"A thief at the barn?" Henry said. "What are you talking about, Maggie?"
By now Maggie's father, Henry's uncle Bruce, had come into the backyard.
"There's no need to be so dramatic, Maggie," he said with a sigh.
"Mom and I have talked to you before about this.
You need to be more careful with your things."
"But I was being careful!" Maggie exclaimed.
"I left the check on my bag, right on top of my sandals.
It was definitely there when I led my pony outside for our lesson.
But when I got back, the check was gone!"
"Wait a minute," Aunt Ellen said.
"Are you saying you lost the check we wrote for today's lesson?"
"Don't worry, I wrote another one," Uncle Bruce told his wife.
"And I called the bank to cancel the first check."
"Oh, Maggie." Aunt Ellen shook her head.
"I can't believe you were so careless, especially after what happened last week."
Henry was surprised. Maggie could be careless about some things.
But she was really careful with her money.
"What happened last week?" he asked.
"Maggie lost a few other things at the barn," Uncle Bruce said.
"Oh dear," Henry's mother said.
"I didn't lose anything!" Maggie protested.
"Someone has been stealing things!"
"Really? What else disappeared?" Henry asked.
"At my first lesson, I took off my charm bracelet and left it in the barn," Maggie said.
"I didn't want to lose it while I was riding.
When I came back inside after my lesson, it was gone!"
"I don't know why you were so worried about losing it," her mother said.
"You always let those kittens of yours use it as a cat toy!"
Maggie frowned. "That's different. The kittens just bat it around.
I always know where it is."
"Did anything else disappear?" Henry asked.
He was already thinking like a detective.
The first thing a good detective needed to do was find out the facts of the case.
Maggie nodded. "At my second lesson, my brand-new horse grooming brush disappeared," she said.
"It happened the same way.
It was in the barn when I went outside for my lesson, but gone when I got back."
"Don't forget about your gloves," her father said.
"Oh, right," Maggie said.
"I didn't wear my riding gloves today because it was so hot.
I left them with my stuff in the barn.
Whoever took that check must have taken the gloves too."
"Maggie!" Aunt Ellen looked shocked. "Those gloves were expensive!"
"Everything about horseback riding is expensive," Uncle Bruce agreed.
"We can't afford to keep replacing things."
Henry could tell that Maggie's parents thought she'd lost all those things.
But he wasn't so sure. Maggie was too careful with money to misplace a check.
She was so excited about riding that he couldn't believe she'd lose a horse brush or her riding gloves.
And he knew she loved that charm bracelet.
"Is anyone allowed inside the barn while there's a lesson outside?" he asked Maggie.
"Sure, I guess so," Maggie said with a shrug.
"I mean, they don't close the doors or anything.
Any rotten thief could just walk in." She clenched her fists.
"I can't believe someone is doing this to me!"
She sounded so dramatic again that all the adults looked at each other.
But Maggie's words made Henry think of another question.
"Has anything else disappeared?" he asked her.
"I mean, anything belonging to other people. Or is it only your stuff?"
"How should I know?" Maggie frowned. "That's what I need you to find out!
Dad made me leave the barn before I could investigate."
Uncle Bruce shook his head.
"We were already late for this barbecue," he said.
"Besides, I don't think there's a mystery here.
It just means that you have to be more careful with your things."
"That's right," Aunt Ellen said.
"I had to pull your favorite horse T-shirt out from under your desk this morning.
The kittens were using it as a bed. It was absolutely covered in cat hair."
Henry's mother cleared her throat.
"Should we eat? Everything smells delicious, and I'm hungry," she said.
"Good idea, Susan," Uncle Bruce agreed.
"Go sit down at the picnic table, everybody.
I'll help Kevin bring the food over from the grill."
The adults were obviously ready to change the subject.
But later, while everyone was eating, Maggie was still thinking about her missing things.
"I didn't lose my stuff at the barn!" she said loudly.
"Somebody stole it! And The Lemonade Detectives will figure out who it was!"
Aunt Ellen glanced up from her corn on the cob.
"I hope so, Maggie," she said.
"Because if this keeps happening, you might not be able to keep riding."