Buttercup Mystery Read online

  To Olivia, Sophie, and Riley Kate

  Chapter 1

  “HEY, YOU GUYS IN THERE?”

  Willa looked at her brother, Ben. “It’s Chipper,” she whispered. “You want to do it?”

  Ben looked at the bucket above the door. The bucket was half full of water. A string was tied to its handle. The string was in Ben’s hand. He had been using it to play with New Cat.

  Ben chewed his lip. Chipper Starling was his new best friend. Ben and Willa had lived on Chincoteague Island for only a few weeks. Ben thought for a few seconds and nodded at Willa.

  “Yeah, we’re here, Chipper. Come on in.” Willa was at the back of the barn, out of the way.

  As soon as Chipper poked his head in the tall double doors, Ben gave a yank. It could not have worked better. The water fell on Chipper, the bucket fell on the ground, and laughter filled the air.

  “Got you back,” Ben said.

  “That was a good one.” Chipper wrung out his shirt. New Cat, who also got wet, was licking the unwanted water from her fur.

  “Nice job!” Willa gave Ben a high five. Chipper did the same.

  Willa smiled when she saw the two boys laughing. She was glad her brother had found a friend who shared his sense of humor. Even better, Chipper had a sister. His sister was the same age as Willa, and she loved horses and other animals. How lucky could Willa get?

  It was funny, because Willa had not felt lucky when they had first moved. She had missed Chicago and her friends. She had not known if Chincoteague, with all its sand and salty air, could be home.

  Even though their mom had grown up on the island, Willa and Ben had not spent much time in the little beach town. It was a big change for the whole family. They had left the city and a small apartment and now lived in a big Victorian house with three stories and a wraparound porch.

  “You guys should come over to our place,” Chipper said. A drip of water streamed from his forehead down his cheek. “Sarah wants to show you something, Willa. She sent me to tell you especially.”

  “Really? What is it?”

  “I’m not allowed to tell.” Chipper shrugged. “She was too excited, but she’s stuck at home with Bess.”

  Bess was Sarah and Chipper’s little sister. They had to watch her sometimes while their mom worked. Willa rested the broom in the corner. “You guys go ahead. I’ll tell Mom and Dad.” As she walked to the house, Willa tried to figure out what could be so exciting. Why wouldn’t Sarah at least offer a hint? Willa could think of only one thing that was that exciting to her.

  Willa watched her brother and Chipper shuffle down the drive, kicking up dust and sand on their way. She skipped up the porch steps and wiped the dirt off her freckled knees. “Mom, Dad?” she called. “I’m going over to Sarah’s!” She headed down the hallway and, no surprise, found them both in the kitchen. Their old kitchen had room for only one person at a time, but this kitchen was four times that size. It needed to be. It would have to feed a lot more people when the family’s bed-and-breakfast opened.

  The Dunlaps had never run a hotel—or a restaurant—before. But Ben and Willa’s dad had been a chef for years, and their mom liked a challenge. The family had agreed on Misty Inn as a name. Misty was a famous pony that had lived on Chincoteague long ago.

  Willa glanced around the kitchen. It looked like Dad was already cooking for a whole hotel. Bowls of tomatoes, jars of spices, and mounds of chopped peppers covered the counter. “It’s kind of early to be making dinner, isn’t it?” Willa asked.

  “He’s trying out chili recipes,” Mom said as Dad dumped some red powder into a steaming pot.

  “I’m entering the Greater Chincoteague Chili Cook-Off,” Dad explained. “And I plan to win it.” He took a tiny taste from a large wooden spoon. “This is my second batch today.”

  Willa looked at the large clock above the stove. It wasn’t even ten in the morning. “So, can we go to the Starlings’?” she asked. “Sarah has something to show me.”

  “Of course,” Mom said. She smiled at Willa from the other side of the laptop. “I’m just trying to find furniture for the guest bedrooms today. Not very exciting.”

  Even though Mom said that, Willa knew her mom loved that kind of stuff. In the new house, Willa and Ben got their own bedrooms. Their parents would share one, and then there were three left over. The extra rooms would be for guests, and Mom wanted the beds and dressers to look old and stately.

