Kidnapped Colt (8 page)

“You guys go ahead and unpack,” Sam called after Mikki and Gina. “We'll be right in.” As the door closed, she asked, “What were you poking me for?”

“I have Ryan's cell phone number.”

“You do? Why didn't you say so inside where there's a phone?”

“Because, if I know anything about Ryan, he won't answer his phone if he sees it's you calling.”

“So you call and leave a message and ask him—”

“Nope, I'd be too understanding. I know,” Jen said, holding up both hands to fend off Sam's glare. “I shouldn't be, but you'll make him feel guiltier.”

“He
should
feel guilty!”

“Right, and once he does, he'll also start worrying about the horses. If you call him tomorrow or the next day, I bet he'll answer.”

“By then, those horses could be anywhere,” Sam said. “I'm not convinced this will work, Jen.”

“Neither am I,” Jen said. “On the other hand, what else have we got?”

“Good point,” Sam said, and together, they walked into the bunkhouse.

 

Mikki and Gina were already piling toothpaste, hair gel, a clutter of hair ties, and other things in cubbies, making themselves at home.

Sam's spirits lifted at the sight. When her thoughts veered back to Hotspot and Shy Boots, she reminded herself that horses had survived in the wild for a million generations, and they wouldn't freeze in July.

The girls were jostling for space at the single sink, ready to brush their teeth, when Mikki asked, “So, hey, did you do it?”

“Do what?” Sam asked.

“Steal those horses.”

Protests crowded Sam's mind, dizzying her, as Mikki added, “Not that I think it was a bad idea. I mean, he's a jerk. And if he planned to kill a foal, he doesn't deserve to have it. I think it's kind of cool, actually, but it really doesn't seem like you.”

By the time Mikki took a breath, Sam's amazement had turned to anger.

“That's because it
isn't
like me. Yeah, I helped Ryan hide the horses, but I don't know where they are now.”

Mikki and Gina looked at each other with surprise.

“Really?” Gina asked

“Of course,
really
!” Sam shouted. Her hand trembled so much, she had to tighten her grip on
her toothbrush to keep from dropping it.

“You don't have to sound all mad!” Gina said.

Sam squeezed a huge glob of toothpaste on her brush and attacked her teeth.

Staring in the mirror, Sam blinked at Jen's acid-green nightshirt and loosened hair.

“Why shouldn't she sound mad? Sam doesn't steal,” Jen snapped. Then Jen touched Sam's arm. “Hey, keep that up and you can say
adios
to your tooth enamel.”

Sam coughed, choking on laughter and toothpaste. Jen was such a good friend.

“Look,” Sam said, once she'd recaptured her breath and rinsed her toothbrush, “I want to know where those horses are as much as—
more
than—Linc Slocum does!”

“If that's really true—” Gina began.

“It is!” Sam and Jen insisted, loudly and together.

“—I may be able to help you out.” Gina rubbed her palms together, and Mikki rolled her eyes.

“Oh, right,” Mikki said. “The world-famous seventh-grade livestock psychic from Commerce City, California, knows all and tells all!”

“I‘m not exactly a psychic,” Gina admitted. “But haven't you ever heard the expression ‘it takes a thief to catch a thief'?”

“W
e're late,” Jen moaned the next morning. “My first meeting on my first week working for HARP and I'm late.”

It didn't feel late, Sam thought. The ranch yard lay gray and quiet. The rooster hadn't crowed yet.

Besides, it had taken Sam a long time to fall asleep. Last night she'd thought for hours, trying to figure out who had a motive to steal the Appaloosas.

Ryan's motive would be hiding the horses from his father. But they'd already been hidden.

Linc's motive could be getting rid of Shy Boots. But where was Hotspot? And Linc could already do what he liked with the horses, because they belonged to him. Why would he go to the trouble of moving
them from the box canyon corral and away from Gold Dust Ranch?

