"Mrs. Sweet?" Maggie exclaimed. "She'd never steal anything from anybody!"
"Yeah," Cole said. "Mrs. Sweet is great."
Henry nodded. "I know you're new in town," he told Mr. Tate.
"But everyone in Belltown knows how nice Mrs. Sweet is.
The Sweet Shop has been around since our parents were little."
"Exactly," Mr. Tate said with a frown.
"Mrs. Sweet doesn't want any competition from the Dessert Den!"
"What makes you think Mrs. Sweet stole your flavor?" Cole asked.
"That's a good question." Henry turned to Mr. Tate.
"You haven't told us exactly what happened."
"Oh right," Mr. Tate said.
"Like I said, I invented a unique flavor of ice cream for the grand opening.
I haven't told a soul in Belltown about it. It was top secret!"
"Then what happened?" Maggie asked.
"Did someone break in here and steal the ice cream out of your freezer?"
"No, nothing like that," Mr. Tate said.
"In fact, my ice-cream order isn't scheduled to arrive until this afternoon.
But just this morning, I saw my flavor listed on the chalkboard outside the Sweet Shop!"
The Lemonade Detectives exchanged looks. "Really? That's weird," Cole said.
"It doesn't prove anything, though," Maggie said.
"Mrs. Sweet makes up new flavors all the time.
Maybe she came up with the same idea on her own."
Mr. Tate shook his head.
"I doubt it. How likely is it that she just happened to make up a flavor like bubble gum banana swirl?"
"Bubble gum banana swirl?" Henry echoed.
He and Cole had seen that flavor on the Sweet Shop sign themselves.
It was one of today's special flavors!
"Right. That's my flavor. See?"
Mr. Tate strode over to the menu sign and pulled back the sheet.
The sign said Dessert Den Grand Opening Exclusive: Bubble gum Banana Swirl Ice Cream!
"How do you think Mrs. Sweet heard about your flavor?" Henry asked.
Mr. Tate shrugged. "I assume someone at the factory told her."
"What factory?" Cole asked.
"The place where I'm having all my ice cream made," Mr. Tate explained.
"I tell the owners what flavors I want, and they make it for me."
"Mrs. Sweet doesn't use a factory," Maggie said.
"She makes all her own flavors in the back of her shop."
"She does?" Mr. Tate looked surprised.
"Yes," Henry said. "So she couldn't have heard about it from the factory."
Mr. Tate tugged on the sheet to cover his sign again.
"Okay, I just thought of another way it could have happened," he said.
"I've been keeping my menu covered up.
But a few days ago the painter forgot to cover it before leaving for the night.
Somebody could have looked in the window and seen it then."
"You mean you think Mrs. Sweet sneaked over here at night and peeked in at your flavors?" Cole said.
"That doesn't sound like something she would do."
Henry agreed with that.
But as he looked around the Dessert Den, he had a moment of doubt.
Mr. Tate's new shop really looked great.
It had a brand-new ice-cream counter, the cool hand-painted sign, and a shiny silver soda fountain.
It was a lot fancier than the old-fashioned Sweet Shop.
Could Mrs. Sweet really be worried about the competition?
Maybe even worried enough to sabotage the Dessert Den?
"No," Henry said out loud.
"I can't believe Mrs. Sweet would steal your flavor idea.
There must be another explanation."
"Oh yeah?" Mr. Tate frowned.
"I thought you kids were supposed to be detectives.
The evidence is right there on my menu—and on her flavor board!"
"Mrs. Sweet has the same flavor as you," Maggie said.
"But that doesn't mean she's a thief."
Henry nodded. "Maggie is right," he said.
"It's just circumstantial evidence."
"What kind of evidence?" Cole looked confused.
"Circumstantial," Henry said.
"It's evidence that implies something, but doesn't actually prove it."
"Okay," Mr. Tate said. "So how do you explain what happened then?"
"I'm not sure yet," Henry said. "We need to investigate and figure it out.
We'll get back to you later."
When the Lemonade Detectives got outside, they stopped by their bikes to talk.
"You don't really think Mrs. Sweet is a thief, do you?" Maggie asked Henry.
"Of course not," Henry said.
"But it's really odd that they both ended up with that same flavor."
Cole nodded. "Yeah. And it's not a common flavor like mint chocolate chip or fudge ripple," he said.
"There's no way Mrs. Sweet and Mr. Tate both invented bubble gum banana swirl in the same week!"
"I agree," said Henry. "We need to start our investigation."
"How do we do that?" Maggie asked.
Henry bit his lip, thinking. "I guess we need to go question Mrs. Sweet.
Even if it's just to rule her out as a suspect."