English Rider (3 page)

Stevie watched her go. “Well, that proves it,” she told her friends.

“What do you mean?” Lisa leaned against the stable wall.

“Veronica is definitely up to something,” Stevie said grimly. “And it must be something big. Why else would Princess Veronica even
think
about talking to a lowly maid?”

S
TEVIE LOOKED AT
her watch. “How long does it take to drink a lousy cup of tea, anyway?” she grumbled.

Carole smiled weakly. “Don’t you mean a ‘spot’ of tea?”

Stevie merely rolled her eyes in response. It was later that afternoon, and she, Carole, and Lisa were sitting around the Atwoods’ kitchen table waiting for Tessa to return from her tea date with Veronica.

“Do you think we should really be worried?” Lisa glanced at the digital clock on the microwave. “She’s been gone for hours. Maybe Veronica drugged her tea and shipped her back to England.”

Carole laughed. “Now you’re starting to sound like Stevie,” she teased.

Stevie snorted. “Not hardly,” she said haughtily. “I
would have wondered if maybe Veronica knocked her out with a poison dart and shipped her to Zimbabwe. Or possibly Iceland.”

At that moment the sound of the front door slamming rang through the house. “Maybe that’s her,” Carole said hopefully.

The three friends hopped up and hurried into the front hall. But instead of Tessa, they found a very harried-looking Mrs. Atwood standing there.

“Hi, Mom,” Lisa said. “How was your committee meeting?”

“Frantic,” Mrs. Atwood replied breathlessly. “I can’t believe the point-to-point is in less than a week. There’s still so much to do! I just don’t know how it’s all going to get done. When we agreed to do all the work ourselves rather than contracting it out, I just never realized—”

Lisa glanced at her friends and bit back a sigh. “It’s okay, Mom,” she said. “We’ll help. What do you need us to do?”

A
N HOUR LATER
Lisa stopped typing and stretched her fingers to get rid of a cramp. “Ugh,” she said, leaning back in her chair. She, Carole, and Stevie were scattered through the living room, working hard on the various projects Mrs. Atwood had assigned them. “You know, I’ll be glad when the point-to-point gets here. And not just because I’m looking forward to it.”

Carole grinned. “I know,” she said. “Your mom has
turned us into real workhorses lately, hasn’t she?” This wasn’t the first time The Saddle Club had stepped in to help with the fund-raiser. Mrs. Atwood had had them making phone calls, drawing up signs, and doing other work all week.

Stevie, sprawled on the floor, looked up from coloring in a picture of a hot dog on her handmade refreshments sign. “Still, it will all be worth it,” she reminded the others. “The point-to-point is going to be awesome.”

Carole nodded. “I know. I can’t wait. Although I am a little nervous about the junior hurdle race.”

“Oh, come on.” Lisa grinned. “You know you’ll do great. You always do.” Carole was generally considered the best young rider at Pine Hollow.

“I’ve never ridden in anything like it before,” Carole reminded her friends. “Neither has Starlight. This isn’t just a jumping contest. And it isn’t just a race. It’s both.”

“I know,” Stevie said eagerly. “Isn’t it great?”

“I wonder how many riders will be in our race?” Carole went on thoughtfully. In a way, the junior hurdle sounded very exciting. But it also sounded a tiny bit scary. “I hope there aren’t too many. I heard Max say something about limiting the number in each race to make things safer.” The country club committee had asked Max to be one of their expert advisers for the point-to-point, and The Saddle Club knew he was taking the responsibility seriously.

Lisa scanned one of the scribbled lists she’d been typing into the computer. “The entry list is right here,” she reported.
“As of right now there are ten people entered in the junior hurdle, including us. That shouldn’t be too bad.”

Carole nodded. “It should be just enough to make things exciting without making the field too crowded.”

“Of course, it would be even better if there were eleven people entered,” Stevie muttered.

