"Now what do we do?" Cole asked, staring after the mystery man.
"Do you think he's the culprit?"
Maggie frowned. "I don't get it.
Nobody here knows him. Why would some stranger slash our tires?"
"People get robbed by strangers all the time," Cole pointed out.
"That's different," Henry said.
"Robbers have a motive. They want the money or other stuff that they steal.
What's that guy's motive for slashing our tires?"
"I don't know," Cole said. "But I think the new tires are here."
A van was pulling into the field.
It had the Belltown Bikes logo painted on the side.
Several of the bike shop's employees jumped out and started helping people replace their tires.
Before long all the bikes were fixed.
Ms. Hernandez made the riders line up so she could make sure everyone was there.
Then she got on her bike. "Time to get back on the trail!" she called out.
"Hip, hip, hooray!" Melanie cheered, jumping up and down. "Go, Belltown!"
Soon Henry was back on the trail.
But he wasn't paying attention to the scenery.
He was still thinking about the mystery.
"We need to keep working on this case," he told Maggie and Cole.
"Why?" Maggie asked. "That mystery man probably did it.
Why else would he lie to us about being a newspaper reporter?"
"I don't know," Henry said. "He might have other reasons."
Cole nodded. "Yeah. Maybe he's a spy!"
Henry doubted that.
But he had a feeling The Lemonade Detectives were missing an important clue.
"Let's split up and talk to people again," he said.
"If we can prove everybody else didn't do it, we can investigate that mystery man."
They spent the next few minutes talking to people as they rode along.
Henry questioned different riders about what they'd seen during the break.
The more he learned, the more he realized that most riders had alibis.
Either they hadn't left the picnic area, or they'd been with other people when they had.
Then he caught up to William.
"I guess Ms. Hernandez talked him out of quitting," he thought.
"Hi, William," Henry called. "Are you having fun?"
William looked over at him. "Sure, I guess so."
"Good," Henry said. "Because I heard you talking to Ms. Hernandez earlier.
Why did you want to quit partway through the ride?"
William looked surprised and then annoyed.
"None of your business," he muttered. Then he sped up and rode off.
His fancy mountain bike could go really fast.
Henry was wondering whether he should try to catch up when he heard Maggie.
"Henry! Wait up!"
A second later she and Cole both caught up to him.
The three of them discussed what they'd found out.
"It seems like there are only five people who don't have alibis for the time of the crime," Henry said.
"Nathan, Ms. Hernandez, Tina, William, and the mystery man."
"We know Nathan would never slash people's tires," Cole said.
Henry nodded. "I think we can cross Ms. Hernandez off the list too.
That leaves three suspects: Tina, William, and the mystery man."
"I still think Tina did it," Cole said.
"Why would she come on the ride to raise money for Belltown High unless she wanted to cause trouble?"
"I don't know," Henry said. "But we can't assume it was her.
We thought it was Joey, and he had an alibi, remember?"
He rode around a curve in the trail.
He was thinking so hard, it took him a second to spot the rider stopped by the side of the trail.
It was Nathan. He was standing beside his bike, looking worried.
The Lemonade Detectives stopped beside him. "What's wrong?" Maggie asked.
"It's my bike." Nathan pointed toward the gears.
"The chain fell off! And I don't know how to fix it. Can you guys help?"
Henry shook his head. "I don't know how to fix it either."
He looked at Maggie and Cole. "What about you two?"
They shook their heads too.
"Maybe you can leave your bike here and ride double with one of us," Maggie suggested.
Just then Joey rode toward them. He smirked when he saw them.
"Having bike trouble, Belltown losers?" he yelled. "Good, you deserve it!"
He sped around the next curve, making dirt fly at them as he passed.
"Go back to Valley High, you bully!" Maggie yelled.
"Forget about him." Nathan sighed. "What am I going to do about my bike?"
A few more riders rounded the curve.
Some of them looked over at Nathan's broken bike. But nobody stopped.
Then Tina rode into view.
As soon as she saw Nathan's bike, she steered toward him.
"Your chain fell off, huh?" she said with a friendly smile.
"Don't worry. I can help you fix it."