Secondhand Horses (14 page)

“That wasn’t what he thought was going to happen!” Esther bounced on the railing. “I wish we could hear what’s going on!”

“He is happy now. He is shaking your uncle’s hand, Sunny,” Aneta said.

The girls streamed over to the boy once Sunny’s uncle and the boy’s dad moved off toward the corral.

“Your uncle is the best,” the boy said, his face no longer tight with tears. He had bright blue eyes that were sparkling. “He said he would take care of my horse for free until my dad gets a new job and gets caught up with bills. He said I can come work with my horse anytime. I can’t come every day because I work and go to school, but I’ll be here whenever I can.”

Sunny’s insides glowed with pride at her uncle. Another secondhand horse. Maybe Uncle Dave didn’t realize it yet, but he really was a secondhand horse rancher. Sport ponies? She didn’t think so.

“Since you girls can ride Starbright while he’s here, let me show you something cool about the saddle, even though you’ll use a different one to ride regular.” The boy opened the tack area of the trailer and hauled out the prettiest saddle Sunny had ever seen. Under the seat part, leather rectangles stacked on leather rectangles. Every inch of the rectangles had carvings on them. Some were light; some were dark.

“Um.” Sunny looked at the other girls who were staring at the horse in the trailer. The horse blinked out his window. Sunny would bet Major could walk under his belly if the little mini lowered his head. “We’re still beginning riders. Starbright is a pro cutting horse and all.”

“Ah, he’s a sweetie with beginners. He knows they don’t know anything. Check out this saddle.”

The girls oohed and ahhed; the boy seemed to appreciate that.

“Here’s the cool part.” He lifted a flap of leather that had tiny stars carved into it. “For Starbright,” the boy said proudly. “When we won the Junior Cutting championship last year, I was the youngest and so was he.”

He gave them a quick overview of why a cutting saddle was built the way it was. Sunny wasn’t paying much attention. Her eyes were glued to the leather flap the boy had lifted up. Underneath the flap was a matching set of twinkle stars carved in the leather. At first glance, it looked like just a fancy underside. But Sunny’s scrutiny caught the slightly thicker edge. As the boy continued to instruct the other three—who were hanging on his every word—Sunny reached forward and slid her finger along the thicker edge. Her finger disappeared into a secret compartment.

A secret compartment!
Zip, zip, zip went her brain. She glanced toward the tractor shed. Clue number three had finally shown up.

“So you found the secret.” The boy interrupted his lecture to smile at Sunny. He did have a nice smile, but it didn’t make Sunny blush. In fact, she wasn’t sure she heard anything else the boy said after he stated, “Looks just like a normal saddle, doesn’t it?”

She whirled to face the Squad. “Just a normal saddle? Like maybe just a normal
wagon
?” After a quick dance in the dust and a spin, she took off for the barn, throwing the last words over her shoulder. “We’ll take good care of your horse. Thank you for coming!”

Oh, the hunted were after the hunter again.

This time for keeps
.

In the length of time it took the girls to finish talking to the boy and he and his father to drive off, she had reached the barn, had the wagon on its side, and was running her hands over it.

“Sunny, what are you talking about?” Aneta asked. “What are you doing?”

Esther collapsed to her knees on the opposite end of the wagon from where Sunny was rapping with her knuckles on the end. “I get it. There’s a secret compartment in this wagon.”

“Somewhere.” Vee knelt on one of the long sides and began sliding her fingers. “This time tap and see if anything sounds hollow.”

Aneta nodded and sat cross-legged across from Vee. She began to tap, bending close to the wagon to listen.

Sunny had tapped, pounded, and fingered every bit of her end. “Nothing,” she said in disgust, falling back on her elbows and regarding the wagon.

“This gross carpet has got to come off.” Esther made a face. “It’s the only place we haven’t been able to listen for a hollow sound.”

“Then off it comes.” Sunny straightened up and began to tug at her end. With all four pulling, and comments about how dirty it was, the carpet came off. Some bits stuck, but now the girls could see the five boards.

