Mystery Rider

by Miralee Ferrell

  There was a slight pause, then, “Naw. I’m good. If a car comes down the road very fast, we might not get out of the way in time. Besides, I’m watching for that horse.”

  “Oh. Right.” Kate felt a little foolish, but she pushed it away. Melissa probably hadn’t said that to make a point that Kate wasn’t watching, but the comment stung just the same.

  What’s wrong with me? Kate wondered. Somehow she had to get past questioning everything Melissa said or did, but it was hard to do after months of Melissa looking down on the three of them—not to mention dissing the Ferrises’ barn when she first brought her horse there.

  Kate turned her attention to the field stretched out alongside the road. No horses. Figured. “Hey, Tori?”

  “Huh?”

  Kate dropped her voice. “Do you think Melissa still hates us?”

  “She doesn’t act like she does.” Tori kept her voice barely above a whisper. “You’re worrying again, aren’t you?”

  “I suppose. I’ll try to quit.”

  “Good. Let’s have fun today and see if we can find that mystery horse.”

  “Mystery Rider, you mean.”

  “It’s a mystery horse, too. It’s not like we know anything about it.” Tori pedaled a little harder as they started up a slight rise. “Except he’s the most beautiful horse I’ve ever seen. You know, I’ve never cared that much about horses until now. I mean, I like them okay, but that one is … somehow special.”

  Melissa rode up close behind them. “What breed do you think he is?”

  Kate shivered, thankful she’d heard the crunch of Melissa’s tires. There was no way Melissa could have overheard what they’d said a few seconds earlier, but it still worried Kate. She needed to be more careful. “I couldn’t really tell, but I’d guess it’s an Arabian. He wasn’t tall and streamlined like a Thoroughbred, and his head is more refined than a Quarter horse, but that’s all I could see.”

  “So probably not a jumper,” Melissa reasoned. “I doubt he’s being stabled at any of the barns in the area that take boarders, but you never know. Maybe we should check a couple of them in case?”

  “Good idea!” Kate tried to force some enthusiasm, but she wanted to smack her forehead instead. Why couldn’t she come up with some of the things Melissa kept suggesting? It was like the girl was out to show her up, one way or another. If only she could tell if Melissa was acting or being genuine … but all Kate could do was pray her rival—or was it her former rival?—wasn’t out to pull a prank that would hurt them all.

  Kate and her three friends, shoulders slumped in disappointment, left the boarding stable where three of them had worked for a few weeks in the spring. No one had seen a black horse of any kind, much less one being ridden at night.

  Tori swung her leg over her bike. “So what next?”

  Melissa crossed her arms over her chest and fixed her gaze on Kate. “Are you sure you saw this horse and rider? You didn’t dream it?”

  Kate bristled and barely kept from glaring at Melissa. “Of course not. We all saw it, not just me.”

  Melissa tossed her long blonde curls and smirked. “Fine, but you’ve got to admit it’s strange that no one else we’ve talked to has seen them. Especially with them riding down a public road. Any number of people should have driven by.”

  “Yeah, but how many of those people have we talked to?” Colt countered, his smile lopsided. “It’s not like horses aren’t common around here. Most people driving past in the evening probably wouldn’t even have noticed. Just because no one we’ve talked to has seen them doesn’t mean they don’t exist.”

  Kate blew out a breath, thankful for Colt’s sensible reply and calm attitude. She’d been ready to flare up and ask Melissa if she was accusing them of lying, but she was so glad she hadn’t. Arguing or getting angry wasn’t going to help them find the Mystery Rider and horse. “Right, Colt. So what do you suggest? Start knocking on doors?”

  “Nope.” He straddled his bike and perched on the seat, one foot balancing him. “We wait.”

  Tori arched a brow. “For them to ride by again? What good will that do? We’ve tried to get the woman to talk to us twice, and she’s not interested. She takes off and doesn’t look back.”

  “I know. But how fast can she go when it’s almost dark? I say we have our bikes ready and follow next time. See where she goes.”

  “Then what?” Melissa hadn’t relaxed her tense stance.