Sam supposed her soft heart counted as a motivating factor, but she knew she hadn't stolen the horses.

Besides, she'd thought, as she'd turned her pillow over and pounded it for the last time last night, all three of them had alibis. It had to be someone else.

Now, Sam yawned as she eased the bunkhouse door closed, trying not to wake Mikki and Gina.

“Have you got the flyer?” Jen asked.

“Yeah,” she whispered loudly, then took long strides to catch up with her friend.

Holding the flyer carefully so it wouldn't wrinkle, Sam wondered where Hotspot and her colt had spent the night, then told her brain to focus.

Last night, she and the other girls had combined Gina's suggestions with Sheriff Ballard's and designed a brochure to alert people to the danger of horse thieves, and seek information about Hotspot and Shy Boots. Right this minute, she couldn't do anything but see if Brynna thought it would help.

Falling into step with Jen, Sam glanced at her watch.

“We're not very late,” she said. “It's only 5:33. I'll be surprised if Brynna's in the kitchen yet.”

“But look.” Jen pointed at the hitching rail.

Witch, Jake's black Quarter Horse mare, stood tethered there.

That's it
, Sam thought. She had to get Jake up to the box canyon. He'd be able to read all the signs the horse thief had left behind.

Witch flattened her ears as Sam and Jen approached.

“How is it,” Jen said through a yawn, “that Jake can gentle every horse he touches, except his own?”

“She never gives him a bit of trouble,” Sam said. From habit, she stomped the dirt off her boots on the porch before going inside.

Sam smelled sausage frying and heard dough slam against Gram's breadboard as she and Jen came into the kitchen. After the counselors' early-morning meeting with Brynna, they'd rouse the girls and all have a big breakfast together.

Jake sat with both forearms on the kitchen table, hands overlapped where they met. He stared down into a cup of hot chocolate as if reading a crystal ball. His well-worn green-and-black plaid flannel shirt was open over a white T-shirt. As usual, his clothes smelled as if they'd just come out of the dryer, and his black hair, tied at his nape with a leather string, was still damp from the shower.

Sam tugged at the hem of her rumpled sweatshirt, and pushed her hair behind her ears.

“Were you just born to get up early?” she asked him.

Jake sat up straight. He lifted his cup for a drink, then looked at Sam across the brim.

Was he formulating a great answer? Sam wondered.

“Don't mind it,” he said.

“Good morning,” Gram greeted the girls, handing them each a mug of hot chocolate. “I'm sure Brynna will be down in a minute.” Gram pointed up. Sam looked. She saw only ceiling, but she heard Brynna's feet scurrying overhead.

Slumped into chairs around the kitchen table, the three counselors waited in silence. Jake never had much to say. Jen turned half away and her fingers flew as she rebuttoned the fuchsia shirt she'd donned in the cabin's darkness. Sam wondered what Brynna would think of Gina's useful, if illegal, expertise.

“Sorry to be late,” Brynna said as she strode into the room. Dressed in a khaki uniform with her hair tucked into a neat French braid, Brynna looked ready for the day, but her freckles stood out like sand on her pale cheeks.

“I may be getting a touch of the flu,” she said, shaking her head “no” as Gram offered her coffee. “Which makes it even more important that this meeting is productive.”

“Got it,” Jen said.

As Brynna opened the folder she carried, Jen shifted around to pull a small notebook from her jeans pocket. Then she flipped the notebook open and Sam saw a carefully lettered list.

Another reason she earns straight As and I get mostly
Bs
, Sam thought. Jen was so organized.

“I know we've discussed the schedule, but let's cover it one more time,” Brynna said. “Jake, each morning you'll work one-on-one with Mikki and Dark Sunshine in the barn corral.” Brynna glanced up to see Jake nod, then turned to Sam and Jen.

“At the same time, you two will have Gina working with Popcorn, starting with grooming, working through haltering, saddling, bridling, and finally riding. One instructs, the other models the task with another horse, okay?”

