Horsenapped! (12 page)

“As you can see, we have three girls here who have done almost equally exceptionally well, finishing one-two-three in all three events.”

It would have to go to …

“So, choosing one from among them is almost impossible, but it’s a task I took on when I organized this event. So, I’m pleased to announce—”

Lisa leaned over to Carole. “It’s got to be you, Carole.”

Carole
, Stevie said to herself.

“—Carole Hanson is hereby awarded the ‘Best in Show’!”

“Me?” Carole said, gasping with surprise.

“Of course,” her friends said in a single voice.

“Come on over here, Carole. Take your ribbon and enjoy a victory gallop along with Mr. Malcolm.”

A few minutes later, Carole decided that the only thing prettier than three ribbons hanging off of Starlight’s bridle was four ribbons flapping gaily as she galloped around the ring.

T
HREE MORE POLICE
cars had arrived by the time the members of The Saddle Club were ready to untack their horses for the final time that day.

Mrs. Reg told the girls that the police wanted to see them.

“I bet they do,” Lisa said darkly. “They want to slap cuffs on us and put us in the pokey right next to the horsenappers.”

“Or
instead
of the horsenappers!” Stevie suggested.

“No way,” Carole said. “This is the day we all get blue ribbons in everything, including crime prevention. We can go see them as soon as we’re finished up, but first, our horses deserve a good grooming and feeding. We owe them some thanks, you know.”

Lisa and Stevie agreed. However, they didn’t think
that necessarily meant they had to take a long time at the grooming. Within fifteen minutes, the three girls met up with the policeman who was waiting for them in the tack room.

Mrs. Reg introduced him as Officer Kent. He was a big man who looked very severe and frightening in his uniform. Even Carole, who was quite accustomed to uniforms, found herself a little intimidated. All thoughts about blue ribbons in everything fled from her mind as she listened to the man’s serious voice. “We found two men trapped in a van stuck between two trees,” he began. “That’s just about what one of you described on the phone. We’ve talked to a young man here, named Donald, and he told us a story pretty much like the one we heard that another one of you told Mr. Regnery about horsenapping and ransom.”

He paused. “Now, we’ve spoken with the owners of Saturday’s Child and Bodoni. It seems they got ransom notes and decided not to tell us about it because they were afraid for their horses. We’ve also reached a Miss Veronica diAngelo, a friend of yours?”

“Not exactly—” Stevie began.

Carole didn’t think there was any need to tell the officer what a pain Veronica was. She gave Stevie a nudge and said “Yes.”

Officer Kent observed the nudge. It seemed significant to him. “Well, she won’t tell us a thing. She denies
knowing anything about it. I know how you girls are, though. I’m sure you’re just covering up for one another.” He paused again. Carole realized he was waiting for somebody to confirm his suspicion, but the idea was so bizarre that all he got were astonished looks from the three of them. He read those looks as the confirmation he’d wanted. “Ah, I can tell by the looks on your faces that I’ve hit home. I know you won’t reveal the whole truth, but it’s clear that you all felt sorry for Veronica when she told you that her horse was kidnapped and you decided to take matters into your own hands.”

Carole was tempted to tell him that it wasn’t
Veronica
they felt sorry for, but she kept her mouth closed.

He went on then for a while, telling them how even experienced and trained police officers could get into difficulty when they were dealing with unfamiliar situations, and young girls should never attempt …

Carole knew he was right, in a way, and she wanted to tell him what had really happened, but as she listened, it became apparent that Officer Kent was coming up with a perfect explanation for everything they’d done wrong. Why should she help him out and get herself and her friends in loads of trouble?

“Anyway,” he continued. “It’s clear to me that this has all worked out for the best and I’m not one to stir things up when the ending is fine. You three will no doubt receive a lot of attention in the next few days. Enjoy it,
but don’t let it go to your heads. I don’t ever want you solving another mystery for my department again. Understood?”

Lisa and Stevie nodded. Carole saluted. It was an automatic reaction for a Marine Corps colonel’s daughter. She couldn’t help herself. The officer saluted back.

When Officer Kent and The Saddle Club emerged from the tack room, the girls were astonished at the crowd that had gathered. First of all, all their parents were there. They practically smothered their daughters with hugs. Even Stevie’s brothers hugged her.

“I never thought of you as a hero before,” her little brother, Michael, said.

“It’s just in the genes,” her twin brother, Alex, claimed. Stevie gave him a withering look.

Alicia and Mr. Feeney were there. They both came and hugged the girls and thanked them for saving their horses.

“Oh, Carole, I’m so sorry I was mean to you,” Alicia said.

“I know,” Carole said. “You were just scared. I don’t blame you. If I’d had any sense, I’d have been scared, too.”

“Maybe,” Alicia agreed. “But in that case, I’m glad you didn’t have any sense! If you had, where would Bodoni be today?”

That was a question Carole decided she and her
friends would have to think about long and hard. She wanted to talk to them. She felt the real need for a Saddle Club meeting, but there was a mass of people, all of whom seemed to want to talk to the three girls together. There was no way they could get away, at least for a while.

Then, a silence fell on the crowd as a Mercedes-Benz drew into the drive at Pine Hollow. The doors opened and out stepped Mr. and Mrs. diAngelo, obviously just returned from their trip because they were both still wearing dressy clothes, and Veronica. She was wearing a pout.

Mr. diAngelo set the example for his wife and daughter. He went to Stevie first because she was the closest to him.

