Scout and the Mystery of the Marsh Ponies (10 page)

Chapter Fifteen

A
LICE
felt sick. She’d heard the car on the track and felt her knees buckle, thinking that it was Tallulah’s horsebox. When Rosie, being lookout again at the gate, had called out that Mrs Hawk had arrived, her sickness turned to a twist of nerves as she thought about what was about to happen. She willed the RSPCA Inspector to turn up, but Rosie kept reporting that there were no other sightings, making her heart sink down into her boots as Mrs Hawk stalked onto the yard. If Mrs Hawk was here she knew it meant that Tallulah hadn’t called to cancel the sale. And that meant that their plan that morning must have failed. The RSPCA was Alice’s last hope, but so far they were nowhere in sight.

Mrs Hawk stopped by Scout’s stable and looked over the door. Alice had spent the last three hours glued to his side, hugging him, grooming him, plaiting and unplaiting his mane, but mainly just leaning against him, whispering with a nervous, shaky voice as she told him that he wouldn’t be going anywhere. She’d hugged him as he rubbed his head against her.

Suddenly, as badly as she’d wanted her dreams to come true, the cold, unbending reality pushed its way into her thoughts: that very soon she could be standing in an empty stable and Scout would be on a strange yard, not knowing any of the smells, the noises or the people or ponies around him. Alice had wanted desperately for time to stand still, but it wouldn’t. She’d tried, but as the clock ticked closer to three, she could no longer hold back all the fear that had been racing around in her mind for the past week and hot tears started to spill down her cheeks.

She’d heard the bolt on her door go and turned to see Rosie, Charlie and Mia standing next to her. Rosie had put her arms around her and Mia had told her with a wobbly voice that somehow it would all work out all right. Alice had nodded, wanting desperately to believe her, but somewhere deep in her heart her unfailing belief was starting to feel shaken. She was worried that everything was happening too late.

She’d blown her nose just as Rosie had gone to be lookout and Charlie and Mia had gone to check on their ponies. Two minutes later, Mrs Hawk had arrived.

“Glad to see you’ve made him look half decent,” Mrs Hawk commented as she glanced over the door, her wig and hat back in place, along with the sunglasses.

“Not that there’s much point,” Rosie muttered under her breath as she strode over, “because he’s not going anywhere.”

“What was that?” Mrs Hawk asked irritably,
looking at her watch and tutting as it ticked to five past three.

“I said he won’t be going anywhere,” Rosie repeated louder. Alice felt her insides twist as she saw Mia and Charlie heading towards the stable. They’d agreed that if the RSPCA Inspector didn’t show up they’d confront Mrs Hawk themselves before Tallulah got there. It looked as if the others were just about ready.

“What are you talking about?” Mrs Hawk scoffed. “As soon as Tallulah’s dad turns up with the cash that grey will be out of this wretched little place.”

“But we know your secret,” Mia said, standing on one side of Scout’s stable with the others, while Mrs Hawk stood on the other.

“Hmm? What secret’s that?” Mrs Hawk asked distractedly, checking her watch again.

“How Roger Green keeps prices low on certain ponies at his auctions,” Mia continued, taking a deep breath as she saw Mrs Hawk stiffen slightly,
“then you buy them with his help. You loan them out and sell them on for a big, fat profit, which you split with the auctioneer.”

Mrs Hawk lowered her glasses for a second, looking at Mia with beady eyes, her anger glowing.

“Rather clever of me, don’t you think?” she gloated. “Anyway, it’s not against the law.”

“No, but owning ponies when you’ve been banned is,” Mia replied. “Mrs
Hawk
!”

“Ha!” Rosie cried, pointing her finger in the air.

Mia nudged her.

“What? I didn’t know what else to say, and I wanted to add my bit!” Rosie whispered back as Mrs Hawk stood for a second, her thin lips curling into a slow smile.

“We know everything,” Mia continued, showing her the newspaper article. Mrs Hawk reached to grab it, her wig twisting sideways, but Mia flicked the paper out of her grasp just in time.

Mrs Hawk still looked annoyingly triumphant,
although Alice noticed a bead of sweat form on her top lip. “Oh, do carry on. Tell me what you think you know,” she sneered.

“We went to try to find you at the address in Hollow Hill that you gave Alice.” Charlie cleared her throat, thrown by a hard stare from Mrs Hawk. “We didn’t find you but we did find Beth Bright. She led us to Sammy, who told us you bought Scout at an auction at a knock-down price. Then we heard the phone call from ‘R’, Roger Green, and followed you to his auction, where we found out about your deal with the auctioneer.”

