Peter patted Shara on the back and walked back to the gate.

"Would you mind if we had a look in your sheds?" he asked.

"Sure," said Mr. Clegg, still smiling in his over friendly way. It was beginning to really annoy Shara.

It was a fruitless search. Mr. Clegg followed Peter around with the same contemptuous expression, and even shook his hand when he got back into his car.

"Sorry to have troubled you Mr. Clegg," said Peter as he drove away. "No trouble!" called Mr. Clegg, "No trouble at all. Glad to help. Call in again any time."

As they went down the road, Shara hung her head.

"Hey, why the sad face?" said Peter.

"Now you think I'm a liar," she said.

"Who said that? Don't be silly. I think you told the truth. We've had our eye on this fellow for quite a while, but he's a tricky customer."

"You mean you know about the other ponies?" asked Shara.

"The other five?" said Peter, smiling, "Yes, we know about them. We keep pretty good records. I think we'll have to recruit you as a regular detective!"

That cheered Shara up.

When she got home she waved to Peter until his car was the size of a match box down the road, then she ran indoors and told her mother what had happened. Linda was listening from the other side of the room. She wasn't impressed.

"You sneaked out!" she said, "Why didn't you say where you were going?"

"I was only going to look! That's all!"

"Better leave things to the police," said Mum, "They know what they're doing."

But Shara wasn't going to "leave it to the police". She already had something she wanted to do, as soon as she found the time, and as long as Zeras was in danger, she was prepared to risk her neck, police or not.

Her chance came the next day. She left a note this