  Kate glanced at her. What was with Melissa today, anyway? It was as if she was angry all the time, or suspicious or something. Kate was really beginning to regret inviting the girl into their circle.

  Colt smiled. “We’ll worry about that when the time comes. Since it’s not safe to be riding bikes in the pitch-dark, we’ll probably only be able to follow for a short while, so we can get home while it’s still light. If we’re lucky, we’ll see where she goes. Then we can talk about checking it out the next day. Or not.” He looked at each of the girls in turn. “So who’s in?”

  “Me.” Kate spoke quickly, hoping Tori would say yes while secretly wishing Melissa would say no and head home.

  Kate’s heart sank when Tori and Melissa both nodded and agreed at the same time. They were going to be stuck with Melissa and her attitude for at least another day.

  Kate was thankful her parents didn’t mind her riding her bike with friends in the evening. At least it wouldn’t be dark for another hour, and dusk wouldn’t come for another twenty minutes or so. The four of them sat on her back porch watching the road, bikes parked nearby.

  Melissa rested her elbows on her knees. “What if she doesn’t come tonight? We waited last night and nothing. This might be a waste of time. I still haven’t seen this Mystery Rider of yours.”

  Her attitude’s really getting old, Kate thought. “It’s not like we have a lot of choice, unless we want to forget it,” she said aloud.

  “We haven’t done any more planning for the parade lately,” Melissa replied. “Maybe we should go inside and do that instead.”

  Tori’s face fell. “If it’s okay with everyone, I’d like to wait a little longer. It’s almost the time she came by a few days ago.”

  Colt held up his hand. “Shh. No more talking. I thought I heard something.”

  Kate strained to listen but only heard crickets chirping and frogs peeping. “Nothing.”

  “Wait.” Colt narrowed his eyes. “There it is again.”

  A dawning realization lit the other girls’ faces, and Kate sucked in a shallow breath. She heard it too. Hoofbeats on the gravel not far up the road. She sprang to her feet. “Let’s get on our bikes and be ready,” she whispered.

  Colt shook his head. “Not yet. We don’t want her to notice us sitting here. Let’s hold still until she goes past.”

  Kate waited, gazing up the road where the Mystery Rider had appeared last time. “Yes!” She pumped her fist in the air. “There she is, cloaked, hooded, and trotting.” She eyed Colt. “How long should we wait before we follow?”

  “Let her get past the house and have her back to us. Then I say we wait at least another minute so she doesn’t notice us.”

  Melissa scowled. “But what if she goes around the corner and disappears? We don’t want to lose her.”

  Kate bit her lip to keep from laughing. Melissa finally believed them and was now more worried and excited than they were. “There aren’t any side roads up ahead,” Kate quietly explained, “so I think we’re safe. I agree with Colt. We don’t want her to notice four kids on bikes following her.”

  “Right.” Tori gave a quick nod, her focus fixed on the rider going past. “She has that hood pulled up so far that I still can’t see her face. What’s with that anyway? It’s too warm for any kind of jacket, much less a hood.”

  They huddled together until the horse was out of sight, then climbed on their bikes and pushed off. K
ate’s heart thudded so hard she could feel it. If only they didn’t lose sight of the woman and could solve the mystery …

  The four friends pedaled across the lawn and onto the road. Colt led the group, but he didn’t ride as fast as Kate would have liked. “Hey, Colt. Let’s go faster or we’ll lose her,” she urged.

  He glanced back over his shoulder. “We don’t want to catch up with her either, but I guess we can go a little faster.” He increased his speed, and the girls followed.

  An owl hooted in the branches of a tree they passed, and Kate shivered. She wasn’t superstitious at all, but that sound was creepy. She could see up the road a ways, but there was no sign of the horse and rider. Her mind raced back to the question Melissa had asked. What would they do if they found out where the woman lived? Why was she being so secretive, only riding the horse in the late evening and keeping her face hidden? None of it made sense.

  They approached a corner, and Colt called back, “We should see them up ahead, and we might need to slow down so we don’t spook them.”

