"Who was that?" Henry asked Tiny as the girl stomped away.
"Lauren," Tiny said.
"She's in college. Coach Phillips hired her to be his assistant coach."
Henry was surprised. "I thought she was a high-school student.
She looks really young."
"That's what Cole said when he met her yesterday," Tiny said.
"I guess Lauren doesn't like being called young.
She got really insulted when he said it, and she's been giving Cole dirty looks ever since."
"Hey, Tiny!" someone called from the other end of the pool.
"There's one last frog over here that we can't catch."
"See you later, Henry," Tiny said. Then he swam away.
Henry returned the frog bucket while he thought about what he'd just learned.
It sounded as if Cole had accidentally insulted Lauren and she was still mad about it.
Could she be angry enough to try to ruin Cole's chances of making the team?
Soon Tiny and the others caught the last frog.
Coach Phillips looked relieved.
"All right, people," he called out.
"Time to get back to tryouts. Everyone in the pool!"
Maggie walked over to Henry.
"Daisy says she didn't see a thing," she reported.
"But she thinks that Cole did it.
Mostly because he put a plastic toad in her lunch once."
"I remember that," Henry said. "Cole loves joking around.
I'm sure that's another reason why some people believe he did this."
Maggie nodded. "Did you find out anything useful?" she asked.
"I was talking to Tiny when the assistant coach walked past . . ."
Henry went on to describe what Lauren had said.
Then he told Maggie what Tiny had said afterward.
"Wow," Maggie said when he finished.
"Lauren must be really sensitive about looking young.
Do you think she was mad enough at Cole to do this?"
"I was wondering the same thing," Henry said.
"But how would she know that Cole liked frogs? She only met him yesterday.
We shouldn't assume it was her until we know more.
Maybe we can talk to other people when the team takes a break."
The two of them sat down to watch as tryouts continued.
The coach had all the swimmers do laps for a while.
Then he told Tiny and the other team members to get out of the pool and rest.
Cole and the other three kids who were trying out had to stay in the water.
The coach asked them to swim all the different strokes.
"Wow. Cole really is a good swimmer," Maggie commented.
"Daisy and Kyle are pretty good too," Henry said.
"But that last kid is terrible," Maggie said.
"Who is he? He looks familiar."
"That's Tommy Miller," Henry said.
"He's one year ahead of Cole and me in school."
Maggie shook her head. "He really stinks.
Why would he try out for the swim team?"
"Maybe it's because his older brother is one of the stars of the team."
Henry looked over at John Miller.
Tommy's older brother was sitting with Tiny and the others.
John was bragging about getting his driver's license soon, when he turned sixteen.
"I guess John got all the swimming talent in the family," Maggie said.
Henry went back to watching Tommy. He was swimming the backstroke.
But by the time he was halfway across the pool, he looked like he was about to drown.
He had to dog paddle to finally get to the other end.
"I just remembered something," Henry said.
"Tommy's parents own the pet store at the mall.
That's where Cole buys food and supplies for his pets."
"So?" Maggie said.
"So Tommy knew about Cole's interest in frogs. Maybe he's trying to frame him."
"Frame him? What does that mean?" Maggie asked.
"It's a detective word," Henry said.
"It's when someone tries to make it look as if someone else committed a crime."
"So you think Tommy framed Cole for the frog prank?"
Maggie looked doubtful. "Why would he do that?"
"Because Cole's such a good swimmer," Henry said.
"And Tommy really wants the spot on the team."
Maggie thought for a second.
"Yeah, but even if Cole got kicked out of tryouts, there's no way Tommy would make the team.
Daisy and Kyle are both better than him too."
Henry realized she was right.
Just then the coach ordered Cole and the others out of the pool for a rest.
All four of them climbed out and hurried toward the chairs where they'd left their towels and sports drinks.
"Maybe Daisy and Kyle should be suspects instead of Tommy," Henry said to Maggie.
"Do you think they knew that Cole likes frogs?"
Before Maggie could answer, there was a loud shriek.
"Help!" Daisy screamed. "I'm being attacked by ants!"