  Willa knew these things were fun for her parents. But she couldn’t stay there another second. A surprise was waiting for her at the Starlings’ house. But what?

  “Wow, another horse?” Willa couldn’t believe it. The Starlings already had one horse in their pasture, along with a couple of goats. Of course, a horse had been the one thing that Willa had thought of when Chipper said “exciting.” Willa couldn’t even imagine having one horse in her backyard, let alone two.

  “Her name is Buttercup,” Sarah said, rubbing the new horse’s velvety muzzle. “Once she’s settled in, Dad will use her for the pony swim and all that.”

  Sarah’s dad was one of the island’s saltwater cowboys, which meant that he had the special job of helping with the roundups of the wild ponies on nearby Assateague.

  From Chincoteague, Assateague looked like a little wisp of land before the great big open ocean. The small island was the home of two herds of wild ponies—ponies whose ancestors had escaped a stormy shipwreck hundreds of years before. They’d been taking care of themselves ever since.

  Thinking about the wild ponies reminded Willa of Starbuck, the beautiful buckskin pony at her grandparents’ nearby farm. Willa and Ben’s grandma was a vet and had once run an animal rescue center on the island. Recently, a neighbor had left Starbuck at Miller Farm because the pony’s owner could no longer care for her.

  Willa and Ben were more than happy to look after Starbuck, but Grandma Edna felt that healthy animals did not need to be there. They needed to find new homes—forever homes.

  “If your dad is going to use Buttercup for roundups, what about Sweetums?” Willa asked. She reached out to give the older horse a steady pat on his shiny black coat.

  “That’s the best part,” Sarah said. “Dad knows how much I love Sweetums, so he’s going to let me ride him more. He might even let me ride Sweetums in the carnival parade.”

  “No way!” Willa said. Chincoteague’s Summer Extravaganza had rides, game booths, and tons of tasty food. The parade was on a Saturday morning and went straight through the town. It was for the local horses and pets, as well as some old cars and unicycles. Willa and Ben had heard all about the silly costumes people wore. It sounded like their kind of fun.

  “Well, Dad said I have to earn it,” Sarah explained. “He’ll make me do lots of chores. I’ll probably have to muck stalls and stack hay. It might not be worth it.”

  Willa nodded. She didn’t care how much manure she had to shovel. She’d clean out a hundred stalls if she could ride a horse in that parade.

  Chapter 2

  THE NEXT AFTERNOON WILLA, SARAH, and Sarah’s little sister, Bess, were sitting in the deep grass right next to the Starlings’ pasture.

  Sarah was listing all the things she had to do before she could ride in the parade. “And I also have to babysit Bess more,” she complained.

  As cute as Bess was, Willa knew she could be a handful. “She’s kind of quiet today,” Willa commented.

  “Yeah. Ever since we got Buttercup, all she wants to do is feed her,” Sarah replied.

  “She likes how, every once in a while, Buttercup just takes off. She’ll gallop across the field and throw in a couple of bucks here and there. Bess cracks up every time. She loves it.”

  “Pretty horsey,” Bess whispered as she picked clove
r stems and made a bouquet. “Pretty Buttercup.”

  Buttercup was a tall, slender horse with a glistening chestnut coat. She had a small star between her warm eyes. But every once in a while, those eyes sparkled with real mischief.

  Willa wondered how the horse got her name. She looked nothing like the small yellow flower that grew like a weed in the summertime.

  “Does she like to eat buttercups?” Willa thought out loud.

  “I doubt it. They taste horrible,” Sarah said. “See how they’re all over the pasture? They’re too bitter, so no one eats them. Not even the goats.”

  Willa laughed out loud. Even though they’d known the other family only a month, she and Ben had already seen the Starlings’ goats eat a gym shoe, a juice box, and one of Bess’s dirty diapers. Actually, Mrs. Starling had rescued the diaper just in time, but not the shoe. When Chipper finally wrestled it from Kirby, just a shoelace was left.

  “At least the horses keep her in one place,” Willa said, nodding at Bess.

  “No joke,” Sarah agreed. “Dad calls her Houdini in pigtails.” Willa wasn’t surprised that they compared Bess to the famous magician. She was a real escape artist. “Chipper says we should get some kind of tracking device for her.”

