Phantom Horse (8 page)

When the lesson ended Stevie was the first one out of the ring. She led Belle over to where Shannon was sitting.

“Hi, Shannon,” Stevie said, smiling sweetly. “Did you enjoy the lesson?”

Shannon seemed a little surprised that Stevie had come over to speak to her. “Yes, it was very interesting,” she said in her soft voice. She lifted one arm to push back a stray lock of her long, wavy hair, and as she did so Stevie heard a soft jingle of bells. She looked at Shannon’s arm and almost gasped aloud. At school that day Stevie had checked to see if Shannon was wearing the gold bracelet, and she was. But now she was wearing the silver bell bracelet instead!

Stevie had to tell Lisa and Carole. “Well, if you have any questions about anything, feel free,” she said, backing away and almost bumping into Belle in the process. She turned and led the mare off, giving Shannon one last glance over her shoulder. But the other girl had already turned away and was smiling brightly at Joe, who was approaching with Rusty in tow.

Stevie untacked Belle in record time and left her munching a mouthful of hay in her stall, with a promise to return soon to give her a full grooming. Then Stevie raced to Starlight’s stall. The big bay was there, but Carole was nowhere
in sight. Stevie shrugged and went to Prancer’s stall, where Lisa was busy combing the mare’s mane.

“Guess what,” Stevie said breathlessly. “I just noticed something important. Shannon isn’t wearing the bracelet.”

Lisa tugged gently at a stubborn knot in Prancer’s mane. “So? Who says she has to wear the same jewelry every day?”

“But she
was
wearing it today,” Stevie said. “In school. Now she’s wearing that other one. She must have switched before she came to Pine Hollow. Now, why would she bother to do that unless she had a guilty conscience? Or, more to the point, unless she didn’t want Betsy to notice her wearing her stolen property?”

“Interesting theory,” Lisa said. “But still not proof.”

“I know,” Stevie said. “But Shannon’s guilty. I can just feel it.” She looked up and saw Mrs. Reg walking down the aisle in their direction. All the riders at Pine Hollow knew there was nothing Mrs. Reg hated as much as seeing people standing around chatting when there was work to be done. “Oops. I’d better get back to Belle. I owe her a grooming,” Stevie said. “But I’m going to keep an eye on Shannon for as long as she hangs around here today, and you should do the same. Tell Carole, too, if you see her.”

“Okay,” Lisa said agreeably, turning her attention back to Prancer’s mane as Stevie hurried away.

As she did her stable chores, Stevie tried to stay close to Shannon. But much to her disappointment, Shannon didn’t do anything all afternoon that anyone, even Stevie, could
call suspicious. That made Stevie start to wonder if Shannon really was the Pine Hollow Pilferer. Maybe she should have paid more attention to Lisa’s theory about Troy after all

Once her work was finished, Stevie walked slowly down the aisle toward the locker room, thinking hard. She was still convinced that the bracelet switch was a valuable clue, but maybe it wasn’t wise to put all her eggs in one basket. Lisa had made some interesting points about Troy. It might not be a bad idea to start keeping an eye on him, too.

Just then Stevie heard excited chatter coming from the locker room. She hurried forward and entered the room. Half a dozen students were there—Lisa, Adam Levine, and several others. Max was there, too, and he was leaning over to peer into Adam’s cubby. When he straightened up and turned around, Stevie saw that he looked worried.

“Are you sure it was here, Adam?” Max asked.

Adam nodded. “Definitely. I’m sure,” he said. “It was in my jacket pocket.” He pointed to a green nylon jacket that was lying on the floor in front of his cubby. “When I came in to get my stuff, my jacket was there on the floor and the pen was gone.”

Stevie hurried over to Lisa. “What happened?”

“It looks like Adam’s fancy gold-plated fountain pen has disappeared,” Lisa said grimly. “He just got it today—it was a prize for a writing contest he won in school.”

Stevie let out a low whistle. “It looks like our pilferer is
developing better taste,” she said. “Or more expensive taste, anyway.”

“It looks that way,” Lisa agreed.

“You know what else this means, don’t you?” Stevie said, glancing around to make sure she wouldn’t be overheard. The other students were all clustered around Adam and Max or checking their own cubbies for missing items.

“What?” Lisa asked.

“It means Shannon is still our number one suspect,” Stevie whispered.

