The Case of the Circus Murder

III

Daisy will not stop going on about how easy this case was. Personally, I don't think it was that easy - murder can't be easy, really - and I told her so. After all, we wouldn't have solved the case at all if Amelia, the new assistant and friend of the Detective Society, hadn't entered the victim's tent. I have got braver since I slapped Daisy in front of the whole of Deepdean School for Girls, although I would never slap her for disagreeing with me. 

Daisy simply scoffed when I disagreed with her and said that I shouldn't even be wasting a casebook on it. She also said that she went on about detecting less than I went on about Alexander Arcady.

That is quite unfair, really. I do not go on about Alexander Arcady, I just mention him from time to time. For the purpose of this fifth casebook, I think I must talk a bit about this. Alexander is a boy about our age that we met on the Orient Express when we solved our third case. I wrote letters to him starting about four weeks ago, causing a huge disagreement between Daisy and I. He wants to be a detective too, but Daisy doesn't think he can. Personally, I think he's very clever.

Daisy is very proud of the Detective Society. We have solved four murder cases so far - Miss Bell, Mr. Curtis, Georgiana Daunt, and Elizabeth Hurst. Daisy is still quite scarred from the murder that took place in her home. It turned out that her mother was in a secret relationship with the victim and her father nearly got arrested for it. I have learnt not to mention it.

Anyway, to begin the actual case, I must begin at Deepdean School for Girls.

"Finally!" exclaimed Kitty, our friend, as she sped up to catch up with Daisy and I on our way back to our dorm. "Tests are over."

"Tests aren't that bad." I responded, shrugging. "I'm more pleased about the end of term, really."

"I am so glad that Binny is okay." sighed Kitty. I put a hand on her shoulder.

"Una was trying to help her." I reassured her. "She had the Scandal Book, remember? Enid... she could have got her if Una hadn't helped her."

"I know." said Kitty. "I owe Una my life."

I smiled to myself. Despite all the stupid arguments between the two Freebody sisters, I knew that they loved each other. They had definitely grown closer since the kidnap.

"Hi, sister!" shouted Binny, as if to prove my point. She was walking past us with a friend.

"Hello, Binny." Kitty turned around and gave her younger sister an amused smile.

Daisy said nothing, but simply rolled back her shoulders and strides towards the staircase.

"Hazel and I solved the case though." Daisy said defensively. "She'd be dead if it weren't for us."

"Una kept her safe." I said swiftly, and winced as I saw Kitty's face fall. Daisy is a really nice person (honestly, she is most fun person inside but she only shows that side to me) but sometimes she can be frightfully insensitive. "Plus, it was also you, Kitty. And Beanie and Lavinia."

Daisy glared at me and then her expression softened. "Yes. You're right. Una really was very caring, for a prefect." 

Daisy pulled a face at prefect and I smiled. I knew it was forced, but I was glad that she was being nice to Kitty.

"The dorm." Daisy announced grandly and put her hand on the handle.

We heard Beanie wailing and Lavinia repeatedly saying, 'it was a little bit, Beans!'.

"Oh no." Kitty breathed, going for the door handle herself. "What's Lavinia done now?"

Daisy and Kitty both opened the door, and we saw Lavinia. She was staring at Beanie indignantly. Beanie herself was crying a little bit, patches of wetness staining her pinafore. Her dark blonde plaits were soaking wet.

They weren't tears. There was a pot on the floor near the door, spilling drops on water onto our clean dorm carpet.

"Oh, Lavinia!" exclaimed Daisy, bending down to pick up the pot and placing it on the windowsill. "Beanie! What have you done, you chumps?"

"We're not chumps!" exclaimed Beanie. "That's not a very nice think to say at all, Daisy!"

"Well, what happened?" I asked patiently as Kitty put her arm around Beanie.

"I thought it would be funny to play a prank on one of you." Lavinia admitted. "So I filled up a pot with cold water and moved the desk chair over to the door. Then, I put the pot on top of the door and moved the chair back. I sat on my bed and pretended to read-"

"And then I pushed the door open and the water fell on my head!" wailed Beanie, pointing at Lavinia.

"Come on, Beanie." said Daisy gently. "You've helped with a murder case before. Two murder cases. There's no need to get upset about your wet hair."

"It was just a prank." I added, nodding at Daisy approvingly. 

Beanie nodded, sniffed, and then swallowed.

"Beans, go and sort out your hair." said Kitty kindly, and Beanie nodded and rushed to her bed.

Lavinia sighed as Beanie rushed out of the room and headed for the toilets. "Why is Beans so sensitive?"

"She's not!" Kitty said at once. Then, her expression softened and she looked at the floor. "Well, I mean, do not tell her I said this, but she can be quite sensitive."

Daisy nodded. "If it was me, I'd just laugh it off and make a joke with you, Lavinia."

I sighed hesitantly and looked down at the floor, going from foot to foot. I did not want to engage in a conversation that pointed out all of Beanie's faults. After all, she was very intelligent and helped with the Fallingford Case and the second Deepdean Case.

"When I heard Beanie wailing, I thought we were going to have another case on our hands!" I said stupidly. Daisy glanced at me strangely, but returned her gaze to Lavinia, who had begun talking.

"Oh, you and your Detective Society." groaned Lavinia, but good-naturedly.

"That case was so easy." said Daisy arrogantly.

As I write this, Daisy is sat next to me at her home. She is telling me that she did not say it arrogantly, but trust me, she did.

"We thought it would be our hardest case yet." I pointed out.

"Yes, but then you stumbled upon the body, Watson." Daisy beamed proudly and squeezed my hand.

"Clementine deserved that punch in the stomach." Lavinia said crossly. "She can't tell everyone I'm from a broken home! It's not true!"

"Well, it kind of is." Kitty said slowly.

"Fine!" exclaimed Lavinia, scowling. "But she can't tell everybody like that!"

Daisy is now telling me to hurry up and get to the bit where Amelia finds the body, but personally, I think I should explain what happened before we even got to the circus. However, I will speed up a bit.

We talked about our murder cases for a while (except for Mr. Curtis, of course) and then Beanie came running in with some paper in her hands.

"Daisy," she said. "This is for you."