horse trailer. Maybe the tracks didn’t have anything to do with the horsenapping at all. That doesn’t mean Carole wasn’t right in the first place that the horses are in the quarry. I think we still ought to look there, don’t you?”
“Yes, of course,” Stevie said enthusiastically. “And maybe the tracks stopping were actually intended to confuse us!”
Carole didn’t think that was likely and she told Stevie so.
“You have no idea of all the clever things criminals do to confound great detectives,” Stevie said.
Carole thought Stevie was probably right about that,but she had the funniest feeling Stevie didn’t have much of an idea about great detectives, either. She kept the thought to herself.
The girls got back on their horses and Stevie led the way along the now narrow trail to the rock quarry.
About a hundred yards from the quarry, The Saddle Club dismounted, hitched their horses to a tree, and proceeded to the quarry by crouching and creeping as silently as they could manage. They didn’t want to alert the horsenappers to their approach.
“How far?” Lisa whispered.
“Shhhh!” Carole hissed.
“Oomph!” Stevie grunted, tripping over a root.
“Shhhhhhhh!” Carole and Lisa said together.
“It hurts!” Stevie declared loudly, rubbing her knee.
“It’ll hurt more if we get discovered,” Lisa warned her.
“There’s nobody there,” Stevie said.
“How do you know?” Carole asked.
“Because we’ve been making enough noise to alert even the densest horsenapper to our presence.”
Carole and Lisa stood up and walked into the quarry. Stevie was absolutely right. There was no sign of life there, especially no sign of horsenappers.
“Not even a bale of hay,” Carole said in dismay.
“It was still a good guess,” Lisa said, trying to console Carole.
“No, it wasn’t,” Stevie said matter-of-factly. “It was a nice try, but it wasn’t a good guess because it was wrong.”
“You’re just cranky because your knee hurts,” Lisa said.
“No, I’m just cranky because this didn’t work,” Stevie said. Then she relented a little. “I’m sorry, Carole. It
was
a good guess.”
“Not good enough,” Carole said, and they all knew that was true.
Disappointed, they remounted their horses and headed back the way they’d come.
“I’ve got an idea,” Lisa said. “When we finish grooming our horses, I think we should go over to TD’s”—the local ice cream parlor—“and have a Saddle Club meeting. That’s where we usually have them and it’s where we do some of our best horse-talking. Maybe a hot-fudge sundae will inspire our brain cells to figure out exactly what the horsenappers have done with the horses.”
“Maybe it will inspire our brain cells to figure out exactly how we’re going to tell a whole bunch of grown-ups exactly how long we’ve known about the horsenapping and haven’t told anybody,” Stevie said.
“How do you think hot fudge will do on the answer to the ‘Exactly-how-long-have-you-known-Veronica-was-kidnapped?’ question?” Carole asked.
“Yeah, that one could be problematical,” Lisa agreed.
“Especially if something happens to her,” Stevie said.
“That’s an awful thought,” Carole agreed. “Even for Veronica. I mean, we’ve all been tempted to do something awful to her from time to time, but then we always knew—”
“Shhhh!” Stevie said, suddenly drawing Topside to a halt. Pepper and Starlight stopped on Stevie’s signal, too.
“What is it?” Lisa asked.
Stevie shook her head. She didn’t know. “I heard something,” she said. “It sounded like a horse.”
The girls stood silently. Carole watched Starlight’s ears, knowing that his good hearing would be even more alert to the sounds of another horse than hers would be.
“Who’s there?” a voice called out from around the bend of the trail, where it crossed the creek.
“Who’s
there
?” Stevie countered cleverly.
“It’s me!” the voice
“Yes, of course,” Stevie said enthusiastically. “And maybe the tracks stopping were actually intended to confuse us!”
Carole didn’t think that was likely and she told Stevie so.
“You have no idea of all the clever things criminals do to confound great detectives,” Stevie said.
Carole thought Stevie was probably right about that,but she had the funniest feeling Stevie didn’t have much of an idea about great detectives, either. She kept the thought to herself.
The girls got back on their horses and Stevie led the way along the now narrow trail to the rock quarry.
About a hundred yards from the quarry, The Saddle Club dismounted, hitched their horses to a tree, and proceeded to the quarry by crouching and creeping as silently as they could manage. They didn’t want to alert the horsenappers to their approach.
“How far?” Lisa whispered.
“Shhhh!” Carole hissed.
“Oomph!” Stevie grunted, tripping over a root.
“Shhhhhhhh!” Carole and Lisa said together.
“It hurts!” Stevie declared loudly, rubbing her knee.
“It’ll hurt more if we get discovered,” Lisa warned her.
“There’s nobody there,” Stevie said.
“How do you know?” Carole asked.
“Because we’ve been making enough noise to alert even the densest horsenapper to our presence.”
Carole and Lisa stood up and walked into the quarry. Stevie was absolutely right. There was no sign of life there, especially no sign of horsenappers.
“Not even a bale of hay,” Carole said in dismay.
“It was still a good guess,” Lisa said, trying to console Carole.
“No, it wasn’t,” Stevie said matter-of-factly. “It was a nice try, but it wasn’t a good guess because it was wrong.”
“You’re just cranky because your knee hurts,” Lisa said.
“No, I’m just cranky because this didn’t work,” Stevie said. Then she relented a little. “I’m sorry, Carole. It
was
a good guess.”
“Not good enough,” Carole said, and they all knew that was true.
Disappointed, they remounted their horses and headed back the way they’d come.
“I’ve got an idea,” Lisa said. “When we finish grooming our horses, I think we should go over to TD’s”—the local ice cream parlor—“and have a Saddle Club meeting. That’s where we usually have them and it’s where we do some of our best horse-talking. Maybe a hot-fudge sundae will inspire our brain cells to figure out exactly what the horsenappers have done with the horses.”
“Maybe it will inspire our brain cells to figure out exactly how we’re going to tell a whole bunch of grown-ups exactly how long we’ve known about the horsenapping and haven’t told anybody,” Stevie said.
“How do you think hot fudge will do on the answer to the ‘Exactly-how-long-have-you-known-Veronica-was-kidnapped?’ question?” Carole asked.
“Yeah, that one could be problematical,” Lisa agreed.
“Especially if something happens to her,” Stevie said.
“That’s an awful thought,” Carole agreed. “Even for Veronica. I mean, we’ve all been tempted to do something awful to her from time to time, but then we always knew—”
“Shhhh!” Stevie said, suddenly drawing Topside to a halt. Pepper and Starlight stopped on Stevie’s signal, too.
“What is it?” Lisa asked.
Stevie shook her head. She didn’t know. “I heard something,” she said. “It sounded like a horse.”
The girls stood silently. Carole watched Starlight’s ears, knowing that his good hearing would be even more alert to the sounds of another horse than hers would be.
“Who’s there?” a voice called out from around the bend of the trail, where it crossed the creek.
“Who’s
there
?” Stevie countered cleverly.
“It’s me!” the voice
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