Broken Horse (10 page)

“Well, how about tomorrow, then?” Lisa suggested, glancing at the mare, who hadn’t moved. “We could go right after school, before it gets dark.”

“Tomorrow’s the ballet, remember?” Carole said. “We could do it on Saturday, I guess. But to tell you the truth, I’m not too crazy about going near that man’s property. I certainly wouldn’t want to meet him face to face without someone official around.”

Stevie had a very thoughtful look on her face. “No, I think we definitely need to go tonight,” she said. “And I know just the official guy who can drive us.”

“Who?” Carole said suspiciously. When Stevie got that look, it usually meant things were going to happen. Sometimes they were good things, and sometimes they were bad things. With Stevie, there was no predicting.

Stevie smiled at her. “Your father, of course. If we can’t get the police to go with us, we’ll take the Marines.”

A few minutes later it was settled. Carole had called her father and then put Stevie on the phone. It had taken all of her powers of persuasion, but Stevie had finally convinced the colonel to drive them over to have a look at the farm after dinner.

“We’re not actually going to go near the house,” he warned Stevie. “We’ll just see if the lights are on, and if they are we’ll turn around immediately and find the nearest phone to call the police.”

“That’s all we want,” Stevie promised.

I
T
WASN
’
T
EASY
for Carole and Stevie to get Lisa to leave the stable early that evening. But after they had reminded her a few times of the reason, she gave in and went home for dinner.

She was already outside waiting, her arms wrapped around her body for warmth, when the Hansons’ station wagon pulled into her driveway an hour and a half later. Carole was in the front seat with her father. Stevie was in the back.

“Hi, Colonel Hanson,” Lisa said as she climbed in beside Stevie. “Thanks for driving us.”

“Hi, Lisa,” Carole’s father replied. “As I was just telling Carole and Stevie, I’m not at all sure this is a good idea.” He shook his head. “I don’t know how I let you girls talk me into these schemes.”

Stevie knew the “you girls” was directed mostly at her. She decided it was time for a change of subject before the colonel had a change of heart. “So who wants to hear the latest report on the lovelorn and lonely hearted?”

“I assume you’re referring to your poor brother,” Carole said, twisting around as far as her seat belt would allow to talk to her friends.

“Of course,” Stevie said. She grinned. “If our errand here weren’t so important, I would have hated to leave my house tonight. Dinner was fun.”

“Uh-oh,” Lisa said. “What did you do to him?”

“It wasn’t just me,” Stevie informed her. “Michael was helping. It’s not often that I get to team up with one of my brothers against another one. Usually it’s them teaming up against me.”

Carole laughed. She knew that was no exaggeration. “What about Chad? Didn’t he help, too?”

“No. I guess he feels sort of responsible for what happened,” Stevie said. “He didn’t tease Alex at all. In fact, he offered to punch David in the nose if Alex wanted him to.”

Colonel Hanson chuckled. “That’s what I call brotherly love,” he said.

“Whatever it is, it didn’t hold Michael back,” Stevie said with a grin. “It was his idea for us to sing ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ while we set the table.”

“Oh, that’s mean,” Colonel Hanson said. But then he
began humming the song under his breath. Carole knew it was one of his favorites—he loved all music from the fifties and sixties, and that definitely included all of Elvis Presley’s hits.

Lisa had turned to watch the scenery pass as they drove. Now she turned back to her friends. “Colonel Hanson is right,” she said. “You really should give Alex a break, Stevie. As annoying as he and Paige might have been, I’m sure he’s hurting right now. And he is your brother.”

“Don’t remind me,” Stevie said, rolling her eyes. “All of Fenton Hall can’t seem to forget it. Anyway, you should have been there tonight. Mom and Dad made us stop singing as soon as they realized what we were doing. But it’s amazing how many different ways it’s possible to work the word
page
into a conversation.”

She continued to describe the teasing Alex had received until they turned off the highway onto the road that ran past the farm.

“We’re almost there,” Carole told her father. “It’s up about two or three miles on the left.”

