I continued on, sticking to the dense brush and hiding behind big trunks when I could.
There was only one vehicle parked in the driveway, but I recognized it as Avelyn’s sedan from the other day.
Carefully, I snuck around behind the garage, which was detached from the house, and peered in through the window on the side, having to lift onto my tiptoes to see.
There was a vehicle parked in the garage, and it was dark, so I couldn’t really make out anything, but the next whinny definitely came from inside.
“Can’t you shut him up?”came the hissed whisper of a female voice.
“What do I look like?The horse whisperer?”asked a man.
I brought my phone out of my pocket and immediately sent off a text to Tom, then to the group chat that I had found Midnight and where.
Tom responded immediately that he was on his way.
I didn’t know if I should just stay and wait, make sure they didn’t leave, or knock on the door and let them know they’d been had, but that decision was made for me when the door next to the window suddenly opened and I came face-to-face with Avelyn Whalley.
“What the hell are you doing here?”she demanded, shutting the garage door with a slam.She tucked a strand of her chestnut extensions behind her ear, and the big, glittery rhinestones on her long, hot-pink acrylic nails sparkled at me in the sun.
“Why do you have Tom’s foal in your garage?”I asked, my voice regrettably a little shaky.
She sneered at me.“I have no idea what you’re talking about.You’re trespassing.Get off my property.”
“A bit hypocritical, huh?”I replied at the same time Midnight whinnied again.“Your son trespassed on Tom’s land, then you andsomeonetrespassed again and stole the foal, and you’re accusing me of trespassing.”
“I didn’t steal jack shit, you bitch.Now get off my land before I call the police.”
Twigs and branches cracked and snapped behind me, and a moment later, Tom, Maverick, Sam and Gabrielle all emerged through the trees, out of breath and rosy-cheeked.
“Where the hell is my horse?”Tom demanded, heading to the door, his hand outstretched to open it.
Avelyn blocked him.“Excuse me.”
He growled at her.“Don’t.”
She crossed her arms over her chest.
“Move,” Tom said, his voice low and threatening.
“What’s the meaning of this?”came the booming voice of Otto Pickford a second later.“Why are you all here?This is private property.”He rounded the driveway and came to stand in front of all of us, totally confused and looking like he had just woken up from a nap with wild hair and pillow creases on his face.
Midnight whinnied inside the garage, and Sam gasped.Gabrielle wrapped a protective arm around her.
“Your daughter—and you—snuck into my barn this morning and stole my foal,” Tom said, only having to tip his gaze up a little to look Otto in his pale-blue eyes.
Otto’s face went bright red, and he started to sputter.“The audacity of your accusations!How dare you!I have done nothing of the sort.”
Midnight whinnied again, and this time it was Sam who pushed past all of them, driving an elbow into Avelyn to get her to move, and opened the door, running into the garage.“Midnight!”she cried.“He’s in here.Who are you?Stop doing that to him!Get off him!”
Tom took one look at me, then darted into the garage behind Sam, I followed, and that’s where we found Vincent on the floor of the garage, with a roll of silver duct tape in his hand trying—and failing—to wrap it around Midnight’s mouth to keep him from making any noise.He had the foal in a headlock, but our strong, determined little colt wasn’t giving up without a fight.
And neither was my daughter.She tackled Vincent to the ground, which allowed Midnight to get free.Though they also had a rough-looking rope around his little neck, and it was secured to the table vice on the workbench.He saw Tom and tried to get to him, but the rope fell short.
Tom came up to Midnight and immediately removed the rope, checking the horse for any injuries.
“Get this kid off me,” Vincent hollered as Sam now sat on his stomach, beating his chest with her fists.
“Who steals a baby orphan horse?What is wrong with you?”my daughter screamed.
