Flame and the Rebel Riders (14 page)

Issie held her breath, hoping that the trainer would be shocked at the accusation. But Ginty didn’t so much as blink. So it was true! She had been doping the horses!

“Verity told me that if you don’t stop, Tottie will break down,” Issie said.

“That’s her ill-informed opinion, is it?” Ginty replied sharply. “Frankly, you could fit Verity’s total knowledge of horse treatment into my little finger. She doesn’t know what she’s talking about.” Ginty looked squarely at Issie. “None of my riders have the right to question my methods. I think I’ve made that quite clear.”

“You have,” Issie nodded. “And that shouldn’t be a problem for me.”

“Good,” Ginty said, and then stopped talking as Issie started getting undressed in the middle of the feed room! She stripped off her Dulmoth Park sweatshirt and held it out to Ginty.

“Sorry, it needs a wash,” Issie said as she handed it over. “I slept in it this morning.”

Ginty seemed puzzled. “Why are you giving me your uniform?”

“Because I won’t need it any more.” Issie took a deep breath. “I quit.”

As they drove away from the stables, Mrs Brown cast a glance at her daughter sitting beside her. Issie had always been headstrong and impetuous. There were times when Mrs Brown worried about having a child with such a wilful nature, but at moments like this she was deeply proud. Issie always stood up for what she believed in — even if it meant losing the job of her dreams.

“Thanks for coming to get me, Mum,” Issie said, “and for bringing me a clean sweatshirt. I’m sorry for all the drama.”

“Well,” Mrs Brown smiled at her, “I could hardly expect you to make your own way home in your pyjama top, could I?”

Issie’s explanation for being at Dulmoth Park had been quite simple: Verity had surprised her very early that morning, calling by at the house. The two girls had come to the stables together and Issie had stayed behind to confront her boss. It was kind of the truth — minus the bits about Mystic, of course. Better than trying to explain that she’d ridden here in the middle of the night on her grey pony. Mystic had remained Issie’s secret for so long now, she wouldn’t have dreamt of telling anybody about him, not even her mum.

She’d told her mother all about Ginty, though. And when she phoned up from the stables and said she’d quit, Mrs Brown had come straight away to collect her. Now she reached out and took Issie’s hand in her own and gave it a tight squeeze.

“Issie?”

“Yes, Mum?”

“Maybe next time it would be easier if you just took the job at the law firm?”

Issie began to giggle. “I know! My first proper job and I accuse my boss of doping the horses!”

Mrs Brown laughed. “Yes, well, admittedly it’s not
going to look great on your CV. Still, I wish I’d seen the look on Ginty’s face when you told her you were leaving.”

“She had her mouth open like a goldfish,” Issie said. “She couldn’t believe it.”

“So,” Mrs Brown said, “where to now, my unemployed daughter? You must be exhausted. Do you want to go straight home?”

“No, Mum,” Issie shook her head. “I’ve got one more stop I need to make on the way.”

It was still early, not yet 7 a.m., as Issie and Mrs Brown pulled up outside Tom Avery’s cottage at Winterflood Farm. Avery was awake, though — like most horsey people he tended to get up ridiculously early. By seven he had already fed his horses and was in the kitchen making a pot of tea when he heard the car pull up outside. He opened the front door to greet Issie and her mother before they had the chance to knock.

“Mrs B! Issie!” Avery smiled at them both warmly. If he was still upset about the conversation he’d had
with Issie the last time she called round, he didn’t show it. “Come inside. I’ve just made some tea.” He led the way to the kitchen. “I must say I wasn’t expecting company for breakfast. I don’t usually get visitors at this hour.” He smiled at Issie. “In fact, shouldn’t you be at work right now?”

“Well, yes…and no…” Issie said. “The thing is, Tom, I’ve quit.”

Mrs Brown interjected. “We’ve just come back from the stables. Issie gave Ginty what-for and told her she didn’t want to work for her because she caught her putting capsicums on the horses.”

Issie rolled her eyes. “Mum! Not capsicums! I caught her using
capsaicin!”

“Capsaicin?” Avery’s expression turned serious. “Are you sure?”

“Uh-huh,” Issie nodded. “She’s got a whole medicine chest of stuff that she’s been using. Tottie’s got terrible arthritis, but Ginty’s been masking it by injecting her with loads of bute so they can keep jumping her for the rest of the season and then sell her.”

“I take it that Tottie is worth a lot of money?” asked Avery.

