The A Circuit 04- Rein It In (20 page)

Zara sighed, mentally checking another name off her list. “Never mind,” she said. “I’ll let you finish your shopping.”

She hurried off without waiting for an answer. This whole detective deal was getting frustrating. The pieces just weren’t fitting together—there was no way most of Zara’s suspects could have found out all the gossip that had turned up on the blog.

And the news about Joy was the most perplexing of all.
Like the redhead, most of the juniors Zara had talked to had no clue who Joy was. So who could have found out her secret? Who would even care about something like that?

The answer was becoming clearer all the time. Pelham Lane.

Zara stopped in the middle of the aisle outside the vendor stalls, chewing the inside of her cheek. Could someone from her own barn really be the source of HorseShowSecrets? In one way, it made sense. Who else would bother to report the news about Joy? Some thirty-year-old lady getting pregnant wasn’t exactly the type of hot gossip most juniors on the circuit would buzz about. Then there was the fact that Pelham Lane had appeared in the blog more often than any other barn—Zara’s own research had shown that. She hadn’t thought much about it at first, figuring it was just because it was one of the most successful barns out there. But now? She had to wonder.

Still, when she got right down to it, Zara couldn’t figure out who it could be. Marissa was the most obvious suspect—everyone knew she was a huge gossip. But she also couldn’t keep a secret to save her life. There was no way she could have been doing the blog all this time without someone finding out.

Fitz? Sure, he was the type who found it amusing to stir up trouble. But the boy was an open book, and besides, Zara was pretty sure he wouldn’t keep stringing Kate along on this job rumor if he actually knew anything.

“Kate,” Zara whispered as a new thought occurred to her.

Could
Kate
possibly be the blogger? Zara wandered along the curved and echoey aisleway, barely noticing the booths she was passing as she pondered her newest theory. Kate was
always at the barn, always at the shows, always skulking around on the edges of things. She didn’t usually have much to say, and Zara wasn’t ever quite sure what the girl was thinking. Maybe she’d found out that Joy was leaving and started that rumor about taking over her job in the hopes of planting the idea in Jamie’s mind. Stranger things had happened, right?

Zara sighed, shaking her head. On paper, it almost made sense. But when she thought about how uncomfortable Kate looked every time the topic of that job came up, she found it a lot harder to believe. Kate might be quiet and weirdly private, but she wasn’t a sneak. Not like that. Besides, how would she find out about the hookups and other scandals at the different barns when she spent all her spare time working? Come to think of it, Zara wasn’t sure Kate even had Internet access on her phone—so how could she post updates from the shows?

“Crap,” Zara muttered, realizing she was running out of suspects. Who else was there? Tommi, Dani, Summer? Maybe some of the tweens that did the children’s, or the younger juniors?

Zara stopped in front of a booth of custom oil paintings, staring at a big portrait of a foxhound without really seeing it. Tommi was easy to eliminate. No way would she put more gossip about herself out there. She got enough of that as it was, coming from the family she did. She and Zara had bonded over that more than once.

What about Dani and Summer, though? They both liked to gossip almost as much as Marissa did. The trouble was, Dani hadn’t been at Cap Challenge, while the blogger had posted several tidbits from there. Come to think of it, she hadn’t been to any shows for a while before that, either, thanks to that
broken leg, and there had been plenty of updates about stuff that had happened at those shows.

As for Summer? Zara was skeptical. The girl was so self-absorbed that Zara couldn’t imagine her bothering to post about anyone else. Especially people like Kate and Joy.

“Can I help you, dear?” The woman sitting in the booth stood and wandered toward Zara with a polite smile on her face. “That’s a lovely piece, isn’t it?”

Zara blinked, realizing she was still staring at the painting of the hound. “Uh, yeah,” she said. “It’s great. I’ve got to go.”

She hurried on down the aisle, tempted to just give up on this whole stupid quest. After all, the rumor about Zac had blown over already; the tabloids had moved on to the scandal du jour. No harm done. Why not forget about it and enjoy the rest of the show?

Zara wandered toward the nearest entrance to the ring, where the Small Pony Hunters had started up a little while ago. She stood in the doorway staring at the tiny gray Welsh type zipping around the course.

“Hey,” a voice broke into her thoughts. “We were looking for you.”

It was Dani. “You found me,” Zara said. “Where’s everyone else? What have you guys been doing?” Most of Saturday’s schedule didn’t have much going on for the older juniors; just ponies and miscellaneous award ceremonies and stuff. Basically, they were all marking time until the main event tomorrow.

“Mostly studying.” Dani shrugged. “But Mackenzie’s up soon—we should try to catch her rounds.”

Zara had only a vague idea of who Mackenzie was—Pelham Lane’s pony kids all kind of looked alike to her. But she nodded and followed Dani into the arena.

Zara’s barnmates had taken over a whole section of seats about halfway up. Summer was typing away on her laptop, while Marissa’s schoolbooks were spread all over the seats in front of her.

“Ugh, homework.” Zara glanced at Marissa’s math book with a shudder. “Don’t remind me.”

She’d barely opened her books since arriving in Harrisburg, mostly because she’d been too busy with her investigation. Not that she needed much of an excuse to skip Spanish or algebra—or any other class, for that matter. Still. This stupid blog wasn’t worth blowing her GPA, was it?

She flopped down beside Summer, leaning her chin on her hands and staring out at the ring. Nobody else seemed that interested in finding out who was writing the blog. At least not interested enough to do anything about it. So why did she care?

She had no clue. It wasn’t like her to stick with something like this when it stopped being fun. Why bother? But this time, for some reason, she just wasn’t sure she wanted to let it slide.

