The Riding Club Crime by Carolyn Keene

Author:Carolyn Keene
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin

10

A Slippery Clue

Nancy gaped at Katie. “Are you sure?” she asked.

“Yes!” Katie moaned. Her wire-rimmed glasses clouded with tears. “Nancy, I never would have quit Happy Campers if I’d known this was going to happen.”

Nancy spotted George helping Cordelia lug water into her horse’s stall. She motioned her over to them. “George, Black Comet is missing,” she said.

George paled. “I’ll get Mrs. Rogers right away. She’s up at the house.” George raced out the door, and Nancy turned back to Katie.

“Tell me what happened,” she said.

“Well, when I got here, Black Comet wasn’t in his stall, and his door to the field was wide open,” Katie explained. “At first I assumed I’d spaced out and forgotten to latch it. Black Comet is smart. Without the latch, he could have pushed it open with his nose. But he wasn’t outside.”

“Let’s go check out the field,” Nancy suggested. She gave Katie a reassuring pat on the back. “Don’t worry, Katie, I’m sure we’ll find him.”

Katie took off her glasses and wiped her eyes. Then she managed a shaky smile. “Thanks, Nancy,” she said, sticking her glasses back on. “I’ll try to keep calm and help you search.”

Nancy led Katie into the pasture adjoining the stalls. The late summer dusk had given way to a moonlit night, and the four-acre field was twinkling with fireflies. Two horses—a dappled gray who was easy to see, and a chestnut with a white blaze on his face—were being corralled by their owners. There was no sign of any other horse. Nancy pointed to a huge oak tree down the hill. Despite the bright full moon, Nancy could see past the tree’s spreading leaves.

“Black Comet’s coat is so dark. Maybe he’s hiding out there, and we just can’t see him,” Nancy said.

But a quick search proved her theory wrong. “Could he have jumped the fence?” Nancy asked. The four-and-a-half-foot fence was made of four horizontal boards painted white.

“He’s capable of it,” Katie replied. “But he never would.”

Nancy looked around the field in every direction. “Look,” she said finally, pointing to a gate at the bottom of the hill near the woods. “It’s hard to see from here, but I think that gate’s ajar.”

Katie gasped. “Nancy, I think you’re right. Now why didn’t I notice?”

Nancy and Katie jogged down the hill to the open gate. On the other side, a trail opened into the woods; the same woods that separated Green Spring Farm from Happy Campers, Nancy observed.

“Whoever took Black Comet is probably riding him down that trail right now,” Katie said grimly. Nancy agreed, but she didn’t say anything. She didn’t want to upset Katie even more.

“Nancy! Katie!” a voice called from the top of the field. The girls turned and saw Mrs. Rogers running toward them, with George and James in tow. “George told me about Black Comet, but I want to know more,” Mrs. Rogers said. “Are you sure he’s missing, Katie dear?”

Katie and Nancy briefed the others on what had happened. Mrs. Rogers took command of the situation.

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