  Kate tensed as the corner approached. After the long, sweeping curve, it took a couple of minutes to hit the straightaway on the far side. The light from the moon had increased, and the trees cast long, spiky shadows. Kate could still see the road all the way to the next corner, some distance ahead.

  Not a thing moved along the entire stretch. The horse and rider had disappeared like a wisp of smoke on the wind.

  Chapter Four

  All four bikes skidded to a stop at nearly the same time, spraying gravel from beneath their tires.

  Kate balanced one foot on the ground and stared ahead, then peered over her shoulder the way they’d come. “What’s going on? Where’d they go?”

  Colt pushed his bike toward them from his position in the lead, shaking his head. “Weird.”

  Tori shivered. “No, it’s not weird; it’s spooky. I say we go home.”

  Melissa laughed. “You’re a bunch of babies if you give up right when it’s getting interesting.”

  Melissa’s mocking words made Kate mad. She sucked in a long breath and let it out slowly before replying. “I don’t think Tori is being a baby at all, and Colt is right. It is weird. The horse and rider were ahead of us. We all saw them.” She narrowed her eyes. “Do you know where they went?”

  Melissa gripped the handlebars so tight, her knuckles whitened. “Why should I? Are you accusing me of something, Kate?” She pushed her bike a couple of inches toward Kate. “You’ve had it in for me since the day I came to help you paint the fence. If you don’t want me here, say so. I’ll go home, and I won’t bug you again.”

  Kate stared at Melissa, hardly able to believe what she’d heard. She had it in for Melissa? It had been the other way around from the time they’d met. Anger brimmed. More than anything right now, Kate wanted to throw Melissa’s words back at her and say exactly what she thought.

  But at that instant, her mother’s comment returned: So it’s okay to get even with someone if she wasn’t kind to you in the past?

  Kate’s tense muscles relaxed. “I don’t want you to go home, Melissa, and I’m sorry if I made you feel that way. I thought you were only hanging around us because you’re bored.” She didn’t want to admit how much she’d distrusted Melissa’s motives. “I mean, it’s not like we were ever friends before I let you use Capri in the horse show. You don’t owe me anything. I did it because I wanted to.”

  “Right. And not because you felt sorry for me because of my mother.” Melissa almost growled the words.

  Colt pushed in closer, his bike tire bumping into Melissa’s and sidetracking her attention. “So what if we did? What’s wrong with caring about how someone feels, especially if she’s hurting?”

  Melissa’s eyes widened. “I don’t want your pity.”

  Tori gave a slow nod. “Yeah, I get that. I thought Kate was only being nice to me at first because I’m different.”

  Melissa scowled. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “You know, I’m not white like you guys. I don’t fit in all the time. Kids think I’m a foreigner because my dad is from Mexico, even though I was born here.” Tori shrugged. “Sometimes that hurts, and when anyone goes out of their way to be nice to me, I don’t always trust them. Until they prove they really want to know me and be friends.” She lifted her head and smiled. “Like Kate did for you and me.”

  Melissa’s grip on her handlebars loosened, and her body sagged. “Right. I didn’t know you felt that way, Tori.” She raised her chin, and tears glistened in her eyes. “Did I make you feel bad because you’re different?”

  Tori hesitated. “Yeah. Kind of. Sometimes. But you weren’t mean like some of the kids. You mostly just ignored me.”

  A tear trickled down Melissa’s cheek. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize …”

  Warmth rushed over Kate. She set her bike down and reached to touch Melissa’s arm. She suddenly got it. All this time, Melissa had been hurting, thinking they’d only been feeling sorry for her and not wanting to be friends. “Hey. What happened to your other friends? Why aren’t you hanging out with them? Not that we don’t want you, but I’m curious.”

  Melissa swiped the back of her hand across her eyes. “They dumped me when they found out we aren’t rich. Mom kept it hidden for a long time, but now the bill collectors are coming, and I don’t have money to throw around anymore. I guess most of my friends didn’t like me for myself, huh?” Her smile wavered. “But seriously, I don’t want to barge in on you guys.”