“I think we owe you all our sincerest thanks,” he said, offering his hand.

“We were glad to help Garnet,” Stevie said pointedly.

“She’s a beautiful horse,” Carole said. “We couldn’t let her be stolen.”

“Well, you saved me an awful lot of money,” Mr. diAngelo said. “I heard those men wanted ten thousand dollars to give her back. I’m grateful to you. All of you,” he said then, reaching for Lisa’s hand. “And I’m sure my wife and daughter want to thank you, too.”

Mrs. diAngelo stepped forward and reached out as far as she could, as if she didn’t want to get too close to the
likes of Stevie, Lisa, and Carole. She shook each of their hands by the fingertips in turn and nodded, acknowledging the good work the girls had done.

Then it was Veronica’s turn. She came up closer than her mother had—so close that only the girls could hear her. “I didn’t want her back, you know,” she said. “That darned horse cost me a blue ribbon. I think I’m going to have Daddy sell her and see if he can buy me a good horse, maybe Topside. I bet Max would sell him to me.”

“In August,” Stevie agreed. “When it snows.” She nodded and smiled sweetly. “And you’re welcome, Veronica.”

Veronica glared at her. Then she stepped back so her glare included all three of The Saddle Club members.

“I’m exhausted with worry, Mother,” she said. “I must go home now.”

“Yes, dear,” she said. “Here, take my arm.”

“I think I’m going to throw up,” Stevie whispered to Carole.

“Not on the Mercedes!” Carole said in mock horror.

Veronica and her mother disappeared into the car, behind its darkened windows.

Mr. diAngelo seemed decidedly uncomfortable, even embarrassed, by the performance of his wife and his daughter.

“They’re just so upset,” he began.

“We understand,” Lisa said. “The whole thing has been upsetting to everyone.”

He nodded, apparently relieved that he didn’t have to apologize any more. “Anyway, I wanted you girls to know that I am truly grateful. Veronica is blaming Garnet for her own failure. Surely you know that. She’s feeling bitter, but she’ll get over it. While she was thinking only of herself, you three did something quite wonderful for her and for two other people, and you will be rewarded. I am going to give you five hundred dollars, which is small thanks for what you did for us.”

Three jaws dropped at once.

“No,” Carole protested. “We didn’t—”

“Yes,” Mr. diAngelo said. He disappeared into the car then, too, and closed his door, silently, to end the discussion.

The car pulled out of the Pine Hollow driveway. The police had left by then and the reporter dashed off, saying something about word processors and deadlines. The three girls were left alone.

“Don’t just stand there,” Max said from behind them. “There’s work to do. We’ve got two horses boarding here overnight that weren’t supposed to be here, and we’re shorthanded because it seems that one of our stablehands got his hand into something that wasn’t so stable, so he’s going to be explaining a few things to the police. Do you
think you three girls could pitch in, for once, and help us around here?”

Being in the limelight was nice, but it was nice when things were back to normal, too.

“You mean we can groom Sat and Bodoni?” Carole asked.

“I don’t know who else is going to do it,” Max said. “Garnet, too. I think those three need extraspecial grooming today and I can’t think of anybody who deserves the honor more than the three of you.”

“I get Garnet!” Lisa said.

“I’ll take Bodoni,” Carole offered.

“I’m satisfied with Sat,” Stevie said. “And when we’re done with this, how about a little trip to TD’s? I think we have a few things to talk about …”

“More than a few,” Carole agreed.

O
NCE AGAIN
,
THE
trio was in their favorite booth. This time, TD’s was even better than it had been the last time they’d been there, since there seemed to be almost no possibility that one Veronica diAngelo would come in to show off a new pair of garnet earrings.

“Five hundred dollars!” Stevie said. “Think of it. Think of all the wonderful things we could do with that kind of money!”

Carole shook her head. “We can’t take that money from him,” she said. “No way. It would mean that we did what we did because of money. We didn’t. We just did that because the horses were in danger.”

“We did it because it was fun, too,” Stevie reminded her. “Actually, it was so much fun, I think we should go into the business. There probably won’t be a lot of horsenapping
around here in the near future—our reputation will keep them out of the county, you know—but we can solve other kinds of mysteries. We can, sort of, like, open up shop.”

“Your idea of fun isn’t exactly always
my
idea of fun,” Lisa said sensibly. “You heard what Officer Kent said, didn’t you? We could have been in real trouble. We could have gotten the horses hurt
and
we could have gotten ourselves hurt. Remember how we felt when we thought they’d kidnapped Veronica?”

It was a sobering thought. “Yes, I do,” Stevie said. “And I remember how disappointed I felt when we found out that they hadn’t!”

The girls giggled. It was true. Veronica was being so poisonous that they had wished, just a little bit, that somebody might have found a way to teach her a lesson.

“Oh,” Stevie said, suddenly quiet, but with a smile on her face.

“What’s the ‘oh’ for?” Carole asked.

“I’ve got it,” she said.

“What?” Lisa asked.

“I’ve just figured out exactly why we have to keep the five hundred dollars Mr. diAngelo wants to pay us.”

“I’m telling you, it’s not right,” Carole said.

“Why?” Lisa asked Stevie.

“Because it will make Veronica diAngelo absolutely, totally, completely, and outrageously furious.”

“Oh!” Lisa said.

Stevie looked at Carole. She nodded. “Yes,” she agreed. “You are absolutely, totally, completely, and outrageously right. We’ll keep the money. We’ll just have to be careful about how we’re going to spend it.”