Lisa knew that Stevie was thinking about Tessa. That reminded her to check her watch again. It was almost dinnertime. “I wonder what’s keeping Tessa?”

“Who knows?” Stevie said, grabbing a purple pen to start coloring in her sketch of a can of grape soda. “I can’t imagine anyone spending this much time with Veronica and living to tell the tale.”

“Well, I’m beginning to think your theory was right, Stevie,” Carole said. “Or was it your theory, Lisa? Whoever thought Veronica was going to drug Tessa’s tea and send her back to England.”

“I don’t know,” Stevie mused. “That sounds like an awful lot of work, and you know how Veronica hates to work. I think she’d be more likely to order her chauffeur to drop Tessa off in the middle of the woods, miles from civilization. With no shoes.”

Lisa laughed, but despite all the jokes she was starting to feel a twinge of real concern. It was getting late, and it wasn’t like Tessa to keep them waiting so long without even a phone call. “Maybe we should call Veronica’s house,” she suggested. “You know, just to check …”

Just then they heard a car outside, and Stevie jumped to her feet. “That must be her,” she said. She grinned wickedly. “Unless it’s Veronica with the ransom note.”

The three girls hurried into the front hall just in time to see Tessa letting herself in. “Oh, hello,” she greeted them brightly. “What are you lot up to?”

“Waiting for you,” Stevie replied bluntly. “We were beginning to think that Veronica must have fed you to her dogs. Or maybe tossed you into the dungeon.”

Tessa laughed. “Nothing like that,” she assured Stevie with a playful wink. “Quite the contrary, actually. Veronica couldn’t have been lovelier. I had a marvelous time at her home.”

Carole noticed something shiny glinting on the collar of Tessa’s shirt. “What’s that?” She leaned forward for a better look. “I don’t remember you wearing a pin earlier.”

Tessa glanced down and smiled. “I was just about to tell you,” she said. “On our way here, Veronica and I stopped off at that lovely tack shop at the mall and bought matching stock pins. That’s why I was a bit late getting home.”

Carole, Stevie, and Lisa were still peering at the slender gold pin when Mrs. Atwood came bustling into the room. Tessa greeted her and repeated her explanation. “I hope I haven’t held up your supper,” she finished politely. “I lost all track of the time.”

“Oh, no, not at all,” Mrs. Atwood assured her. She examined the stock pin. “My, but this is beautiful,” she
said. “Veronica diAngelo has such wonderful taste, doesn’t she?”

“Her taste in people certainly is improving,” Carole muttered to Stevie and Lisa. “Or she’s getting better at pretending.”

The telephone rang. “Oh dear. That will be Agnes calling about the catering …” With that, Mrs. Atwood rushed off toward the kitchen.

Lisa turned to Tessa as the four girls wandered into the living room. “Um, listen, Tessa,” she said hesitantly. Tessa seemed so happy and cheerful that she hated to say anything negative. Still, she knew she had to do it. “I realize you don’t know Veronica very well.”

“I feel I know her quite a bit better after this afternoon,” Tessa said with a smile. “Though not as well as you all know her, naturally.”

“Naturally,” Stevie agreed, flopping down onto the couch. “So I think what Lisa’s trying to say is, you’ve got to be careful. Veronica is a rotten sneak.”

Tessa raised an eyebrow in surprise. “I know Veronica can be … well, difficult at times,” she said. “And she’s certainly been unpleasant to me in the past. But she really seems to be making a sincere effort to be nice now.”

“But that’s just the point,” Stevie insisted. She leaned forward and stared at Tessa earnestly. “She’s
never
nice. I mean, she’s only nice if she wants something. Or if she’s trying to pull something over on someone. Or—”

“All right, Stevie.” Tessa sounded a tiny bit annoyed. “I hear what you’re saying. But what I’m saying is that I don’t want to cause trouble for no apparent reason. If Veronica wants to be friendly to me, I’m perfectly willing to be friendly to her. After all, it’s not as if she’s trying to turn me against you or anything like that. She didn’t so much as mention any of you all afternoon.”

