Charlotte and the Starlet 2 (11 page)

'Have some, it will make you feel better.'

Miss Strudworth pushed across the mug of steaming
hot chocolate, which, on most nights, would make
Charlotte excited. Tonight, however, she could not
even contemplate it.

Charlotte sat with Hannah in the Thornton Downs
kitchen, a large, near empty chamber of cold stainless
steel, which perfectly suited Charlotte's mood. A
concerned Hannah placed a supportive hand on her
shoulder.

'Isn't there anything you can do?' Hannah asked
Strudworth.

Wringing her hands, Strudworth paced, her long
legs traversing the room in about four strides.

'I wish there were.'

Charlotte took up the tale for Hannah's benefit.

'This man, O'Regan, says he sold Leila to some
stranger at the Salt Flat Fair. He didn't get a receipt,
a car number plate, nothing.'

Hannah tried to be positive.

'Somebody must know him. What we need is an
article in the paper with a photo of Leila.'

'Good thinking,' said Strudworth. 'I'll have a word
to Lance Weymouth. He writes the sport section for
The Clarion.
'

A glimmer of hope flickered in Charlotte – that
would be a good start.

'How often does it come out?'

'Every Thursday.'

The flickering hope was smothered by a wet
blanket of despair. Thursday was four days away.

'She could be interstate by then. Or ...' she
hesitated, not wanting to think about it, 'worse.'

'Maybe we could ask the radio to help?'

Hannah tried to sound enthusiastic. There was
only one radio station anybody listened to in the area
but describing Leila was nowhere near as good as
showing a picture of her. Still, if the man who bought
her lived locally, it might work.

'I shall get onto that.' Strudworth bowed her head
as she stood before Charlotte. 'I'm really terribly sorry,
Charlotte.'

'I blame myself. Todd and I could have gone
straight there instead of waiting for you to get back.
At least I could have told Leila not to worry.'

Hannah and Strudworth exchanged looks. The
elder of the two put herself forward as spokeswoman.

'Dear, Leila is an intelligent horse but a horse
nonetheless. She would not have understood what
you meant and you may only have distressed her more
when you turned up and then left her alone again.'

In her gloom Charlotte had forgotten that nobody
else except her knew Leila could talk. She chose not to
raise the fact now. Miss Strudworth stood.

'There's really nothing more we can do tonight.
I suggest you try to get a good sleep. Tomorrow you
have classes.'

There was no way Charlotte would be able to concentrate
on school work. Her feet took her towards
the door but she was moving as if in a dream. She
stopped on the threshold, forced to give voice to her
deepest fear.

'What if we can't find her? What then?'

Strudworth sighed.

'I'm afraid you will have to select another mount.
As hard as it is, you can't let this setback interfere with
your training.'

Setback! Losing Leila wasn't a setback, it was a
tragedy. Charlotte had lost her mother, now it looked
as though she was going to lose her closest friend. Her
distress must have been obvious. Strudworth was as
gentle as Strudworth could be.

'I know how you feel but there's no point
wallowing, Charlotte. Life goes on.'

But right then, for Charlotte, it didn't. Right then,
life had stopped cold.

This was the pits. Tied to a tree, Leila had slept in
snatches only. Every time sleep had tried to settle on
her, a rustling in the bushes had frightened her awake.
She had no idea what caused it – kangaroos, possums,
snakes, dinosaurs. Out here anything was possible.
A cold breeze had come up a few hours ago. Nobody
had thrown her a blanket and she was too far from the
fire for it to help. Now her back and neck were stiff.
The sun had risen half an hour ago but still hadn't
been able to penetrate the thick canopy of leaves. Two
brightly coloured parrots sat on a branch, chirping.
Fine for them. A pang shot through Leila as she
thought of her old parrot pal, Feathers, back there in
Hollywood. What she wouldn't give for Feathers right
now. Like Leila, Feathers could talk human. He could
fly off and find Charlotte, lead her back to wherever
this was. Her train of thought was disrupted by a
stirring in the tents and then coughing and
spluttering as men appeared. Leila's stomach growled.
It must have been loud because a tall man turned
towards her.

'Has anybody fed the horse?' he asked.

No. Nobody has fed the horse, she wanted to say.
The tall man walked over to a small truck. Drums of
something filled the back tray. He hoisted one up and
walked over.

'Here you go, girl. You're going to need your
strength.'

Leila didn't like the sound of that.

He popped the top of the small drum. Oats had
never looked so good. Leila hoed in.

'Hey, steady on, sweetheart, don't need you getting
indigestion.'

He yanked the bucket away. Leila swallowed. He
put the bucket back.

'There's a good girl, nice and slow.'

The bald man who had brought her in last night
emerged from a tent on a satellite phone. Tommy
Tempest had one he always used on location.

'We'll be cutting down another batch today. No,
nobody has been through. The ranger won't be back
for a week, by which time we'll be gone. Make sure
that money is in my account.'

He ended the call and inhaled the morning air.
There were now five men all standing around the fire,
making coffee and eating cereal. Leila couldn't resist
the urge to get her nose in the cereal packet but she
was still tied and the rope jerked her back hard.

