"What?" Henry exclaimed, staring at Cole.
"What do you mean, you put the lollipop in Daisy's pocket? Why?"
Cole shrugged, looking sheepish.
"I knew that Daisy loves those blueberry lollipops from the Dessert Den.
She couldn't stop talking about them when I saw her there yesterday.
So I decided to surprise her with one as a . . . um . . . good luck gift.
I waited until she left to get some lemonade," he continued.
"Then I sneaked into the barn and stuck a lollipop in the pocket of her show shirt."
"You did?" Henry said. "Why? You didn't get Maggie anything.
She likes candy too."
"That's different." Cole looked embarrassed. "Maggie's just . . . Maggie.
Daisy is, you know, really nice and pretty and smart."
"Oh!" Henry thought. "Cole has a crush on Daisy!"
"Is that why you skipped swim team practice today?" he asked.
"Because of Daisy? You wanted to watch her compete?"
"Maybe." Cole shrugged. "I mean, I wanted to help you guys too."
"Okay," Henry said. "So what happened with the shirt?
Did you leave it in the water trough?"
"No!" Cole said. "I just put the lollipop in Daisy's shirt pocket.
Then I left it hanging in the barn by Coco's stall."
"When you said you were looking for more napkins, you were really hanging out with Daisy," Henry guessed.
"That's when you put the lollipop in her pocket."
Cole nodded. "I was going to tell Daisy later that the lollipop was from me.
But then her shirt disappeared!" He sighed.
"I was afraid someone saw me near her shirt.
That person could tell Daisy—and make her think that I stole it!"
Henry sighed. "Why didn't you just say so in the first place?"
"I don't know." Cole looked sheepish again.
"I thought I could find the shirt myself.
That way nobody would ever know about the candy and stuff."
Henry nodded. Now he understood why Cole had been acting so strange all day.
The trouble was, Cole's explanation didn't explain what had happened to Daisy's shirt.
"So you have no idea how the shirt got into the water trough?" he asked.
"Nope." Cole shook his head.
Normally Henry wouldn't doubt his best friend.
But Cole had told a lot of lies today.
Still, he wanted to trust his best friend.
"Maybe it's a red herring," he muttered.
"A what?" Cole said.
"A red herring," Henry said.
"That's something that seems like a clue, but isn't.
Like that blue stain. Maybe it's just a coincidence.
Maybe Rebecca—or someone else—grabbed the shirt without even noticing the lollipop in the pocket."
"That makes sense," Cole agreed.
Henry frowned as he kept thinking.
"But in that case, what happened to the lollipop?
It wasn't in the pocket when we found the shirt.
And I didn't see it in the water trough."
"Maybe a horse ate it," Cole suggested.
Henry thought about Big Spot's blue slobber.
"Maybe. But why would someone steal the shirt and then leave it in such an obvious place?" he asked.
"If Rebecca was trying to ruin things for Daisy, Rebecca would have found a better hiding spot for the shirt.
This just doesn't make sense."
Henry had the feeling he was missing some important clue.
But he couldn't figure out what it was.
He glanced around.
Everyone was gathering near the ring to watch the next class.
There were no lemonade customers in sight.
"Let's go check the scene of the crime again," he suggested.
"Okay," Cole said. "Listen, I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier.
About the lollipop, I mean."
"That's okay." Henry led the way toward the barn.
When Henry and Cole entered, Cole went over to Maggie, who was near Big Spot's stall.
Henry saw Coco in her stall, though Daisy was nowhere in sight.
Instead Rebecca was standing there patting the pony.
"Hi," said Henry. "Did you notice the clothes that were hanging on this stall earlier?"
"Clothes?" Rebecca rubbed Coco's nose. "No. Why?"
"There was a show shirt—" Henry began.
Before he could finish, Cole hurried over to Henry.
"Excuse us," Cole said to Rebecca. Then he pulled Henry away.
"That's not where Daisy's shirt was hanging!" he whispered.
"Yes, it was," Henry said. "That's Daisy's pony right there.
Her show coat was hanging there too, until she put it on for her last class."
Cole looked confused.
"It was? But I saw Daisy's shirt hanging on that stall over there."
Cole pointed to the stall next to Big Spot's.
Kira's pony was standing there, looking out.
Henry looked at Kira's pony, and then slowly he smiled.
"Let's go find Daisy," he told Cole.
"I think I know exactly what happened to her shirt."