Maggie gasped. "Oh my gosh," she said. "You're right, Henry!
I forgot that Nathan and Nora were only wearing bathing suits when they stopped at the lemonade stand."
"Me too," Cole said.
"But I remember now," Maggie went on.
"Nathan dripped all over my shoes while I was talking to him."
"Sorry about that," Nathan said sheepishly.
"We forgot to bring towels to the pool. Good thing it was a hot day."
"That's why you had to borrow money to buy lemonade, right?" Henry said.
Nathan nodded. "We didn't bring anything with us to the pool," he said.
"But Mrs. Martin let us borrow enough money to buy two cups of lemonade."
"So you guys really didn't take my money?" Maggie asked.
She sounded kind of disappointed.
"You said yourself there was lots of money in your cashbox," Cole said to Maggie.
"Was there too much for Nora to hide in her hands?"
"Definitely," Maggie said.
"There were a bunch of dollar bills and lots of change too.
Way too much for anyone to hide in their hands."
"I guess that proves it," Henry said. "Nathan and Nora couldn't have done it."
"Yeah," Cole added. "Sorry we accused you guys."
"It's all right," Nathan said with a smile.
"Cool," Henry said, glad that Nathan wasn't angry.
"Sorry I took the extra lemonade, Maggie," Nora said.
"I was just really thirsty after swimming."
"That's okay," Maggie told the younger girl.
"But please remember to ask next time, okay?"
"I promise!" Nora said.
"So now what?" Cole shrugged. "Nora and Nathan didn't take the money.
Those two teenage girls didn't do it either. Neither did Ryan."
Cole stared at Henry and Maggie. They stared back.
Henry knew they were all thinking the same thing.
"So who did it?" he asked. "We're all out of suspects."
"No, we're not," Maggie said. "What about Mrs. Martin?
She was hanging around when the cash went missing."
"Mrs. Martin?" Cole said. "We already talked about that, remember?
She couldn't be the thief. She's a police officer."
Nora wasn't paying attention anymore.
She and her friend were already back to arguing about who was a better princess.
But Nathan was still listening to Henry and his friends.
"Not right now she isn't," he pointed out.
"Mrs. Martin took time off from the police force.
She's going back to work when Marty gets a little older."
"I forgot about that!" Maggie exclaimed.
"Me too, but that's not the point," Henry said.
"Mrs. Martin is an honest person and a mother.
She wouldn't steal money, especially not from a kid."
"How do we know that for sure?" Maggie said.
"What if she's short of cash right now since she isn't working?"
"Don't be silly," Cole said. "Mr. Martin still has a job.
He's a teacher at the college."
"But what if he doesn't make enough money?" Maggie said.
"They used to have two salaries to pay the bills, and now they only have one.
Plus they have a kid who's growing and needs stuff all the time."
She stared around at all of them.
"Maybe they barely have enough to get by, and she's desperate.
Desperate enough to steal any money she can find!"
Henry sighed. "That sounds more like something from a movie than real life, Maggie."
"Besides I don't think Mrs. Martin is that desperate," Nathan added.
"She bought lemonade for Nora and me, remember?
Plus she bought two cups for herself and one for Marty."
"Marty?" Nora looked up suddenly at the sound of Marty's name.
"Yuck! I don't like Marty Martin one bit!"
Maggie, Nathan, and Cole didn't even look over at her. But Henry did.
"What do you mean, Nora?" he asked. "Why don't you like Marty Martin?"
Nora scowled.
"When my mom babysits him at our house, he's always grabbing my stuff and saying it's his," she complained.
"He even tried to take my microphone so I couldn't play rock star anymore!"
"No way!" her friend cried. "That's mean!"
Henry hardly heard the other little girl. "That's it!" he cried.
"That's what?" Cole asked.
"It was that little kid, Marty Martin!" Henry exclaimed. "He's our thief!"
"Are you crazy?" Maggie said. "How could Marty be the thief?"
"Yeah," Cole agreed. "Marty is only three years old.
He doesn't even know what money is yet!"
"It doesn't matter." Henry grinned, certain that he was right this time.
"He probably doesn't know what a microphone is either, and Nora just said he took hers.
Now come on, guys. Let's go get Maggie's money back!"