“And we worked out the link between all the ponies on the marsh,” Alice continued, “so we called the owners and found that you’d told everyone the same story. And before you ask, we’ve got evidence – of you talking to Roger Green, and your wig.”

“You had to wear a disguise so that no one recognised you,” Mia added, “once you’d been banned.”

“But you couldn’t fool the Pony Detectives,” Rosie said triumphantly.

Mrs Hawk lowered her sunglasses to look at the four girls. For a fleeting second there was a flash of admiration in her eyes before they turned steely again.

“Oh, you may think you’ve got one over on me, but I’ve managed to escape detection this long and I don’t intend being caught now. Especially not by four interfering girls – the Pony Detectives, indeed!” Mrs Hawk chuckled gleefully to herself. “Anyway, as interesting as all this is, if it’s a ploy to get me to sell Scout to you, it won’t work. As soon as Tallulah turns up, I’m grabbing the cash and disappearing. Very soon no one will know where I am or what disguise I’m wearing next, except me and Roger. So it really doesn’t matter what you know – it’ll make no difference the moment I drive away from this lousy yard.”

Alice opened her mouth, holding Scout. At that second a phone rang. It was Mrs Hawk’s.

“Ah, that’s Tallulah’s dad now,” Mrs Hawk smiled thinly, “no doubt telling me they’re on their way. This will all be over in a short while, and this pony and I will be nothing more than a distant memory.”

Mrs Hawk took the call. The girls could hear Tallulah’s dad ranting in the background, but couldn’t make out any of the words. But they didn’t need to: Mrs Hawk’s twisted face said all they needed to know.

“What do you mean, no good at jumping? He’s been coming first all summer! Anyway, we had a deal!” she fumed. “I’ve cancelled my advert in
Pony Mad
because of you – you can’t just change your mind now, it’s too late! Hello… hello?”

Mrs Hawk stared at her phone incredulously. She frowned, reached for Scout’s stable door and swung it open furiously. Rosie looked up and nudged Charlie and Mia, who glanced over to the track beyond the cottage and smiled secretly to each other.

“That’s it!” Mrs Hawk exclaimed, grabbing at Scout’s lead rope. “I’m off, and before you go getting any ideas about keeping this pony, he’s coming with me!”

But as Mrs Hawk dragged Scout out of his stable a car door slammed and a man and a woman walked in through the gate and marched straight up to her. They were both wearing uniforms with peaked caps, and had RSPCA logos on their tops.

“Going somewhere, Mrs Hawk?”

For the first time, Mrs Hawk looked alarmed. She was cornered. She glanced furtively around the yard, beads of sweat rolling down her face as she desperately searched for an escape route. The only one was right past the Inspectors. She seemed to sense that she was defeated and, with sagging shoulders, she dropped the lead rope and accompanied them to the tack room. Alice quickly took hold of the rope, patting a slightly confused Scout before taking him back to his stable.

The four girls waited till Mrs Hawk had disappeared into the tack room with the Inspectors, then crept up and stood by the door, straining to hear Mrs Hawk’s responses as the Inspectors produced some paperwork and asked her to sign it.

“What is it?” she croaked suspiciously.

“This is to sign over every pony you currently own to us,” the woman said, “including the grey on this yard and the three others you have out on loan. Then there’s the dun pony from the marsh, which we’ve got in the back of our trailer right now.”

Mrs Hawk grumbled under her breath and the girls heard her muttering about them being busybodies before she snatched the pen from the man and scrawled her name on the page held out to her.

“So what does that mean?” Alice whispered, turning anxiously to the others, suddenly panicking that Scout might get loaded into the trailer with
the rescued dun. “What happens to Scout now?”

At that moment the RSPCA Inspectors came out and led Mrs Hawk to their car.

“Excuse me…” Alice cleared her throat, going pink as the man turned back to her. “It’s just that I’ve got a pony on loan from Mrs Hawk, the grey over there… what’s going to happen to him? Will he have to be taken away?”

Alice felt her heart flip as he smiled at her kindly.

“Well, now we’ve got him signed over to us, along with the others which we’ll locate,” the man explained, “we’ll start the process of rehoming the ponies which are in good enough condition.”

“Rehoming…?” Alice said, her voice sticking in her throat. Her eyes prickled and her vision blurred at the thought that her saviours were about to become the ones to finally take Scout away from her.

“With someone suitable and knowledgeable,” the man said seriously, “someone who can offer
the pony a forever home, who’ll promise to love the pony for its whole life.”

Alice nodded, looking at a yellow dandelion on the floor which danced and smudged in front of her eyes as a big teardrop rolled down her face and landed on it.

