A siren drowned out the rest of her words.
The situation rapidly escalated. Having counted on a peaceful week of reading, Lexie soon found that she barely had time to open a book. She’d always loved mysteries, but it was far more exciting participating in one of her own.
The media besieged the hotel. She watched from her window as the security guard repeatedly dragged photographers out of bushes. The police came and went, interrogating dancers, acrobats and superstars alike. Only Ricardo Rossi, Sofia’s heartbroken boyfriend, seemed to be above suspicion. He’d been the first to report her missing and had a diamond ring to prove that he was planning to ask her to marry him. Nobody knew that he’d already asked and been passionately rebuffed.
Lexie and Nat had been unable to identify the person they’d seen burying something in the forest, and could not mention their suspicions to the police without also having to reveal that they’d been out on an illicit midnight adventure. They were forced to watch their prime suspect giving emotional press conferences and appealing for Sofia to ‘come home’ like a lovelorn prince.
‘There’s no such thing as a perfect murder,’ said Lexie, repeating something she’d heard her mum say. ‘If Ricardo has killed her, chances are he’ll trip himself up in the next few days. If he doesn’t, we need to go to the police and tell them everything we witnessed up in the forest. They can dig up whatever or—’ she grimaced ‘—whoever was in that hole and do forensic tests.’
Nat had told her dad that Lexie had witnessed the golden couple have an argument on the night that Sofia was last seen. She also mentioned the shadowy figure that had prowled around Ricardo’s room. Monsieur Chevalier passed on the information to his friend in the police judiciare, but it was impossible to know if it was ever followed up.
He did reveal something interesting. The police had discovered that Sofia had recently inherited a fortune. Her father had been one of France’s top winemakers and his vineyard, now owned by Sofia, was worth millions.
According to Luc Chevalier, the police were considering the possibility that she’d been kidnapped. So far there’d been no ransom demand, but they weren’t ruling anything out.
During the long days, Lexie kept a close eye on the rooms opposite. Other than dodgy Ricardo, her main suspects were the shadowy figure she’d seen in Ricardo’s room and the new juggler, Pierre. Thrown into disarray by Sofia’s disappearance, the circus had hired the only person they could find at short notice: a mediocre juggler who looked as if he’d cut his hair with blunt nail clippers. He had a terrible, unkempt moustache, but would not, by all accounts, be parted from it.
One afternoon, Lexie had seen him dart into Sofia’s room, which was supposedly under guard, snatch something and dart out again. She’d reported it to Miss Hannah, who told a visiting policeman, but nothing had come of it.
‘What would your parents say if they saw you now?’ Nat asked her later, as they pored over their list of suspects for the umpteenth time.
‘They’d be proud that I wanted to see justice done,’ said Lexie, more in hope than expectation. She suspected that her mother would think she was wasting her time when she could have been studying. And both of her parents would have a fit if they knew she’d withheld information from the police.
‘I wish I had a mum,’ Nat said longingly.
‘It’s not always all it’s cracked up to be, especially when they’re banging on about algebra and SAT tests and wanting you to sign up to yet another after-school activity, when all you really want to do is be left alone to read books.’
Her friend looked doubtful. ‘But what about when you’re sick or injured, like now? Isn’t it nice to have a mum to bring you chicken soup . . . or minestrone,’ she added hastily, remembering that Lexie was a vegetarian.
‘I suppose so,’ murmured Lexie, recalling Simona, the Romanian au pair who’d nursed her through a bout of chicken pox, and Charlene, the South African au pair who’d helped her survive food poisoning, and Pavlina, the Bulgarian au pair who’d been charged with taking care of her during a particularly nasty dose of flu, but had spent most of the time on her phone, yelling at her boyfriend.
But then she thought of the thousand occasions when her mum had been there: cuddling her as she taught Lexie to read, cooking Sunday roasts, helping her choose hundreds of books in dozens of bookshops over the years, and always, always wanting the best for her, even if they disagreed about what the best should look like.
‘Fact is, I wouldn’t exist without her,’ said Lexie. ‘I wouldn’t be here with you. I wouldn’t be having the time of my life.’
