The Case of the Suspicious Supermodel by Alex Carter

Author:Alex Carter
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781407077574
Publisher: Penguin Random House Children's UK

‘COME AND MEET Sparky, Lols!’ Mia said, beginning to untie the string she’d looped around the stable latch to stop the horse escaping. It was the following morning, and Lauren’s turn to help Mia.

‘Has Sparky worked out how to undo the knot yet?’ asked Lauren as they went into the stable.

‘Not yet.’ Mia laughed. ‘But he does keep staring at the string, and I know he’s thinking about it!’

‘Hi, Sparky.’ Lauren patted Sparky’s white mane and the horse dipped his head down towards her. His dark eyes were particularly alert and intelligent, Lauren noticed. ‘You’re a very handsome boy, aren’t you?’

Sparky gave a soft whinny, almost as if he was agreeing, which made Lauren and Mia laugh.

‘I’ll just put Sparky in the field out of the way.’ Mia led the horse out of the stable and over to the field at the back of the yard. There she opened the gate so that Sparky could trot inside the field. ‘Then we’ll get on with mucking out.’

‘OK,’ said Lauren, pulling a face. ‘I’ve never got up early before to shovel horse poo, Mia, I’ll have you know!’

‘Neither had I before I started looking after Sparky!’ Mia replied. ‘You soon get used to it, though, and it’s really important to muck out regularly, otherwise living in a dirty stable can make a horse very ill.’

Lauren was very glad she’d worn her oldest clothes as Mia showed her how they had to shovel out all of Sparky’s soiled sawdust bedding, leaving only the clean stuff behind. Then they added more clean sawdust on the stone floor. It was a bit smelly, Lauren thought, but it wasn’t too bad, and besides, it was fun to work alongside Mia and chat to her after not seeing much of her for the last few days. As they filled Sparky’s hayrack and changed the water in his drinking bucket, they talked a lot about Sara and all the strange things that had been happening since she arrived at the hotel.

‘It’s so frustrating that we’re just not getting anywhere,’ Lauren told Mia as they put some pony nuts in a bucket for Sparky. ‘I’m not even sure where Sara is at the moment. I asked at the Reception desk, and they said she didn’t come back to the hotel last night.’

‘I hope she hasn’t been arrested,’ Mia said anxiously.

Lauren shook her head. ‘I don’t think so. We’d have heard about it by now.’

When the stable was clean, they went over to the field to collect Sparky. He was cantering around the frosty grass, clearly enjoying being outside.

‘What if he doesn’t want to come back to his stable?’ Lauren asked.

‘Oh, he’s well trained,’ Mia replied. ‘But I always have something special with me to make sure he does come back.’

‘What’s that?’ Lauren asked.

Smiling, Mia took a plastic bag of apple slices from her pocket. Immediately Sparky came galloping over eagerly. Then he stopped by the gate and waited quietly to be offered the apple.

‘He knows he won’t get it if he’s too pushy and excited!’ Mia said.

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