Henry ran as fast as he could. The woman was walking quickly.
"There she goes—behind the restrooms!" Maggie said.
"We might be able to trap her back there!"
The Lemonade Detectives sped after her.
When they rounded the corner, the woman had stopped to look at some flowers.
"Don't take another step!" Maggie cried.
The woman looked startled. She backed away from them. "Who are you?"
Henry stepped forward. "We were about to ask you the same thing."
His heart was pounding. They had to get the woman to confess!
"Very funny," the woman snapped. "Now what do you want?"
"We want you to give back our friend's painting," Cole said.
The woman blinked. "What?"
"Nathan's painting," Henry said.
"We know you took it. Now tell us why you did it."
The woman shook her head, looking puzzled. "I didn't take anybody's painting."
"Then why did you run away from us earlier?" Maggie demanded.
The woman peered at her.
"Oh, was that you? I didn't get a good look at you then." She frowned.
"Wait! Were you kids chasing me earlier because you thought I stole some painting?"
"That's right," Henry said.
The woman touched her bright red hair.
"So you weren't following me because you recognized me?"
"Yes, we were!" Maggie crossed her arms over her chest.
"We recognized you as an international art thief!"
"Wait." Henry was listening carefully. "Why else would we recognize you?
We already guessed you were from out of town, remember?"
This time the woman turned to peer at Henry.
"You did?" Suddenly she nodded.
"Oh right. You're the kids from the lemonade stand!"
"Yes," Cole said. "Who are you?"
"Daniella Diaz, of course!" The woman paused, looking at each of the kids.
"The world-famous artist?"
Henry and the others looked at each other.
Cole shrugged. "Sorry," he said. "I guess we don't know much about art."
"Clearly." Daniella frowned. "Well, that's all right.
I didn't want to be recognized today anyway.
That's why I was trying to get out of sight when I saw the judges heading my way.
I knew they'd spot me even in this wig." She patted her hair again.
"That's a wig?" Maggie stared at it. "Wow."
"So if you're really a world-famous artist, what are you doing in Belltown?" Cole asked.
"Yeah," Henry added.
"And if you're a famous artist who doesn't want to be recognized, what are you doing at an art show?"
"I'm visiting relatives in the area," Daniella replied.
"I didn't know this art show was going on until I got here." She shrugged.
"But once I heard about it, I couldn't resist coming to take a look.
I wanted to check for small-town talent."
"So you really didn't have anything to do with our friend's painting disappearing?" Henry asked.
"Of course not." Daniella looked insulted. "I create art—I don't steal it."
Henry nodded. "Okay. Sorry we suspected you."
"Yeah. And sorry we don't know who you are, even though you're famous," Cole added.
Daniella frowned. "Yes, well, I suppose that's for the best," she said.
"You kids won't give away my secret, will you?"
"Of course not," Cole promised.
Maggie pulled a coin out of her pocket. "Here's your quarter back," she added.
"You never got the lemonade you paid for."
Daniella looked surprised. "Thanks." She took the coin.
"Now I'd better go. I don't want to miss the judging, and it's about to start."
As she hurried off, Henry glanced at the town clock.
"She's right," he said with a sigh. "It's two o'clock."
"We'd better find Nathan and give him the bad news," Cole said.
"Yeah," Maggie looked hopeful.
"Maybe he found his painting while we were running around chasing Nora and a world-famous artist we never heard of."
But when they found Nathan, he looked sad.
He was staring at the empty spot where his painting had hung.
"Oh well," he said when The Lemonade Detectives told him what had happened.
"I guess I can try again next year.
My painting probably wouldn't have won a prize anyway."
Henry felt terrible.
This was the first case that The Lemonade Detectives had failed to solve.
They all wandered over to the judges, to watch them make their rounds.
The judges were examining Patrick's painting.
"Lovely use of light and shade," the art teacher was saying.
"Indeed," the curator agreed. "Quite accomplished for such a young artist."
Henry looked around to see what Patrick thought of their comments.
To his surprise, Patrick was nowhere in sight.
However, he did notice Hannah watching nearby.
Henry stared from Hannah to Patrick's painting and back again.
"I just remembered something that doesn't quite make sense," he told his friends.
"Hurry—let's go check it out!"