Photo Finish

by Bonnie Bryant

  Stevie nodded in agreement. “It is terrible,” she said. “And we’ve got to find out who did it. This calls for a Saddle Club investigation! Lisa, why don’t you get a few pictures of the scene of the crime?”

  Lisa still looked unconvinced. “I don’t know, Stevie,” she said. “Why do you think it was a crime and not just a stupid mistake? Everyone around here is so busy today—maybe someone just didn’t check the hay carefully enough, like Eddie said.”

  “Well, it’s possible,” Stevie said grudgingly. “But we should try to find out who it was so it doesn’t happen again.”

  “I guess you’re right,” Lisa said uncertainly. She snapped on her flash attachment and quickly took a few photographs of Monkeyshines’s stall and manger, though she wasn’t sure what good it would do—there was obviously no evidence there now.

  “Here, get a shot of this,” Carole suggested, holding up the moldy hay she was still clutching.

  Lisa obligingly focused on the hay and snapped a few pictures of it. Then the girls drifted back toward the stable entrance, discussing possible suspects.

  “The first thing we need to figure out,” Stevie said, “is a motive.”

  But before she could go any further with that line of thought, Max and Deborah entered and spotted them.

  “There you are,” Max called. “Judy thought we might find you here.”

  Deborah held up several white paper bags. “We brought breakfast.”

  “Breakfast,” Carole repeated blankly. Her stomach grumbled. “Oh! What time is it?”

  “It’s after seven,” Max said brightly. “We brought doughnuts and juice for all of you.”

  “Great!” Stevie said, taking one of the bags Deborah was holding and peering hungrily inside.

  “Enjoy,” Max said. “We’ve got to get going.”

  “Aren’t you going to have breakfast too?” Lisa asked.

  “We already ate,” Deborah told her. “I’ve got a ton of work to do on my story before post time. Max is going to help me.”

  “That’s right,” Max said with a grin. “Deborah has been such a good sport about learning everything there is to know about my job and pitching in at Pine Hollow that I thought I’d return the favor. I’m now her official pack mule and gofer. So you girls are on your own for a while.”

  After Max and Deborah had left, The Saddle Club settled down in an empty stall to eat their breakfast and continue discussing the moldy hay incident.

  “All right, first of all, let’s come up with a list of likely suspects,” Stevie said.

  Lisa shook her head. “We can’t do that until we figure out what anyone would gain by poisoning Monkeyshines.”

  “That’s obvious,” Carole said. “Someone must have wanted to keep him from racing today so that Garamond would win.”

  “That seems a little too obvious,” Lisa pointed out. “I seriously doubt anyone from Garamond’s stable would do something so risky.”

  “Don’t be so sure,” Stevie said, poking a straw into her juice box and taking a big gulp. “After all, everyone around here keeps talking about how much money is at stake. Who knows what someone would do for money?”

  Lisa dug a notebook and pen out of her camera bag. “All right,” she said. “I’m still not sure there’s really a crime here to be solved, but just in case there is, we’d better look at this logically.”

  Carole and Stevie grinned at each other. Lisa could always be counted on to bring logic into any dilemma.

  “Great,” Stevie said. “First, write down all the possible motives someone could have.”

  Lisa nodded and wrote MOTIVES at the top of the page. Under that she wrote MONEY. Then she paused and stared at her friends. “Well?”

  “How about revenge?” Stevie suggested.

  “Revenge?” Carole said. “Where do you get that?”

  “I don’t know.” Stevie shrugged. “That’s always a motive in the movies. Maybe someone out there hates Mr. McLeod passionately and wants to make sure his horse doesn’t win.”

  Lisa looked more doubtful than ever, but she wrote REVENGE under MONEY. “I have another one,” she said. She wrote ACCIDENT.

  Stevie looked over her shoulder. “Accident?” she said.

  “Yes. If we’re going to investigate, we have to consider the possibility that there’s no big conspiracy at all behind that moldy hay,” Lisa said, looking a little stubborn.

  Carole knew there was no point in arguing with Lisa when she had that expression. Besides, there was just the slightest chance she was right. “Okay, then,” she said. “We have the motives. Now let’s move on to suspects.”