Issie nodded. “Ginty doesn’t even own her. She’s one of Cassandra Steele’s horses.”

“I know Cassandra,” Avery said. “She’s one of the patrons of my Horse Welfare auxiliary. Cassandra’s a good egg. I’d be very surprised if she knew that Ginty was doping her horses.”

“I must say you don’t look particularly shocked by any of this, Tom,” Mrs Brown said.

“I’m not,” Avery said bluntly. “I’ve suspected this sort of behaviour from Ginty for a long time now.”

“So why didn’t you warn Issie before she went to work there?” Mrs Brown demanded. “Do you realise what she’s been through with this woman—”

“Mum! Stop!” Issie’s voice was wobbly. “Tom did warn me. He told me that Ginty’s methods were awful and he didn’t want me to work for her. And I ignored him and did it anyway.” Issie turned to Avery. “I’m really sorry, Tom. I should have listened to you. I thought I knew better than you, but I was wrong.”

Avery shook his head. “You have nothing to apologise for. Ginty has fooled a lot of people in her time and not all of them wake up to her ways as quickly as you did. You had to make your own choices and learn from
your own mistakes. So consider it forgotten, OK? Let’s just put the whole debacle behind us.”

Issie wasn’t so sure. “I’m so worried about Flame, Tom. He’s so sensitive and he’s getting worse and now I’ve abandoned him too…”

Avery passed her a cup of tea. “Take a sip of this and calm yourself down,” he said gently. “It’s not over yet. I may still be able to do something about Flame.”

“What do you mean?” Issie asked.

But Avery just smiled and said, “I told you to drink your tea! And leave Flame to me.”

“But what can Avery possibly do? Flame is one of Ginty’s horses and everyone knows that Ginty can’t stand Tom! She’s hardly going to hand Flame over to him!” Stella squawked when Issie told her the news that afternoon at the River Paddock.

It was the first time in ages that Issie had seen her two best friends. When she phoned Stella and Kate and asked them if they wanted to go for a hack, they had both seemed a little surprised. They were even
more shocked when Issie met them at the paddock and filled them in on the whole story. It wasn’t easy to finish because Stella kept interrupting to gasp “I knew it!” and “Ohmygod!” all the way through.

When she did finally get to the end, Issie had one more thing to tell them. “I’m sorry,” she said, “Aidan was right. I’ve been acting like a stuck-up idiot for weeks now, ignoring my horses and my two best friends, and I didn’t even realise it.”

“Is that what he said to you?” Stella was horrified. “Issie, you might have been a stuck-up idiot, but you’re our stuck-up idiot! Aidan can’t speak to you like that. Just wait until I see him!”

“Ummm…thanks, I guess,” Issie said, and the three girls giggled and hugged. “Welcome back, Issie. We missed you!” Kate said.

Issie’s horses had missed her too. She had hardly had the chance to ride Blaze and Comet over the past few weeks and the skewbald pony was so fresh and full of energy when they went out hacking that day, Issie had trouble holding him back.

“You’re back on a vigorous exercise schedule for the rest of the week to cool you down a bit!” she told Comet
as the skewbald arrived back at the paddock still full of beans, jogging restlessly beneath her despite the two-hour hack she had given him along the riverbank past Winterflood Farm.

As they rode past Avery’s house Issie had wanted to turn down the driveway and pop in to see him again and ask exactly what his plan was. When she had left his house that morning Avery seemed quite confident that he could help Flame. But what could Tom do when the horse was still stabled with Ginty?

For the rest of the week, Issie waited and tried desperately not to think about Flame. At least being unemployed meant that she could focus on her own horses once more. She spent nearly all her time down at the River Paddock with Blaze and Comet and, even though she certainly no longer rated Ginty as a trainer, she had to admit that she found she was riding better than she had done before she went to work at Dulmoth Park.

“I’m not surprised,” Avery said when she told him this, “you’ve been riding a roster of at least six horses a day for almost a month. All those hours in the saddle must have built up your reflexes and muscle tone.”

It was a Friday afternoon. Avery had called Issie up and they had been chatting on the phone for a bit when the instructor broke the big news. “It’s all on for Saturday,” he said. “Meet me at my house at seven tomorrow morning. Wear your best jods and your long boots and something smart like a nice shirt — we need to look professional.”

“OK…” Issie said hesitantly, “but why? Where are we going? What’s on?”

“I’ll explain on the way to the horse show,” Avery told her.

“Horse show?” Issie was confused. “What horse show? Tom?”