After that there was silence as the car approached the mare’s former home. Lisa gripped her armrest so tightly that her fingers were white. Now that they were close, the trip didn’t seem like such a good idea. She hated the thought of driving past the home of the man who had been so cruel to the gray mare. But she knew it was necessary. They had to help bring him to justice if they could.

Colonel Hanson slowed the car a little as they came around a curve in the road. The driveway to the farm was just ahead. Even before they reached it, they knew the owner was at home. The house was set back from the road, but every light in the place seemed to be ablaze and a battered pickup truck was parked in the driveway.

“He’s there,” Carole whispered.

Colonel Hanson nodded grimly. “All right. There was a gas station off the highway a few miles back. We’ll call the police from there.” He pulled into the driveway just far enough to turn around. As the car’s headlights swung around, Lisa caught a flash of movement in the overgrown grass beside the road.

“Wait! Stop!” she cried.

“What is it?” Colonel Hanson asked, slamming on the brakes.

“I saw something,” Lisa said. “It looked like an animal.”

“What was it?” Stevie asked, leaning over to look out Lisa’s window. “A rabbit or something?”

Lisa shook her head. “Too big.” She peered out at the grassy embankment, willing her eyes to see through the darkness. Suddenly she saw the movement again. “There!” she cried, pointing as the animal stumbled into the range of the headlight beams.

“It looks like a dog,” Carole said.

“Not a dog—a puppy,” Stevie corrected. “And I think he’s hurt.”

The puppy cringed, blinking in the light, as Stevie threw open her door.

“Stevie! Stop right there,” Colonel Hanson called in his most commanding voice.

Stevie froze with one leg halfway out of the car. “But we’ve got to help him.”

“You know better than that. If he’s hurt and frightened, he could lash out and bite you,” Colonel Hanson said.

“But we can’t just leave him here, Dad,” Carole protested. “He might have been hit by a car. He could die if we don’t help him.”

“I didn’t say we should leave him here,” Colonel Hanson told his daughter gently. “You girls wait here. And I mean it.” He unhooked his seat belt and put the car into neutral. Then he grabbed a pair of heavy work gloves out of the glove compartment and pulled them on. The puppy didn’t move as the colonel got out of the car. It just crouched there, watching him.

Colonel Hanson stood by the car for a moment, watching the puppy carefully. The puppy continued to watch him. Then it let out a little whine and tentatively wagged its tail. The colonel whistled softly, and the puppy’s tail wagged harder. It started to run to him but stumbled and fell.

“Oh, look,” Lisa breathed. “His leg is hurt.”

The puppy stood up again, managing to retain its balance this time. As soon as he was sure the animal wasn’t aggressive,
Colonel Hanson knelt beside the puppy, blocking the girls’ view.

Stevie bounced up and down impatiently. “What’s he doing?”

“He’s probably checking to see what’s wrong with him,” Carole guessed. She stared at her father’s back, trying to be patient. It wasn’t easy.

When Colonel Hanson stood up and turned around a minute later, the puppy was in his arms. He walked around to Stevie’s door, which was still slightly ajar.

“Could one of you girls help me with the back door?” he said.

Stevie jumped out and ran around to the back of the car. She swung open the door and then reached forward to help with the puppy.

“Be careful of his left hind leg,” Colonel Hanson warned. “I think it might be broken.”

Stevie nodded and crawled into the back of the car. The puppy’s fur felt cold as Colonel Hanson slid him into the back of the station wagon to Stevie, though his tongue felt warm when he licked her hand.

“He must have been outside for a long time,” Stevie said, scratching behind the puppy’s ears after they had gently set him down on a pile of old newspapers.

Colonel Hanson nodded. “He’ll be lucky if he doesn’t come down with something. It’s pretty cold out tonight.”

Carole and Lisa had turned around and were watching over the backs of their seats. “Do you think he got hit by a car?” Lisa asked.

“Possibly, but I doubt it,” Colonel Hanson said grimly. “It looks more like he was beaten, or possibly kicked.”

