. “It was someone on a gray horse. The horse was small. It could have been a large pony. For all I know, it could have been Nickel.”

“He would have gone into the woods at the first available spot,” said Carole.

“There!” Stevie said, pointing to a wooden coop jump.

“Stevie!” Carole said. “You know that pasture. It has barbed wire all around it. The people who own the pasture don’t want riders to use it.”

Stevie walked Belle over to the jump. Sure enough, the pasture was totally fenced in.