  Just then Willa heard Ben’s laughter. It was getting closer.

  “Stop him!” Chipper called out. “He’s out of control!” The boys were chasing a puppy.

  Sarah jumped up. “Amos!” she cried.

  Willa was on her feet in seconds too. All four kids raced after the black-and-white pup with the bright pink tongue. Amos zigged and zagged. The kids’ fingers groped and grabbed, but no one could catch him. Finally he ran under the pasture fence and stopped, panting, next to Buttercup.

  The horse turned her big head and snuffled at the puppy. Amos sniffed back, then licked the horse’s muzzle.

  “That’s so cute!” Willa squealed.

  “They always do that,” Chipper insisted, resting his hands on his knees while he caught his breath.

  “Always? Really? We just got Buttercup yesterday,” Sarah pointed out.

  “But I’ve seen Amos lick her like that, like, four times.”

  “Well, they’d better not get too attached,” Sarah warned. “We have to start giving the puppies away soon.”

  Amos was one of seven puppies. The Starlings’ dog, Marnie, had had puppies earlier that summer.

  “Have you decided which one you’re going to keep?” Ben asked.

  “I like Amos,” Chipper said. “He’s fun, but Mom wants someone to adopt him.”

  “He’d be too much work,” Sarah explained. “I really like Rice Cake and Jubilee. I think they’d be happy getting to stay with Marnie, but Dad says we can only keep one.”

  It seemed like everyone on Chincoteague had pets to spare, except Willa and Ben. Of course, they did have New Cat, but she wasn’t really a pet. New Cat’s job was to keep the mice away, and she was very good at it. Yes, she was soft and sweet, but she was a homebody. She didn’t do tricks or go on adventures with Ben and Willa.

  “Rice Cake and Jubilee might want to stay with their mom, but Amos looks like he’s more attached to Buttercup,” Ben observed. The puppy was playfully running loops around the tall mare. Buttercup did her best to ignore him. When he stopped and yipped, Buttercup snorted and trotted to the other side of the pasture. Amos followed her.

  “He’s trying to herd Buttercup,” Chipper announced with a laugh.

  “Buttercup!” Bess cried, holding out a giant bouquet of fresh clover. “Buttercup, come back! Buttercup!”

  “Bess, leave her alone. Buttercup needs to get settled so I can ride Sweetums in the parade.” Sarah stood up and grabbed her little sister by the hand, trying to tug her away. “Maybe we should take her down to the dock,” Sarah suggested, looking at her brother.

  “Ben and I have to get going,” Willa said. “Our grandparents should be back by now.”

  “Do you have to go?” Sarah said. It now seemed funny to Willa that she and Sarah had not become friends as soon as they met. . . . At first, Willa thought Sarah was bossy and rude. That seemed so long ago!

  “They’re expecting us,” Willa said, not wanting to hurt Sarah’s feelings. Besides, it was the truth. At least, it was part of the truth. The whole truth was that Willa didn’t want to spend the whole day fussing over Buttercup, Sweetums, and Bess. She wanted to see Starbuck, who was the most wonderful pony Willa had ever known.

  “Yeah,” Ben agreed. “They’ll have stuff for us to do.” Willa smiled at her brother. He was anxious to see Starbuck too.

  Starbuck greeted them with a happy whinny. “I think she hears the rattle of our bikes,” Ben said as they propped the kickstands into place. “She just calls out. She doesn’t even lift her head all the way to make sure it’s us.”

  Grandma Edna looked up from her sweeping. “Animals have a sixth sense,” she said. “For weather, for food, for danger. They rely on their instincts.” She grabbed a long lead and headed for the paddock gate. “That mare’s got good instincts. She’s always been certain about you two.”

  Willa smiled. Grandma Edna was no-nonsense. She gave compliments only when she really meant them.

  When Starbuck had first arrived, she’d been hurt. The pony had limped because her leg was sore. Being a vet, Grandma Edna had known how to treat it. Willa and Ben had helped, wrapping the leg and keeping Starbuck company in the stall. But they’d never been allowed to ride her. Not yet.

