"Are you sure about this?" Maggie whispered.
Henry didn't answer. He, Cole, and Maggie were crouched in an empty stall.
They were watching the cat toy, which was lying in the aisle.
"Shh," Henry whispered. "Someone's coming."
Jill came into view. She spotted the cat toy and stopped.
She looked up and down the aisle, and then leaned over to pick it up.
Henry held his breath. Was his theory wrong?
Jill straightened up again, dropping the cat toy back on the ground.
"I don't get paid enough to pick up after messy riders," she muttered to herself.
Henry let out his breath as she hurried away. So far his plan was going okay.
He heard a bark as Little Spot trotted into sight.
The dog paused to sniff the cat toy before lifting his head to look around the barn.
Henry held his breath again.
Was the dog going to walk away from the cat toy too?
But Little Spot finally lowered his head, grabbed the toy, and took off.
"Hurry!" Henry exclaimed. "We have to follow him!"
He ran after Little Spot. Maggie and Cole were right behind him.
The dog ran through the barn and out a side door.
He crossed a courtyard and ran into another building.
"He's headed for the hay shed!" Maggie said.
Inside the shed, hay bales were stacked halfway to the ceiling.
At first Henry couldn't see where Little Spot had gone.
Then he heard a muffled bark.
"This way!" Cole rushed around the bales.
They found Little Spot in a narrow space behind the hay.
He was wagging his tail and sitting on a dusty saddle pad.
"Big Spot's saddle pad!" Maggie cried.
"And look! The rest of my missing stuff is here too!"
She grabbed her charm bracelet and slipped it on, and then picked up the cat toy.
Next she dug through the hay until she found her brush, gloves, sock, and sandal.
She even found the lost check. It was crumpled and had a few teeth holes in it.
"I'll go tell Ms. Wood we solved the crime," Cole offered, hurrying back out.
Henry spotted something else in the hay.
"Look, Spot must have stolen this stuff too."
"That looks like one of Ms. Wood's spare halters," Maggie said.
"And here's another grooming brush!"
Soon Ms. Wood arrived, along with Eleanor.
"Little Spot!" Eleanor exclaimed, grabbing her dog and hugging him.
"You rotten little thief! I'm really sorry, you guys.
He does this at home sometimes, but I never thought he'd do it here.
Usually he only steals stuff that smells like cats.
For some reason he loves cats!"
Henry grinned. "Yeah, we just figured that out," he said.
"I saw him licking the barn cat.
That's when I realized why he was mostly stealing from Maggie.
All her stuff smells like cats!"
Eleanor gasped. "I didn't know you had cats, Maggie!"
"I have two kittens," Maggie said. "They're really cute."
Ms. Wood picked up the saddle pad. "I owe you an apology, Maggie," she said.
"I'm sorry I accused you of losing this.
I guess you got some cat hair on it and that's why Spot took it."
She noticed the halter.
"Sometimes the barn cat knocks down the spare halters and sleeps on them."
Maggie held up the second brush.
"And I bet someone used this to brush the cat."
"I'm sorry," Eleanor said.
"I promise to watch Little Spot more closely from now on."
"That's okay." Maggie shrugged.
"It's just a good thing The Lemonade Detectives were here to solve the case."
"The Lemonade Detectives?" Ms. Wood looked at Henry, Cole, and Maggie.
"I've heard about you three!
My neighbor hired you when he couldn't remember who'd borrowed his tennis racket.
He said you tracked it down within an hour."
Cole nodded. "That was us."
Ms. Wood put a hand in her pocket.
"Then I'd better pay your detective fee," she said. "Five dollars, right?"
"You don't have to pay us," Henry said.
"Maggie's the one who wanted us to solve this case."
"I insist." Ms. Wood handed him a five-dollar bill.
"You found several of my missing things.
More importantly you proved that one of my favorite new students isn't careless."
She smiled at Maggie. "That's worth at least five dollars, right?"
"Definitely," Maggie agreed. "Henry and Cole saved the day.
If they hadn't solved the case, I might have had to stop riding!"
She shook her head and smiled. "And all because of a cat-loving dog!"
Little Spot barked and wagged his tail. Everyone laughed.
"Thanks," Henry said, taking the money from Ms. Wood.
"I guess that's another case closed for The Lemonade Detectives!"