Horse Thief (13 page)

“I’
M SO TIRED
,” groaned Stevie, leaning against her broom. She had just finished sweeping the tack room floor.

“Amen,” agreed Carole, who was polishing tack. “But you can’t be tired, Stevie. You’ve got an anniversary dinner ahead of you.”

Stevie flopped down on a bench. For the last hour, ever since the rally had ended, the two girls had been working hard to clean up the stable and take care of their horses. “I’ve had all the excitement I can take,” she said. “I thought the rally was going to be the main event today. Then comes the dinner. Then the theft. Then the investigation. I need a break!”

“Don’t forget about winning the blue ribbon in the second round and placing second overall in the dressage
rally,” Carole reminded Stevie. “That was pretty amazing, especially after everything that happened today.”

“You guys didn’t do so badly, either,” replied Stevie, grinning. Carole had won a blue ribbon for the first round and had placed third in the overall competition. Lisa had won a red ribbon in the third round and had placed sixth for the overall rally.

“So Celeste ended up winning the whole competition after all,” mused Carole.

“She really is a terrific rider,” Stevie said grudgingly. “But just wait until next time! If the next rally is crime-free, she doesn’t stand a chance against us!”

Carole laughed. They finished cleaning and organizing the tack room and went to find Lisa.

Lisa was in Prancer’s stall, finishing her grooming. “Hey,” she said when she saw them. “I still can’t figure out what’s wrong with this horse. She keeps nipping me and she won’t stand still. It’s taken three times as long as usual to groom her.”

“I forgot about Prancer,” said Stevie. “With everything that’s happened today, Prancer’s weirdness just slipped my mind.”

“I know what you mean,” said Lisa. “I was just thinking how I really liked Mo at first. I still can’t believe that she could be so sneaky. Telling us all those lies, and we believed her!”

“We all liked her,” Carole said. “Maybe we liked her
because we thought Celeste, Howard, and Kurt were so awful at first. And maybe I liked her because Starlight and Indy look so much alike. And actually, Celeste and Howard really didn’t improve, even after we found out about Mo!”

“What happened to Mo after we told Max?” asked Lisa.

Stevie looked grim. “I just ran into Max,” she told them. “Mo
did
get kicked out of Mendenhall. Her parents were at the rally today, and they’re really upset by this latest incident. They’ve already got Mo going to therapy, but now they’re enrolling her in a program that deals with troubled kids. The program lasts three months. Apparently they can visit her once a week, but otherwise Mo’s going to go through an intensive period of counseling and activities. The program is run on a farm, and Mo can ride horses and help take care of the animals there. Horses, and animals in general, seem to be the only thing that works for her.”

“I’m glad Max agreed not to press charges,” Lisa said softly. “Even if Mo is a troublemaker, clearly she needs a lot of help.”

Just then Phil stuck his head into the stall. The girls noticed that he was carrying the picnic hamper. “Are you talking about me again?” he said, grinning. “I just can’t seem to help being the center of attention!”

“Oh, please,” answered Stevie, smiling fondly at him. “Get over yourself, will you?”

Phil pretended to look wounded. “I was just coming to tell you,” he told Stevie, “that it’s starting to drizzle outside.”

“So much for our beautiful day! I can’t believe it’s raining again,” complained Stevie.

“Don’t worry, I’ve rearranged everything,” Phil said. “I’ve cleared a nice, cozy spot for our picnic in the hayloft. You can join me there at your leisure.”

“We were just talking about the theft,” Carole informed him. “You interrupted a very important discussion.”

Phil groaned. “I am so sick of talking about today,” he complained. “So what if Mo is a thief? Her crime was amateur, a totally clumsy job.”

“Oh, and you’re the expert?” Stevie asked sarcastically, forgetting that, for a while, that had actually been her main worry.

“Well, I’ve pulled off a couple of schemes in my time,” Phil boasted. “Nothing criminal, though. As a matter of fact, I managed to hatch a little plot this week. I made up that whole story about saving money so that I could buy Teddy some extra-special feed. I was really saving up for a fancy dinner tonight. And you never suspected a thing!”

Stevie was touched. “Really?” she asked excitedly. “Are we going out tonight?”

