Scout and the Mystery of the Marsh Ponies by Belinda Rapley Read Free Book Online

a couple of months, and most of that time he was on Dragonfly Marsh, I seriously doubt she’ll be bothered about the prospect of him being sold.”
    “So that’s our first plan of action out of the window,” Rosie agreed, dismissing the apples that Mia offered round, and bringing out a slightly squished chocolate bar instead.
    “The question is,” Mia said quietly, readingand re-reading the clues and hoping that something would suddenly jump out at her and start making sense, “where do we go from here?”

Chapter Eight
    “S ORRY I’m here so early.” Alice shivered as she sat down at Rosie’s kitchen table the next morning, her foot tapping edgily. “I couldn’t sleep, so I thought I might as well come over.”
    “S’fine,” Rosie replied. She’d been hauled out of bed almost an hour earlier than usual after hearing Alice’s anxious knocking at the door. She sat in her pyjamas and yawned as she cradled a hot chocolate. Mrs Honeycott pottered about in the background, her hair piled up haphazardly on her head, her dressing gown splattered with a rainbow of paint colours. She had been heading for her studio to work on her latest painting when Alice arrived, but before she disappeared she’d put on milk for hot chocolate. She absently pattedAlice on the head, knowing that something was up with her daughter’s friend.
    Alice drank a few sips of her hot chocolate while Rosie went upstairs to get dressed, but what she really wanted was to be out in the yard, with Scout. She didn’t know how long they had left together, and she wanted to spend every second with him that she could. When Rosie reappeared a few moments later in scruffy outgrown navy jodhpurs and a yellow T-shirt, they trooped out of the kitchen, grabbed headcollars and went to collect the four ponies from the paddock. They brought them in, Rosie leading Dancer and Wish, and Alice with Scout and a jogging Pirate. Then they made up the feeds. The ponies ate tied up in the yard outside their stables. As Scout chomped, Alice leaned against his withers trying to take in every detail about him, as if she were recording them in her memory, just in case. She stopped herself, not wanting to believe that Scout might really go.Then she took a deep breath and went to fetch her grooming kit from the tack room.
    When Scout had finished his feed and licked every hidden corner of his bucket, Alice tried to distract herself by grooming him. She fussed around the grey pony, brushing off all the grass stains on his hocks, withers and neck, and making his dapples sparkle. Then she trimmed his feathers, levelled off his tail and pulled his mane to neaten it up. Scout loved nothing more than having tons of attention and he dozed in the early morning sunshine, blinking round at Alice and rummaging in her pockets for treats when she tried to brush his forelock.
    She’d just finished when Charlie arrived on her bike. Almost before she’d had a chance to get onto the yard, a car drove up the drive. A door slammed, and a second later Mia came running onto the yard too. Normally Mia was a picture of calm collectedness, whatever the situation, but it was obvious from the moment she stopped infront of Alice, her almond eyes wide, that something had seriously rattled her.
    “What’s the matter?” Charlie asked, following Mia across the yard. Rosie threw her mane comb back into Dancer’s grooming kit and rushed over to join them.
    “I glanced behind me in the car as Dad drove here just now,” Mia explained, raking her hand through her long, silky black hair. “I don’t know what made me look, but there was a car right behind us. When I saw who was driving I made Dad speed up, just so we could get here quicker to give me a chance to warn you!”
    The others stared at Mia. At that moment, they heard another car bump down the drive.
    “Who was driving?” Rosie asked, looking over to the drive as a sleek dark grey Range Rover appeared near the cottage and parked.
    “Mrs