"The judging starts in an hour and a half?" Nathan cried. "Oh no! What if we don't find my painting in time?"
"Don't worry. The Lemonade Detectives are on the case," Maggie assured him. "Come on, guys. Let's get started!"
Henry nodded. "First we should look for Patrick near his painting. Then we can look for Mr. Collins."
"Hannah is probably still at her family's booth," Cole added. "And what about that weird woman? We don't know where to find her."
"Maybe she'll go back to the stand for her lemonade," Maggie said. "She already paid for it, remember?"
Henry nodded. "Why don't you go back to the lemonade stand?" he told Maggie. "You can keep selling lemonade while you watch for all our suspects."
"Especially the sunglasses woman," Cole said.
"Good idea." Maggie hurried off.
"I know where Patrick's painting is hanging," Nathan told Henry and Cole. "Come on, I'll show you."
Nathan led the way to another section of the art show. Patrick's painting was an oil painting of a pretty pond at sunset.
"Wow, he really is good," Cole said, studying the painting. "Do you think this painting will end up in the museum?"
"Never mind that," Henry said. "I don't see Patrick around here. Let's look for Hannah."
At the crafts show, Hannah was still at the basket-weaving booth. She smiled when she saw the boys coming.
"Hi, lemonade gang," she said. "Where's Maggie?"
"Selling lemonade," Henry said. "What have you been doing since we saw you last?"
Hannah looked confused. "The same thing I've been doing all day." She held up the basket she was weaving. "Making baskets, selling baskets, and talking about baskets."
"Did you leave this booth to go anywhere?" Cole asked.
"Like over to the art show, for instance?" Nathan added hopefully.
"I went to the bathroom once." Hannah frowned. "Why are you guys so interested in what I've been doing?" Suddenly she gasped. "Wait! Are you investigating a mystery? Am I a suspect?"
Henry sighed. That was the only problem with The Lemonade Detectives' success in solving mysteries. Everyone in town had heard about them by now. It made it hard to interview people.
"Actually, we are investigating a mystery," he admitted. "Nathan's painting disappeared."
"Oh." Hannah stared at Nathan with a slight frown. "You entered the art show?"
"Yes," Nathan said.
"And we heard the judges love his painting," Cole added. "He might end up winning a spot in the museum. It's a huge honor, you know!"
Hannah was still frowning. "Excuse me," she said, tossing her half-woven basket aside. "I have to go."
"Wait!" Henry exclaimed.
But it was too late. Hannah rushed off and disappeared around the corner of the next booth.
"That was weird," Cole said, staring after her. "Do you think she ran off because she feels guilty?"
"Maybe," Henry said. "Or maybe she was insulted that we were accusing her of stealing Nathan's painting."
Nathan bit his lip. "What do we do now? The judging starts in an hour and ten minutes."
"Let's look for our other suspects," Henry said. "We can question Hannah again later if necessary."
They hurried back to the art show. But there was still no sign of Patrick or Mr. Collins.
The park was more crowded than ever as people arrived for the art judging. Every year people in town loved to join the march over to the museum to display the winning artwork.
"Now what?" Cole said.
Henry looked at Nathan. "Why don't you go see if anyone returned your painting?" he said. "Cole and I will check in with Maggie."
"Okay." Nathan didn't look very hopeful as he hurried off.
Maggie was pouring lemonade for a middle-aged couple when Henry and Cole arrived. "Any news?" she asked as soon as the couple left.
Henry shook his head. "We still haven't found Patrick or Mr. Collins. We did find Hannah, but we only talked to her for a minute." He quickly described the encounter with Hannah.
"Have you seen any of our suspects?" Cole asked Maggie.
"Nope." Maggie patted the cashbox. "I've sold a lot of lemonade. But I haven't seen anything suspicious at all."
"The woman with the sunglasses didn't come back for her lemonade?" Henry asked.
"Nope," Maggie said again.
Just then Nora hurried over to the lemonade stand. "It's not right!" she announced loudly. "About the painting of Patches, I mean."
Henry was too distracted to pay much attention to Nora. "We know," he told her. "We're trying to find Nathan's painting. Don't worry."
"No!" Nora's voice was louder than ever. "It's not right! Patches is my kitty. She shouldn't be in a museum. She's mine—all mine! And the picture of her is mine too!"
Spinning around, Nora raced away.