“Just what we planned,” Jen said before Sam could answer.

“After lunch, Jake will instruct Mikki on riding Popcorn, while Jen demonstrates on Penny—” Brynna broke off to shake her index finger at Jen. “You be nice to my horse, understand? And stay alert. She may be blind, but she knows the second your attention wanders.”

“I'm excited to be riding her,” Jen said. “And I'm flattered that you're trusting me with her.”

“At the same time, Sam, you and Gina will be working with Tempest, right?” Brynna made a quick swipe at the perspiration on her forehead.

Though the kitchen was warm, it wasn't hot. Brynna must really be sick.

“Any questions about the schedule?” Brynna looked up as they all shook their heads. Then she met Sam's eyes and gave her hand a squeeze. “I'm fine,”
she said. “Nothing for you to frown over.

“I'll be at Willow Springs every day, so if something's not working out, tell me and we'll switch the schedule around. Jake, that goes double for you.”

Jake's brown eyes widened a little.

“You and Wyatt are so alike,” she said in a joking tone. “You think you have to tough things out. That may be true on the range, but not here. You're not doing anyone a favor by keeping problems to yourself.”

Sam felt a surge of appreciation for Brynna. Her stepmother had Jake sized up, all right.

Brynna held Jake's gaze until he said, “Okay.”

Brynna turned to a green sheet in her folder. “About the girls…I can tell you that Gina—”

“—is proud of being a burglar?” Sam interrupted.

“It seems that way, doesn't it?” Brynna said. “Actually, she only started acting up when her mother remarried. Apparently when the stepfather moved into their house, Gina's grades dipped. She quit the softball team and stopped e-mailing her cousin in Colorado, the one who owns horses. Gina had pretty much cut herself off from her friends and all the things she liked and allowed her class performance to nosedive by the time her mom noticed.”

Sam crossed her arms. “How did she go from that to robbing people?”

“Do I detect a lack of sympathy for Gina?” Brynna asked.

“Yes. I mean, no, but you and Dad got married and I didn't fall apart.”

Brynna drew in a breath. She stared at her fingertips, slowly matching them together.

What a stupid thing to say
, Sam thought,
especially in front of Jen and Jake, when Brynna's feeling sick.
But it was the truth.

Instead of snapping at her for acting superior, Brynna rested her palms on the kitchen table and gave Sam a smile.

“We have done pretty well, haven't we? But you can't see through the walls of other people's houses, Sam. Whatever went on in Gina's home, she couldn't cope with it like you could.”

She didn't have you, Dad, and Gram to help her
, Sam thought. But that was too sappy to admit.

“Okay,” Sam said, and Brynna turned back to her notes.

“Gina started her baseball burglaries—”

“Which she's described to us in great detail,” Jen interrupted. “And Jake, don't feel left out. She'll entertain you with her adventures about five minutes after she meets you.”

Jake lifted one shoulder in a shrug as Brynna rushed on.

“—after her parents had a baby. The psychologist's evaluation says since Gina felt uncomfortable in her own home, she gave in to a compulsion to make other people feel the same way.

“So what kind of problems can we expect from her?” Brynna asked. She closed the folder and ticked them off on her fingers. “Lots of bids for attention—good attention, bad attention, attempts that will be both annoying and endearing.”

Sam wondered which category last night's offer fell into. Gina wanted to catch the thief who'd stolen Hotspot and Shy Boots. That was good. But her help had been inspired by her burglary skills. Was that an improvement, or just showing off? Sam would have asked Brynna, but her stepmother glanced at the kitchen clock, obviously in a rush to finish.

“How do we deal with these bids for attention? Try to give her credit for the good stuff and attempt to ignore the rest.”

Brynna had turned to the next page of her notes when Jen said, “Show her.”

“Show me what?” Brynna asked, facing Sam.

