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the girls’ hands for ages, their eyes closing softly. It was a while before the Pony Detectives realised how quickly the light was fading.
    “We’d better go,” Charlie said, patting the horses. She looked across the dark, misty field.
    The horses followed them to the gate. They stood watching – Cracker with his handsome head and Frostie with his speckled face and large eyes – until the girls had disappeared out of sight.
    The low lying mist wafted in from the meadows, floating just above the yard floorwhile the girls rushed round sorting out their own ponies. Once evening stables were finished, the girls waited in Wish’s stable for Alice’s mum to turn up to give her, Mia and Charlie a lift home.
    “We haven’t got much further with solving any of our mysteries, have we?” Mia sighed, as she automatically stroked Wish’s forelock into a neat shape. She looked at the others, feeling a bit guilty.
    “To be fair, we haven’t had much time,” Charlie pointed out. “Not with the evenings being so dark, and this show to get ready for.”
    “Not to mention two extra horses to look after,” Rosie added.
    “Mia’s right, though,” Alice said, thinking about Cracker and Frostie out in their field without any lock on the gate. “I think that as soon as the show’s finished tomorrow, we should take another look at all our cases, to work out what we do next.”
    “Agreed,” Charlie and Rosie said, grinning at each other.
    Before long, Alice’s mum’s car had scruncheddown the drive. After the others had jumped in and driven slowly away, Rosie stood by the gate. She noticed the long, searching fingers of mist twist eerily around the yard. With a shiver, she raced inside the farmhouse kitchen and closed the door firmly behind her.

Chapter Seven
    “W HAT happens if I need the loo?” Rosie asked, starting to panic as they rode along the lanes.
    It was Sunday, the day of the Greenfields Riding School Show. The mist had been thick through the night, but luckily they’d woken to a fine, frost-encrusted morning. Rosie was wearing a large, brown, pudding-shaped costume. Around the slightly-too-tight neck, was white felt, shaped like icing. Rosie’s hat was covered in green felt, with a red stem springing out at the top. Her arms were poking out of holes in the sides, making it difficult to hold the reins in the right place. Dancer was taking full advantage, wandering about all over the lane, looking for any kind of snack available.
    “You’ll just have to cross your legs,” Charlie giggled, setting Alice off again. Alice had been weak with laughter since the moment Rosieemerged from the farmhouse and got stuck in the doorway. The giggles had got even worse when they heaved Rosie into the saddle and she rolled straight over the other side, landing on her back on the floor, with Dancer gazing round at her quizzically. Rosie had been giggling so hard she couldn’t even get up without the others’ help.
    Alice put her own hysterics partly down to nerves, because she was going to be jumping the biggest clear round class at the show. Anything and everything was making her giggle.
    They rode past Cracker and Frostie’s field, and both horses whickered to the girls’ ponies. The ponies whinnied back.
    “I bet they wish they were coming, too,” Mia said, looking over her shoulder, feeling bad that they were staying behind, “just for something to do.”
    “There hasn’t been any response to those notices yet,” Charlie added. “I don’t reckon anyone’s going to bother coming forward, do you?”
    The others shook their heads, still stunnedby the idea of someone abandoning such quality horses. As they rode along, they wondered out loud who Fran might rehome them to, and whether they’d be kept together or not.
    “I hope they will be,” Alice sighed, “they’re really close. Cracker looks out for Frostie all the time.”
    “Fran will make sure they’re kept together,” Rosie said, impatiently. “