"Wow," Henry said. "Who would leave a message like that?"
"I don't know," Maggie said.
"I thought everyone in town loved the summer parade."
Cole shrugged. "Maybe someone is joking around."
"If it's a joke, it's not very funny." Henry stared at the message.
"It sounds more like a threat."
Cole grinned. "Are you trying to turn it into a mystery, Henry?"
Just then two teenage girls, Jill and Ashley, raced up to the lemonade stand.
"Oh my gosh! Did you guys hear what happened?" Jill asked.
Ashley continued before The Lemonade Detectives could respond.
"Someone broke into the shed where Mrs. Sweet is keeping her float!" she cried.
"Huh?" Cole said. "Why would someone do that?"
"Was the float damaged?" Henry asked.
Jill shook her head. "We're not sure.
Mrs. Sweet is keeping her float top secret until the parade, so she didn't tell us exactly what happened.
But she's afraid that someone wants to sabotage it."
Just then Ashley's cell phone rang. "Oops, we have to go," she said.
"Come on, Jill."
The girls raced off. Maggie looked worried.
"This is bad. What if someone is trying to sabotage all the floats?"
"Why would anyone do that?" Cole sounded skeptical.
Maggie shrugged. "Maybe to win those great prizes.
We should probably investigate before someone tries to destroy our float!"
"How could anybody do that?" Cole said. "It's inside your house, Maggie.
Besides, we don't have time to mess around with a mystery right now."
He laughed. "I don't think this is a mystery anyway. Right, Henry?"
Henry didn't answer for a second.
He was thinking about that threatening message on the town website.
"Maybe we should go talk to my dad," he said.
"Just in case something really is going on."
"Good idea," Maggie said. "Uncle Kevin is a newspaper reporter.
It's his job to know about weird stuff happening around town."
"Fine." Cole shrugged. "You two go talk to him.
I'll stay here and watch the lemonade stand."
Henry and Maggie walked toward the main part of town, where the newspaper office was located.
On the way they passed Eddie's house.
The garage door was shut; no music was coming from behind it.
"I guess Snake's band isn't practicing today," Henry said.
He told Maggie about seeing the band the day before.
Maggie stared at the garage.
"I wonder if Snake and his band members should be suspects," she said.
"He seemed really excited about winning the contest."
"Lots of people want to win," Henry said.
"That doesn't mean all of them want to sabotage the other floats."
"Maybe not." Maggie shrugged. "But Snake seemed kind of sneaky."
Henry didn't answer. He thought Snake seemed okay.
But when Maggie got an idea in her head, it could be hard to change her mind.
A few minutes later, they reached the newspaper office.
"Hi, Henry," the receptionist said. "Your dad just left."
"Really?" Henry was disappointed. "Do you know when he'll be back?
We wanted to ask him some questions about the summer parade."
The receptionist pointed to a young man who had just come into the lobby.
"If it's about the parade, maybe Jackson can help," she said.
"He's assigned to cover that story."
Henry had met Jackson several times.
He walked over to the reporter with Maggie right behind him.
Jackson smiled when he saw them coming.
"Hi, Henry," he said. "Hi, Maggie. What's up?
Did The Lemonade Detectives uncover an exciting crime for me to write about?"
"Maybe," Henry said.
"Is it true that you're covering the parade this year?"
"That's right." Jackson didn't sound very excited.
Henry wasn't surprised.
His father said Jackson was always looking for important and dramatic stories.
Unfortunately for him, there weren't very many of those in Belltown.
"We heard someone might have tampered with Mrs. Sweet's float," Maggie spoke up.
Jackson nodded. "I heard it too.
Actually, I was just on my way over to the Sweet Shop to talk to her.
You two can come along, if you like."
The three of them headed outside.
"Do you think someone is trying to sabotage Mrs. Sweet's float?"
Henry asked as they walked toward the Sweet Shop.
Jackson shook his head. "I doubt it.
Her float was probably damaged by animals or something.
Or maybe she just got confused and forgot to lock the shed."
Henry thought about that. Mrs. Sweet was always joking about her bad memory.
She often said she'd forget her head if it wasn't attached to her neck!
Could Mrs. Sweet's forgetfulness explain what Jill and Ashley had said?
Henry was still wondering about it when they reached the Sweet Shop.
Just then there was a blood-curdling scream from the alley beside the shop!