"Let's go after Nora!" Maggie whispered.
She sounded excited now. "She's almost reached the woods!"
"No, let's wait for a few seconds," Henry said.
"We don't want her to hear us following her."
He watched Nora until she disappeared into the woods.
A few seconds later there was a glow from just inside the tree line.
"It looks like she brought a flashlight," Cole said.
Henry nodded. "That should make it a lot easier to spot her.
Come on, I think it's safe to climb down now. She's too far away to hear us."
He led the way down from the tree house.
The three detectives hurried across the yard toward the woods.
"It's getting kind of dark," Maggie said, peering at the trail that led into the forest.
"I hope we'll be able to see."
"Don't worry. I brought a flashlight too." Henry pulled it out.
He stepped onto the shadowy trail.
It was time to put step three of his plan into action.
Henry waited a second longer, and then turned on his flashlight.
He shined it around until he found the flour that he and Cole had sprinkled on the ground earlier that day.
"Wow," Maggie said. "You guys sure used a lot of flour."
Cole grinned. "We used the whole bag.
I hope Nathan's parents don't decide to bake a cake anytime soon."
"Using a lot of flour was the only way my plan would work," Henry explained to Maggie.
"We had to sprinkle enough on the ground so that Nora would be sure to step in it."
Cole nodded. "Now all we have to do is follow her footprints," he said.
"I always knew Henry was smart, but this has to be the coolest plan ever!"
"I hope Nora didn't see the flour and jump over it," Maggie said, worried.
"I thought about that," Henry said.
"That's why we made sure to put it here in the woods, under the trees, instead of out in the yard.
It gets dark here a lot sooner than it does out there."
"Good thinking!" Maggie was impressed.
"Nora didn't turn on her flashlight right away.
So she probably didn't see the flour."
Cole grinned. "That's what we were hoping she'd do."
Henry was shining his flashlight up and down the line of flour.
"There!" he cried, spotting some powdery, white footprints leading deeper into the woods.
They had to be Nora's!
He followed the footprints, keeping his flashlight aimed at the ground.
His friends crept along behind him.
"The footprints are getting fainter already," Maggie whispered.
"I guess it didn't take long for most of the flour to come off Nora's shoes.
What if the footprints run out before we catch up to her?"
"If that happens, at least we'll know what direction she's going," Henry whispered back.
"And it's definitely not toward that shed where she pretended she was going before," Cole added.
"It's a good thing that Henry was too smart to fall for that!"
"Are you saying I wasn't smart enough?" Maggie asked, sounding insulted.
"Shh!" Henry hushed them. "I don't want her to hear us coming!"
Maggie and Cole stayed quiet after that.
The three friends tiptoed through the woods, following the faint flour footprints.
It was getting so dark that the woods seemed a little spooky.
Insects and frogs chirped all around the kids, and an owl hooted in the distance.
But Henry stayed focused on the footprints.
They were getting fainter and fainter. Finally they disappeared completely.
"Uh-oh," Cole whispered. "It's the end of the trail!"
Henry turned off his flashlight and looked around.
It was hard to see anything in the darkness.
But then he saw something up ahead—a light!
"Look!" he whispered. "That must be Nora's flashlight."
"Let's go get her!" Maggie whispered eagerly.
The three of them hurried toward the light, moving as quietly as they could.
Henry was in the lead as they emerged into a clearing.
On the far side was a huge oak tree.
The light was coming from the base of the tree.
Nora was there, leaning over. Her back was to the detectives.
She hadn't heard or seen them yet.
Henry squinted, trying to see what she was doing, but he couldn't tell.
He was about to whisper to his friends that they should hide behind the trees and watch Nora.
But Maggie was already pushing past him.
"Freeze, Nora!" she said loudly. "We caught you!"
Nora spun around and gasped. "Oh no!" she cried in surprise.