“We have to check that the stables are safe. And although the pony officially is always owned by us, we have to make sure that the person taking the pony is dedicated to having him on long-term, permanent loan,” the man continued, looking round at Blackberry Farm’s yard. “And this, to me, looks like just the kind of place that I’d be looking for.”

Alice nodded again. Then she heard Rosie gasp, and Mia and Charlie start to laugh, slightly hysterically. She looked up. The man was looking at her, smiling so that his eyes had almost disappeared in all the crinkles on his face. Alice glanced round at the others, not able to catch her breath for a second.

“Do you… do you mean…?” Alice looked at the man, who was the one nodding now. She burst out laughing but it came out as a huge sob and she suddenly heard someone squeal and realised it was her. The others all hugged her, bouncing up and down on the spot.

“I’m happy that keeping this pony here with you is the best outcome for him,” the man said, laughing too. “There’ll be paperwork and proper checks for us to complete but we can do that after we’ve sorted out Mrs Hawk. I’ll pop back tomorrow.”

With that he turned and walked over to his car. Alice stood, stunned for a second, before rushing over to Scout’s stable. She let herself in and hugged him, patting him over and over, kissing his muzzle and, with shaking fingers, finding him mints.

“Did you hear that, Scout?” Alice whispered through big gulps. “I promise to look after you and love you for ever, and there’s
nothing
now that will ever, ever keep us apart.”

Scout rested his chin on Alice’s shoulder, his warm breath fluffing her hair as he blinked his eyes softly. Alice knew then that he finally really was hers and that her biggest dream had just come true.

Chapter Sixteen

Alice couldn’t stop grinning as she waited just outside one of the roped-off rings at the Sweetbriar Stud show. It was the last show of the summer holidays and the paddocks were filled with milling crowds and dogs barking in the bright September sunshine. Rosie had persuaded them to forget about serious jumping or showing competitions for once. After the week they’d had, she’d suggested that they ought to just have some fun instead. The others had totally agreed. Alice sighed happily. The RSPCA Inspector had arrived at the yard that morning first thing and her parents had joined them there. They’d gone through all the documents and paperwork, just
like the Inspector had promised they would. Alice felt the happiness bubble up inside her. Scout was finally, officially on loan to her – for ever –
and
the Pony Detectives had successfully solved their second mystery.

She heard a high-pitched cough and looked up. Tallulah Starr, looking as smart as ever on her patient grey pony, Diamond Starr, stood in front of her.

“So, you’ve decided not to enter for the Cup, I see,” Tallulah scoffed, looking at the ring for fun classes that Alice was waiting by. “I am, of course, but I’m not surprised that you’re in
this
class. More on your pony’s level, I guess. I mean, he hasn’t got the
scope
that I’d be looking for in a top-class jumper – I’d get rid of him if I were you.”

Alice smiled to herself. After all, her love for Scout had nothing to do with how high or how wide he could jump. But Alice didn’t bother to try explaining that to Tallulah; somehow Alice knew that she’d never understand.

At that moment, Poppy rode past on Moonlight. She’d called Alice the evening before to find out the latest, and had rushed up to give her a hug as soon as she’d seen her at the show that morning. Hearing Tallulah going on about entering the Cup, Poppy winked at Alice, then headed on towards the warm-up area. But Tallulah caught sight of her rival and, midsentence, kicked Diamond Starr on, leaving Alice hanging as she trotted nearer to Poppy.

Alice shook her head and turned her attention back to the ring. A portly judge waved and called over to her and the group of ponies and horses waiting in a group nearby.

“Can we have all entries for the ‘Pony With the Shiniest Coat’ please!”

“We are going to have so much fun, I promise!” Rosie beamed, getting excited as they headed in. “And anyway, it’s about time we entered something that me and Dancer actually have a chance of winning!”

“Okay, come on then, let’s go for it!” Charlie laughed. Pirate jigged along behind Dancer. The mare’s strawberry roan coat gleamed in the sun, after Rosie had spent ages polishing it that morning. Alice rode in behind them with Mia, and stood Scout squarely for a moment. The judge stepped along the line. She admired the variety of ponies in front of her then asked everyone to walk around the ring while she contemplated her decision.

Rosie was called in at the front of the line by the judge, winning her first red rosette of the summer. Over the moon, Rosie took off on the slowest ever lap of honour waving one hand wildly, and whooping as Charlie and Mia cheered her on. Alice laughed, patting her pony’s sturdy, solid neck. She felt as delighted as Rosie as she stood in the ring with her three best friends, feeling like the luckiest girl in the universe. Alice leaned down and kissed Scout’s neck, hugging him tightly. She knew now that there could be no
more secrets about his past. And while she might not know yet what her grey pony’s future would hold, one thing was certain – it would always be with her.