Mystery Rider Read Free Page A

probably should head home too. Mind if I use your phone and give Mom a call?”
    â€œGo ahead. You know where it is. You sure you don’t want any more popcorn first?”
    â€œNot me.” The answers came in unison from Colt and Tori.
    Colt’s long stride took him out of the room in a couple of seconds, but a short time later he hollered over his shoulder, “Hey, come see this. Weird, if you ask me.”
    Kate bolted into the kitchen first, with Tori on her heels, and said, “What’s up?”
    Colt moved to the sliding glass door and pointed. “A black horse. That’s not a big deal, but the rider looks strange.”
    Tori crept up beside him. “The horse is gorgeous!”
    Colt grunted assent. “But what’s the deal with the person riding him? You can’t tell if it’s a man or a woman, and it’s awful warm to be wearing a full slicker with a hood.”
    Kate shaded her eyes against the glass. “I wish it wasn’t dusk, so we could see the rider better. Look, they’re trotting now and moving on up the road. I think the rider’s a woman or a teenager. Doesn’t look big enough to be a man, and she’s all hunched over the horse’s mane. Do you think she’s sick or something?”
    Colt slid the door open. “Maybe we should make sure the rider is okay.”
    Kate and Tori slipped outside, with Colt following. He nudged Kate in the side. “You going to holler or just stand there?”
    Kate made a face at him but took a few steps toward the gravel road that ran behind her house. “Hey,” she called toward the horse and rider, “are you all right?”
    The horse slowed for a second. Then the rider bumped him in the side and they took off at a fast trot.
    Tori stepped up beside Kate. “That was rude. She had to have heard you, but then she ignored you.”
    Kate nodded. “It’s a mystery. I’ve never seen that horse before, but maybe we should ask around and see what we can find out. It sure seemed like the rider had something to hide.” She faced Tori and Colt. “The person was the same size as Melissa. You don’t suppose that’s why she had to hurry home? But why wouldn’t she stop and show us her new horse?”
    Colt scrunched his brow. “It doesn’t make a bit of sense. I say we keep a close eye out tomorrow night in case the rider comes back. What if she stole that horse?”

Chapter Two
    Kate, Tori, and Colt sat in Kate’s backyard for the third night in a row, but they still hadn’t seen the mysterious horse and rider again. Kate’s parents didn’t mind them keeping an eye out for the new horse in the neighborhood. However, none of the trio thought it was a good idea to share their suspicions with Mr. and Mrs. Ferris that the rider could have been Melissa.
    Tori settled back in a lawn chair. “I feel kinda stupid. There’s no reason for Melissa to ride a new horse past your house right before dark. I don’t know why we ever thought it was her to begin with.”
    Colt plucked a long blade of grass from where he lay stretched out on the lawn and stuck it between his teeth. “Me too. It’s not like she threw eggs at the house or anything.”
    Kate had struggled with some of the same feelings for the past couple of days. “I’m the one who started us thinking that way … all because she smirked before she left. Lame, huh?”
    Tori stared at her. “Seriously? Melissa smirks at stuff all the time. That’s nothing new. I figured she’d done more than that.”
    Kate shifted in her chair, feeling silly. “Well, she’s hatched little schemes in the past that were aimed at us. She didn’t act like she wanted to hang out with us when we said she could, and she didn’t explain what else she had to do that night, so I guess …” All of a sudden the words sounded even more