“Yes, I dismissed him for laziness.”
Nancy could believe that. She bet Klaus expected his employees to jump the instant he spoke.
Nancy and Ned said goodbye. When they headed toward the doorway at the end of the aisle, Ned gave the rottweilers a wide berth.
Nancy didn’t think Klaus would sic the dogs on them—though, on second thought, he’d gotten quite angry when he heard they’d been in Salut’s stall.
Linking her arm through Ned’s, she pulled him from the barn. “That was a close call,” she said when they got outside.
“Do you think Klaus suspected we’d been in his office?” Ned asked.
“Let’s hope not. He’d be furious, and I definitely don’t want a second encounter with Jaws One and Two.”
When they rounded the corner of the barn, Nancy paused to get her bearings. The bright sun was blinding. They were on the opposite side from where they had entered and had to jog back around the building to the Mustang.
After pulling open the door, Nancy scrambled into the seat and shut it firmly. Only when Ned was safe in the car did she let out a sigh.
“I love dogs, but those two gave me chills,” she said as she pulled the keys from her jeans pocket and started the car.
“Me, too. Where to now? The horse park?”
“Yes. Let’s hope Texel has found Andy Brackett. I want to call the hospital, too. If Gilly’s conscious, she may be able to tell us who knocked her out. That would sure help us solve this case.” She backed up, turned the Mustang, and headed up the drive.
“So you’ve crossed Klaus off your list of suspects?” Ned asked.
“He answered most of our questions,” Nancy said. “Still—” She suddenly braked. Craning her neck, she leaned forward and looked out the windshield at a thick grove of trees and brush on the far side of the mare and foal pasture. In the middle of the grove, Nancy thought she’d spotted something solid and gray.
“What are you looking at?” Ned asked.
“There’s something in those trees.”
Ned looked out the window. “I see it. It looks like a metal shed.”
“Or maybe a horse trailer?” Nancy checked the rearview mirror. They had crested the hill and were almost to the road, so the barn was behind them, out of sight. “Let’s check it out.”
Nancy drove out to the main road, turned left, and pulled onto the shoulder. She didn’t know for sure what was in the trees. Still, the thing looked as if it had been hidden, concealed for a purpose, and that made Nancy suspicious.
“What if Klaus drives out?” Ned glanced over his shoulder.
“If he’s headed back to the horse park, he’ll take a right,” Nancy said, opening her car door. “He won’t see us.”
“Unless he catches us running through his horse pasture,” Ned said gravely.
Nancy punched him playfully on the shoulder. “Then we’ll just have to run fast.”
After locking the Mustang, she put the keys in her pocket. Then Nancy climbed the fence and, after checking to make sure no one was coming down the drive, jumped into the pasture. At the same time Ned jumped beside her, and the two of them tore across the field.
Nancy ducked between two saplings and into the brush, snagging her T-shirt on brambles. The grove was wilder and thicker than she’d thought.
“If only I hadn’t left my trusty machete in the car,” Ned joked as he pushed through the briars.
Holding her bare arms high, Nancy followed him. She was glad she’d worn long jeans. Halfway through the tangle of honeysuckle and cedars, she spied the gray thing about fifteen feet ahead of her. It was large and metal, like an old shed. When she moved closer, she knew her hunch was right—it was a horse trailer.
She caught her breath. “Ned, I think it’s the trailer from the horse park!”
“Let’s see if there’s a dent.” Whacking aside a branch, Ned made his way to the trailer. Someone had laid cedar branches against the side as if trying to camouflage the vehicle.
Ned knocked several branches to the ground. “There’s the dent.” He pointed to the side over the wheel. “It has to be the same trailer. But what is it doing here?”
“Good question.” Nancy opened the side door, half expecting the grotesque mask to come flying out at her, but the trailer was dark and empty.
She sniffed. “Smells like horse manure.”
“Gee, that’s a big surprise.” Ned laughed.
Nancy stepped into the trailer. The net, stuffed with what looked like fresh hay, still hung from the middle post. Had the trailer been used to haul Aristocrat away on the night he was stolen? she wondered.
“Nothing in there,” Nancy said as she ducked back out. “But the fact that it’s hidden makes it suspicious. We need to get the police to check it out.” She stopped talking, suddenly realizing that Ned wasn’t there. She looked right, then left. “Ned?”
“Around here!” he hollered from the far side of the trailer. Nancy hurried around the hitch to find Ned crouched, studying the ground.
“Tire tracks,” he said as he stood up. “And they’re fresh. This trailer hasn’t been here long.”
Nancy followed the tracks. The briars, broom grass, and honeysuckle were trampled in a wide path that stretched to the edge of the grove and came out in the pasture by the far fence.
“A pretty good hiding place,” Nancy said, walking back to the trailer. “And I can think of only one reason someone would want to hide this trailer in here.”
“So Klaus fooled us. He was in on the theft,” Ned said in a low voice.