The breakthrough in their case came when they least expected it – on the evening before Lexie was due to return to the UK. She and Nat had been feeling down because they’d failed to crack the mystery.
‘It’s my fault,’ said Lexie. ‘If I hadn’t been so clumsy and broken my leg, we could have done a lot more investigating. We could have tailed Ricardo Rossi to see what he was up to, or hung around when the circus people were rehearsing and watched to see if anyone was acting strangely. Grown-ups never believe that children are capable of solving mysteries so half the time they don’t notice us.’
‘If you hadn’t broken your leg, you wouldn’t have been in the wheelchair and we’d never have met and become friends,’ Nat told her. ‘You’d never have been given the Room with the Mountain View or seen Sofia and Ricardo argue. We’d never have witnessed the burial up on the mountain. Don’t forget that we’ve agreed to tell the police everything we know first thing in the morning. It could still turn out that we have the key that solves everything.’
She leaned forward and stared out of the window. ‘Speak of the devil.’
Ricardo Rossi had appeared in the room of Bianca, the depressed red Stetson lady. A moment earlier, Bianca had been sitting on the bed with her head in her hands yet again. Now she leaped up and flung her arms around him. They kissed.
‘Gross!’ exclaimed Nat.
‘So much for the cobra and mongoose,’ said Lexie. ‘That’s what the ringmaster called them. He said he was sick and tired of them forever attacking each other. It must have all been an act.’
Nat covered her eyes. ‘What on earth does Bianca see in him? He’s a cheat on top of everything else.’
‘It doesn’t matter what she sees in him, we’ve hit the jackpot.’
‘Pourquoi? Why is that?’
‘What we’re looking at,’ Lexie said grandly, ‘is motive. If Ricardo was secretly in love with Bianca, he had a reason to murder Sofia, especially if he knew that she was planning to leave him her estate in her will. If he gets away with it, he’ll inherit all of her money.’
‘Even so, we still have to consider that she might have been kidnapped rather than killed,’ added Nat. ‘Ricardo or someone we haven’t even thought of – the thief or whoever it was you saw in Ricardo’s room, say – might be hiding her in a mountain hut somewhere. They might still be planning to demand a huge ransom.’
Moments later, the plot thickened further. Ricardo and Bianca came hurrying out of their hotel block and jumped onto a snowmobile. Five minutes after that, the bubble man emerged, talking animatedly to the ringmaster. They, too, hurtled away on a snowmobile.
‘Gosh,’ said Lexie. ‘Maybe they’re all in on it.’
‘As soon as Papa is asleep, I’ll come with the dogsled and collect you,’ cried Nat. ‘We’ll go after them.’
‘Are you sure? I mean, they might be dangerous.’
Lexie heard herself being sensible and cautious out of habit. At the same time, she was buzzing with excitement. Her adventures with Nat made her feel so alive and happy that she found it impossible to imagine returning to dull suburban life.
‘Yeah, but we have the huskies,’ said Nat. ‘If they try anything, the dogs will make mincemeat of them. We’re going after them and we’ll bring them to justice. Just think, Lexie. We could be heroes.’
‘What shall we call ourselves?’ asked Nat as she helped Le
xie into the sled later. ‘The Snow Squad? The Mountain Detectives?’
‘How about the Two Foolhardy Children who are in a Whole Heap of Trouble?’ growled her father, stepping out of the shadows. ‘Back to bed, both of you, before you’re grounded for the rest of your lives.’
‘Papa, wait! This is an emergency.’
As speedily as she could, Nat brought her dad up to date with the latest shocking developments in the case. Lexie listened gloomily. She had a feeling that her holiday was about to end in tears. Monsieur Chevalier would tell her teachers who’d tell her mum and dad. She really would be grounded for the rest of her days. And she wouldn’t even have a solved murder or kidnap case to make herself feel better.
She was startled when Luc Chevalier stopped looking stern and became quite animated. ‘Murderers, you say? Well, that changes everything. Let’s go in pursuit.’ And with that, he took the reins of the huskies from his daughter.