“What makes you say that?” Lisa whispered back. “I still think Troy is just as likely a suspect, and he was here today, too. Not to mention Veronica, of course; although, as obnoxious as she is, I seriously doubt that she’s the thief.”

“But think about it,” Stevie said. “Things have only disappeared when Shannon is around. Isn’t that just a little too coincidental?”

“It’s a bit strange,” Lisa said. She went to the bench in front of her cubby and sat down to take off her riding boots. “But then again, things have only disappeared so far when the whole riding class is around, too. It could be a coincidence that Shannon has been here both times. If Troy is the thief, wouldn’t it make sense for him to wait to take things until there are a lot of people around? Besides, we don’t know for sure that nothing has disappeared at other times. Max wouldn’t necessarily mention it if anyone in his adult riding classes has had things stolen, or his private students,
or even the younger kids’ class.” She tossed the boots into her cubby and started lacing up her shoes.

“Well, maybe,” Stevie said. She didn’t look convinced. “But you have to admit it makes Shannon look awfully guilty.”

“I’m not saying you’re wrong,” Lisa said tactfully. She knew that once her friend got an idea in her head it was usually hard to dislodge it. “I’m just saying we should keep our options open. For all we know, the thief could be someone we haven’t even thought of yet.”

“Like who? Max?” Stevie demanded impatiently.

Lisa rolled her eyes, feeling a little impatient herself. “I don’t know, Stevie. But no matter what we think, we can’t accuse anyone without some real evidence.”

“Hmm,” Stevie said thoughtfully. She watched as Max walked out of the room with Adam. Once they had convinced themselves that none of their things had been stolen, the other students began putting on their jackets and leaving. “I guess you’re right about that. So there’s only one thing to do. We have to lay a trap so we can catch Shannon red-handed.”

“How are we going to do that?” Lisa asked.

“Just leave it to me,” Stevie said. “I’ll think of something. In fact, I think something is starting to come to me already. I’ll be right back,” she said suddenly. She turned abruptly and hurried out of the room.

Lisa shrugged and turned back to her cubby to get her
jacket and backpack. A moment later Carole entered and sat down on the bench next to her. “Oh, there you are,” Lisa said, glancing up quickly and then continuing to dig through her backpack. She had just remembered that her science teacher had given the class homework, and she wasn’t sure she’d brought home her science textbook. “You missed all the excitement.” Not noticing the worried look in Carole’s eyes, she began to fill her in on what had happened.

Meanwhile Stevie had found Joe and Shannon in the driveway, waiting for Shannon’s mother to pick them up. They were standing close together and talking quietly, but that didn’t stop Stevie. She walked over and came to a stop right in front of them.

“Hi there,” she said with a big smile.

Joe looked up in surprise. “Oh, um, hi there, Stevie,” he said. “What’s up?” Shannon didn’t say anything, but she smiled shyly at Stevie and took a step away from Joe.

“Not much,” Stevie replied. “I just wanted to ask Shannon how she’s liking spending time at Pine Hollow.”

“Oh, she loves it,” Joe assured Stevie, stepping a little closer to Shannon.

Stevie noticed Shannon edging away from Joe again. Stevie turned to her. “Is that right, Shannon?” she asked. “I mean, of course all of us love Pine Hollow or we wouldn’t spend so much time here. But it’s always interesting to see how newcomers react to it, especially people who don’t ride.”

“Shannon does ride,” Joe said. “Her family has a small stable on their property, and she takes private lessons.”

Stevie turned to Shannon, surprised. “Really? Then why don’t you ride when you’re here? Even if you don’t want to join the lesson, I’m sure Max would let you take one of his horses out for a trail ride or something. His prices are very reasonable.”

“I know,” Shannon said. “I just like riding at home, that’s all. But I like to watch Joe ride. And it’s interesting to watch Max. My riding instructor is very good, but it’s helpful to observe someone else’s teaching style.” Stevie noticed that the other girl was blushing furiously. She couldn’t imagine what she had said that would embarrass her so much—unless, of course, Shannon had a guilty conscience.

Stevie smiled. She’d just had a great idea. “Well, in that case, I’m sure Joe has already invited you to our Horse Wise meeting on Saturday morning.”

