Secondhand Horses (17 page)

“C’mon, guys, let’s eat before my brothers get all the corn bread. I’m starving.” Sunny led the way into the house. “It’s time to celebrate finishing!”

“You made
corn bread
?” Esther sounded impressed.

Sunny shook her head no. Some things were better to
not
start.

The girls had promised each other they wouldn’t reveal any more of the deets to their families until this group supper. Now that everyone was seated around the long kitchen table with a card table on each end extending the space so everyone had room, the Squad looked at expectant faces.

Esther’s family sat across from Bill and Vee’s mom. Bill was already entertaining Esther’s brothers. Heather and the Twin Terrors were seated next to Sunny’s mom who sat with Dad. Vee’s dad,
of course
, was out of town. Aneta’s mom sat next to Uncle Dave—Vee, Esther, and Sunny were going to watch
that
very closely—and then she and the Squad sat together.

Sheriff Bucholtz in his uniform, as an unexpected guest, sat at the end by Sunny’s brothers, whose faces revealed they were
very pleased
about that.

“We’re pretty proud of how it all turned out,” Sunny’s mom said. “Although I won’t say I’m glad for all your decisions.”

“Some of them are in the
what-were-you-thinking
category,” Sunny’s dad agreed.

“I’m so sorry that Uncle Dave broke his ankle,” Sunny began.

Her uncle stopped her by pounding a crutch on the floor. “Enough with the apologies. It was my idea to have you come out here in the first place. True, I didn’t expect
certain
things, like eleven-year-olds buying a zoo, or them capturing a jewel thief, but still—”

The girls swiveled to look at Sunny.

“Wait.
Your
idea to come to the ranch? It was
my
Great Idea!” she said, leaning forward so she could see him.

“Sorry, Sunny girl. When your dad called to ask me if I would mind—”

Now she switched her focus to her dad who was trading looks with her mom. Both of them were stuffing chuckles. “
Dad
called you to see if I—” He’d done it again. Asked her what she thought when he already knew what he was going to do. “
Dad!
”

Uncle Dave leaned back in his chair. “Yeah, I thought it would be great for you to come work at the ranch. We’re a lot alike. We both like stuff to be fun.”

“Tell her your nickname growing up,” Sunny’s mom said.

Uncle Dave belted out one of his rat-a-tat laughs. “Sisters never forget. It was Halfway Dave. I finished everything halfway, which—”

“—isn’t finished at all.” This reminded Sunny of the Adventure Readers and Major. “Hey, I’d like to finish something else,”—she placed heavy emphasis on her next words—“besides catching a jewel thief, taking care of Crutch Man, a secondhand zoo, and an entire ranch”—she swept out an arm to include the Squad who were enjoying this family exchange very much—“with the rocko-socko help of the S.A.V.E. Squad.”

“What’s that?” Esther asked.

“I want to finish the Adventure Readers to the end of the year with Major visiting them at the library to read with them.”

“Me, too!” Aneta said. “I cannot wait!”

“But, Sunny.” Vee’s face lost all its amusement. “We have to adopt out the zoo.
Major isn’t staying here
.”

The room dropped into an unnatural silence. Even the brothers stopped chewing.

She’d completely forgotten about finishing with the zoo. They seemed like so much a part of the ranch.…

Ughness
.

Some celebration.

Now all eyes were on Uncle Dave, who shifted in his seat. He cleared his throat. “Well, Sunny, you know I came here to set up a sport pony breeding stable.”

“I know,” Sunny said miserably. “You kept telling me.” Her heart hurt. No more wuffling in her ear. No more schoolwork buddy. Her brothers might tease her, but it was highly likely she was going to bust out crying and run out of the room.

Esther and Vee had both narrowed their eyes and said together, “And?”

“I’m taking a step back from that. Instead I’m going to create a search and rescue training center with secondhand horses. I’ve been on the phone a lot with some buddies of mine—”

“You mean all those phone calls weren’t about sport ponies?” Sunny slit her eyes at her uncle, who was grinning hugely. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Oh, because I figured you could practice arguing with me and not get in trouble with your parents. So you can rest easy. The zoo has a home here.” He leaned back in his chair. “Remember the kid with Starbright and his dad out of work?”

Vee said, “Oh yes.”

Esther snickered.

Vee dealt her the Vee Stare.

“Well, he’s a construction builder kind of guy as well as a horseman. I’m going to hire him to build what we need and take care of the horses as they come in. Police departments and border patrol are using horses more and more. Horses are quite sensitive to what’s happening around them.”

Sunny choked on her corn bread. “They sure are.”

The sheriff stood up. Sunny had forgotten he was there.

“I’ve enjoyed this dinner, but it’s time for me to head out.” He looked at the girls. “Dave asked me to come and answer any questions you might have since yesterday.”

“What’s the story?” Esther asked. “Where did he steal the jewels from? Why did he decide to hide them here?”

The sheriff jammed his hands into his utility belt. “That creepy carnival guy, as you girls call him, is Evan Wangston. He and his partners broke into a pretty big jewelry store in Seattle. Wangston dreamed up this idea that he would bring the jewels to Canada with this traveling carnival coming through Oregon. Nobody would think to look for him there and nobody would suspect that millions of dollars—”

A sharp intake of breath from each person at the table. The Squad gulped.