“I see it!” Aneta shouted, using her index finger to trace a slightly raised board. She pushed long and hard on it. Nothing happened.

“Let me.” Sunny reached over. She took her fist and pounded.

Nothing.

Vee rapped on it with her knuckles. A satisfying hollow sound made the girls’ eyes go large and round. “It really
is
a secret compartment,” Vee breathed, with a full, satisfied smile.

Now they all looked at Esther. What would she try to open this tantalizing compartment? Esther studied the wagon boards. Then she suddenly leaned forward and, using her fingertips, pressed down quickly and let up.

The slat popped up about a quarter of an inch.

“But I did that,” Aneta protested.

“Nope,” Esther said. “You pushed and held. Sunny punched it. It’s a light touch and then hands off. My mom has a jewelry box that opens that way.” Four sets of hands eagerly pulled up the board the rest of the way. When the compartment lay fully exposed, an “ooooo!” rolled through the shed.

A black velvet bag lay on the rough wood.

W
ell, don’t just stare at it, pick it up and open it,” Esther said, staring at it and not picking it up.

“You pick it up,” Vee retorted with a snort. She sat on her hands. “I—well, I guess I didn’t think we’d actually
find
anything.”

“What’s in it?” Aneta clasped her hands in front of her and sat back with a mild thump.

“It’s treasure, that’s what it is. I know it!” Sunny reached over and picked up the bag, her fingers trembling. The velvet felt thick, warm, and soft to her exploratory fingers. At the bottom, a faint bulge pushed out the fabric. She squeezed the bulge between thumb and fingers. “It’s like—crunchy.”

“Bones?” Aneta’s eyes widened, and she scuttled backward. “Maybe the man
did
murder someone.”

Esther shook her head matter-of-factly. “Too small of a bag.”

Vee plopped next to Sunny and spread out an ancient burlap feed bag on the wagon bottom. “Found this. I shook out all the loose stuff, whatever it all was. I didn’t want to look too close.”

Sunny poured the contents of the velvet bag out onto the rough burlap. The last bits of sparkle lay on the burlap, catching the afternoon light from the gaps in the roof.

Vee looked at Esther.

Esther looked at Aneta.

Aneta looked at Sunny.

Glowing red rubies, deep green emeralds, glittering diamonds. Sunny could not think of a thing to say. She couldn’t even spin.

“
Now
we call the police,” Esther said, her hands going to her hips in a don’t-mess-with-me attitude.

“Are they real?” asked Vee, ever doubting.

“
Just
like in the girl detective books,” Aneta breathed, her face shining with excitement.

Sunny was up and spinning around the tractor shed, keeping an eye out for potential tripping obstacles. When dizziness careened her into the John Deere, she put her hands out and pushed off from it, standing with her legs wide.

“What is it?” Vee wanted to know.

“Another Great Idea?” Aneta asked hopefully, poking her finger among the jewels on the burlap.

“Somehow I already know. I. Don’t. Like. It.” Esther was already frowning.

“Not a
Great
Idea.” Sunny shook her head at Esther then squatted near the wagon, staring in awe. “Only the Greatest Idea that
ever
showed up on the planet.”

A few minutes later, Esther continued to not like the Greatest Idea, even after Sunny explained in detail how it involved the girls, Bob, and a trampoline. “We should tell your uncle and have him call the police.”

“But the police would be happier if they caught the bad guy
and
the jewels, wouldn’t they?” Aneta looked around the group for confirmation.

“We’re helping them,” Vee agreed. She had written down everything Sunny said. Now she reviewed it. “It’s a crazy idea, but it actually might work. You heard how nutso the guy was when he ran screaming from the barn last time.” She poked her finger through the deep glowing red, green, and white stones. “Where do you think he stole these from?”

“If I—I mean, we—catch the bad guy and return the jewels,”—she needed to say the right words here—“then my Uncle Dave and my parents will see that I can finish something. And finish something rocko-socko
giant
!”

