Free The Mystery of the Masked Rider by Carolyn Keene Page B

went into the extra stall. A minute later she came out with several sections of hay. “Bess is still zonked out.”
    Nancy pushed her cot out of the way. “Let me go in with you,” she said. “I want to check out the stall. Maybe there’s a clue that will tell us who let your horse out last night.”
    As soon as Nancy opened the stall door, Nightingale came over and snuffled her cheek in a friendly greeting.
    â€œAt least this time she wasn’t hurt,” Colleen said as she walked around the mare, checking her over. “Thanks to Gloria.”
    â€œMmmm.” Nancy walked slowly around the stall, her gaze trained on the ground, looking forclues. “So tell me about Gloria. How come she has to braid horses at three A.M. while the owners get their beauty sleep?”
    Colleen sighed as she took down the hay net and started stuffing hay into it. “That’s some story. Three years ago Gloria was at the top. She even won a silver medal at the 1988 Olympic Games. Then she decided to go professional and was riding for a dozen different owners. It seemed as if she was in every show. She’d fly from the West Coast to the East Coast in one week. It was crazy—she was obsessed with winning.”
    â€œIs she like that now?” Nancy asked. Stooping down next to the stall door, she began hunting through the straw.
    â€œNo. I think she learned her lesson.” Colleen hung up the hay net, then went out to get a brush. When she returned, she went on. “Last year at the Washington International, Gloria was determined to break the indoor high-jump record. The horse she was riding was fairly young, and he fell during the jump-off.”
    â€œWas Gloria hurt?”
    Colleen nodded. “She broke her back and was in the hospital for months. But what really messed up her career was the fact that the owners of the horse had told her not to ride in the jump-off. Gloria didn’t listen. The horse soured after his fall, and they had to start all over again with his training. The owners made a big stink about it. Nothing happened legally, but whenGloria was well enough to ride again, no one wanted to take a chance with her.”
    â€œExcept you.”
    Colleen shrugged. “That’s different. She wouldn’t be riding my horse. She’d be training me.”
    â€œSo what’s she doing now?”
    â€œOh, she runs a small stable and gives clinics and lessons. Most of her students ride in hunter classes.”
    â€œSo that’s why she’s so eager to work with you and Nightingale,” Nancy mused.
    â€œYeah. It would get her into big-time jumping again.”
    â€œHmmm. It seems like everyone has an interesting story.”
    Colleen looked puzzled. “What do you mean?”
    â€œYesterday Scott was telling me about his horse—Hey! What’s this?” Nancy peered at a fuzzy blue fiber that was caught on a splinter on the side of the stall door.
    â€œColleen,” Nancy said in a low voice. “Take a look at this.”
    Colleen squatted next to her. Carefully Nancy pulled the fiber free and held it up for her friend to see.
    â€œLooks like yarn,” Colleen said.
    Nancy nodded. “Right. And if my hunch is correct, it’s the same blue yarn that Marisa San Marcos was braiding into her horse’s mane!”

10
Bound for Trouble
    â€œFirst the mask, now the yarn,” Colleen said, frowning. “I’d say that’s plenty of proof that the San Marcoses are up to no good. Maybe I was wrong about them wanting Nightingale. Maybe the only thing they want is to see her out of the show.”
    Nancy was ready to agree. But a little voice inside was telling her that, twice now, the physical evidence had been too easy to find. “Unless someone planted the yarn to make them look guilty,” Nancy said slowly.
    â€œWhat are you guys doing grubbing around in the straw?” a deep voice said above