But it was too late. Avery had already hung up the phone.

Cleveland Valley was one of the poshest showgrounds on the outskirts of Chevalier Point. It was surrounded by giant oak trees and in the centre of the green fields, the arenas were marked out with white picket fences. Grandstands had been set up so that you could sit and
watch the action in all three rings at once and never miss a thing.

There was also a well-equipped area with wash bays and horse pens where the competitors could park their horse trucks and floats.

Among the rows of trucks belonging to the various riders it was easy to spot Ginty McLintoch’s. Her silver and gold truck stood out in the crowd. Ginty had arrived early that morning with Penny and Natasha and six of her best competition horses — including Tottie and Flame.

As she walked towards the sparkling horse truck, Issie wondered how Natasha was coping with Ginty. She hadn’t dared to try and talk to Natasha on the morning that she left Dulmoth Park. She’d phoned Natasha at home and left a long, rambling message telling her what had happened, but she hadn’t heard back. So Issie wasn’t surprised when Natasha saw her coming and raced over to her. She didn’t waste any time letting Issie know exactly what was on her mind.

“Maybe I’m stupid,” Natasha said, “but I thought we’d actually become friends over the past few weeks, Issie.”

“We are friends!” Issie said.

“So why did you leave like that without even saying goodbye?” Natasha pouted.

“I couldn’t say anything — Ginty told me I had to pack my bags and get off the premises and besides, I didn’t want her to see us together in case I got you into trouble too,” Issie replied. “I didn’t want her to think you were involved with me and Verity.” She sighed. “Anyway, I told you all of this when I left the message on your phone! You were the one who never called me back!”

“What?” Natasha’s face dropped. “What message? When?”

“The day that I left,” Issie told her, “I phoned up and left a message on the answerphone at your house…” she paused as the truth dawned on her, “…and you probably never got it because your dad heard my voice so he deleted it! I bet he never told you that I called.”

Natasha sighed. “That sounds about right. Dad really doesn’t like you, Issie. Not after what happened with the golf club. He was furious when he found out you were working at Ginty’s. He didn’t want me hanging out with you…”

“I suppose I should have thought of that,” Issie said. “I thought you’d got the message and you just didn’t care about me leaving.”

“Of course I cared!” Natasha said, sounding genuinely hurt. “It’s been awful at those stables since you left. There’s no one to talk to and I have to do all the work. Penny’s such a suck-up she won’t say a word against Ginty. She was the one who told me you had been fired because Ginty caught you stealing.”

“What?” Issie was horrified. “I wasn’t stealing! And I wasn’t fired! I quit because I found out that Ginty has been doping the horses. Tottie is lame with arthritis and all this time Ginty’s been keeping her competing by injecting her with bute. And that liniment she’s using isn’t—

“Natasha!” Ginty’s deep voice interrupted them. The two girls looked up, startled. The look on Ginty’s face when she saw who Natasha was talking to was positively thunderous.

“What are you doing here, Isadora? I wasn’t expecting you to show your face again.” The trainer walked down the ramp of the horse truck to confront Issie. “I thought you’d be smart enough to stay away from my team and
my horses,” Ginty sneered. “You aren’t welcome at my truck. Cassandra’s going to be here any minute.”

At that moment Issie caught sight of the millionairess. Cassandra was striding across the paddocks towards the truck, and walking beside her, chatting away and laughing as if they were old mates, was Tom Avery.

“Cassandra!” Ginty smiled warmly and strode forward to meet her. She gritted her teeth, “…and Tom. What a
pleasant
surprise to see you here!”

“Oh, don’t talk rot, Ginty!” Cassandra said bluntly. “It’s no secret that you and Tom don’t get on. I might not indulge in much of the gossip that goes on around the show circuit, but even I know that much!”

Ginty’s jaw dropped open.

“I’m here with some news,” Cassandra continued, “Tom gave me a call earlier in the week and told me that he’s got some space in his stable at the moment and that he’d really like to try his hand at a bit of training. When he asked whether I might be interested in moving Flame over to Winterflood Farm I gave the matter some thought and my answer was yes.”

“You’re kidding me!” Ginty said.

“I’m hardly likely to make jokes about my horses,
Ginty,” Cassandra replied. “And you can’t honestly be surprised by this. Your training hasn’t exactly been aceing it in terms of results with Flame. He’s been a disaster every time I’ve seen him. When Tom called me and said he’d like to do some schooling with Flame I found myself agreeing all too easily!”