"That will be 25 cents, please," Henry said.
He handed a cup of lemonade to Tiny.
Tiny was Henry's neighbor and the tallest kid in the tenth grade.
Tiny was also one of the lemonade stand's best customers.
He stopped by the stand to buy lemonade almost every day, sometimes more than once.
"Here you go." Tiny handed over a few coins. "Thanks for the lemonade!"
"You're welcome."
After Tiny left, Henry looked at Cole.
"I hope Maggie comes back soon," he said. "We're almost out of lemonade."
Just then Nathan hurried over. "Hi, guys," said their friend.
"How are the lemonade and detective businesses?"
"Hi, Nathan," Henry said. "The lemonade business is great."
"Yeah," Cole agreed. "But the detective business is a little slow."
"It's a good thing we haven't been busy solving any mysteries this week, though," Henry reminded Cole.
"Otherwise we wouldn't have had enough time to work on our float."
Nathan looked interested. "A float? You mean for the parade?"
Henry nodded.
Belltown's annual Summer Parade was coming up that Saturday afternoon.
Anyone in town could sign up to enter a float.
"It's going to be awesome!" Cole told Nathan.
"This is the first time The Lemonade Detectives are entering."
Henry laughed. "It would have been hard for The Lemonade Detectives to enter a float last year.
Our business didn't exist then!"
"Good point." Cole grinned.
"Anyway, we're sure to win the grand prize for Best Float."
"That's what Maggie is hoping," Henry said.
"She really wants that cash prize, especially since she spent all her money on that horse show last week."
Cole pointed. "Speaking of Maggie, here she comes."
Maggie was rushing toward them. She was clutching a pitcher of lemonade and a laptop computer.
"You guys will never believe what I just found out!" she exclaimed.
"There are going to be two prizes awarded at the parade this year!"
"Two prizes?" Henry said. "Do you mean there's a first prize and a second prize?"
"No, there will be two first prizes," Maggie said.
"Huh?" Cole looked confused. "How can there be two first prizes?"
Maggie looked impatient. "I'm trying to tell you," she said.
"The mayor will award a cash prize for the best float, just like he does every year.
But there's also going to be a poll on the town website.
Anyone in town can vote for his or her favorite float."
"Wow, cool!" Nathan said.
"Does the winner of the popular vote get a cash prize too?"
"No," Maggie said.
"But the popular vote winner gets to be interviewed on TV."
"That could be fun," Cole said.
"Not just fun," Maggie said.
"It would be great publicity for both of my—I mean our—businesses."
She waved a hand at the signs advertising the lemonade stand and the detective business.
Henry grabbed the laptop and opened it.
The screen showed Belltown's website.
"It looks like the popular poll isn't open yet," he said.
"Of course it's not, silly." Maggie shrugged.
"Nobody has seen any of the floats yet. They're all top secret."
Henry scanned the website.
"It says voting will start as soon as the parade is over on Saturday."
Cole looked over Henry's shoulder.
"What's that?" he asked, pointing to something at the bottom of the computer screen.
Henry scrolled down for a better look.
"It's a place where people can write comments about the parade.
See? Here's a note from Mrs. Sweet."
"It says, 'My float will be the sweetest treat in town,'" Maggie read.
"Here's one from Miss Bishop, the lady who owns the jewelry store right across from the Sweet Shop."
Cole leaned closer to read the comment.
"She says, 'My float will win the gold medal for sure.'"
Maggie snorted. "Those ladies can keep dreaming," she said.
"The Lemonade Detectives are definitely going to win both of those prizes!"
"I'll vote for you guys," Nathan promised. "What does your float look like?"
Henry opened his mouth to answer, but Maggie spoke first.
"We can't tell you," she said to Nathan. "It's top secret."
"Don't be silly, Maggie!" Cole laughed. "We can trust Nathan."
Maggie looked uncertain. "Do you promise not to tell anyone?
Especially your little sister, Nora. She has a big mouth."
"I promise," Nathan said.
"My sister is staying with my grandparents this week, so I couldn't tell her even if I wanted to."
"Our float is really cool," Cole told him.
"We made a huge lemon out of papier-mâché, and we're dressing it up to look like Sherlock Holmes."
"Get it?" Henry said. "Sherlock Holmes is a famous detective.
And we're The Lemonade Detectives."
Nathan was laughing. "A lemon dressed like Sherlock Holmes? That's funny!"
Suddenly Maggie spun around. "Hey!" she cried, pointing at a figure.
"Who are you? Are you spying on us?"