Henry stared at the flavor board outside the Sweet Shop.
"Mrs. Sweet erased bubble gum banana swirl!"
"She probably decided that if Mr. Tate was going to copy her flavor, she didn't want it anymore," said Maggie.
"Or she's trying to hide all traces of her crime!" chimed in Cole.
"Let's go find Mr. Tate," Henry said.
When they reached the Dessert Den, the electrician's truck was gone.
The front door was standing open as Mr. Tate hurried back and forth carrying boxes inside.
"Good, you're back," he said to the kids. "Grab a box and come on in.
Did you get Mrs. Sweet to confess?"
"We're still working on the case," Henry said. "We have a question.
When did you hang up the menu with your secret flavor on it?"
"Right after Mr. Moss finished painting it on Saturday. Why?"
"Mr. Moss painted your sign?" Cole said, surprised.
Mr. Tate nodded. "At first I thought I'd made a mistake hiring him.
The old guy never stops talking! But he did a fantastic job on the sign."
"Aha!" Henry smiled. "I think I know what happened."
Maggie didn't seem to hear Henry.
"But Mr. Moss is dating Mrs. Sweet!" she blurted out.
"He is?" Mr. Tate frowned. "That proves it!
Mrs. Sweet must have heard about my flavor from him. I knew she was guilty!"
"Mrs. Sweet isn't guilty," Henry said.
"I knew it!" Maggie pointed at Mr. Tate.
"You found out about Mrs. Sweet's new flavor from Mr. Moss!
Then you decided to frame her to drive her out of business!"
"What are you talking about?" Mr. Tate said.
"Wait," Henry said. "Maggie, Mr. Tate isn't guilty either."
"He's not?" Cole said. "Then who is guilty?"
"The guilty person is . . . nobody!" Henry shrugged.
"At least, nobody doing anything wrong on purpose."
"I don't get it." Maggie was still glaring at Mr. Tate.
But she looked a little less certain.
"Everybody in Belltown knows Mr. Moss likes to gossip," Henry began.
"I only moved here a month ago, and I already know that," Mr. Tate agreed.
"Usually Mr. Moss' gossip is harmless," Henry said.
"He just likes to share interesting news.
I bet he thought your special flavor was interesting, so he mentioned it to Mrs. Sweet."
"Right," Mr. Tate said. "And she decided to steal it to ruin my grand opening!"
"Not exactly," Henry said.
"My guess is that he didn't tell her where he'd seen it."
"I get it now!" Maggie said.
"Mrs. Sweet thought the flavor sounded interesting, so she added it to her menu."
Cole nodded. "Without realizing that she was stealing Mr. Tate's flavor!"
He frowned. "But wait.
If this is just a misunderstanding, why did Mrs. Sweet behave so suspiciously when we talked to her earlier?"
"Because she didn't want to get her boyfriend in trouble," Henry said.
"That's right," a voice said from the door.
"Mrs. Sweet!" Maggie cried. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to apologize to Mr. Tate." Mrs. Sweet stepped toward Mr. Tate.
"I'm sorry for accidentally stealing your flavor.
It took me a little while to find Mr. Moss and confirm what happened.
He's sorry too, of course.
He didn't realize that flavor was supposed to be a secret until I told him a few minutes ago.
I took the flavor off our menu right away."
"Oh, I see." Mr. Tate looked sheepish.
"Thank you for the explanation, Mrs. Sweet. Maybe I owe you an apology too.
I was ready to believe the worst about you."
"It's all right." Mrs. Sweet smiled. "By the way, welcome to Belltown.
I hope we can be friends."
"How can you say that?" Maggie blurted out in surprise.
"The Dessert Den is your competition!"
Mrs. Sweet chuckled. "Perhaps. But everyone loves ice cream.
I'm sure there's room for both businesses."
"Of course, we'll be friends," Mr. Tate said.
"And I hope you'll stop by my grand opening tomorrow.
All of you," he added, looking at the Lemonade Detectives.
"That reminds me—I owe you kids your five-dollar detective fee."
He reached into his pocket for the money.
"Here's another five dollars from me."
Mrs. Sweet took a bill out of her purse and handed it to Henry.
"For clearing my name and for believing in me despite the evidence."
"It was only circumstantial evidence," Maggie said.
Mrs. Sweet laughed. "In any case, you three are welcome to all the free ice cream you can eat for the rest of the summer."
"Good idea," Mr. Tate chimed in.
"You kids are welcome to free dessert here for the rest of the summer as well."
"Wow, thanks! That's what I call a sweet reward!" Cole licked his lips.