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If she asked her parents they would say no. They wouldn't understand why it couldn't wait until tomorrow. She wondered if it was worth going. It would be so much nicer to curl up under the doona.

Then she had a vision of the scene at the barbecue when Tammy realised her money was gone.

The day would be perfect up until that moment. Everyone would be sympathetic about her cheek, and they'd tell her what a great job she had been doing at the stables. They'd say things like, 'My horse has better manners since you've been working here,' or, 'Our pony is so much easier to handle now.'

She'd see a cute boy – someone's brother or cousin who had been dragged along, and Shelby would find him staring at her, but when she looked at him he'd blush and turn away.

Shelby and Hayley Crook would accidentally wear the same shirt. 'Twins!' Hayley would laugh, bumping her hip against Shelby's.

Then a voice would shriek out across the arena, halting all conversation, like a siren, or a car alarm.

'Thief! Thief!' she could hear Tammy scream, pointing her finger. Everyone would turn to stare at who she was accusing.

'No, it wasn't me!' Shelby would protest, but then Mrs Edel would step forward. 'It's true. We put a hidden camera in the tack room.'

Clint would roll out a big projector like they had in the hall at school. He would point it towards the back wall of the feed shed, and then everyone could see the giant, grainy, black and white image of Shelby taking the money, on repeat.

'I was going to put it back!' she'd announce, but it would be too late. All the grown-ups would shake their heads.

'It's always the quiet ones you've got to watch,' Shelby could imagine Mrs Crook saying in a loud voice. 'I knew she was sneaky. I never took my eye off her for a second.'

Shelby would overhear the cute boy talking to Erin, saying, 'So what happened to her head, anyway? Did she walk into a bus or something? Freaky! I couldn't stop staring at it all afternoon.'

Then when Erin giggled he'd say, 'Can I get you a Coke or something?' and they'd walk off together.

Shelby shivered in the moist night air. She put her hand in her pocket and squeezed the fifty-dollar note. She'd ride over, put the money back where she found it, and ride back again. No one would ever know. Easy squeezy.

She cycled down the street, round the corner, past the little strip of shops. Each bump jolted her face and her bike was much too small for her, so she rode standing suspended above the pedals. After a while her calves ached as well.

It was too early for the baker. Shelby could see the empty glass cabinets at the front of the shop. In the newsagent the lights around the glass-fronted fridges lit the display racks with a faint glow. She rode on the footpath past the red post-box, the yellow telephone booth and the dark blue charity bin, and then over the gutter and onto the street again.

The bike swung from side to side as she pedalled up the hill and around the bend past the sleeping houses. At the intersection she thrust out her hand to indicate she was turning, even though there was no one to see it.

She still hadn't seen any cars, and she was glad. She had visions of an evil stranger dragging her into a van like she'd seen on Law and Order.

There were semitrailers thundering along Gully Way, but none of them looked like they were going to stop and kidnap her. The shoulder of the road was smooth so Shelby sat on the seat.

She wasn't far away now. She wondered if she should ride straight in, as though turning up in the middle of the night was a normal thing to do, or whether she should try to sneak in.

She could say that she was coming to visit Blue. Shelby had often gone to visit him at night when he lived just down the road – especially when he first arrived. She would creep out and just sit in the paddock with him watching him graze – not believing he was really all hers.

If Mrs Edel caught her Shelby decided she would act surprised. 'I thought you knew I came here at night.' But Mrs Edel might ring Shelby's mum before she got a chance to get to