“More coffee, anyone?” The waitress paused beside the booth where Tommi was sitting with Marissa, Dani, Zara, and Fitz. The five of them had spent the past half hour chowing down on Mexican food and talking about tomorrow’s eq finals.

“Not for me.” Marissa put a hand over her cup. “I’ll never fall asleep tonight if I have any more caffeine.”

Tommi pushed her cup toward the waitress. “I’ll take a refill, thanks.”

“Getting jazzed up for your late-night schooling session?” Dani grinned at her across the table. “I get it. You don’t want to look sleepy for Mr. Hot Stuff from California.”

Tommi rolled her eyes, reaching for the sugar. “More like I don’t want to
be
too sleepy to handle Fable.”

“Uh-huh.” Marissa smirked, trading an amused glance with Dani. “You’re amazing, Tommi. I wish
I
had cute guys falling all over me everywhere I go.”

Tommi ignored her, sipping the hot coffee. She was definitely planning to get some serious work done with Fable tonight. And if Scott happened to be there, too? Well, that was just a happy accident. Her only regret was mentioning it to Zara and the others, who hadn’t let up on her all through dinner.

“By the way, I meant to ask earlier—where are Summer and Kate tonight?” she asked, hoping for a change of subject. “I tried to call Kate’s room before I left to meet you guys, but there was no answer.”

“Summer’s having dinner with some relative who lives near here tonight,” Marissa said.

“And I left Kate a note in our room.” Dani glanced up from her food. “She didn’t come back while I was getting changed. I figured she stayed behind at the show.”

“She did.” Fitz scooped up the last bite of his enchilada. “She wanted to stick around and help with feeding and stuff so Miguel can focus on getting the trailer gassed up and ready to head back tomorrow night.”

“Really?” Tommi felt a pang of concern. For a while over
the summer, Kate had pretty much stopped eating. It had never quite turned into a real eating disorder as far as Tommi could tell, but she still kept an eye on her friend’s food intake, especially during stressful times. “What’s she going to do about dinner?”

“Already had it,” Fitz said. “I picked up some nice greasy show food and ate with her while we watched the schooling rounds finish up.”

“You mean this is your second dinner?” Zara stared at Fitz’s plate, which was empty except for a few stray blobs of rice and salsa. “Gross.”

Fitz just grinned at her. “Anyway, it sounds like Jamie wants us on the road as soon as possible after finals is done tomorrow night.” He made a face. “For some reason he seems to think we all want to be super well rested for school on Monday.”

“Ugh, I can’t even think that far ahead.” Tommi waved the idea away with one hand. “First I need to survive tomorrow.”

“You’ll be awesome.” Zara raised her water glass in salute. “We’ll totally be cheering you on. Right, guys?”

“Woo-hoo!” Dani whooped, pumping her fist. “Goooo Tommi!”

“Hey, what about me?” Fitz pretended to pout. “I’ll be out there too, you know.”

Marissa laughed. “Goooo Fitz!” she cheered.

“That’s better.” Fitz smiled, then leaned closer to Tommi, taking on a mock serious air. “So Tommi, tell us about this young man you’re seeing tonight. What are his intentions?”

Tommi drained the rest of her coffee and slid out of the booth. “I think that’s my cue to leave,” she said, ignoring Marissa’s giggles. “Someone cover me for dinner and I’ll pay
you back, okay? I want to get back over there and get ready to ride.”

There were at least half a dozen other riders in the ring when Tommi rode in a few minutes before eleven, but her eyes went straight to the jet-black horse trotting along the opposite rail. Or, to be more accurate, that horse’s rider.

Scott. Her gaze lingered on him for a moment, admiring the way he sat in the saddle like he belonged there. The coffee hadn’t really kicked in yet and the heavy Mexican food had made her a little sleepy, but now she felt buzzed just watching him ride.

Then the black horse circled toward Tommi and she turned away, not wanting Scott to catch her staring. She let her gaze wander, taking in the rest of the place. She recognized most of the other horse-and-rider pairs as well—her competition for tomorrow. The stands were mostly empty, though a few die-hard juniors were still up there studying and one or two trainers were watching their students ride.

Tommi walked Fable along the rail, and a moment later heard hoofbeats. Scott pulled up beside her.

“Hey, you made it,” he said. “I just got here too.”

Tommi nodded, shortening her reins. As glad as she was to see Scott, she had to remember she wasn’t here to flirt. She had work to do, and no guy—no matter how cute—was going to distract her.

“Fable’s feeling good,” she said with a smile. “I’d better get him moving.”

“Cool. Ace is ready to go, too.” Scott grimaced as his horse
jumped to the side, almost crashing into Fable as another horse cantered past nearby. “Maybe a little too ready.”

He pushed the black horse forward, trotting off before Tommi could respond. She watched for a moment, then nudged Fable into a trot as well.

For the next few minutes she almost forgot Scott was there as she and Fable did their thing. Almost.

After Fable cleared the big oxer at the end of their latest practice line, she brought him back to a walk and patted him. “Good boy,” she murmured, feeling pleased with their progress. Considering she’d only ridden the horse a few times before this weekend, Tommi was feeling good about their chances tomorrow.

Once again, she found Scott riding up beside her. “Taking a walk break?” he asked. “Me too.”

Tommi glanced over at his horse, Ace. “Your guy’s a little spooky, huh? Has he been to Indoors before?”

“Nope.” Scott grimaced. “It shows, huh? He did jumpers when he was younger, but he wasn’t quite fast enough to bring it home in the jump-offs. For some reason my trainer thought he’d make a good eq horse, which is why I bought him. But I’m starting to wonder.”