"No way! Who would slash our bike tires?" Maggie cried, rushing over to her bicycle. "Wait," she added. "I think my tires are okay."
"Mine too," someone else called out.
Henry checked his bike. His tires were fine. "It looks like only some tires were slashed," he said.
"Yeah. Like mine!" Cole sounded upset as he looked at his tires. "Who would be mean enough to do this?"
"I don't know," Henry said. "But maybe The Lemonade Detectives can figure it out."
He looked around, trying to see how everyone was reacting. Most of the riders looked confused or upset. A bunch of kids were gathered around Ms. Hernandez, asking her questions about what had happened. Then Henry spotted the man in the dark glasses. He was standing by his bike with his arms folded, looking bored.
Maggie noticed him too. "Hey, maybe it was that guy!" she whispered. "I didn't see him while we were at the picnic spot. He could have been down here slashing tires the whole time!"
"Maybe," Henry said. "I didn't notice him while we were up there either."
"I bet it was those kids from Valley High School," said Cole. "They probably came on the ride to make trouble!"
Henry looked around for the Valley High teens. He couldn't see the girl in the crowd, but he spotted the boy right away. He was smirking as he watched everyone check their tires.
"His tires look okay," Cole said. "And we already know he doesn't like Belltown. Remember how he was teasing Nathan?"
"Yeah. He should be a suspect too," Henry said. "Did anyone see him at the picnic area?"
"I didn't," Maggie said. "So that proves it! He's guilty!"
As usual, Maggie was jumping to conclusions. "It doesn't prove anything," Henry reminded her. "There were lots of people I didn't notice while we were at the picnic area. We should start questioning everyone and see who left."
"I remember someone who left!" Maggie said. "That rich kid, William. I saw him get up and walk toward the path leading down here."
Henry remembered seeing William leave the picnic area too. "Okay," he said. "But that doesn't prove anything either. Lots of people left to walk down to the restrooms."
Just then Jill and Ashley rushed over. "This is terrible!" Ashley cried. "Someone's trying to ruin our fundraiser!"
"You have to help us," Jill added. "We want to hire The Lemonade Detectives to solve this horrible crime!"
Henry smiled. "I don't know if I'd call it a horrible crime," he said.
"But don't worry. We're already on the case. To start, we want to question you two."
"What?" Jill looked outraged. "You don't suspect us again, do you?"
"No!" Henry said quickly. "You're not suspects this time."
He knew why Jill was annoyed. Somehow she ended up being a suspect in a lot of The Lemonade Detectives' cases. Ashley had been a suspect once too. Henry was pretty sure that they were innocent again now. Why would they try to ruin a fundraiser for their own team?
"So what do you want to ask us?" Ashley asked.
"Do you know how many bikes got damaged?" Henry asked.
Ashley shrugged. "We're not sure exactly," she said. "We'll have to check with Ms. Hernandez. But at least six or seven bikes have slashed tires."
"We were just trying to figure out who left the picnic spot," Cole added. "Did you notice anyone slipping away?"
"Oh." Jill looked less upset now that she realized she wasn't a suspect. "I don't know. I wasn't paying much attention to that."
"Yeah," Ashley said. "I walked down to the restrooms with a couple of friends. The only person there when we left was your friend Nathan."
Henry nodded, remembering that Nathan had gone to the restroom alone. He was sure his friend hadn't slashed those tires. But maybe Nathan had seen something suspicious.
"Thanks," Henry said. "We'd better start investigating. What are you going to do about the ride?"
"Good question." Cole frowned as he looked at his bike again. "I can't ride with a slashed tire."
"I think Ms. Hernandez is calling Belltown Bikes." Ashley glanced over at the coach, who was talking on her cell phone. "She's going to ask them to bring new tires to replace the slashed ones."
"Good," Henry said. "That should give us some time to question people before the ride continues."
"Yeah." Jill didn't look happy. "But someone will have to pay for the new tires. So if you guys don't solve the mystery, we might not raise enough money to buy our uniforms!"