Sunny recalled The Shirt’s panic over Bob. She asked, “Why was the guy so freaked out about Bob the goat? I mean, he’s just a little goat.”

The sheriff laughed deep in his throat. “During the heist, Wangston got scared and shot a night guard who had woken up just as they were departing with the loot. Wangston was sure he’d killed him. His guilty conscience thought the guard’s ghost was haunting him. Wangston’s not the sharpest tack in the box.” Sheriff Bucholtz rocked back on his heels. “The guard’s name is
Bob
, and he’s not dead.”

Vee had the next question, and everyone learned that Wangston had conceived the idea to double-cross his buddies and disappear when the girls offered to buy the zoo. He planned to give the gang the slip and stash the gems at the ranch. Then when he was sure his gang didn’t know where he was, he’d circle back and collect the bag. Except his great idea had collided with Sunny’s mission to regain her family’s trust in finishing things.

“His great idea,” Sunny murmured.

Raising a crutch instead of his hand, Uncle Dave asked, “I’ve got a question. Why would the guy be so stupid to say he didn’t have the jewels when he had to know you were going to search him?”

“That is something we just can’t figure out,” the sheriff said. “It was a pretty stupid bluff.”

“Some criminals are stupid. Eleven-year-olds are not,” Sunny said, her heart light again, lighter than the moon and shining as brightly. Major was staying. Piggles, Which Way, and Bob would help other kids learn to read on ranch visits. Major the reading mini. Major, who knew when to have a Great Idea at
just the right time
. Evan Wangston knew that.

Complete yayness.

Uncle Dave reached under the table and brought out a small paper bag. “Just to show you there’s no hard feelings about you girls and my accident and recovery …”

He dug into the bag and handed four jewelry boxes to Aneta’s mom. “Could you deliver? I’m not sure I could get around the table without clubbing someone.”

Ms. Jasper popped up and handed the boxes around. Once each girl had her box, they shut their eyes and said, “Okay, on three. One-two-three!”

Sunny opened her eyes. In her palm was a glass bead in the shape of a horseshoe fixed to a small, gleaming piece of wood. There were red, green, and crystal sparkle dots curving around it. A tiny silver loop hung at the top.

“Beautiful, and these are the jewels!” Aneta untied her bracelet.

The other girls followed and added the bead, knotting the soft leather cord before and after the bead as they had the others. Then they put their wrists together. “The S.A.V.E. Squad! Together!”

Vee was having some trouble with timing. “Mr. Martin, it was only yesterday that we caught the bad guy. How did you get these so fast?”

Uncle Dave tipped his head toward Aneta’s mom who had returned to her chair. “FedEx and knowing a woman who has family members who know everybody everywhere.”

“Are the jewels real?” Esther wanted to know, holding up her arm to see the bead twinkle in the overhead light.

“No,” Uncle Dave said with a grin and then jerked a thumb toward the sheriff.

The sheriff headed for the door with a slight wave. “No real gems on that bead, girls,” and then with a wink at Uncle Dave, who covered his ears, “but the insurance reward money for the recovery of the rubies, emeralds, and diamonds is
very real
.”

“Yes!” the Squad shrieked—loudly.

But then, so did everyone else.

Shirley the palomino was enjoying Esther’s attention while Mondo stood just far enough from the railing so no one could touch him. Major, Mystery, and Bob were playing animal soccer with the giant ball. Starbright wiggled himself in between Shirley and Mondo so he wouldn’t miss any nose scratches. The girls were on their own with Uncle Dave at the ranch for the rest of the weekend.

“The Squad was amazing,” Sunny said reflectively. She couldn’t stop smiling and had only ceased spinning when her dinner felt threatened. She clambered up next to Vee.

“I want us to always be together,” Esther agreed. “I would hate it if we weren’t the Squad anymore.”

“I love us,” Aneta said inside the corral so she could better watch the soccer game.

“What? Yes, we’re the best squad on the planet.” Vee obviously was worrying about something. “I still don’t get it.” She hunkered on the top railing, her brow furrowed, absently braiding Starbright’s mane. “You had the bag in your pocket. Then it
wasn’t
in your pocket. It was in
Wangston’s
pocket.”

In the corral, Major picked up a hoof and placed it on the ball, rolling it back and forth. He looked straight at Sunny, lowered his head, and butted the ball toward her. Hard. Then stomped his foot as though to say, “Go ahead, tell ’em!”

“Let’s just say, it was a secondhand mini being Major with a bumping nose.” Sunny hugged her arms around herself, smiling at the miniature horse. Oh yes.

She loved being a Squader.

And she loved a
Great Idea
.

Lauraine Snelling
is an award-winning author with more than seventy-five published titles including two horse-themed series for kids. With more than three million books in print, Lauraine still finds time to create great stories as she travels around the country to meet readers with her husband and rescued basset Winston.

When
Kathleen Wright
’s not dreaming up adventures for her characters, she’s riding bikes with her husband, playing pickleball, and trying to convince her rescued border collie that Mom knows best. She taught writing to fifth graders and up and loves how kids think.