‘You’ll do nothing of the kind,’ said Miss Hannah, emerging from behind a pillar. She’d been on her way to her room and had overheard everything. ‘This is an outrage. Monsieur Chevalier, you should be ashamed of yourself, encouraging these children – one of whom has a broken leg – to go haring around snow-plastered mountains in the dead of night in pursuit of criminals. Quite apart from the danger, the lawsuit could bankrupt the school.’
Nat’s father shrugged. ‘I cannot deny that you are right, madame. I am a bad example. But will you join us?’
Miss Hannah hesitated for a full five seconds before jumping into the dogsled and sliding under the sheepskin between Lexie and Nat. Monsieur Chevalier shouted to the huskies and they were away.
On their journey across the valley, the sled skimmed so fast that at times it felt to Lexie as if they were flying. She wondered if Nat had noticed that her father and Miss Hannah were holding hands. Halfway up the mountain, they saw a curious sight. The forest was aglow, lit by fairy lights.
‘That’s the same clearing where the body is buried,’ Nat told Lexie. ‘What’s going on? Are they conducting some gruesome sacrifice?’
As they neared, they saw that an outdoor circus performance was in progress. They parked the sled under the trees. One of the dancers recognized them and invited them to join a small audience seated on bales of hay.
‘It’s a special performance for friends and colleagues of our beloved Sofia Fontaine, who has now been missing for six days,’ explained the dancer. ‘Jamie, who does the bubble routine, organized it in secret. He’s been carrying stuff up here under cover of darkness all week. He wanted to do something to honour her.’
Scowling blackly at Rossi, who was putting gel in his hair off-stage in preparation for his performance, he added: ‘Jamie’s a whole lot more upset than Ricardo seems to be.’
‘No surprise there,’ Lexie whispered to Nat. ‘What a beast that man is. I hope the police put him in jail and throw away the key.’
‘It’s important to remember that people are innocent until proven guilty,’ commented Miss Hannah, overhearing her.
‘Nothing we can do until this is all over,’ said Monsieur Chevalier, who was quite extraordinarily relaxed, given that Sofia’s life was at stake. Lexie wondered if he should be under suspicion, too. However, he had such a likeable way about him that she dismissed that thought as soon as it was born. He grinned at her as if he’d read her mind. ‘Might as well enjoy the show, non?’
And what a show it was. They were just in time for a strength display involving a pyramid of twelve people. That was followed by Jamie’s spellbinding bubble routine, and a trapeze act by the woman with the tiger tattoos, involving two trees and a Harley-Davidson motorbike. Ricardo Rossi and Bianca’s dance and acrobatics show was brilliant, except that they seemed to forget that poor Sofia had only recently gone missing.
‘Talk about dancing on her grave,’ Nat remarked furiously.
Last and definitely least was the juggler with the bad moustache and choppy hair. He performed a knife-throwing routine that would have given a health and safety official heart palpitations. There was only muted applause when he finished. He was about to leave the makeshift stage when Jamie stopped him. He held up a hand for silence.
‘As you all know, Sofia Fontaine, the brightest star in our circus, has been gone for almost a week. I asked everyone to come here tonight so we could celebrate her extraordinary life and career. Thank you for giving your best this evening in this unconventional but, I think, quite glorious setting.
‘However, I asked you to come tonight for a selfish reason, too. I wanted you, my friends and colleagues, to support me as I asked for the hand of the person I love most in the world.’
And with that, he went down on one knee before the astonished juggler.
‘Sofia Fontaine,’ he said. ‘Will you marry me?’
The juggler gave a cry of delight. He ripped off his moustache and Lexie saw at once that he wasn’t a man at all, but the ravishing Sofia – bare of make-up and wig.
‘Yes, Jamie darling. Of course I’ll marry you.’
Ricardo ran onto the stage. ‘What’s going on? Sofia bella, have you lost your mind? I’ve been grieving for you for almost a week. I’ve been devastated and heartbroken. I haven’t slept. I was imagining you in the hands of the Mafia, of filthy kidnappers. And all the time you have been right under my nose, playing a buffoon, a useless juggler. Mamma mia, what is the world coming to?’
He touched her spiky hair. ‘Bella, tell me who did this to your beautiful locks? You look as if you’ve been savaged by wild beasts.’
