Scout and the Mystery of the Marsh Ponies (9 page)

“But we saw the trailer come in here,” Alice said quietly to herself, “the same trailer that dropped off the dun pony. It has to be the right one, so where is Mrs Valentine?”

Alice crept forward. She needed to try to get another peek inside the caravan – she needed to work out what was going on. As she edged past
the Range Rover, something inside caught her eye. There, lying on the passenger seat were a pair of large, dark sunglasses, a wide-brimmed hat, and a long blonde wig.

Alice felt her heart skip a beat. Suddenly, the last thing she wanted to do was go up and confront the woman in the caravan. What she really wanted to do was turn tail and run, but instead she reached for her phone with shaking fingers. She opened up the camera and quickly took a couple of shots of the hat and wig, knowing that’s what Mia would do, before flying back up the lane.

“What happened?” Charlie whispered as Alice raced towards her. “Did you speak to Mrs Valentine?”

Alice hastily climbed the fence. She grabbed her reins then swung lightly back into the saddle.

“That’s not Mrs Valentine!” she whispered, puffing.

“What do you mean?” Charlie asked, looking
surprised. “That was the same trailer we know dropped off the dun pony – it has to be her!”

Alice shook her head, almost too excited and nervous at her discovery to talk.

“No, I mean, I think it
is
Mrs Valentine, at least, the person who’s been
pretending
to be Mrs Valentine,” Alice said, almost getting more muddled as she tried to make sense of it, “but that’s just a disguise! She’s been wearing a wig, glasses and a hat all along, since the first time I met her last year! Anyway, look, we can’t hang around here – we have to go!”

The girls quickly turned their ponies then disappeared back into the long marsh grasses.

“So who is she?” Charlie asked impatiently, once they were safely hidden from the lane.

“Well, under the wig she’s got short, black hair,” Alice revealed, letting Scout’s reins go loose. “I can’t be a hundred per cent definite before I check the photo in the newspaper, but I’m pretty sure I know who it is.”

“I don’t believe it!” Charlie said, slapping her mud-splattered hat as she worked it out.

Alice nodded.

“Mrs Hawk!”

Chapter Thirteen

A
FTER
walking Scout and Pirate back across the seemingly endless marsh, they finally reached the fencing at the other side. Charlie had called ahead to update Rosie and Mia, who were still waiting on the path by the gate. They’d taken Dancer’s and Wish’s saddles off and let their ponies graze the other side of the fence from the nervy dun pony. When Alice and Charlie finally rode into sight, Mia held the gate open for them, being careful not to let the dun pony out. They felt terrible leaving him behind, but they hoped that he wouldn’t now be alone on Dragonfly Marsh for long. As the four rode back to Blackberry Farm,
Alice and Charlie filled Mia and Rosie in properly. As soon as they’d reached the yard and untacked, Rosie rushed to get the old newspaper article.

“It was
definitely
Mrs Hawk!” Alice cried, studying it closely. “The woman in the caravan was the spitting image of the woman in the picture here!”

“One thing’s for sure, the name Hawk suits her
way
better than ‘Valentine’ ever did!” Rosie puffed.

“And no wonder her hair always looked like straw,” Mia said critically. “That wig was
not
great quality.”

“That’s hardly the most important fact right now,” Charlie commented as they all walked over to the barn with their nets, stuffing them full of sweet-smelling, soft hay before carrying them back to the yard for the ponies to eat while the girls groomed them.

“No,” Mia agreed. “The most important fact is that Mrs Hawk has been banned from keeping
ponies, but she’s found what she thought was a sneaky way round it.”

“And I bet that’s why she moved Scout to Dragonfly Marsh after her moonlight flit from Hollow Hill!” Alice burst out. “He was the first pony Jock noticed marshy hooves on, so that’s when she must have switched from being Mrs Hawk to being Mrs Valentine.”

“Exactly!” Charlie said as she heaved on the haynet to pull it as high as it could go before tying it up to the baler twine on the ring outside Pirate’s stable. He tucked in greedily, hungry after the long ride. “The marsh is so big, the ponies could almost get lost out there. It’s the perfect place to hide ponies you’ve been banned from owning!”