  “Great,” Stevie said quickly. “I nominate Kelly Kennemere.”

  Carole raised her eyebrows. “Good one!” she said approvingly. “She was really nasty to us yesterday. Maybe it was because she knew we were from Monkeyshines’s barn and she had a guilty conscience.”

  Lisa wrote SUSPECTS and jotted Kelly’s name underneath. “Who else?” she asked.

  Stevie thought hard. “Well, there’s Kelly’s father,” she said. “After all, he’s the one who would profit the most if Monk were out of the race. Garamond would be almost certain to win the first-prize money.”

  “I guess so,” Lisa said. “Although there’s a chance he would anyway—he already won the Kentucky Derby, remember?”

  “Write him down anyway,” Carole said. “We don’t know what kind of person Mr. Kennemere is. He could be super-greedy or just super-mean. Judging by his daughter, I wouldn’t doubt it.”

  “I still don’t think someone like that would take such a big risk,” Lisa said as she wrote Mr. Kennemere’s name under his daughter’s. “Although I suppose it could have been someone else in his stable—maybe the jockey. Doesn’t he get a percentage of whatever money the horse wins?”

  “You’re right,” Carole said. “Write that down.”

  Lisa wrote THE JOCKEY OR SOMEONE ELSE IN THE STABLE.

  The girls continued to think as they finished their breakfast, but they couldn’t come up with any more likely suspects.

  “Well, we’ve got three suspects on our list. The best thing to do,” Stevie suggested as they stood up and walked to the nearest trash can to deposit their bags and cartons, “is to keep our eyes and ears open for the rest of the day. Maybe we’ll see or hear something that will give us a clue.”

  “This reminds me of our last mystery-solving Saddle Club project,” Carole said. “When we solved the horse-napping.” The girls had once tracked down and rescued several valuable horses that had been stolen from Pine Hollow.

  “Actually, this time we’ll be just like Deborah when she’s on an assignment,” Lisa said. “We’ll investigate every angle as if we were researching a newspaper story. It could be fun, even if we don’t find out anything. I’ll have my camera ready to record any suspicious characters.”

  “That is, if they’re willing to stand still for half an hour while you get them in focus,” Stevie teased.

  Lisa arched her eyebrows. “You’ll see. My camera could be the thing that cracks this case.”

  “One thing we should definitely do,” said Carole, who had been thinking so hard she’d missed the whole exchange, “is keep a close eye on Monkeyshines for the rest of the day.”

  Stevie and Lisa sobered instantly.

  “That’s true,” Stevie said. “When whoever did it finds out Monk didn’t eat that hay, he or she might try again.”

  “Come on,” Carole said. “Let’s go check on him now.”

  As soon as they turned the corner into the corridor leading to Monkeyshines’s stall, they saw that the big colt already had a visitor. A short, wiry man wearing a green baseball cap was standing in front of the stall, staring at the horse, who was looking out at him curiously. Blackie was peering out of the stall too, chewing thoughtfully on the handle of a curry comb.

  Stevie, immediately suspicious, strode quickly down the aisle toward the stranger. “Hey, you there,” she called. “What ar
e you doing?”

  The man looked startled for a second. Then his face twisted into a scowl. “Who’s asking?” he replied shortly.

  Stevie stopped in front of him, her hands on her hips. Her friends stood behind her. “I’m asking,” she replied loudly. “I’m a friend of Mr. McLeod’s, and I want to know what you want with his horse. If you’re not willing to tell me, maybe I should go get him.”

  “You’re a friend of McLeod’s, huh?” the little man said with a snarl. “Well, there’s no law I know of that says I can’t come into a stable and look at any horse I want—even if it is McLeod’s precious Monkeyshines. And I don’t think I have to explain anything to him or to you. How do you like that?” Without waiting for an answer, he shoved his way past the girls and hurried down the aisle toward the entrance. A moment later he was gone.

  The three girls stared at one another.

  “Wow,” Carole said after a moment. “I think we just found suspect number four.”

  Stevie nodded. “Definitely,” she said, gently pushing Blackie away from her shoelace, which he was trying to chew. “He acted like someone with something to hide. And he knew who Monkeyshines was, and Mr. McLeod.”

