The Golden Stranger by Karen Wood

‘And Jess?’
    â€˜The police have been to her place too.’ Luke’s voice was empty. ‘Her dad rang me. She’s not allowed to see me for six weeks.’ He put his head down on the bench in front of him.
    â€˜Six weeks?’
    â€˜I should have talked her out of it. I shouldn’t have let her go through with it.’
    â€˜This wasn’t your fault, Luke.’
    â€˜I’m the one who drove her down there.’
    â€˜Luke’s right. None of you should have gone down there in the first place,’ said Mr Hoskins.
    â€˜Yeah, well, easy to say that now,’ snapped Shara. God, adults were so good at stating the bleeding obvious. ‘That horse was locked inside a truck – there was absolutely no way we were going to steal it! All we wanted was a photo and a lock of hair.’
    â€˜What for?’
    â€˜Because if we could prove that the Conneman brothers owned the colt . . .’ ‘What colt?’
    â€˜Goldie. He turned up in Coachwood Crossing after they left town, badly malnutritioned and—’
    â€˜Malnourished.’
    â€˜He was starving, okay?’ Shara could hear her voice rising. ‘If we could prove the Connemans owned the colt and neglected him, then he could be seized by the RSPCA. They could re-home him and make sure he was properly cared for.’
    â€˜Re-homed to you ,’ Mr Hoskins clarified.
    Shara glared at him. What did that have to do with anything? Whose side was this guy on?
    â€˜It’s unlikely that the authorities would take the Connemans’ animals if they use them to earn a living,’ continued Mr Hoskins. ‘That’s why there are still elephants in circuses. It’s why brumbies can be used in rodeos. They might be closely monitored by animal welfare groups, but they’re rarely removed. But what’s the colt got to do with the mare you were . . . plucking?’
    Shara went through the whole story again – her silver taffy theory; the little brumby mare and the black stallion; the idea that the mare was the colt’s mother. If they could prove the parentage, they’d prove Goldie had been owned – and maltreated – by the Connemans. She recounted the events of the previous evening and Corey’s attempts to protect her.
    Mr Hoskins listened patiently while she spewed it all out. Then he stood, walked around to her side of the coffee table and put his hand on her shoulder. ‘I’ll see what I can do to help Corey.’
    Luke stood up and fumbled with something around his neck. ‘Shara, if you see Jess, can you give her this? Tell her I’ll get it back from her in six weeks.’ He handed her a smooth stone pendant on a thin leather strap, his face intense. ‘Tell her I’ll be back.’
    â€˜Where are you going?’
    â€˜Blakely Downs,’ he said in an empty voice. ‘No point staying around here.’
    Shara’s heart ached for Jess. She’d be shattered. Everyone was shattered. What had they gone and done? She took the stone from Luke, putting it carefully inside her top pocket and buttoning it closed. ‘I’ll get it to her somehow.’ Then she watched as he followed Mr Hoskins out the door.
    She just wanted everything to go back to how it was before that stupid trip to Brisbane. She wanted Corey out of hospital and back on his big quarter horse. She wanted her father to come home and smack her playfully on the side of the head with the newspaper. She wanted her Rocko back.
    And what would become of Goldie? She’d let herself dream that one day he would be hers – but now she’d well and truly blown any chance of that.

14
    â€˜YOUR FATHER RANG to say both horses are settled,’ said Louise from the kitchen sink. She pulled off her rubber gloves and reached for a tea towel. ‘Rocko got to Blakely Downs okay.’
    Shara took a seat at the table, unable to contemplate breakfast.