Henry stared at Cole in shock. So did everyone else.
"Your flip-flops were at the scene of the crime," Kyle said, pointing at Cole.
"That means you dumped the frogs back in the water!"
John nodded. "I bet he did it the first time too."
"I knew it!" Lauren muttered.
Henry didn't know what to think. Those flip-flops were a big clue.
Could Cole be the culprit? After all, Cole did love a good joke.
But Cole was shaking his head, looking more upset than ever.
"I didn't do it!" he told Coach Phillips. "I swear!"
That brought Henry back to his senses.
Cole might be a joker, but he wasn't a liar.
If Cole said he was innocent, then Henry believed him.
But he could tell most of the others didn't.
Even Coach Phillips had a doubtful frown on his face.
"We'll talk about it later," the coach said.
"First we'd better get those frogs rounded up again."
The swimmers all jumped in the pool and started catching frogs.
Henry and Maggie watched.
"This doesn't look good for Cole," Maggie whispered.
"I know," Henry whispered back.
"If we don't solve this mystery fast, Cole will never make the swim team!"
"Someone must have put Cole's flip-flops by the buckets so he'd get the blame," Maggie said.
"Who could have done that?"
"I don't know."
Henry tried to remember who had been near the pool when he and Maggie had returned.
The coach had been there of course.
So had a few of the faster joggers, including Cole.
But Henry couldn't remember who else was in the fast group.
Maggie was staring at Lauren.
The assistant coach was watching the swimmers retrieve the frogs.
"Lauren was the one who spotted the flip-flops," Maggie said.
"Maybe that's because she was the one who put them there."
"Maybe," Henry agreed.
"Let's go talk to her. But let me ask most of the questions, okay?
We don't want her to know we're suspicious of her."
Maggie frowned. But she nodded. "Okay," she said.
They walked over to Lauren. "Hi," Henry said.
"I'm Henry, and this is my cousin Maggie."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Lauren," Lauren said.
"Are you here to try out for the team?
Because we usually recommend wearing a swimsuit."
Henry laughed. "No, we're just here to watch our friends try out."
"You didn't bring your pet frogs with you, did you?" Lauren asked, smiling a little.
Henry's dad was a reporter who had a lot of experience interviewing people.
Henry suddenly remembered his dad's advice: A good way to start an interview is to ask people about themselves.
"We heard you're a student at Bellville College," Henry said to Lauren.
"Do you like it there?"
"Sure, it's great," Lauren said. "I've been there for three years.
I'll graduate next spring."
"Really?" Maggie blurted out. "Wow, you look much younger than that!"
Lauren's friendly expression instantly changed to a frown.
"Excuse me," she snapped. "I have work to do."
Henry sighed as Lauren stomped away.
"You already knew she was sensitive about looking young," he said to Maggie.
"Why did you have to mention it?"
"Sorry." Maggie shrugged. "I couldn't help it."
Henry knew better than to get annoyed at his cousin.
She had a habit of saying whatever was on her mind without thinking about it first.
"Forget about it," he murmured, thinking hard.
Maggie was thinking too. "Lauren is so sensitive about her age.
She's probably still mad at Cole.
Maybe even mad enough to try to get him kicked out of tryouts!"
"Right," agreed Henry. "Let's go see what Cole thinks."
Cole was putting a frog into one of the buckets.
Henry and Maggie hurried to Cole before he could swim away.
Henry bent down to talk to him. "We were just talking to Lauren.
We think she might still be mad at you."
"That makes her our top suspect for everything, including dumping the frogs again," Maggie added.
"Especially since she was the one who spotted your flip-flops."
Cole shook his head.
"She might have done the earlier stuff," he said.
"But I know she didn't tip over the buckets."
"How can you be so sure?" Henry asked.
"She was near me the whole time we were jogging," Cole said.
"She ran right behind me, yelling at me to go faster.
She only slowed down to check on the others when I was almost all the way around the building."
"Are you sure?" Maggie asked.
Cole nodded. "Lauren's definitely still mad at me," he said with a sigh.
"But she's definitely not the one who dumped those frogs back in the pool."