Joe’s face lit up. “Actually, I hadn’t, but that’s a great idea, Stevie.” He turned to Shannon. “Horse Wise is our Pony Club. Remember? I told you about it.” Shannon nodded, and Joe went on. “Every other week we have unmounted meetings, and we’re allowed to bring guests. And this week’s meeting should be interesting. The farrier will be here to reshoe some of the horses, and we’re going to watch.”

“Is that why the meeting is earlier than usual?” Stevie asked, forgetting about her plan for a second. Two weeks
before, Max had told the students that the next unmounted Horse Wise meeting would begin a couple of hours earlier than usual. At the time Stevie hadn’t bothered to wonder why. The only thing she cared about was that it meant The Saddle Club wouldn’t have to miss the meeting because of Phil’s bar mitzvah.

Joe nodded. “The farrier, Alec McAllister, is pretty busy. He has a lot of other stables to visit on Saturday, so Max had to fit our meeting around Alec’s schedule.” He turned back to Shannon again. “So how about it? Do you want to come?”

Stevie held her breath. When the other girl nodded at Joe and said she’d love to come, Stevie let out the breath in a loud whoosh. When Joe and Shannon looked at her curiously, Stevie did her best to turn the sigh of relief into a cough. Then she smiled at them innocently. “Great. See you both on Saturday, then,” she said. With a cheerful wave, she left them and raced back inside to find her friends.

C
AROLE
FELT
TEARS
welling up in her eyes as she walked home from the bus stop after the lesson. Starlight had fussed and fidgeted throughout the class, and at one point he’d even reached over and tried to nip Patch as they trotted by the friendly old school horse. Carole knew that all horses have off days when they feel cranky, and Patch
had
trotted into Starlight’s way. But it was out of character for her horse to behave in such a bad-tempered manner.

To make matters worse, as she was untacking Starlight, Troy had wandered over and stood silently watching for a minute.

“Can I help you?” Carole had finally asked.

“Nope,” said Troy. “Looks like you’re the one who needs help. I was watching the lesson and I noticed that your horse was acting a little frisky. Just like a little demon.”

“So?” Carole said, a sick feeling settling into the pit of her stomach.

“So I just thought he seemed better-natured when I first started working here. I wondered why the sudden personality transformation, that’s all.”

“He’s just having a bad day,” Carole said too loudly. As if to confirm her words, Starlight flung his head in the air and snorted.

“Yeah, right,” Troy had said. “I guess all horses have bad spells.” He had walked off before Carole could say anything else.

Carole stabbed at the lock with her key and let herself into the house. Her father was still at work …

“… 
SO
THEN
S
TEVIE
decided we should all have a sleepover at the stable on Friday night,” Carole explained to her father that evening as they stood together making dinner. “Stevie already checked with Max and he said he didn’t mind. We’ll bring our clothes for Horse Wise and for the bar mitzvah, and Stevie’s parents will drop me off here afterward.
Is that okay?” Carole glanced at her father, for once wishing he was less reasonable. But she knew what he was going to say before he said it.

“That sounds fine to me,” Colonel Hanson said. “I’ll probably be working late Friday night anyway.”

Carole nodded, but her heart sank. There was no way she could explain to her father that she wasn’t looking forward to this sleepover one bit. He wouldn’t understand, any more than her friends would, that the last thing Carole felt like doing was spending more time at the stable. As much as she hated to admit it, her dreams had changed everything. That was why she hadn’t mentioned them to her father, even though she could usually discuss anything with him.

As she and her father sat down to eat a few minutes later, Carole was still thinking about her latest nightmare. This one had begun with her and Starlight trotting down the trail toward the creek. Aside from the different setting, the rest of the dream had followed the pattern of the first one. Everything had seemed normal at first; then suddenly Starlight had changed, tossing her off his back and moving in for the attack.

The dream had stayed in Carole’s mind all day, especially when she was with Starlight. The big gelding had seemed a little jittery in class, probably in response to Carole’s own nervousness. But she couldn’t help feeling that something wasn’t quite right between them. Part of her knew that the feeling was caused by Troy’s ghost story combined with her
frightening dreams, not to mention a lack of sleep. But Carole had spent her whole life around stables, and she wasn’t used to feeling uncomfortable around any horse, let alone her own beloved Starlight. Usually when it came to any sort of problem having to do with horses, Carole had a pretty good idea of how to fix it. But this time she couldn’t think of a single way to make things better.