8.

Kayla stood in Max's office looking at him incredulously. An uneasy silence hung in the air after he had told her what was going on.

"You can't be serious," she said

"I'm just telling you what Satoshi said," Replied Max with a sigh, "and he said that you were seen near Diamond's stall with the sweet feed scoop in your hand right before her horse was found sick from tainted sweet feed."

"Oh well if Satoshi said it, then I must be guilty as sin!" snapped Kayla sarcastically throwing up her hands.

"Now calm down," said Deborah, "Nobody's accusing you…,"

"Well, it sure sounds like it to me," said Kayla not giving Deborah a chance to be anymore patronizing.

Kayla did pause, take a breath and calm herself.

"Look," she said, "Satoshi probably did see me where he said I was, I did give my horse sweet feed earlier, but I am not the only one who gave their horse sweet feed and I DID NOT poison Diamond's feed!"

"We didn't say it was you," insisted Max, "Satoshi said that you and Kelsey have a rivalry that goes back a long way, and knowing that some rivalries can get pretty intense we had to look into it."

Kayla's expression changed from anger to one of annoyance.

"Look, I'll lay it out for you," she said, "First, Kelsey and I do have a rivalry a friendly one! And I would NEVER hurt a horse! Second, Satoshi is an ex-boyfriend of mine. I dumped him. Because he tried to manipulate me and I suspected he was involved in a scheme to drug competitors' horses at the last championship! And as if that wasn't enough, he's really mad at me right now, because, he thinks I ratted out his little basement party! He accused me of it earlier today. Ask that stable hand Jacen he witnessed the whole argument we had."

Max and Deborah looked at each other. The look they exchanged showed they were doubting whether they should have listened to Satoshi in the first place.

Kayla caught the exchanged look and answered their unspoken question.

"No, you shouldn't have listened to Satoshi," she said, "I don't trust him and neither should you. Now can I go? I have to finish grooming Magic."

Max nodded and Kayla walked out the door. As she did, she almost fell over Jacen and the Saddle club who were eavesdropping at the door.

"Don't be too angry at Max and Deborah," said Stevie, "Until now they didn't know any better than to listen to Satoshi."

Kayla sighed.

"I guess you're right," she said, "You guys were the only ones that I actually warned!"

Jacen looked thoughtful.

"I'm going to go back and take another look around the area of Diamond's stall." He said, "Maybe I can find something nobody else did."

"Good Idea," said Stevie, "I'm coming with you."

"Me too," said Carole

"Me three," said Lisa

"Me Four," said Kayla, "Let's go."

The quartet turned and hurried toward Diamond's stall. When they got there the Vet was just finishing up and putting her stethoscope back in her bag."

"Diamond will be alright, now," said Dr. Judy, "she just needs to rest for a day or so."

"You mean, she might be alright for the semi-finals tomorrow?" asked Kelsey smiling

"I don't see why not." Said the Vet, "All she was given was a dose of a powerful sedative, it should be completely out of her system by tomorrow morning."

"Thanks doctor Judy," said Kelsey, "that is good news."

Doctor smiled then went on her way.

Kelsey's relieved smile disappeared when she saw Kayla and the others approaching.

"What is she doing here?!" Kelsey snapped pointing at Kayla, "I don't want that poisoner anywhere near my horse!"

Kayla held up her hands.

"Kelsey calm down," she said, trying to soothe her friend, "Now you and I have known each other for years do you really think that I would ever hurt your horse or any other?!"

At these words Kelsey visibly calmed down and sank onto a nearby bench.

"No," she said quietly, thinking clearly for the first time since she found Diamond, "I don't think you would."

While Kayla was clearing the air with her friend Stevie grabbed Jacen's arm and pulled him aside.

"Jacen," she said keeping her voice low, "You can find out for sure if someone else was here. If you use that electric echo thing you do before it's too late."

"Stevie," Jacen whispered back, "I told you…,"

"Just stop whining and do it!" hissed Stevie given him a no nonsense look.

Jacen's shoulders sagged knowing he'd lost.

"Fine," he said, "giving in."

Jacen turned and walked over to the aisle next to the stall and concentrated. His eyes flashed and rippled with electric energy. All at once he was seeing all the electromagnetic signatures of everyone that was that there and the trace or echo of the people who had come and gone. To someone who didn't know what they were looking at, it just looked like waves of electromagnetic energy and vague human shapes everywhere. But to Jacen, who knew how to read them, it showed what had happened there up to a limited amount of time ago.

Then he saw something right before his vision automatically returned to normal.

"I know that look," whispered Stevie, when he came back over to her, "what did you see?"

"I saw a faint remnant of an electromagnetic distortion that shows someone running out of Diamonds stall. Someone too tall to be Kelsey!" replied Jacen

"So, there was someone else!" said Stevie, "And we've got to find out who before he tries again!"

To Be Continued…Please Review