"I know why someone would take the movie tickets but not these games," Cole said.
"It's simple. The thief stumbled across that plastic container.
But he didn't find this treasure chest."
"Yeah," Luke agreed. "William's parents said that's probably what happened."
"I still think Roger Redbeard stole our tickets," Maggie added.
"He probably didn't notice the clue in the box."
"It's a good thing he didn't know about this booty," Nathan said.
"We wouldn't have our awesome new game players right now!"
Henry didn't say anything.
He still wasn't sure that Roger was the thief. They needed more evidence.
Henry was still thinking as they started to walk back to the beach.
He had to find out if Roger had really walked to town.
"Hey, Anna," he said.
"Did you see Roger walking by the surf while we were all checking the tide pools?"
Anna blinked. "Excuse me?" she said.
Henry repeated his question.
She shook her head. "I didn't go down by the surf," she replied.
"My tide pool wasn't close to the water."
"Really?" Maggie said.
"Because Roger said he saw you running through the surf."
"He did?" Anna said. Then she gave a quick smile.
"Oh, I know. I bet he saw my sister. She's only two years older than I am.
A lot of people think we look alike. She was probably jogging.
She loves to exercise."
Henry thought of another question for Anna.
"How long does it take to walk to town from here?"
"About fifteen or twenty minutes," Anna replied.
Cole wasn't paying much attention to the conversation.
He was staring at the next clue.
"It's a drawing of some buildings," he said. "Close to a park or something."
"I think we have to go into town," said Luke.
"We can play our games on the way."
Everyone started walking up the beach toward town.
When they passed William's house, William stopped.
"I'll catch up with you in a few minutes," he said.
"These sandals are giving me blisters. I want to put on different ones."
Without waiting for an answer, he ran ahead and disappeared into his house.
The others stared after him.
"What's wrong with William today?" Nathan said with a frown.
"He seems grouchy. It's almost like he wishes we weren't here."
Henry had been thinking the same thing. He just shrugged. "I'm not sure."
They all kept walking.
Everyone except Henry was focused on their video game players.
Soon Henry poked Cole and Maggie, gesturing for them to slow down.
He wanted The Lemonade Detectives to whisper to one another without anyone else overhearing.
"What do you guys think?" Henry asked quietly.
"If Roger really walked to town and back, it took him at least half an hour."
"Plus however long it took him to go into a store and buy that soda," Cole pointed out.
"That means he didn't have time to steal our tickets," Maggie added.
"If he's telling the truth, that is."
Cole nodded. "We still don't know for sure.
Anna said she didn't see him, remember?"
"I know." Henry glanced forward to make sure the others weren't listening.
"When we get to town, let's try to find out if he really bought that soda there."
"How are we going to do that?" Cole asked.
"There was a logo on the cup," Henry replied. "It said SCGS.
Maybe we can find a business with that name."
"Okay," Cole said. "But what about our other suspects?"
"Like William, for instance," Maggie said.
"It's pretty suspicious that he ran off by himself."
"This is the second time he's done that," Cole said.
"He left when he and I were supposed to be searching together too."
"That is suspcious," Henry agreed.
"We should pay attention to William. And to Anna, Luke, and Nathan."
"I still don't think Nathan would steal anything," Cole said.
"I know he's acting kind of grouchy today, but—"
Cole stopped short. Henry saw why. Luke was dropping back to join them.
"Keep up, you guys," he said with a smile.
"Otherwise we might not share the next pirate booty with you!"
Henry chuckled. Since Luke was there, he decided to try to question him.
"It's too bad about those missing movie tickets, huh?" he said.
"You're such a big fan of pirates, I bet you'd love to go to that premiere."
Luke didn't answer. Henry looked over at him.
To Henry's surprise, Luke wasn't smiling anymore.
His face was turning bright red.
"Um, actually, about those movie tickets . . ." Luke muttered.
Henry's eyes widened. Was Luke about to confess to the crime?