“Look, there are some marks in the gravel.” Ned pointed to what could have been a tire track. “It took us about fifteen minutes to find you and get back here. That gave somebody plenty of time to hitch up the trailer and take it somewhere else.”
Texel wiped his brow with a handkerchief. “That’s a lot of if’s.” After folding the handkerchief, he stuffed it back in his pocket. “Next time be sure you’ve got something.” With an exasperated grunt at Nancy, Bess, and Ned, Texel stomped off.
Ned threw up his hands. “That’s it. I’m not helping Texel anymore. He and his men can solve their own crimes.”
“I agree,” Bess said.
“He’s just frustrated because he’s not getting anywhere and everybody’s breathing down his neck,” Nancy said. Hands on hips, she scanned the parking lot. “So do you think the trailer’s still on the showgrounds?”
Bess and Ned groaned.
“Nancy!” Bess declared. “Give it up. Didn’t you hear Texel?”
“Yeah, yeah.” Nancy grinned at her two friends. Bess’s nose was getting sunburned, and Ned’s brow was sweaty. “Let’s get something to drink, then see what Lee Anne’s up to. I feel as if we’ve spent our whole day hunting for nonexistent criminals.”
“That’s because we have,” Ned said as they started back.
As Nancy followed her friends, she thought about the attempted theft, the mask, and the disappearing trailer. All the clues added up to one thing—the thief was someone who knew the showgrounds and could slip in and out of the barns without raising anyone’s suspicion. Someone who had to wear a mask so he wouldn’t be recognized.
But who?
Nancy let out a breath in frustration. Hundreds of men at the show fit that description—owners, grooms, riders. Texel and his guards couldn’t watch every horse every second.
When the trio reached Barn C, they found Lee Anne in the aisle grooming a horse in cross ties.
“You found a mask?” She looked as surprised as Texel after they had told her the story.
“And lost it again,” Bess said.
Lee Anne giggled. “Wearing a mask sounds like something Michael would do. Last October he scared Gilly and me half to death with a Halloween mask. He popped out of one of the stalls.”
Nancy patted the horse. The name Divine was etched on a brass nameplate on the side of his halter. “What did the mask look like?”
“Kind of like this.” Twisting her lips, Lee Anne grimaced at Nancy. “Only worse because one of the eyeballs hung out.”
Nancy’s eyebrows shot up; Ned’s jaw dropped; and Bess reacted by opening her eyes wide in surprise.
“What?” Lee Anne stopped brushing the horse. “What did I say?”
“Nothing!” Nancy blurted out. She shot Ned and Bess a don’t-say-a-word warning.
Instantly Bess plucked a curry comb from the grooming box. “Need help?” she asked.
“Sure.” Lee Anne gestured to the horse’s other side. “I need to get Divine polished and ready for this evening. Michael’s riding him in an Intermediate One test.”
Nancy was glad Bess had distracted Lee Anne. There was no way Nancy wanted her to know that she had just described the mask the thief had worn.
“Ned, didn’t you want to look at those belts again?” Nancy asked him. Taking Ned’s hand, she tugged him down the aisle.
“Uh, sure,” Ned said. “We’ll see you guys later,” he called.
When they were out of earshot, Nancy stopped outside the barn door. “Did you hear that? Lee Anne described the mask perfectly!” she exclaimed.
“Do you think Michael’s involved?” Ned asked.
“I don’t know. We’ll have to find out where he was after he rode. Still, the facts do add up.” Nancy put up a finger. “Number one, he knows the barns. Two, he knows the horse that was almost stolen. Three, he needs money. Four, he had a mask like the thief’s.”
“I don’t know, Nan. Lee Anne keeps saying how ambitious Michael is. Why would a rider working toward being on the Pan American team jeopardize his chances by stealing a horse?”
Nancy’s eyes lit up. “Maybe because the theft might actually improve his chances! Come on. I need to check out a hunch.”
Nancy hurried across the showgrounds to the secretary’s booth, a place where owners and riders entered their horses, paid fees, and checked on their standings. The small building was bustling with activity.
“May I see the entry list for this evening’s Intermediate One test?” Nancy asked a harried woman who was pulling prize ribbons from a box. Without pausing, the woman nodded to a stack of papers. “It would be in there.”
Leafing through the stack of papers, Nancy found the list. All the horses and riders entered in the test Michael was riding that evening were itemized.
Nancy ran her finger down the list. There. Roberta Flanagan and Sweet and Klean.
“Look,” she whispered excitedly to Ned. “Roberta and her horse are competing against Michael and Curio tonight. Gilly said that at the last show, Sweet and Klean beat Michael by a lot. That gives Michael another reason to steal her horse—he’s so competitive, he’d do anything to win.”
6
Missing!
“Stealing a horse just to win a class at a horse show?” Ned shook his head in disbelief. “That seems pretty far-fetched, Nan.”
“Not if you’re as competitive as Michael.” Nancy continued to flip through the prize lists. “Don’t you remember what he said when he heard that Valerie Dunn’s horse had injured its hoof? Michael seemed positively happy.”
