"Are you sure your sock is gone?" Henry asked.
"Maybe it fell into the bottom of your bag."
Maggie dumped her bag out on the bench.
"No, it's not here. Someone stole it! Just like all my other stuff!"
"Why would someone steal one sock?" Cole wondered.
Maggie didn't answer. She was already stomping down the aisle of the barn.
"Uh-oh," Henry said. "We'd better follow her."
He knew that his cousin had a quick temper.
If she started yelling about her sock, she might accidentally warn the thief that the boys were investigating.
Maggie stopped in front of a horse stall.
Daisy was standing in the doorway holding a saddle.
"My sock is missing!" Maggie said. "Did you take it?"
Daisy gave her a surprised look. "Why would I take your sock?
I have my own." She pointed to her feet.
Two pink socks were sticking out above her boots.
Henry grabbed Maggie's arm as Daisy went into her horse's stall.
"Wait," he said. "Yelling at people won't get your sock back."
"Or any of the other stuff," added Cole. "Let us investigate."
For a second Henry didn't think Maggie would agree. But finally she nodded.
"Okay," she said. "But how am I supposed to ride with only one sock?"
Cole kicked off his sneakers. "You can borrow one of mine," he said.
"Yuck. Boys' socks stink." Maggie made a face.
But she took the sock Cole handed her.
"I guess I'll have to suffer if I want to ride."
Then she stomped back toward Big Spot's stall.
Cole took off his other sock and stuck it in his pocket.
Then he put his shoes back on.
"Are we really going to investigate a missing sock?" he asked Henry.
"She probably just left it in the car or something."
"You could be right," Henry admitted.
"Did you notice if she had both socks in her bag when we came in?"
Cole laughed.
"No. I don't usually go around counting people's socks, especially when they're not even on their feet."
That gave Henry an idea. "I know what we can do," he said.
"Let's go see what socks everybody else is wearing.
For example, we know Daisy isn't wearing Maggie's missing sock.
Her socks are pink, and Maggie's are white."
"Do you really think someone took that sock?"
"Who knows?" Henry shrugged.
"Maybe someone forgot a sock and decided to borrow Maggie's since she wasn't watching it."
"Even if someone did borrow a sock, that doesn't mean that person is the barn thief," Cole said.
"True," Henry agreed.
"But we can watch for other suspicious behavior while we check everyone's socks."
They walked back to Zach. By now he was putting a saddle on his pony.
"What do you want?" he asked when he saw Henry and Cole.
He sounded kind of grumpy.
"Nothing." Henry looked at Zach's feet.
He was wearing athletic socks with stripes on them.
"Do you know where Eleanor is?"
"Nope." Zach adjusted the pony's saddle.
Henry and Cole walked away. "Wrong socks," Cole whispered.
Henry nodded. "Two suspects down, one to go."
"Only one?" Cole said. "What about Jill and Ms. Wood?"
Henry thought about that. "I don't think Ms. Wood is a good suspect," he said.
"Why would an adult steal a kid's stuff?
Plus she was going to get the check from Maggie anyway.
But we probably should investigate Jill."
They wandered around until they found Eleanor.
She was leading a pony out of its stall.
Henry looked at her feet. She was wearing short boots, just like the others.
But her pants completely covered her socks. Now what?
Cole had an idea. "Hey, Eleanor," he said.
"Is that a bug crawling up your pant leg?"
"What? Which leg?" Eleanor shrieked.
She dropped the pony's reins and yanked up both pant legs.
Her socks were brown.
"Sorry, I guess I was wrong," Cole said.
Eleanor gave him an angry look.
Then she grabbed her pony's reins and hurried off.
"Good trick," Henry said with a grin.
"I guess it proved that nobody is wearing that sock.
Maybe Maggie did leave it in the car."
"Or maybe Big Spot grabbed it," Cole suggested.
"Maggie left her bag sitting right by his stall."
"Yeah. Let's go check."
They hurried back to Big Spot's stall. The pony was gone. So was Maggie.
"I guess the riding lesson started," Henry said.
Cole looked into the pony's stall. "I don't see the sock in here.
Maybe Spot ate it. He wanted to eat Maggie's hair, remember?"
Henry shrugged.
"Maybe. But he definitely didn't eat that brush that disappeared or Maggie's charm bracelet.
We have to find that thief!"