Heart racing, she backed away, bumping into the van behind her. For a second she stood frozen in fear, her gaze riveted on the open door.
In a flash her mind replayed the image of the face—the slack skin, misshapen head, and dangling eye—and suddenly she realized what she had seen: a mask.
“Nancy!” Bess and Ned came running from the other side of the parking lot.
Ned reached her first. “Are you all right?” He placed both hands on her shoulders, then gave her a hug.
Still shaken, Nancy could only nod. Ned looked toward the open door. “Is something in there?” His fingers tightened on her shoulders.
Bess jogged up, gasping for breath. Her eyes widened when she, too, saw the gaping doorway. “Who… what’s in there?” she stammered.
Nancy shook her head. “It’s all right. No one’s in there. At least no one human.”
Ned cocked one eyebrow at her. Nancy walked up to the trailer door, leaned in, and reached around the hay net. When her fingers touched the lifelike latex skin of the mask, she shivered.
After pulling out the mask, she held it over her face, then turned toward her friends. Bess shrieked.
“Meet our thief,” Nancy said as she lowered the mask.
“You mean the guy wore a mask?” Ned asked.
Nancy stretched it out. The skin color and texture made it look real. “Right. No wonder Roberta Flanagan said he looked deformed.”
Bess wrinkled her nose. “That thing is really creepy-looking.”
“But effective,” Nancy said. “Our thief is being careful not to be identified.”
Ned touched the bulging eye. “We’d better show this to Texel.”
“We should bring Texel here,” Nancy said. “I’m going to hang the mask back up in the trailer so he can see where it was. He and his men might find fingerprints inside the trailer, too.”
Bess pointed to the side of the trailer. “Look, there’s a dent right over the wheel. That will help us remember which one it is.”
After climbing inside the trailer, Nancy hung the mask back on the hook. Pushing aside the hay net, she peered over the divider into the back of the trailer. Was the thief planning to use this to haul away a stolen horse?
The trailer wasn’t hitched to a vehicle, but Nancy thought maybe the thief was going to back a truck up to it later, after the excitement had died down.
Nancy could only hope that they’d catch the thief before he did steal a horse.
Ned led the way back to Barn A, where they found Texel talking to a half dozen irate horse owners. One of the owners was shouting about the lack of security.
“We’re doing everything we can,” Texel explained.
The owner didn’t act reassured. “If someone almost got away with stealing a horse, it’s not enough.”
Gesturing for Nancy, Ned, and Bess to follow him, Texel moved down the aisle and away from the crowd. Nancy figured he was grateful for an excuse to get away.
“Did you find anything?” he asked, his tone urgent.
“We found a mask in one of the trailers,” Nancy told him.
“A mask, huh?” Rocking back on the heels of his boots, Texel gave Nancy, Bess, and Ned a skeptical look.
“We all saw it,” Bess said emphatically.
“And it explains why Ms. Flanagan thought the thief’s face was deformed,” Nancy added.
“All right,” Texel said. “Let’s go look at it.”
Nancy led the way through the parked vehicles with Ned, Bess, and Texel right behind her. When she rounded the Twin Meadows van, she stopped dead.
The gray horse trailer was gone.
“Hey, where’d it go?” Bess asked in surprise. “Wasn’t this where it was parked?”
Ned looked around. “Yes. Someone must have moved it.”
“All right, where’s this mask?” Texel asked. His face was red from the hike in the hot sun. Sweat rolled down his forehead.
“Uh…” Nancy glanced at Ned, but he could only shrug his shoulders. “It was in the trailer that used to be parked right here.”
“You mean you lost a trailer?” Texel scowled.
Ned, Nancy, and Bess all nodded.
“Wait a minute. Is this some kind of prank?” Texel’s voice grew low and threatening. “Some kind of early Halloween joke?”
“No, sir,” Nancy said quickly. “I know it seems strange, but somebody must have seen me find the mask. As soon as we left, he or she moved the trailer.”
