Henry, Maggie, and Cole stood on the sidewalk staring at one another.
They'd just proven that Ryan hadn't stolen Maggie's cash.
But they weren't any closer to solving the mystery.
"I guess we should check out some of our other suspects," Henry said to Maggie and Cole.
"What about those two teenage girls?" Cole suggested.
"They left the scene of the crime pretty fast."
Maggie nodded. "True.
Plus they were whispering together the whole time they were at the lemonade stand, like they were planning something."
"Do you think they could have taken the money when you weren't looking?" Henry asked her.
"Sure," Maggie said.
"I had my back to the cashbox while I was talking to Nathan.
Anyone could have grabbed the money then."
"Okay, let's see if we can track down those girls," Henry said.
They walked back to the lemonade stand.
There was no sign of the two teenagers.
"I think they walked away in this direction," Cole said.
He pointed down the street.
The three of them walked to the end of the block, and then stopped.
"Which way should we go now?" Maggie wondered.
Henry looked around and spotted Mrs. Smith watering flowers on her front porch.
She smiled and waved when she saw them.
"Hot day, isn't it?" she called.
"It sure is," Henry replied politely.
"Mrs. Smith, did you happen to see two teenage girls walk past here recently?"
"Do you mean Jill and Ashley?" Mrs. Smith nodded.
"Yes, they passed by about ten or fifteen minutes ago.
They were heading toward town."
"Thanks," Henry said. Then he looked at his friends. "Come on. Let's go."
They walked another few blocks until they reached Main Street.
Lots of people were going in and out of the shops and restaurants.
"How are we supposed to find those two girls now?" Cole asked, looking around.
"They could be anywhere."
"Not really," Henry said.
"I doubt they're in the dry cleaner's or the hardware store.
Teenage girls don't usually go to stores like that."
"True." Maggie was looking around too.
"And it's the middle of the afternoon, so they're probably not at any of the restaurants."
"I bet they're in the drugstore or the bakery," Cole said.
"Maybe we should check the bakery first," he added, licking his lips.
Henry grinned.
He knew that Cole loved the bakery's doughnuts more than almost any other food.
But Henry didn't want to waste any time.
"The drugstore is closer," he pointed out.
"Let's go there first, and then we'll look in the bakery.
If they're not in either place, we could start checking some of the other stores."
The three friends headed across the street to Herman's Drugstore.
As soon as he stepped inside, Henry heard loud giggles.
"Listen! That sounds like them," he whispered to his friends.
He followed the giggling sounds to the makeup aisle.
Jill and Ashley were halfway down the aisle, looking at a display of brightly colored nail polish and lip gloss.
They didn't notice Henry watching them because they were too busy grabbing stuff from the shelves.
"This is nice," Jill exclaimed, tossing a bottle of sparkly nail polish in a shopping basket.
"It's kind of expensive, isn't it?" Ashley said. Then she giggled.
"Oops, never mind. Who cares if it's expensive? We have plenty of money!"
"Yeah." Jill giggled and reached for some lip gloss.
"I think I'll buy this too."
Ashley grabbed two more tubes of lip gloss.
"We might as well get a few extras. After all we can afford it!"
"True," her friend agreed with another loud giggle.
"After we finish here, let's go pick out some candy."
"And then I want to look at the magazines," Ashley said.
Henry's eyes widened.
The teenagers were acting as if they had lots of money to spend!
"I knew it! Those two did it!" Maggie said from behind him.
"They stole my money!"
Her voice was kind of loud. The two older girls heard her and looked over.
"Hey, it's that girl with the lemonade stand," Jill said.
"Shouldn't you be home squeezing lemons or something?"
Ashley started giggling all over again.
Maggie marched over and pointed into their shopping basket.
"Where'd you get the money to buy all that stuff?" she demanded.
Ashley shot a look at Jill.
Jill frowned and looked down at the floor.
For a second neither of them answered.
Henry traded looks with Cole.
"Is it my imagination," he whispered, "or are those two acting awfully suspicious?"