“But why would he go after Gilly?” Lee Anne countered. “That doesn’t make sense.”
Putting an arm around Lee Anne’s shoulder, Bess led her toward Nancy’s Mustang. “Come on. You need something to eat and then a nap. None of us got much sleep last night.”
Ned grinned sheepishly. “I did. I slept through everything.”
Nancy yawned. “Good. You can drive and think. My brain’s numb.”
“Don’t say that, Nancy.” Lee Anne stopped and faced her. “I need you to help prove that Michael’s innocent.”
“Oh, Lee Anne.” Nancy didn’t know what to say. The evidence was pretty damaging.
“Nancy?” Bess looked pleadingly at her.
“All right. I’ll keep poking around. But if all my snooping only proves that Michael is guilty, I won’t lie to the police.”
“I don’t expect you to,” Lee Anne said, some of her old fire returning.
Nancy touched her on the shoulder. “Good, but you have to tell me the truth.”
Lee Anne lowered her gaze. “All right.”
“I need to know how long you were with Michael last night. And where you went.”
Lee Anne’s shoulders slumped. “I wasn’t with Michael last night,” she finally admitted. “When he left the restaurant, he drove off without me. I was too embarrassed to face you guys, so I walked back to the motel.”
“But you came into the barn with him after Aristocrat was stolen,” Bess pointed out.
“When I got back to the motel, I went to our room and called him, but he didn’t answer. When it got late, I grew worried and went to his room to wait. At about twelve-thirty, he came down the hall. I told him we needed to talk. He agreed. But when we got inside his room, the phone rang. It was Klaus, telling us that Aristocrat had been stolen.”
“You have no idea where he’d been all that time?” Ned asked.
“He said he’d been doing some thinking about his riding career. That’s all.”
“Thanks for telling the truth,” Nancy said.
“I’m sorry I lied, but I was trying to protect Michael,” Lee Anne said. “You kept asking me questions, as if you thought he was involved in the theft. But lying won’t help him now.”
Nancy was afraid Lee Anne was right.
When they arrived at the motel, Bess got out of the Mustang with her friend. “I’m going to stay here with Lee Anne,” she told Nancy and Ned.
“Good idea. We’ll head over to the showgrounds to see if Texel found out anything more,” Nancy said. “Then I’d like to go see Gilly.”
Lee Anne bent down to look in the open car door. “I want to go to the hospital with you, but I’ve got to be at the barn at four this afternoon to help feed the horses. With Michael and Gilly gone…” Her voice faded.
“We’ll pick you up about two,” Nancy said.
“So you think the key to Gilly’s assault is the horse theft?” Ned asked as he drove away.
“It’s got to be,” Nancy replied. “Gilly wanted to tell me something about the theft. But what could she have known that was so damaging that she was attacked?”
“How about the name of the thief?” Ned guessed.
“That could be it. The problem is, Aristocrat’s been gone almost twelve hours. He could be out of the state by now, which means the police may never find him or the thieves. And Texel…” Her voice trailed off.
Ned gave her a curious look. “What about Texel?”
She told him Klaus’s theory. “What if Klaus is right? What if Texel and his guards are operating a theft ring?”
Ned whistled. “Wow. That would be tough to prove. Do you think Texel could be in on it? He seems as honest as they come.”
“I agree,” Nancy said. “But right now I’m afraid to trust him. You see, Gilly did tell me something.”
“What?” Ned braked at a red light.
“She said if anything happened to her, I should check the scar on Aristocrat’s hock.”
For a second Ned just looked at her. “What do you think she meant?”
“The hock is the joint on the hind leg, I know that much, but what the scar has to do with the theft, I’m not sure.” She shook her head. “Unfortunately, I now know what she meant when she said, ‘If anything happens to me.’” Nancy shuddered. “That makes me think she knew someone might come after her.”
“This is getting dangerous, Nan,” Ned said. “I think you need to let the police handle it.”
“Not yet. I want to find out something first.” Nancy shifted in her car seat to face him. “I have to know if Security is involved.”
Ned cocked one eyebrow. “Let me guess,” he said in a teasing voice. “That means snooping around their office. Right?”
Nancy grinned. “Yup. We’ll do it tonight. If we get caught, we can say we were looking for Texel.”