“And as well as hiding her ponies on the marsh,” Rosie continued, “she moved away from her cottage at Hollow Hill, changed her name
and
her appearance…”

“… and carried on buying ponies with Roger Green’s help,” Charlie said crossly. “Only since her
ban she put them out on loan rather than keeping them on Hollow Common.”

“And it meant she could keep the fact that she still owned ponies a secret,” Alice sighed, giving Scout lots of mints. “After all, anyone coming to try the ponies would have to try the pony at the loan home, rather than at Mrs Hawk’s.”

She turned on the yard tap and sluiced buckets of warm water over his neck, back and legs, rinsing off all the mud and dried, crinkled sweat before splashing her own face and drying it on her T-shirt. Charlie did the same. Mia watched in horror as Charlie left long mud streaks smeared across her T-shirt without a care.

“Clever, really,” Rosie said, giving Dancer a hug, “but not clever enough to fool the Pony Detectives.”

“So what do we do now?” Alice asked.

“There’s a number for the RSPCA on the article,” Mia said, picking up the cutting once more as Wish shook her head then rubbed the
side of her nose against an outstretched foreleg.

Mia took her phone out of her pocket and dialled the number, checking it against the paper. She was put on hold, and paced up and down the yard until she was put through to someone and could explain their discovery: that the banned Mrs Hawk still owned ponies, even though they were out on loan. She also mentioned that Mrs Hawk had just bought a dun pony who’d been turned out on Dragonfly Marsh all alone.

“You’ll come out? Brilliant!” Mia said excitedly. Then her face dropped. “Oh, is that the soonest you can make it? It’s just that Mrs Val—I mean, Mrs
Hawk’
s due to come here tomorrow at three o’clock. She’s planning to sell on one of the ponies she’s not even meant to own, and she might be gone by the time you get here…”

Mia gave the address for Blackberry Farm before ending the call.

“So?” Alice asked, her stomach in a tight knot.

“The earliest they think they’ll be able to make
it is four tomorrow,” Mia explained, taking a deep breath, “but they’ve said that they’ll definitely try to make it earlier, especially as it would mean finally catching up with Mrs Hawk.”

“But Tallulah’s dad’s due at three o’clock – Scout will be sold by then!” Alice gasped. It felt as if, however hard they tried, Scout’s safety was always an infuriating step away.

“We’ll just have to try to keep Mrs Hawk here until they come,” Charlie said, frowning.

“Or we could put a back-up plan into action to stop Tallulah buying Scout. Me and Rosie came up with one while we were waiting for you two this afternoon,” Mia said quickly, “just in case you lost Mrs Hawk across the marsh. It’s all set up – we just need Tallulah to appear today like she said she would and then I’ll send one text…”

At that moment they heard a car on the bumpy drive, then footsteps. A second later Tallulah was bouncing into the yard, all smug smiles and superiority until she saw Scout, his
pink skin showing through his silky wet coat.

“What are you doing to my pony?” she squealed as Scout shook himself, his hooves scraping slightly on the concrete. She rushed back, wiping the water off her smart top as if it was infected.

“Er, washing him down?” Alice said, wondering how she’d have reacted if she’d been on the yard five minutes earlier when Scout had been covered in mud. She glanced across to Mia and Rosie who were both looking as smug as Tallulah. They hadn’t had time to explain the plan to her or Charlie, so she’d just have to trust them, she thought, as she noticed Mia fiddling with the mobile phone in her pocket. “Anyway, he’s not your pony yet.”

Tallulah shrugged her shoulders.

“As good as. As it goes, I don’t mind if you’re washing him. It’ll just make him look even better for the show on Saturday.”

At that moment, Mia’s mobile phone started to ring. She answered it after the first ring, putting it on speaker phone.

“Mia?” The voice at the other end rang out. “It’s Poppy!”

Mia smiled, watching out of the corner of her eye as Tallulah suddenly perked up and shamelessly listened in.

“Listen,” Poppy continued. “I know that Scout’s as good as sold, but I just really wanted to jump him before it all goes through. It might be my last chance and I’d love to find out what feel he gives me over a fence and how he compares to Moonlight.”

“Of course – I know Alice won’t mind!” Mia replied, smiling to herself as Rosie nudged Alice in the ribs and Alice called out that she didn’t mind in the slightest. “How about ten o’clock tomorrow morning? I’ll get some jumps set up for you.”