‘You happened to my hair, you vain little man,’ Sofia replied calmly. ‘When you proposed, you seemed more in love with my beauty and my money than you were with me so I decided to test you. I removed my wig and make-up and returned to the circus as me – the real me. As you can see, I’m quite plain.’
‘I disagree,’ objected Jamie. ‘You’ll always be beautiful to me, both inside and out. You’re the smartest, kindest, funniest woman I know.’
‘I know that now, my love,’ Sofia assured him. ‘You’ve always seen beyond the snow queen costume to the person I am underneath. Unfortunately, it took me a while to come to my senses. I became caught up in the whirl of fame and media attention. So many people told me that Ricardo and I were the perfect couple that I found myself believing it. He was very charming and convincing, too. Perhaps most importantly, the ringmaster put pressure on us to marry. We’re the star attraction. He told me that the success of the circus depended on it.
‘But I saw a text message Ricardo had sent to Bianca and I started to suspect that he had feelings for her and was only planning to marry me for my money. It was only when I took off my wig and became someone else for a week that I realized that the person I cared for most had been in front of me all along. Jamie is the best, most wonderful man I know.’
She turned to her new fiancé. ‘That’s why I want to spend my life with you, chéri. As for Ricardo, you’re welcome to him, Bianca – when you can tear him away from the mirror.’
Nat could hardly take in what was happening. ‘So no one was murdered?’ she asked Miss Hannah. ‘There was no decomposing body or crazed serial killer?’
‘No, it seems that the police were in on Sofia’s plan from early on and only pretending to investigate.’
‘It’s a proper happy ending,’ added Lexie. ‘Which is just as well because I’m starting to get the feeling that we’re not cut out to be detectives.’
Lexie was awoken by hammering. She’d been dreaming about her parents. They’d survived a plane crash and decided to give up their jobs and make cheese and ceramics on a farm in Somerset. For a moment she couldn’t remember where she was. Then she saw the snowy peaks peeping through the curtains and a slow smile spread across her face. She was in paradise, that’s where she was.
Whoever was at the door was extremely impatient. Lexie was concerned that they might break it down before she managed to stumble out of bed, pull on her Beau Montagne robe
and swing across the room on crutches.
‘Hang on, hang on,’ she called. Wary of stranger danger, she checked the spyhole. The magnified face of Nat grinned back at her.
‘I thought you were dead,’ said Nat, barging in when Lexie opened the door. ‘I’ve been banging on the door for ages.’
‘Sorry, I’m not used to late nights. What time is it anyway?’
‘Late.’
‘Late by your standards, as in 4a.m., or late by normal people’s standards?’
‘Who are these normal people anyway?’ cried Nat. ‘I’ve never met one. It’s ten past nine. Papa and I have brought the dogs. We’re taking you for one last ride.’
‘But I can’t. The coach leaves for Geneva airport at ten and I have to be on it. I still have to wash, eat breakfast and pack.’
Lexie slumped on the bed, a tsunami of depression washing over her. She felt as if she was being sent back to prison. She missed her mum and dad, but she didn’t miss the gilded cage that was her old life. It was all very well living in a big house and going on fancy holidays, but without friendship, huskies and the freedom to have adventures, none of those things really mattered.
‘Please come,’ begged Nat. ‘We’ll be quick. I can pack for you while you clean up and we’ll grab a couple of croissants as we pass the breakfast room. The dogs want to say goodbye to you.’
Lexie’s smile was sad. ‘Okay, let’s do it. You only live once, right?’
In her case, she feared it was all too true.
The sky was what her mum would have called ‘happy blue’. The mountains cut into it, sharp and toothpaste white.
To the delight of the other guests and irritation of the hotel manager, two dogsleds were parked in front of reception. In the car park beyond, the school coach was being loaded up. Children were milling around. Mrs Woodward, who was supervizing, spotted Lexie and called to her, but fortunately someone distracted her.
The circus performers were leaving, too. They filed past with their eccentric luggage: chains, rolls of silk and a Harley-Davidson. Sofia and Jamie strolled by hand in hand. Ricardo and Bianca had already left. Rumour had it that they’d been offered mega millions to take their act to Las Vegas.
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