Esther chewed her lip while she regarded the glittering bits on the burlap. When she looked up, her eyes looked bright, like there were tears in them. “I’ll do it. For you.”

A quick hug for Esther and another spin. This really
was
what she was good at. Even in her biggest wonders, she’d never dreamed she’d be getting a Great Idea to catch a criminal.

“Except I don’t see why Vee doesn’t get Bob. She runs faster,” Aneta stated.

“That’s what I was thinking. No offense, Aneta.” Vee tipped her head inquiringly at Sunny. “I’m just faster on land. Aneta’s faster in water.”

Nodding, Sunny said, “Yeah, I know. Think about it, guys. Who is Bob going to follow the fastest?”

Aneta and Vee shared a look.

“Aneta!” Vee said.

“Me!” Aneta said.

Sunny flung her arms wide. “Did I not think of
everything
?”

“So it’s tonight we set the trap.” Esther smacked one fist into the other.

“Catch a bad man,” Aneta said.

“Return the jewels to the rightful owner.” Vee stood and brushed off her pants.

“Be heroes,” Sunny said.
And show everyone I can finish big stuff
. Maybe after this she’d be a detective. She could make up business cards: S
UNNY’S
D
ETECTIVE
A
GENCY
.

“Sunny!”

“Huh? What?”

“We’re going in for supper now,” Esther said, choking a little on her chuckle.

The girls trooped into the house where Ms. Jasper and Uncle Dave were sitting at the kitchen table eating peanut butter cookies.

Aneta’s mom looked more beautiful than ever. She was laughing at something Uncle Dave had said—Sunny knew it had to be pretty funny—with her head thrown back and her long blond hair cascading down her back. Hmmm. She wasn’t wearing it in the ponytail or the hair clip like she usually did when she was a lawyer.

“Hi, girls.” She turned to smile at them. Aneta came up to her and slid an arm around her mother’s shoulder. “Hi, sweetie.” She hugged her daughter sideways. “I ordered pizza for all of us so nobody has to cook. Not that you, Sunny, haven’t been taking stellar care of your uncle!” She turned her smile on Sunny.

Pizza? Pizza was terrible news.

“You are staying for dinner?” Aneta asked, her brow furrowing. Her mom, who had responded to a question from Uncle Dave, gave her a nod and another hug and went back to talking with Uncle Dave about how they might help the guy who needed a job so he could take his son’s cutting horse back home.

“That’s—um, great,” Esther said from her place next to Uncle Dave, but her voice didn’t sound like it was great. She looked over at Sunny.

Vee looked like someone had slapped her. Her mouth opened and closed, minus words.

Sunny reviewed the options while conversation about Starbright swirled around her.

They could quit.

Nope. That wasn’t an option.

They could—she was thinking wildly now—start a fight among the four of them and break up dinner together.

No. Bad idea. Then everyone would go home. Or the adults would make them discuss the issue and take even more time.

She could insist they cancel pizza because what the Squad really wanted was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and to go to bed early.

Yeah. Like Uncle Dave and Aneta’s mom would believe
that
.

How late would Aneta’s mother stay? What if she came out to the barn and asked questions while they were setting up the trap? A shiver zinged down Sunny’s spine. She tuned in to the conversation, the special—
friendly
—tones her uncle and Ms. Jasper used with each other.

When her Greatest Idea had first come to her, she planned it would be done tonight. Uncle Dave and her family would have proof that Sunny was good for something and could finish. Could they get Aneta’s mom to leave early? Sunny didn’t see any way to do that. Uncle Dave was already talking about the John Wayne movie he wanted Aneta’s mom to watch with him.

Great. That meant there was only one thing to do. The Squad would have to set the trap after Ms. Jasper went home. The best they could hope for was no conversation after the movie ended.

But what if The Shirt came to the barn for the wagon—and what he thought was still
in
the wagon—while everyone was chomping down pizza?