Henry and his friends waited for a while.
But Mrs. Sweet didn't come out from the back room of the Sweet Shop.
Finally they gave up and left.
"We should go see how Nathan is doing at the lemonade stand," Henry said.
"We've been gone for a long time."
The others agreed.
Back at the stand, Nathan was serving lemonade to some construction workers.
"Hi, guys," Nathan greeted his friends as the men left.
"Business has been great today! How's the mystery going?"
"Not so great," Henry admitted.
He and his friends told Nathan about the case.
"Wow," Nathan said. "That's weird that Mrs. Sweet rushed off like that."
"Yeah," Cole agreed. "She acted like she was guilty."
"But she's not guilty," Maggie insisted.
"She's way too nice to be a flavor thief! We have to prove she didn't do it!"
"That means we have to prove that someone else did do it," Cole said.
"Like Robby, for instance. He seemed really mad at Mr. Tate."
"Yeah!" Maggie said. "Maybe he hates Mr. Tate so much that he tricked Mrs. Sweet into inventing that flavor!"
"How would he do that?" Nathan asked.
"I don't know." Maggie shrugged.
"But I know Mrs. Sweet didn't do anything wrong."
Henry sighed. "I like Mrs. Sweet too, Maggie. But we have to be logical.
Mrs. Sweet has a good motive to cause trouble for the Dessert Den.
And don't forget, she has the exact same flavor right there on her sign.
Plus, she acted weird when we asked her about it just now."
"All that stuff is true," Cole said.
"If Mrs. Sweet was mean, I'd definitely think she was the thief.
But how could someone who seems so nice do something so rotten?"
Henry shrugged. He didn't have an answer for Cole's question.
"Maybe you guys should go talk to Mr. Tate again," Nathan suggested.
"That might give you some new ideas about the case.
I'll keep watching the lemonade stand if you want. I can use the extra money."
Maggie groaned. "It's so hot out.
Do we really have to ride all the way back to West Belltown?"
"If you want to clear Mrs. Sweet's name, we do," Cole said.
"Come on, let's go."
When The Lemonade Detectives reached the Dessert Den, Mr. Tate saw them coming and hurried to unlock the door.
"Did you solve the case?" he asked.
"Did Mrs. Sweet admit that she stole my flavor?"
"Not exactly," Henry said. "We didn't get to talk to her for very long."
Mr. Tate frowned. "Well, once you kids finally get her to admit she's guilty, I'll pay your five-dollar detective fee."
"We still don't believe she did it!" Maggie blurted out.
She glanced at Henry and Cole with a frown. "At least I don't."
"Huh?" Mr. Tate looked confused.
"We have a few theories," Henry explained calmly.
"We need to rule out other suspects before we can be sure Mrs. Sweet is the culprit."
"Other suspects?" Mr. Tate folded his arms across his chest. "Like who?"
"Um, there's this kid, Robby," Cole said.
"He seems to hate the Dessert Den. We're not sure why."
"Yeah," Maggie put in. "Or it could all be a coincidence.
The flavor bubble gum banana swirl isn't that unique, you know."
Mr. Tate rolled his eyes. "Look, my grand opening is tomorrow.
I don't have time to fool around.
Do you want to solve this case or not?" he asked.
"If you don't, I can find someone else to help me.
Like the police, for instance. Or maybe I'll go to the press.
I heard there's an award-winning investigative reporter in this town.
Maybe he can figure out what's going on."
Henry realized Mr. Tate was talking about his father.
"The Lemonade Detectives will solve your case," he said.
"No matter what." He gave Cole and Maggie a shove toward the door.
"Come on, guys. Let's get back to work."
Soon they were outside again.
"What was that all about, Henry?" Maggie asked.
"Why'd you rush us out of there?
I thought we were going to ask Mr. Tate more questions about the case."
"We can't let him go to the police," Henry said.
"Or ask my dad to investigate either."
"Why not?" Cole asked.
"Maybe your dad can help us prove that Mrs. Sweet is innocent."
"Maybe," Henry said.
"But if people hear he's investigating her, they might assume she's guilty.
And that would probably be bad for her business."
Suddenly Maggie gasped. "That's it!" she cried.
"I have a new theory about what's going on!
If we can prove it, it'll clear Mrs. Sweet's name!"
"Really? What's your theory?" Cole asked.
"We've been taking Mr. Tate's word about what happened," Maggie said.
"But what if he's lying? What if he's the one who stole that flavor?"