“Great,” Poppy said. “Make sure they’re big ones, won’t you?”

“Will do,” Mia said, before they said their goodbyes.

“What is Poppy Brookes doing calling you about
my
pony?” Tallulah asked indignantly.

“I guess she just wants to find out what she’s missed out on,” Rosie replied. “She was really impressed with his performance in the Eventers Grand Prix last weekend.”

“I
knew
I’d made the right decision about buying Shooting Starr. It’s so brilliant that I’ve bought him and she hasn’t!” Tallulah squealed excitedly. “She’ll be so jealous after she rides him tomorrow and realises that even Moonlight’s no match for him! What time did you say she’s coming down tomorrow? Ten?”

Mia nodded, and Tallulah marched out of the yard looking more smug than ever. As they heard a car door slam shut and Tallulah whizzed up the lane with her mum, Mia and Rosie quickly brought Charlie and Alice up to speed. The four girls collapsed into giggles. Their plan was in place. Now they just needed it to work.

Chapter Fourteen

“A
LL
set?” Poppy smiled as she tightened Scout’s girth. She’d mounted him in the little yard where Moonlight was safely housed in the spare stable and pressed him forward into a walk as she lowered her leg and the saddle flap. Alice walked by Scout’s head with Mia on the other side. Charlie and Rosie were already in the schooling paddock, dragging the ancient, peeling showjumping poles, with their scraps of red, blue and green paint, across the dusty ring.

Mia nodded as they headed down past the turn-out paddock, into the shade of the tall,
overhanging trees and then in through the squeaky metal gate to the schooling area.

Scout strode out keenly into the ring, his ears pricked as he looked around. Alice could see that he was happy with Poppy on his back, like a completely different pony compared to when Tallulah had been in the saddle.

Mia sat on a barrel laid on its side next to Alice, while Rosie and Charlie took up position next to them. Suddenly, there was a flurry of straightened hair, glittery eyeshadow and brightly coloured T-shirt and jodhpurs.

“Hi guys!” Tallulah said, walking fast over to the ring. “Mum was going to come and watch today too, only she’s making important calls in the car right now. She’s getting the money sorted for the handover with Mrs Valentine this afternoon. I told her I want this sale to go smoothly. Oh, hi, Poppy! I see you’re up on my new superstar! Doesn’t he feel gorgeous?!”

“Feels okay so far. I’ll warm him up first.”
Poppy smiled as she moved Scout into a trot after walking him on a long rein to loosen him up. “Then I’ll let you know once I’ve popped him over some big fences.”

Poppy winked quickly at Alice as she rode past. Alice held her hand up to her mouth to hide her smile. She knew that Poppy had no intention of getting to the point of jumping any big fences on Scout. Their plan would be well finished before it got to that stage.

Alice watched as Poppy had Scout moving brilliantly. But every now and again, just as he was going well, she’d half-halt him, then tip forward.

“Is he looking a bit lame to you?” Poppy called out.

The others made a show of checking Scout’s trot, but they decided that, if he was, it must be intermittent. Poppy tipped forward a few more times, then turned him to the cross pole, the lowest of the six fences set up around the schooling paddock. He jumped it eagerly and, after a few
times over it, Poppy asked for it to be raised.

This time she turned him to it in a canter but, a few strides before the fence, she pulled Scout up, paused for a second, then reined him back, getting him to step backwards at an angle from the fence. Alice had to smile to herself. She knew exactly what Poppy was doing because they’d set it up beforehand, as they’d sat quietly together in the tack room. Alice knew that Poppy had asked Scout to stop properly and had performed a good rein-back. Only to someone watching who didn’t know any better, from the way Poppy had acted in the saddle they’d have thought that Scout was playing up, refusing to go near the fence.

Tallulah frowned.

“Is he often like this?” Poppy asked, sounding frustrated and impatient. Tallulah turned to look at Alice crossly, as if it was all her fault.

“He can be,” Alice replied apologetically, glancing at Tallulah. “He’s been like it a bit more recently.”

“Maybe you’ve over-faced him,” Poppy replied, “taking him over fences that are too big for him. I’ll try him again, but he hasn’t got that forward-going feel of a pony who really takes you into a fence, one that you know will always jump when you get there, no matter what’s in front of you, like Moonlight does. That’s the sign of a true star.”