Carole was more than a little surprised to hear that. Making fun of The Saddle Club was one of Veronica’s favorite activities.

It was obvious that Tessa was ready to drop the subject, but Carole could tell that Stevie and Lisa weren’t. And she understood why, because she felt exactly the same way. Tessa needed to be warned, and they all needed to work together to figure out what Veronica was up to.

“Tessa, listen to me for a second—” she began.

At that moment Mrs. Atwood bustled back into the room. “It was Agnes from the refreshments committee, just as I thought,” she chirped. “The arrangements for the catering are running smoothly.”

“That’s good,” Carole said politely. She hoped Mrs. Atwood would leave them alone so that they could talk to Tessa. They had to make her understand how devious Veronica could be. They had to make her see that there was no point in being polite to her. It would only backfire.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Atwood seemed to have no intention of leaving. She sat down on the couch beside Stevie
and smiled at Tessa. “Tessa, dear, I was about to ask you when the phone rang—where did you say you and Veronica got those lovely little pins?”

“They’re called stock pins, Mom,” Lisa said, sounding impatient. “You wear them on a stock—that’s one of those collar things I wear in horse shows sometimes.”

Mrs. Atwood shrugged. “Yes, all right, dear,” she said, not even bothering to glance at Lisa. She was still staring expectantly at Tessa.

“We got them at the tack shop at the mall,” Tessa said. “Veronica and I stopped by there because she wanted my advice about her wardrobe for the point-to-point.”

“Oh, my!” Mrs. Atwood turned to stare worriedly at Lisa. “I hadn’t even thought about that. I do hope you have something appropriate to wear, Lisa.”

“Don’t worry, Mom,” Lisa said quickly. “I’ve got plenty of stuff to wear.”

Carole stifled a laugh. She recognized the look of panic on Lisa’s face. It appeared any time Mrs. Atwood seemed about to suggest a shopping trip. Mrs. Atwood loved to shop—especially when she could make Lisa try on lots of outfits while she was at it.

“Really,” Lisa went on when Mrs. Atwood hesitated. “You just bought me those nice buff breeches, remember? I haven’t even had a chance to wear them yet. And you said they’d look great with my good navy jacket, right?”

“Oh.” Mrs. Atwood looked disappointed. “That’s right.” She glanced at Tessa again and brightened. “But
I’ve got a wonderful idea. Why don’t we go and buy you one of those—er—stock pins, are they called? Then you can match Tessa and Veronica. Won’t that be fun? We can go to the mall tomorrow afternoon.” She smiled at the other girls. “You’re all welcome to come along, of course.”

“Sorry,” Stevie said, not looking sorry at all. “I’ve got a doctor’s appointment.”

Carole felt guilty for abandoning Lisa, but she shook her head. “I can’t make it, either. My dad has the day off tomorrow. I promised I’d go to the movies with him.”

“Oh well,” Mrs. Atwood said. “That’s too bad. Tessa? How about you?”

“I’d love to,” Tessa agreed.

Lisa looked relieved, which made Carole feel better. At least Lisa wouldn’t be stuck shopping alone with her mother. “Okay, then,” Carole said, waving a hand at the posters and lists and other materials spread over the floor. “Maybe we should get back to work. We can probably finish this stuff before dinner.”
And maybe at the same time, we can convince Tessa she’s making a big mistake by trusting Veronica
, she thought.

“Oh, that can wait.” Mrs. Atwood leaned back against the cushions of the couch. “You girls are staying over, right? You’ll have all night to work on these things.” She smiled. “Now, Tessa, I want to hear all about your afternoon with Veronica. Don’t leave out a thing.”

“O
H
, T
ESSA, THERE
you are!” Veronica rushed up to Carole and Tessa as they entered Pine Hollow’s student locker room the next morning. “I thought you’d never get here.”