“You know how Sheriff Ballard was talking about making a flyer to let people know about the missing horses?”

“You couldn't have made one. Not already.”

Pride zinged through Sam as Brynna took the sheet of paper that Sam scooted across the table.

“We all worked on it,” Jen said.

But Brynna was already lost in reading it.

“I can't believe you got two new girls to collaborate with you on this the first night!”

Brynna rearranged her chair so that Jake could look at the flyer, too.

“It's just hand lettered,” Jen said.

“Someone will have to type it, and print it out,” Sam added.

Shaking her head at their modesty, Brynna looked up at Sam and Jen with shining eyes.

“If I could, I'd give you a raise,” Brynna said, but Sam smiled when Brynna couldn't stop reading the flyer. Such concentration was as good as money.

Gina's input included a section they'd entitled “Preventing the Theft of Your Horse!” In it, they listed prevention techniques as simple as sturdy fences, watchdogs, light and alarm systems, and more complicated things like motion detectors.

Together, they'd written a section called “Once Your Horse Is Gone!” There, they listed the sheriff's suggestions about contacting law enforcement agencies, breed associations, feed stores, vets, rodeos, and farriers. One thing they'd all agreed on had been a large-print, underlined warning that horses could be sold at auction and processed into meat within twenty-four hours.

“Grace, come look at this,” Brynna said to Gram, then glanced up at Jen and Sam. “I am amazed. Where did you get this last part, about keeping all of the important papers pertaining to your horse?”

“Bill of sale, breed registration, brand or tattoo
records, updated photographs…” Gram read over Brynna's shoulder.

“That was Jen's idea,” Sam said.

“It's just common sense,” Jen said, blushing. “I know Dad has it for the Kenworthy palominos.”

“And Sam, I can tell you did the illustrations,” Brynna said, giving her an enthusiastic thumbs-up, for a horse she'd sketched to break up all the words. “What did you girls have in mind for the front?”

“We left it blank because we were hoping to get pictures of Hotspot and Shy Boots,” Sam said. “And tell about their disappearance.”

“I'll take care of that,” Brynna said. She slipped the flyer into her folder. “Leave it to me, and as soon as I get that information, I'll make copies and get busy finding those horses.

“Pretty astonishing, isn't it, Jake?” Brynna said. “It's only Monday and they've already made those girls part of something special.”

“Yep,” Jake said with a nod.

Jake had been so still, Sam hadn't realized he was admiring their work, too.

Sam's spirits soared. Yesterday's rough start made today's praise even more welcome.

“Now, where was I?” Brynna said, lifting a sheet from her folder. “Right. Mikki.

“There's been no more shoplifting or running away. She's made up old class work and is passing this semester with a B average. She's made lots of
progress and HARP can take most of the credit, since parental support is kind of…” Brynna wavered one hand back and forth.

“Inconsistent?” Jen suggested.

“Yes,” Brynna said. “But Mikki will do fine. She loves Popcorn. He helped set her back on the right path. The only trouble I anticipate is a little jealousy over you, Sam.”

Sam sat back in surprise. “Jealousy over me?”

“Jake was here before, but Jen wasn't and neither was Gina. As much as you and Mikki butted heads, she had you to herself.”

“I don't know,” Sam said dubiously. “We didn't like each other
before
she set the barn on fire with her stupid smoking,” Sam said. “And that didn't make me like her more.”

“But you like her now,” Jen said, tipping her cup up to drain the last of her hot chocolate. “What changed?”

“I don't know,” Sam said.

“Think it over,” Brynna encouraged. “It might help with the other girls. Maybe even Gina.”

In the thoughtful silence, they heard Jake's chair squeak as he shifted restlessly.

He froze, then studied his scraped knuckles.

“Enough discussion,” Brynna said, snapping her folder closed. “You're off to a good start. Jen and Sam, why don't you make sure Gina and Mikki are up, and herd them on down for breakfast?”