“But then you kept dreaming about that bridle,” Phil continued proudly. “So I checked the price of it in one of the catalogs from Max’s office. Then I caught up with your parents at lunchtime and they agreed to chip in half the cost. They said to tell you it’s an early Christmas gift for you.”

Stevie threw her arms around Phil and gave him a big hug. “That’s why you were in Max’s office—to look at catalogs!” she said happily.

Phil grinned. “Yeah, and that’s why I couldn’t tell you the reason. Hey,” he said suddenly with a worried frown, “you didn’t think I was guilty of stealing that money, did you?”

Stevie gazed at him adoringly. “Not for a second,” she told him. She knew that a little fib, under these circumstances, was okay.

“But here’s the bad news,” said Phil. “Now that I’m getting you the bridle, I can’t buy you dinner tonight. So it really is a picnic in the hayloft—with sandwiches and potato chips. Nothing glamorous.”

“I think those sandwiches will taste like the finest French cuisine to Stevie right about now,” Carole joked, looking at Stevie’s face.

Stevie’s eyes were shining. She was thinking about how hard Phil had worked to surprise her. She also
couldn’t help thinking about the new bridle she was getting in a few weeks! She and Phil said good-bye to Carole and Lisa and climbed up the ladder to the hayloft.

The hayloft smelled dusty-sweet. Phil had cleared a large space and spread out a blanket for their picnic. “I brought candles, but I don’t think we should light them here,” he said. “We might set the hay on fire.”

“It doesn’t matter one bit,” Stevie assured him. As they sat down and began unpacking the picnic basket, they heard a loud scurrying sound.

Stevie jumped to her feet. “What was that?” she asked, startled.

“Look!” Phil pointed. “Remember what Doc Tock said last week about animals in the area?”

Stevie looked in the corner and saw a large raccoon. Behind it were four baby raccoons, staring at Stevie and Phil with round, frightened eyes.

“Doc Tock said that raccoons were always getting into people places,” said Phil. “She didn’t mention them getting into
horse
places.”

The raccoons were so cute that Stevie melted. “They’re adorable,” she said. Suddenly the raccoons jumped, then disappeared through a hole in the corner of the loft.

“Hey!” Stevie exclaimed. She scrambled over to look at the hole through which the raccoon family had vanished
A thought struck her. “Phil, I’ll be right back,” she told him, and climbed down the ladder.

Carole and Lisa were still in Prancer’s stall. “I think I’ve solved another mystery,” Stevie told them. “I think I know why Prancer has been acting so strange.” But Carole and Lisa were absorbed with calming down an agitated Prancer.

“Shhh,” Lisa said soothingly, patting the mare’s nose. Carole was gently rubbing Prancer’s neck.

“A band of raccoons just ran through here,” Lisa explained to Stevie. “Prancer was terrified of them. I guess that in addition to cats, she doesn’t like raccoons, either.”

“Especially when they’re stealing her food,” Stevie said triumphantly. “Those raccoons live in the hayloft right above Prancer’s stall. Remember how Doc Tock said that raccoons will rummage through people’s garbage cans? I bet those raccoons have been eating Prancer’s feed!”

Lisa gaped at Stevie. “So all this time Prancer has been
hungry
?” she asked in astonishment. Suddenly Prancer’s odd behavior—her constant nibbling and head-butting—began to make sense.

“What other explanation is there?” asked Stevie.

Lisa grinned happily and turned to give Prancer a hug. “You poor thing,” she said. “I’m going to get you some more feed right away.”

“And I’m going to ask Max to call CARL to come and get this raccoon family relocated to a new home,” said Carole, heading toward Max’s office.

“Well, I know what I’ve got to do,” said Stevie, looking meaningfully toward the hayloft. “I’ve got a six-month anniversary to celebrate!”

B
ONNIE
B
RYANT
is the author of more than a hundred books about horses, including The Saddle Club series, Saddle Club Super Editions, the Pony Tails series, and Pine Hollow, which follows the Saddle Club girls into their teens. She has also written novels and movie novelizations under her married name, B. B. Hiller.

Ms. Bryant began writing The Saddle Club in 1986. Although she had done some riding before that, she intensified her studies then and found herself learning right along with her characters Stevie, Carole, and Lisa. She claims that they are all much better riders than she is.

Ms. Bryant was born and raised in New York City. She still lives there, in Greenwich Village, with her two sons.