'This horse is a real pig,' said the tall guy.

The bald man ignored him.

'Leave her be, Jimmy. We got to get the truck ready.'

The other men walked with him to a grove of trees.
The bald man reached up to the trees and yanked. To
Leila's surprise the grove of trees crumpled and fell.
She realised then that the 'trees' were camouflage,
painted trees with real leaves stuck over them to give
the illusion of a forest. She was now staring at a very
long semitrailer loaded with logs, which had been
freshly sawn. She began to grasp what was going on.
The only reason these men would have hidden the
semitrailer would be because they didn't want it
discovered. They didn't want it discovered because it
must be illegal. She thought back to the conversation
the bald man had on the phone. He had said the
ranger wouldn't be back for a week. Putting two and
two together Leila came up with this: the guys were
logging trees illegally, probably from a state park. The
good news was that the chainsaws weren't going to
be used on her.

At least, not yet.

The bad news was that a world without trees wasn't
much fun. Well, except for maybe Vegas for a weekend.
She'd had to do the odd movie shoot in
Bakersfield so she knew all about hot and dusty
wastelands. But where did she fit into this operation?
What did they want from her?

'You better get her into the harness,' the bald man
called over to the tall man, Jimmy, whose face was not
unlike a kangaroo's. Small eyes and a long nose.

Harness? As Jimmy moved towards her, Leila
suddenly understood what her job was going to be.
She was going to have to drag the trees they cut down
to the truck. She tried to resist but it was too late.
Jimmy already had a bridle over her. Leila wanted to
weep. Why had she ever decided to stay in this
horrible country?

It was impossible for Charlotte to concentrate in class.
For a start she had been unable to sleep a wink all
night so she was tired. Then everything the teachers
said or did reminded her of Leila. Mr Craven had
them reading from a book about two sisters who
separate and go on to lead very different lives and
barely recognise one another when they meet many
years later. That was all she needed. Even Maths
presented no respite. The numbers on the board all
seemed to be code for something to do with Leila.

1: Leila was Charlotte's number one friend.

2: The two of them, Leila and Charlotte, a team.

3: The number of cheeses on pizza Leila loved.

4: The number of gorgeous legs Leila possessed.

And so on. Charlotte sighed as Miss Batt
announced the end of the class. Hannah came over.

'Try and cheer up. Strudworth might have had
some success with the radio.'

Hannah had a point. Rather than take morning tea
Charlotte thought she should see if Strudworth had
any news. Hannah said she would come for support.
Charlotte was pleased she had somebody to share her
feelings with. They climbed the staircase and walked
down the hallway. As they approached Miss
Strudworth's room, they became aware of her voice,
raised and unusually shrill.

'No insurance? No insurance? What were you
thinking?'

She heard Chadwick's stammering reply.

'I was saving you money.'

Charlotte and Hannah exchanged looks. What to
do? Normally Charlotte would have withdrawn when
she heard adults having some business conversation
but she simply had to know about Leila. She knocked.
Strudworth's voice, frayed, came from the other side
of the door.

'Yes?'

Charlotte opened the door and looked in to find
Chadwick and Strudworth facing one another.

'I'm sorry to interrupt, Miss, I just wondered if you
had any news yet?'

Strudworth's hands moved around.

'I'm so sorry, Charlotte. I have not had a chance. We
have something of a crisis here.' Strudworth rolled on,
Chadwick shrinking with each word.

'It seems my nephew decided not to renew our
insurance cover. And, as you know, Lucinda's father is
a lawyer who specialises in damages.'

On the last word she seized her riding crop and
swung it just past Chadwick's trembling nose. It
cracked into a leg of the desk. On cue the phone rang.
Strudworth regained her composure and answered.

'Thornton Downs, Caroline Strudworth. Oh, Mr
Hayes-Warrington. How is Lucinda doing?'

From Strudworth's intake of breath, the answer was
apparently not all that well. In contrast to her usual
self, Miss Strudworth seemed decidedly nervous.

'I see. Of course, accidents will happen ...'

Charlotte could hear a stream of loud words from
the receiver.

Strudworth was on the back foot.

'No, no, they
shouldn't
happen obviously ... Yes,
regrettably there was a misunderstanding and our
head groundsman was terminated.'

She shot a death-ray glare at Chadwick.

'Yes, I suppose that does make us rather responsible.
No, I realise the ground didn't just open up like an act
of God. However, all riders can expect a broken
clavicle at some time in their ... Settlement? How
much were you thinking?'

Charlotte would not have believed it had she not
been there to see it herself with Hannah as witness.
Strudworth actually turned white. She stood there
frozen, the look on her face one you might expect
from a snow skier suddenly finding themself in the
path of an approaching avalanche. The tiny voice
from the other end of the receiver called her name but
Strudworth was immobile. Chadwick seemed alarmed
but made no move.

Charlotte asked, 'Miss, are you all right?'

The phone dropped from her hand and clattered to
the ground. Miss Strudworth followed a second later.