  “There’s just one problem,” Lisa pointed out. “We don’t know who he is.”

  “Let’s ask Eddie,” Stevie said.

  As if on cue, the groom stepped out of the spare stall that was being used as a tack room. He didn’t notice the girls, however—he just walked quickly to the entrance and went out.

  “Quick, we’ve got to catch him,” Carole said, leading the way. When she emerged into the morning sunshine, she looked around and spotted Eddie striding away down the shed row, quickly glancing from left to right as he walked.

  “There he is,” Stevie said beside her. She opened her mouth to call Eddie’s name, but Carole shushed her.

  “Just a second,” she said. “I may be crazy, but doesn’t Eddie look as though he doesn’t want to be noticed?”

  Lisa shook her head. “You are crazy,” she said. “Don’t tell me you’re so caught up in this conspiracy theory that you’d suspect even Eddie! He adores Monkeyshines—why would he want to hurt him?”

  Meanwhile Stevie was staring intently after the groom. “I’m not so sure Carole is crazy after all,” she said. “It does look like Eddie doesn’t want anyone to see him, and I think I know why. Look where he’s heading.”

  Carole gasped. “Garamond’s stable!”

  Stevie nodded grimly. “I think that means we have two new suspects to add to that list!”

  A COUPLE OF hours later Lisa glanced at her watch. “It’s only nine A.M.,” she exclaimed. “I can’t believe it! It feels as if a whole day has passed already.”

  “Time flies when you’re having fun,” Stevie said. The three girls were outside Mr. McLeod’s stable, leaning against the wall and watching the activity surrounding them, which had slowed down only a little since earlier that morning.

  “Being here is fun,” Carole agreed. “The only part that’s not so much fun is thinking that Eddie may have been the one who tried to poison Monk.” After seeing the groom sneaking over to Garamond’s stable, The Saddle Club had waited outside. Eddie had come out a short time later, glancing all around as he hurried back to his own stable. Reluctantly, the girls had added him to their list of suspects along with the rude, wiry little stranger who’d been standing in front of Monkeyshines’s stall.

  “If it was Eddie who did it, I hope he doesn’t try again,” Stevie said. “After all, he’s Monk’s groom. It would be easy for him.”

  “Not that easy,” Lisa pointed out. “Now that all the horses have been exercised, Mr. McLeod and Judy and the trainer and jockeys and the other grooms and who knows who else will all be around the barn until race time. Eddie wouldn’t dare try anything with all those people around.”

  “I guess not,” Stevie admitted, kicking at the dirt with the toe of her sneaker.

  “Well, I for one am still not convinced he did it,” Carole said. “He just seems too nice. And he did seem truly surprised when we found the hay.”

  “Acting,” Stevie said promptly. “Still, we should keep on investigating our other suspects. Especially the Kennemeres—whether they’re working on their own or in cahoots with Eddie, we need to find out more about them.”

  “Agreed,” Carole said. “But how?”

  “Easy,” Stevie said. “We spy on them.”

  “Spy?” Lisa echoed. “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.”

  “Come on, Lisa, don’t be chicken,” Stevie said. “You wanted a chance to be an investigative photojournalist, right? Well, this is it!”

  Lisa glanced at Carole. “What do you think?”

  Carole thought for a moment. “I don’t know,” she said at last. “It does seem a little risky. But on the other hand, we’re doing it to find out who tried to hurt Monkeyshines. And I think that’s the most important thing right now.” That was a typical Carole response. She always put horses first and foremost in every decision.

  Lisa rolled her eyes. “All right, I guess I’m outvoted. You guys win. Let’s go play James Bond.”

  Ten minutes later The Saddle Club was hidden behind a stack of hay bales near the entryway of the Kennemere stables. By peeking around the corner of the bales, they had a view of the entrance as well as of Garamond’s stall. The big horse had watched curiously as the three girls peeked into the shed, held a quick whispered conference, and tiptoed over to their hiding place. But he hadn’t made a sound.

  “It’s awfully lucky that no one was around,” Lisa whispered. “Otherwise our cover would have been blown right away when they saw us looking in.”

  “I just hope someone shows up soon,” Stevie said worriedly. “Where are they all anyway? You’d think someone would be keeping an eye on Garamond.”