  “We’ve got to get this pony some exercise,” Grandma said. “She has to be in shape if we’re going to find her a new home.”

  Ben and Willa let out matching sighs. Neither could think about Starbuck going to another home—unless it was theirs.

  “I’m going to play with Bee Bee Bun,” Ben announced. Bee Bee Bun was an angora rabbit that was missing half an ear but had all his personality.

  “That’s good,” Grandma said. “You can help Clifton clean his hutch.” Ben nodded. Clifton was a high school boy who helped around the barn. Clifton wanted to be a vet, and Ben thought that was super cool.

  Willa and Grandma stood in the center of the paddock. Starbuck circled them on the long lead. “Give her a click. Get her to trot,” Grandma directed.

  Willa clicked her tongue, and the pony sped up. “Well, look at that,” Grandma murmured. “She can move.” The pony had a long, even stride.

  Willa thought Starbuck looked beautiful. She wondered what it would be like to ride the pony. “Sarah might get to ride in the carnival parade,” Willa said, surprising herself. She hadn’t planned on telling Grandma.

  “Is that so?” Grandma replied.

  “The Starlings got a new horse,” Willa explained. “So Sarah would ride Sweetums.”

  “Sweetums is a mighty fine horse,” Grandma said. “But that parade is a mess. I wouldn’t trust most horses with such a young rider. Someone’s likely to get hurt.”

  Willa felt a knot in her belly. Was Grandma right?

  “Hi, Mrs. Miller!” a voice rang out. Willa found its owner right away—a girl with long braids pulled into a low, thick ponytail. Her smile stretched all the way across her face.

  “My parents sent me for Clifton.” Before Grandma could respond, the girl spoke again. “You must be Willa! I’m Lena. I’m so excited to finally meet you! Sarah told me all about you in her letters. I’ve been away at piano camp, but now I’m back and we’ll hang out. You, me, and Sarah will be like the three musketeers!”

  “Okay,” Willa said softly.

  “Hey, sis.” Clifton came up behind her and tugged on one of her many braids. “I heard you a mile away. We should go.”

  With that, Clifton picked up Lena, plopped her on his bike seat, and put a helmet on her head.

  “Willa! Come to the ice-cream parlor at three tomorrow,” Lena instructed. “It’s my birthday.”

  Grandma chuckled to herself. “That girl’s got ten words for every one from her brother.”

  Willa watched as the
y rode away. Willa’s friendship with Sarah had been very slow to start, but Lena was great gangbusters.

  Chapter 3

  THE NEXT DAY, SARAH PICKED up Willa for the party. Chipper and Ben were going too. “Lena’s lots of fun,” Sarah said, “except she doesn’t like horses.”

  “That’s weird,” Willa said before she could stop herself. They were walking to Lena’s party at Four Corners, taking a shortcut on a side street.

  “She doesn’t hate them or anything,” Sarah replied. “But her parents won’t let her ride. They’re worried she’ll fall off and get hurt. Then she couldn’t play piano.”

  “Not if she broke her leg,” Chipper said. “She could still play then.”

  “You should tell her parents,” Sarah said. “Maybe they’ll change their minds.” Chipper and Ben both rolled their eyes. Big sisters.

  Grandma Edna had mentioned that Lena was a good musician. Sarah had said that Lena was not allowed to play until she had practiced piano for an hour each day. Willa had known kids like that back in Chicago.

  It felt funny, going to the birthday party of someone she barely knew. Luckily, Willa and Ben were going in on Sarah and Chipper’s gift for Lena. “It’s a huge boxed set of mystery books,” Sarah had explained. “Lena loves detective stories and spooky stuff.”

  Willa would never have guessed that! She would have had no clue if she had had to choose a gift for Lena.

  “Hey! Hey!”

  Willa spotted Lena in the middle of the outside courtyard, surrounded by bunches of silver balloons. Clifton was there, along with some other kids Willa and Sarah’s age.

  “Check it out,” Lena said, rushing up to the fence. She pointed to a turquoise bike. It wasn’t an ordinary bike. It was raised up on a stand so it wouldn’t go anywhere. Plus, it had extra gears that were attached to a wooden bucket. “We’re going to ride this bike and make the energy to churn the ice cream.”