  Kate exchanged glances with Tori and Colt, then told Melissa, “Silly. You aren’t barging in. We made you the head of our parade committee, remember? We wouldn’t have done that if we didn’t want you around. Right, guys?”

  Tori and Colt grinned, and Colt patted Melissa on the shoulder. “Now that all the girlie, emotional stuff is settled, how about we decide what we’re going to do about this mystery horse?”

  Late the next morning, Tori, Colt, and Melissa sat around the table on the Ferrises’ outdoor patio. Kate set down a tray of pink lemonade and four glasses filled with ice, then slipped into the empty seat by Tori. “Help yourselves.”

  Colt removed the piece of straw from between his teeth and tossed it on the grass, then reached for the pitcher. “Thanks. So what do we do now?”

  “I’ve been doing some checking on the parade rules,” Melissa reported. “Want to hear them?”

  “Yeah!” the other three chorused at once.

  Melissa sobered. “It’s going to cost all of us. There’s an entry fee.”

  Tori groaned. “I didn’t think of that. Great. How much?”

  “A whopping two dollars and fifty cents each! Think we can handle it?” Melissa laughed.

  Tori gaped at her, then chuckled. “You had me worried for a minute. I thought we’d have to do some kind of fund-raiser or something. Whew! That’s great!”

  “Yeah.” Kate nodded. “Is that it?”

  “We have to fill out a form and tell them if we’re entering as individuals or a group, but since we’re representing the barn and it would only be ten dollars for the whole group, I figured that’s the way to go, right?” Melissa cocked her head.

  “For sure,” Colt said. “What else?”

  “We give them a description of our entry for the parade announcer, show up at the starting point ahead of time, and stay in line during the parade. It says we can throw candy along the sidewalk in front of the crowd if we want to, or just wave and smile, and that’s it. Sounds simple enough.”

  Kate leaned back in her chair. “Awesome. I figured we’d have to have a designated pooper-scooper to go behind the horses.”

  “I read somewhere that some towns make horses wear diapers,” Tori added. “Can you imagine? That makes a pooper-scooper sound pretty good.”

  Colt hooted with laughter. “No way. You’re making tha
t up.”

  “Am not. Mom found it on the Internet and told me about it when I said we wanted to be in the parade. She was worried about having to make a diaper big enough to fit Mr. Gray, Kate.” Her eyes twinkled.

  Kate gagged. “Nasty. Hopefully they won’t change the rules for this parade.”

  Melissa giggled. “Any of our horses would probably turn into bucking broncos if you tried to strap a diaper under their tails. I’d sure like to see a picture of someone who actually did it!”

  Colt sobered. “So, that’s all we need to do? Come up with ten bucks, fill out the application, and show up on time?”

  Melissa nodded. “But remember, we still need some kind of banner with the barn name on it. Either draped behind the saddle with the words on both sides or on a pole that we carry like a flag.”

  Tori winced. “I think I need both hands on the reins. It’s going to be scary enough riding Mr. Gray in a parade without trying to hang on to a flagpole. No thanks.”

  “I agree,” Colt announced. “I’ve ridden in one parade, and my horse did great, but not every horse does. We don’t want any accidents.”

  Tori paled. “Maybe I should stay home. Or I can be the pooper-scooper if they say we need one.”

  Kate took a sip of her lemonade, then set down the glass. “No way. Mr. Gray is an old hand. The previous owner said he’d been ridden in several parades.”

  “O-kay …” Tori didn’t look convinced. “But I’ll still volunteer for cleanup duty if we need it.”

  Melissa hugged her. “You’ll do fine, Tori. We should get back to planning the banner, right? Any ideas?”

  They spent another thirty minutes tossing around ideas for material and lettering. Finally Colt heaved to his feet. “Sorry, girls, but this is definitely not guy stuff. I think I’ll go hang out with Pete and read to him or something.”

  Kate grinned. “You mean you aren’t an accomplished seamstress? Sheesh. And here I thought you’d be doing all the work once we figured out the details.” She plopped her elbows on the glass tabletop. “I think we’ve brainstormed enough. You got any ideas for what we should do now about the Mystery Rider and her horse?”