  Carole was peeking out at the doorway. “Shh!” she hissed. “Here comes someone. It’s Kelly!”

  “What’s she doing?” Stevie whispered eagerly.

  “Just a second—I’ll tell you—okay, she’s looking at Garamond,” Carole reported in a low whisper. “Now she’s turning around,” She ducked back as far as she could to avoid being seen. “She’s setting up that folding chair that was leaning against the wall. She’s sitting down on it, and pulling something out of her pocket—oh, it’s a paperback book. Now she’s sitting and reading.”

  Carole moved back and crouched beside her friends. “There you have it. She’s relaxing with a good book. Now what do we do?”

  “I knew we shouldn’t have done this,” Lisa moaned. “We could be trapped here for hours while she reads.”

  “Don’t give up yet,” Stevie whispered. “Someone else could still come in and talk to her. Maybe Eddie will come back to go over their plot. Or maybe it’ll be her father. We have to wait.”

  “No kidding,” Lisa said dryly. “What choice do we have?”

  Carole was looking up at the topmost of the bales before them. “Don’t look now, but we have company,” she said quietly.

  Stevie and Lisa looked up too. There, perched on the edge of the bale, looking down at them, was a very large, very fat white chicken.

  “What do you think she wants?” Stevie asked.

  “I don’t know.” Carole stared at the chicken. “Nice birdie,” she whispered tentatively.

  As if in reply, the chicken let out a sudden loud squawk.

  “What’s wrong, Lulu?” Kelly Kennemere’s voice asked from the other side of the bales. The chicken squawked again and flapped its wings, still staring at The Saddle Club.

  Lisa gulped. “Go away,” she ordered the bird. “Get lost, Lulu.”

  But Lulu didn’t get lost. Instead, with another mighty squawk she hurled herself downward, straight at the girls.

  “Aaah!” Carole shrieked, holding up her hands to protect herself. Lulu landed on the ground beside her with a thump. Carole peeked at the bird through her fingers, Lulu calmly bent down and started pecking at some stray p
ieces of hay on the floor.

  Meanwhile, quick footsteps could be heard approaching the bales. “All right, who’s back there?” Kelly Kennemere demanded cautiously, her voice quavering a little. “Come out of there right now.”

  Feeling very sheepish, the three girls crawled out of their hiding place and stood up. Lulu followed, clucking softly.

  When she saw who the intruders were, Kelly looked surprised. “Aren’t you the girls from Maskee Farms?” she asked. “You came around here last night, right? What in the world were you doing back there?”

  “Uh, that’s right, we were here last night,” Stevie said, thinking fast. “We were, um, so impressed with Garamond that we had to see him again.”

  Kelly looked skeptical. “His stall is over there, not back behind the hay.”

  “Right,” Stevie said. “But Lisa, here, is a photographer, you know?” She thumped the startled Lisa on the back. “Right, Lisa?”

  “Oh, uh, right,” Lisa said. She held up her camera. “See?”

  “So she wanted to get a few more pictures of Garamond,” Stevie continued, gathering confidence now. “The light wasn’t very good in here last night. There wasn’t anyone around when we came in, but we thought it would all right if we just came and took a few quick pictures. Then when Lisa took off her lens cap, she dropped it and it rolled away behind those bales.”

  “And all three of you had to go back and get it,” Kelly finished, still looking suspicious.

  “Well, she couldn’t find it at first,” Stevie said lamely. “We were helping her.”

  “How long were you back there anyway?” Kelly demanded.

  Stevie cocked an eyebrow at her. “Not long. Why do you ask?”

  Kelly frowned at her. “No reason.” She nodded at Garamond. “You can take a couple of pictures if you hurry. But then you’ll have to leave. We don’t want him to get overexcited with too many visitors before the race.”

  Stevie nudged Lisa in the ribs. “Oh, uh, okay,” Lisa stammered, raising her camera. She removed the lens cap and began her usual fiddling.

  “Just get the picture, will you, Lisa,” Carole said, trying to sound casual. She watched as Lulu the chicken strolled over to the stall next to Garamond’s and flapped her way up onto the top of the half-door. A chestnut horse moved over to the door and snuffled at the bird.