The Case of the Circus Murder

XIV

We had prepared to go to the circus and were coming out of our rooms. I was wearing a short, pale pink dress, Lavinia in a long navy blue dress, and Daisy in a pale blue gown with a white ribbon. We walked past the boys' room just as they were coming out.

"Yes, we will." George was saying, and I saw him roll his eyes.

They exited their room and saw us immediately.

"Alexander's grandmother is annoying." said George.

"She really is." Alexander rolled his eyes.

Just then, we saw Amelia coming out of her own room, shouting to her father.

"Bye dad! I'm going out with some of my friends. Daisy, Hazel, Lavinia, George, and Alexander!"

"Oka- who are Lavinia, George, and Alexa- where are you even going?" I heard a puzzled male voice calling back. For a moment, as I saw Amelia close the door behind her, her room key sticking out of her pocket, I felt a bit sorry for him.

I saw Uncle Felix whisper something in Daisy's ears that made her go slightly pink.

"No, Uncle Felix." she whispered back. "We are not planning anything suspicious. We're just going out to the circus like very close friends." 

She said the last part almost sarcastically, and I panicked slightly, but then I saw that Daisy's eyes were fixed on Alexander as she spoke and I relaxed.

"Okay, okay." Uncle Felix said, although he did not sound entirely convinced.

We arrived at the circus (somehow, we all managed to cram in the car - Daisy and Uncle Felix sat in the front, whereas Lavinia, Amelia, George, Alexander, and I were forced into the back) just before the show started. It was quite boring, considering we had watched it already. Then, halfway through Lola's performance, Daisy whispered to me, "You and George use the bathrooms in five."

I nodded, and said this to Lavinia, who whispered it to Amelia, and so on.

After five minutes, like Daisy had said, I whisper-shouted, "Uncle Felix, I need to use the bathroom. I'll be back quickly."

Uncle Felix tutted. "Really, Hazel? We have two minutes until the break."

"It's desperate." I begged.

"Alright. Do you know where the bathroom is?" he asked.

"No." I responded untruthfully. I knew where the bathroom was, just outside the circus where the tents were.

"Daisy, take Hazel to the bathroom."

"Of course." said Daisy politely, and we rushed off together.

George and Alexander came sprinting after us.

"He wasn't suspicious?" asked Daisy, astonished.

"He was." Alexander said. "But George just said, 'well, I need to go' and we rushed off."

Daisy smirked. "Uncle Felix may be a marvellous... police officer, detective, whatever he is, but he's not very cautious."

"Where are Lavinia and Amelia?" I asked.

"Waiting for the break." said George.

As if on cue, roars and claps were heard and we could see two figures racing towards us. At first, I did a very Hazel-ish thing - I jumped back in shock. After all, what if it was Maxwell and Collette? What if they had figured out what we were doing? I was relieved, however, when I found out that it was the obvious answer - dark-haired Lavinia and fair-haired Amelia.

"You came!" exclaimed George.

"Of course." said Lavinia.

"I honestly didn't think that Felix would let you come." admitted Alexander.