The Lemonade Detectives rode their bikes to the Sweet Shop as fast as they could.
"I still don't believe Mrs. Sweet would do anything wrong," Maggie said as she leaned her bike against a lamppost in front of the shop.
"I don't either," Henry said.
"But a good detective has to investigate every lead and suspect."
The bell jingled as they walked in.
There were a few customers sitting at the tables inside, but there was no one in line.
A young woman stood behind the counter, wiping it with a rag.
Her name was Patty.
Henry knew that she worked at the ice-cream parlor part-time to help pay for her college tuition.
"Hi, Patty," he greeted her. "Is Mrs. Sweet here?"
"Hi, Henry," Patty said.
"Sorry, she's not here right now. She just stepped out to go to the bank."
"Oh." Cole sounded disappointed. "We need to talk to her about something."
"She'll be back in a few minutes," Patty said.
"Want some ice cream while you wait?"
That gave Henry an idea.
Maybe he could start investigating even before Mrs. Sweet returned.
"I tried one of the new flavors earlier—raspberry mint chip," he said.
"It was really good.
Do you know how Mrs. Sweet came up with the idea for that one?"
Maggie shot him a strange look. Henry could almost read her mind.
She was thinking, "Why do you care about that flavor?"
Patty chuckled.
"You know Mrs. Sweet; she always has a story about how she invents her flavors.
She told me she was picking raspberries in her garden when she brushed against a pot of mint plants.
The mint and the berries smelled delicious together.
So she decided to experiment."
"Cool," Henry said. "What about the other new flavor?
Do you know how she got the idea for that one?"
"You mean the bubble gum banana swirl?" Patty asked.
When Henry nodded, she shrugged. "I'm not sure.
When I asked Mrs. Sweet about that one, she just said that 'a little bird' had given her the idea."
Henry traded a worried look with his friends. That sounded kind of suspicious!
"It doesn't matter where she got the idea, though, because it turned out great," Patty went on.
"Would you like a sample?"
"Sure!" Cole said eagerly. "Thanks."
Patty grabbed three small plastic spoons.
Then she scooped out a mouthful of the bubble gum-banana-swirl ice cream for each of the kids.
"Yum!" Cole said when he tasted it. "This is awesome!"
"It sure is," Henry agreed.
Now he could understand why Mr. Tate was so upset—the flavor tasted great!
Just then some teenage girls came in.
Patty went to wait on them, and Henry and his friends wandered away to talk.
"What do you think?" Cole asked quietly.
"I don't know," Henry said.
"It's weird that Mrs. Sweet told Patty that a little bird gave her the idea for bubble gum banana swirl."
Maggie frowned. "I still can't believe Mrs. Sweet would steal anything.
We need to talk to her and find out her side of the story!"
Henry nodded. "I hope she gets back soon."
A few minutes later Mrs. Sweet finally returned.
"Well, hello again, boys!" she greeted them.
"Hi, Maggie! But what are you all doing here?
Shouldn't someone be working at the lemonade stand?
I hear your business is booming!"
"It is," Maggie told her. "Our friend Nathan is watching the stand right now."
"Yes," Henry said. "We were just over in West Belltown.
There's a new business opening there this weekend. It's called the Dessert Den."
Mrs. Sweet was still smiling.
"Oh my, yes, I've heard about the Dessert Den," she said.
"I suppose that means I'll have some competition now for Belltown's dessert eaters!" She chuckled.
The kids exchanged looks.
"Don't worry, I'll always like the Sweet Shop best," Maggie said quickly.
"Um, actually there's a reason we were at the Dessert Den," Henry spoke up.
"We're investigating a mystery."
"Oh? What sort of mystery?"
Mrs. Sweet was bustling around, straightening the napkin dispensers on the tables.
"Well," said Cole. "The owner of the Dessert Den thinks someone stole the idea for his new ice-cream flavor.
It was supposed to be a big secret. It's called bubble gum banana swirl."
"What?" Mrs. Sweet stopped what she was doing and spun to stare at Cole.
"Bubble gum banana swirl? Are you sure?"
"Yes. Mr. Tate thinks you, um, stole his flavor," Henry blurted out.
"We told him there had to be some kind of mistake, but—"
"Excuse me, kids." Mrs. Sweet wasn't smiling anymore.
"I have something important to do."
"But Mrs. Sweet . . ." Maggie began.
It was too late. Mrs. Sweet was already rushing away.
A second later she disappeared into the back room of the shop.