Free The Mystery of the Headless Horse by William Arden

experienced rancher. He shouldn’t make such a mistake.”
    “He didn’t, Dad! We’re sure that the sheriff’s made a mistake, or someone is framing Pico, and we’re going to prove it!”
    “I hope so, son,” Mr. Andrews said.
    Bob gulped his breakfast and then called Jupiter to report what had happened. Jupiter took the news about Pico poorly.
    “Of course Pico didn’t set that fire, and you should know why! You could have stopped the sheriff yourself, Bob. Can’t you remember anything? We saw Pico’s hat ourselves.” Jupiter was grumpy because he’d missed all the excitement.
    “Well, thanks a lot,” replied Bob, stung. “I just don’t happen to have a photographic memory like you. So when did we see the hat?”
    “Oh, I’ll tell you at school,” said Jupe maddeningly.
    “Great,” said Bob and slammed down the phone, now in as bad a mood as Jupe.
    But the Investigators were too busy at school all day to even talk. Bob and Jupiter both regained their good humour and by the end of school were friends again. Classes ended early, so the boys had most of the afternoon free to pursue their investigation.
    “Did anyone see Diego today?” asked Jupiter as the boys cycled through more rain to the salvage yard.
    “I looked for him, but I didn’t see him,” said Pete. “I don’t think he made it to school.”
    Diego hadn’t. He’d spent the day with Emiliano Paz trying to arrange for a lawyer for Pico. The slim boy was waiting outside Headquarters when the Investigators arrived at the salvage yard. As soon as everyone slipped inside the hidden trailer, Diego filled in the detective team on what was happening.
    “We can’t afford a private lawyer, so the Public Defender’s Office is helping,” Diego said. “They say that it doesn’t look good for Pico.”
    “We know he didn’t do it, Diego,” Bob said angrily.
    “But how do we prove it?” Diego said, tears in his eyes. “And how can we save our land now? With Pico in jail he can’t do anything. We don’t even have enough money for bail!”
    “What is bail?” asked Pete.
    “It’s money that you leave with the court as a guarantee that you’ll show up for your trial if you’re let out of jail beforehand,” said Jupiter. “If you can raise bail, you don’t have to wait in jail for hearings to take place or for your trial to start.”
    “The judge set Pico’s bail at five thousand dollars,” said Diego.
    “Five thousand dollars!” exclaimed Pete. “Hardly anybody has that kind of money!”
    “You don’t have to put up the whole amount in cash,” explained Jupiter. “Only about ten per cent. For the rest, you can pledge property — your house, say. Then if you don’t show up when you’re wanted in court, the court keeps the money and property. If you do show up, you get your bail back. Most people do show up — they don’t want to get in even bigger trouble.”
    Diego nodded. “Pico would show up. His pride would not let him run away. But we haven’t got the bail anyway — either the five hundred dollars cash that the judge demanded or the property to pledge for the rest.”
    “What about your ranch?” asked Pete.
    “That’s mortgaged to Don Emiliano, so we can’t promise it to the court. We are trying to borrow bail money from friends. But for now, Pico has to stay in jail!”
    “I think,” Jupiter said grimly, “someone may have counted on that. I don’t think that this is an accident. That hat was stolen somehow and placed near the campfire.”
    “But how do we prove it, Jupiter?” Diego wailed again.
    “We don’t even know when Pico last had his hat,” Bob added.
    “But we do know, fellows,” announced Jupiter, “that Pico had his hat around three o’clock last Thursday, the day of the brush fire. Don’t you remember? He was wearing it when we met him outside school!”
    “Of course, of course,” cried Bob, striking his forehead.
    “And that means that Pico couldn’t have left the hat by the