With each comment Tallulah glowered more darkly at Alice, her nostrils flaring furiously.

Poppy jumped Scout a few more times, setting Scout up expertly on a stride that took him in close to the fence, then asking him to stand off, but not once getting him to do anything that would have scared him. It was just her antics in the saddle which made the jumps look erratic. Each time, she grimaced or purposely lost a stirrup or almost fell off sideways out of the saddle.

“Scout’s jumping technique’s really odd,” she commented, bringing Scout back to a walk. “It’s really hard to predict what kind of jump he’s
going to make, so it’s difficult for me to ride into the fences with any confidence. Weird!”

Tallulah’s face turned pink. She glared once more at Alice, who had to turn away so Tallulah couldn’t see her smile.

“Let’s put it up a bit,” Poppy said. “Although if he’s as inconsistent as that over the small fences, I doubt he’ll be any better over the bigger ones to be honest. But it’s worth a go – I might be wrong.”

Rosie and Charlie rushed over to the fence, slid out the metal cups and slotted the pins in three holes higher.

Poppy turned into the bigger fence. This time she tucked Scout in close to the fence and tipped forward, landing as if she was about to fall off the side. Poppy made a show of only just clinging on to the saddle before pulling him up. As she did, she tipped forward once more.

“Are you
sure
he’s not a bit lame?” she asked, looking down at his off fore as she rode over to the centre of the school. “Maybe it’s all the
jumping catching up with him. It might be that he hasn’t got the strongest tendons.”

Tallulah’s eyebrows disappeared under her fringe. She fumed so violently that Rosie worried that she was in danger of exploding.

“Did you want to try him over a course?” Mia asked, standing up. “We put the other fences up specially.”

“Erm, actually I don’t think I’ll bother,” Poppy replied, patting Scout then swinging her leg over and jumping down. She immediately bent over to run her hand over the tendons on Scout’s off fore before looking up at Alice and passing her Scout’s reins. “Oh well, I’m glad I’ve tried him. You never know, maybe I just caught him on a bad day.”

Poppy smiled, but she didn’t sound convinced.

“Well, we all know he can jump,” Tallulah said defiantly as Alice led Scout back to the yard. “Maybe you just didn’t click with him like I did. Because I ride so many ponies, I can normally strike up a partnership pretty quickly.”

Alice looked nervously across to Mia, who made a bit of a face until she saw Tallulah looking at her suspiciously. She changed it quickly into a smile, feeling her olive skin flush slightly as if she’d been caught out. She seriously hoped that Tallulah wouldn’t work out what was going on.

As soon as they got back to the yard, Poppy made a fuss about tacking Moonlight back up and getting going.

“I’ve got loads of tack cleaning to do tomorrow ahead of the show,” she groaned, “so I better get back. I guess I’ll see you in the Sweetbriar Cup, Tallulah.”

“I’ll be there, although I’ve got such a good team of ponies I haven’t actually decided which one I’ll enter yet,” she replied, showing off.

“Oh, right,” Poppy said, before turning to Alice. “Let me know if you want any help finding a real jumper for your next pony. I’m sure I can find you one with more scope and ability than Scout.”

At that, Tallulah gasped slightly. Then she flounced across the yard and seconds later roared up the drive in her mum’s car. As she disappeared, the others all looked at each other.

“Do you think I’ve done enough?” Poppy whispered.

“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see now,” Mia sighed. It was impossible to tell if Tallulah really believed she was a better jockey than Poppy, or if she had been put off Scout by the fact that Poppy pretended not to rate him any more.

“Well, we don’t have long now to wait before we find out,” Charlie said, as Poppy got Moonlight tacked up and led him out of the spare stable.

“Good luck, Alice,” she said, looking over with a bright smile, hoping to make Alice feel confident. “At least you know you’ve done everything possible. Just a question of fingers crossed now!”

Alice nodded, a feeling worse than entering fifty huge shows suddenly coursing through her and making her shiver. She turned and hugged
Scout, then checked her watch. Mrs Hawk was due in just under three hours. It sounded like nothing, but she knew it would be the longest and most nerve-racking three hours of her life. She just had no idea which way Tallulah would go. None of them did.