Lisa gasped, and her gaze involuntarily turned toward the house lighting up the other end of the driveway. “You mean you think that man owns this puppy, too?”

“We shouldn’t jump to any conclusions,” Colonel Hanson said. “But if I had to take a guess, that would be it.” He glanced at the house. “Come on, we’d better get moving before someone notices us out here and comes to investigate.”

The puppy was obviously excited about all the attention he was receiving, and he wriggled eagerly and tried to follow as Stevie started to crawl out of the car.

“No, no,” she warned, shaking a finger at him. “You have to stay still. You don’t want to make your leg any worse than it is.”

The puppy followed her finger with his head, trying to lick it. Stevie giggled.

“Coming, Stevie?” Colonel Hanson prompted.

“I think I’d better stay back here with the puppy,” Stevie said, peering out at Colonel Hanson. “I’ll keep him calm while we drive. Otherwise he’ll just wriggle around and hurt his leg even more.”

Colonel Hanson hesitated, then nodded. “All right,”
he said. “Just this once. Although I hate the thought that you won’t be wearing a seat belt. What would your parents say?”

“Don’t worry,” Stevie assured him as she climbed in. “Just think of it as being like driving a horse trailer. The horses don’t wear seat belts, do they?”

Colonel Hanson rolled his eyes, but he didn’t say another word. He closed the back door and walked around to the driver’s seat. Less than a minute later they were back on the road, heading for the highway.

“I guess we should take that poor pup over to your friends at CARL,” Colonel Hanson said, once they had left the farm behind them.

“Where else?” Carole replied. “I just hope they forgive us for breaking their rule about leaving the rescuing to the experts.”

“They’ve got to,” Lisa said. “If we’d left him there, he would have frozen to death.”

“I’m sure they won’t mind this time,” Colonel Hanson said. “But when we stop to call the police, we’d better give CARL a call, too, so they’ll know we’re coming.”

It only took a few minutes to get to the gas station. After placing both calls, they got back on the road and didn’t stop again until they reached CARL.

Nicholas was waiting for them when they pulled in. He hurried forward as Colonel Hanson and the girls got out of the car.

“I hear you brought us a patient,” he said after introducing himself to Colonel Hanson.

“That’s right,” Colonel Hanson replied, leading Nicholas to the back of the station wagon. With Stevie’s help, the two men soon had the dog out of the car and into CARL’s veterinary examining room.

“I called Doc Tock,” Nicholas said. “She should be here soon.” The girls knew that he was referring to Dr. Takamura, a small-animal specialist who lived nearby. The Saddle Club had met her many times, partly because her daughter Corey rode at Pine Hollow and partly because she had taken care of their own cats and dogs. The girls knew that Judy could have cared for the injured puppy in a pinch, but she was primarily an equine vet. They were glad the puppy would have the care of a specialist.

The vet arrived a few minutes later. She gave the puppy a quick look and then shooed everyone out of the examining room. “This doesn’t look too serious,” she said, “but I need some room to work. You can come back in and see him after his leg is set.”

Nicholas led the girls and Colonel Hanson out into the reception area. “That puppy’s in good hands now,” he commented.

Lisa nodded. “I’m glad he isn’t hurt too badly,” she said, thinking of the mare. “He’s lucky.”

While they waited, the girls filled Nicholas in on the
errand that had led them to find the puppy. “We asked the police to call us here when they caught the guy,” Carole said.

“Good,” Nicholas said. “Maybe then we can go out to that farm and make sure there aren’t any other hurt animals there.”

While they waited, The Saddle Club and Colonel Hanson went into the dog and cat rooms to visit the animals there. Seeing all the healthy, well-fed residents, Lisa felt both happy and sad. She was happy because it reminded her that groups like CARL managed to do a lot of good for a lot of animals, even if some, like Sal, didn’t make it. But it also made her sad to think that so many nice cats and dogs were still without good homes. She told her friends what she was thinking.