"What's going on?" someone shouted.
"My car just stopped!" the mayor exclaimed.
Several people rushed toward the mayor's car, including Mr. Newman.
After a moment Mr. Newman let out a shout.
"The car is out of gas," he announced.
The mayor frowned. "You said you filled it before you dropped it off at the parking lot last night."
"I did." Mr. Newman looked perplexed.
"Maybe there's a hole in the gas tank," someone called out.
More people gathered around the car.
Henry and his friends watched from their float.
"Uh-oh," Maggie blurted out. "It looks like that threat is coming true!"
"The car was parked at the high school all night," Cole said.
"Someone could have sneaked in and drained most of the gas.
That way the car would stall after a few minutes."
"And mess up the parade," Henry finished.
"That's exactly what I was thinking. But who could have done that?"
"What about Jackson?" Cole suggested.
"He knew all about the parade plans because of his newspaper story.
So he probably knew the mayor's car was parked at the high school."
"Mr. Newman knew too."
Maggie shot a look at the auto shop owner, who was under the car, checking the gas tank.
"Maybe he didn't really fill the mayor's gas tank."
"But Mr. Newman doesn't have a motive for ruining the parade," Henry reminded her.
"I know someone who has a motive." Maggie pointed toward the shops.
"We're stopped right in front of Miss Bishop's store.
Maybe that was her plan all along—to get people to notice her store!"
"Maybe," Cole said. Then he grinned.
"But I can't imagine Miss Bishop getting her hands dirty by draining gas from a tank!"
"Why not?" Maggie challenged him. "Because she's a woman?
Lots of girls and women know how to drain gas."
Cole shrugged. "That's true. I'm just not sure Miss Bishop is one of them.
She wouldn't want to mess up her manicure."
Henry gasped. "That's it!"
"What?" Cole asked. "Is Miss Bishop the culprit?"
"No, but I'm pretty sure I know who is."
Henry peered into the watching crowd, and then smiled. "Come with me!"
He jumped down from the float and led his friends toward Snake and his band.
The band was watching from the sidewalk as Mr. Newman and others checked the mayor's car.
Maggie gasped when she saw them.
"It was Snake, wasn't it?" she whispered. "I knew it!"
"No, it wasn't Snake." Henry stopped in front of the band.
"Hi, guys. Jade, can I talk to you?"
"What is it?" Jade sounded sullen.
Henry took a deep breath. "You did it, didn't you?" he said.
"You left that threat on the website, and you emptied the gas tank."
Jade gasped. "How did you know?" she blurted out.
Then she covered her mouth.
"Um, I mean, I don't know what you're talking about!"
Snake and the other band members looked confused.
"What's going on?" Snake asked. "Jade, what's the Lemonade Kid talking about?"
"Nothing," Jade muttered, glaring at Henry.
"So Jade is our culprit?" Cole said. "How'd you know that, Henry?"
"It was what Maggie said about girls being able to drain gas," Henry said.
"That's when I remembered that Jade works at her father's garage.
So she probably knows all about stuff like that.
I also remembered that Mr. Newman is pretty strict.
So I figured Jade was the band member who got grounded for being late."
"Yeah, so what?" Eddie said. "That doesn't prove anything."
Snake nodded. "It wasn't Jade's fault she got grounded.
We talked her into staying late."
"Okay," Henry said.
"But I think she still felt guilty about making the band drop out of the parade.
So she left that threat on the website.
Then she messed with the mayor's car to try to ruin the parade."
"I'm sorry!" Jade burst into tears. "I was just mad, that's all.
I was only ten minutes late to work! Why does my dad have to be so strict?"
Snake stared at her.
"So you did this?" He waved a hand toward the mayor's car. "Not cool, Jade."
"I know." Jade sniffled.
"You've got to tell the mayor you did it," Henry said.
"Otherwise he might blame your dad."
Jade sniffled again. "Okay," she mumbled. "I'll go confess right now."
Soon someone brought more gas for the mayor's car, and the parade continued.
In the end Mrs. Sweet won the mayor's prize, and Miss Bishop won the popular vote.
Henry thought Maggie might be mad that The Lemonade Detectives hadn't won either prize.
But Maggie didn't mind a bit.
Because The Lemonade Detectives still got interviewed on TV.
They were the kid detectives who'd solved the parade mystery!