Mystery of the Midnight Rider (Nancy Drew Diaries #3)(18)

"Looking up our other suspects,” George replied. "Lenny Hood and Jessica Watts.”

"Finding anything interesting?” I asked.

“Not yet—just regular stuff about their show results or whatever.” George tapped a few more keys. "I’ll let you know.”

She was still searching when we neared the building where Dana’s block of stalls was located. Just outside, half a dozen teenage riders were gathered by the benches outside the barn entrance. As we neared them, I was pretty sure I heard Payton’s name.

"Hold up,” I whispered, stopping my friends.

George looked up from her phone screen. “Huh?”

I shushed her, trying to hear what the teens were saying. A pretty brunette was talking. “. . . and if she gets suspended, there’s no way the/II even consider giving her a chance at the team this year.”

Another girl pursed her lips. “I bet she did it. She’s so intense—like she’d do anything to win.”

"Yeah,” a third rider put in. "Plus, if you ask me, there’s no way someone her age could win all those big jumper classes without a little, you know, extra help.” She smirked as several of the others giggled.

“Come on, you guys,” a petite blond girl spoke up. “I think Payton’s really sweet, and she seems super honest, too. Maybe it wasn’t her fault.”

That was all I needed to hear. I strode forward to confront them. “Are you guys talking about Payton Evans?” I asked.

The girls all looked startled. One of them, a tall redhead with freckles all over her face, met my eye.

“Who wants to know?” she asked.

"I do,” I responded evenly. "I'm a friend of Payton’s. If there’s something going on, I’d like to know about it.”

The redhead considered that for a moment, then glanced at the others. “Whatever,” she said at last. "Everyone is going to know soon anyway. Payton’s Grand Prix horse just flunked a drug test.” "Yeah,” the brunette put in, her eyes flashing with excitement at the gossip. “And Payton’s supposed to ride him tomorrow night!” "If Midnight ends up on the suspended list, that’ll be the end of that,” another girl said.

“But I heard the test result was actually sort of inconclusive or whatever,” the blonde said. "The committee gets to decide whether they're going to suspend or just give a warning.”

“Do you think they’ll decide before tomorrow?” George asked. "That’s when the Grand Prix is, right? The one the Olympic guy is coming to watch?”

"Yeah,” the redhead said. “And I bet they’ll decide before then. Otherwise it’ll look bad if the news gets out.”

“And it will.” The brunette giggled. “I bet the entire show grounds knows by the end of today!”

"You know that’s got to be killing Dana,” one of the others put in. "I’d pay to see that freak-out!”

The girls already seemed to have forgotten that my friends and I were there. Or maybe they were just too caught up in their gossip to care. I was about to move on when something occurred to me. The last I’d heard, even Payton hadn’t found out about the test results yet. I supposed that was what she and Dana were discussing when Ned texted me, but that was only about twenty minutes ago. How had the gossip spread so fast?

I cleared my throat to remind the girls I was still there. "Where did you first hear about this?” I asked, focusing on the redhead, who seemed to be the ringleader.

“News travels fast around here,” she said breezily.

Not good enough. “No, seriously,” I pressed her. “Who told you about the drug-test results?”

The girl seemed taken aback that I was pressing the point. For the first time her bravado wavered, and she shot a quick, uncertain look at the pretty brunette. Aha.

"Well?” I asked, turning my attention to the brunette. "How’d you hear? Did someone tell you, or were you skulking around in the barns eavesdropping on people?”

The brunette frowned. "I wasn’t eavesdropping,” she said, sounding insulted. “Someone told me, okay?”

"Okay. So who was it?”

She looked stubborn. “Who are you, anyway?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest. “I’ve never seen you guys at the shows before.”

“She told you, we’re friends of Payton’s,” George said. "Now spill it. Who told you?”

"Just tell them already, Val.” The redhead sounded bored now. "It’s not like Jessica was even being sneaky about it. I’m sure she’s told lots of people already.”

"Jessica?” I said quickly. “Do you mean Jessica Watts?”

"Yeah.” The brunette sounded surly. "Whatever, it might’ve been her. But you didn’t hear that from me, okay?”

I traded a quick look with Bess and George. How in the world had Jessica found out about the test result so quickly? It wasn’t as if she and Payton were friends—far from it. Then again, if she was the one who’d slipped something to the horse, she might have some kind of insider knowledge. .. .

I opened my mouth to ask how long ago Jessica had started spreading the news. Before I could get a word out, a loud shout cut me off