Billie and Lola wait until Mr Benetto blows his whistle to signal that the game is over. Billie nudges Lola.

‘Now?’ says Lola.

‘Now,’ Billie says. ‘Before it’s too late.’

Already the class is heading back to the classroom to pick up their schoolbags before they go home.

Lola takes a deep breath. Then she jogs up alongside Benny who is walking back to class on his own.

Billie watches from the shade of the peppercorn tree. She can’t hear what they are saying but she can guess how Benny is feeling by the look on his face. First he looks furious. Then he looks annoyed.

Last of all he shrugs and a slow smile creeps across his face. The two of them shake hands and Lola comes running back to Billie.

‘Ready to go and see Mrs Singh?’ Billie says.

Lola nods and the two of them run across the playground together.

That afternoon, the Secret Mystery Club meet up in their treehouse in Billie’s backyard.

They are bubbling with excitement.

‘So, mystery number three is solved!’ Billie announces proudly, drawing a big cross over the page in her little secret notebook.

‘I can’t believe you worked out it was Lola!’ Jack says, grinning.

‘And you even got her to confess!’ Alex adds.

‘Yeah, Billie, how did you work it out?’ Mika says.

Billie takes a sip of her lemonade and leans back on the cushions. Jack passes her the plate of lamingtons he has brought with him and she takes one. She chews slowly. She is secretly enjoying the attention.

‘Well,’ she begins, ‘like I said, I knew after talking to Benny that it wasn’t him, so I just had to find out who it was. Lola was the only other person in the corridor that day, so it had to be her.’

‘But how did you know it wasn’t Benny?’ Alex insists.

Billie brushes the bits of coconut off her lap. A bird flutters in from a nearby branch and quickly gobbles them up. ‘I can’t say,’ Billie says. ‘I promised him I wouldn’t tell.’

‘But we’re your best friends.’ Jack frowns. ‘You can tell us.’

Billie shakes her head. ‘A promise is a promise.’

Alex reaches for another lamington. ‘So what happened when Lola went to Mrs Singh’s office?’ he says.

‘Mrs Singh said that as long as Lola apologised to Rebecca and Benny she wouldn’t be punished because it was her first time,’ Billie says, rolling her eyes. ‘Can you believe it? Last time I was sent to Mrs Singh’s office I had to pick up rubbish all lunchtime!’

‘I remember that!’ Jack laughs.

Billie grins. ‘In fact Mrs Singh said Lola was very brave to come and tell the truth—like it was her idea!’ she snorts.

‘Anyway, it all ended well,’ Mika says. ‘Thanks to you, Billie!’

Billie smiles. ‘Thanks Mika,’ she says, feeling very proud. ‘Oh, and also, Rebecca felt bad for not speaking to Benny all week.

So I said that maybe she should work with him in art instead of me. You know, to make it up to him.’

‘Poor Benny!’ says Alex. ‘I thought he’d at least be allowed to work with Sam again!’

Billie flicks the last little bit of coconut off her lap. ‘Oh, I don’t think he’ll mind that much,’ she says, smiling mysteriously.

‘Kids! Mika’s mum’s here,’ calls Billie’s mum from the back door. The four of them gather up the remains of their after-school picnic and climb down out of the tree.

As they head inside, Billie thinks about her day. She feels proud to have solved an extra tricky mystery—and almost all by herself!

But now what? She wonders how long they will have to wait for their next mystery.

Mrs Okinawa is talking to Billie’s mum at the back door. She looks very distressed. ‘My beautiful garden!’ she is saying. ‘All that work and now they’re all gone!’

Mika runs up to her mum and talks to her quickly in Japanese.

‘What happened?’ Billie asks her mum.

‘Someone—or something—has been stealing Mrs Okinawa’s strawberries,’ Billie’s mum says.

‘I said it was probably the birds, but she says that she had covered the whole strawberry patch with netting. It’s very strange. The netting wasn’t even touched, but nearly all the strawberries are gone.’

‘Oh no,’ says Billie. ‘That’s terrible!’ She knows how much Mika and her mum love their garden.

Billie’s mum shakes her head. ‘I wish I had an answer—but it’s a mystery to me!’

Billie feels a little shiver of excitement pass through her. She looks at Jack, Mika and Alex. By the smiles on their faces, she can see they are thinking the same thing.

The Secret Mystery Club has another mystery to solve!