‘It does make sense,’ said George. ‘That way, they could make sure that Heppy walked into their trap!’
2
‘All right, now suspects,’ said Daisy. ‘What have we discovered about our five possible murderers?’
‘Four, right?’ asked Alexander. ‘We just said that the evidence we’ve found rules Heppy out!’
‘Five,’ said Daisy severely. ‘Yes, we believe that Heppy was framed, and the evidence of the corpse helps, but until she is absolutely ruled out we must keep her on the list. Anything else would not be rigorous. We have to be able to prove to these Parquet people that she didn’t do it. Our evidence must be watertight. So – go on. Heppy, Daniel, Miss Doggett, Miss Bartleby and Mr DeWitt. We’ve told you about the crime scene, but what else have you learned?’
‘Well, there’s what we found in Heppy’s room. Tell them, George.’
‘First off, the bed’s all disarranged and bloody – it looks as though someone with blood all over them had climbed into bed and gone to sleep. That doesn’t prove anything much, of course, apart from what we know is true – that Heppy went into Mrs Miller’s room some time in the night and got blood on her, before going back to bed.’
‘Then we found her Book!’ said Alexander excitedly.
‘There wasn’t much else to find!’ agreed George. ‘She’s got hardly any clothes in her wardrobe, and the ones she does have are odd sizes. I think she’s been given the cast-offs from the other society women. Another reason for her to be resentful! She dresses like an old woman, doesn’t she?’
‘Hah, she does!’ said Amina. ‘I was wondering why.’
‘So, the Book,’ Alexander cut in. ‘It’s – look, it’s just awful. I didn’t have much time, but I copied down all the entries I could in shorthand. Here, I’ll read from it.’
He flicked his notebook open, cleared his throat and began to read. I was expecting something a little like a diary, but what we heard was much more odd and frightening than that.
‘Oh, stop!’ I said, and Alexander, looking extremely relieved, stopped and closed his notebook with a sharp snap, as though the words might escape if he did not. ‘Horrible! Poor Heppy! I’m not surprised she’s so upset all the time.’
‘It’s awful,’ said Alexander, looking as horrified as I felt. ‘Whenever someone in the society does something bad, they note it down, and then Miss Doggett collects all the marks in the Book.’
‘Yes, yes, very sad, but this shows the pattern Heppy’s sleepwalking took!’ said Daisy, leaning her chin on my shoulder in her excitement. Every time she spoke, it dug into me.
‘Ow, Daisy,’ I said. ‘You’re right, though. What we saw the night before last – this proves it really was a pattern.’
I spoke casually, but I still felt sickened. Listing all of her flaws – some of them so small – seemed dreadfully cruel. No wonder Heppy walked in her sleep. And I had another stab of worry. The blood, and now this Book. It all seemed to point back to where we had begun, to the simplest and most dreadful solution to the crime: that it really had been a tragic accident, and poor Heppy was to blame. She had been pushed too far.
‘A pattern someone else could use,’ said Alexander gently. I looked up and saw him watching me. Had he realized what I was worrying about?
‘Indeed!’ said Daisy. ‘And we must work out who.’
3
‘Let’s take Daniel next, as he’s got the next cabin along. What do we know about him? We all witnessed him arguing with Theodora last night, so we know that things are not well between them. He’s her son, but he’s been estranged from her – did he come back with good intentions, or with murder on his mind?’
‘We know something about that too,’ said George. ‘Daniel’s cabin is full of extremely interesting papers – he’s writing a book exposing the Breath of Life as an evil cult.’
I gasped.
‘Not really!’ said Daisy.
‘Absolutely!’ said Alexander. ‘We read it – I mean, skimmed through it. He’s left the manuscript all piled up on his desk, so he obviously isn’t worried about someone finding it. Or maybe he even wants them to! It would make sense with what Daniel said last night. The Breath of Life sounds awful. Theodora doesn’t let any member keep ordinary family connections – that’s why she hates it when Daniel and Heppy call her Mother. And Theodora’s a fraud too: apparently, she breathes into bottles and sells them for bags of cash, saying they’ll help you connect with your past lives.’
‘Imagine thinking that’s true!’ said George, grinning. ‘Haven’t they done any science lessons?’
‘Grown-ups are hopeless,’ said Daisy. ‘I think we’ve proved that by now. What else? I can tell there’s something – you’re buzzing with it most annoyingly.’
‘There is!’ said Alexander. ‘It’s wizard. There’s a chapter about Daniel’s friend Joshua Morse.’
Joshua again! He seemed to be running through this case, almost like one of the characters in it, even though he was dead before we met him.
‘It was a few years ago,’ Alexander went on. ‘He and Daniel were the same age and met in the army, and once the war was over Joshua came back to meet Daniel’s family. He got swept up by the Breath of Life – it sounds like they both did, even though Daniel wants to pretend he wasn’t ever tricked properly – and they were at its heart for years. Joshua was rich, and his parents were dead, so he gave pots of money to the society, especially once Theodora decided that he was the reincarnation of Tutankhamun.’
‘They bled him dry!’ said George.
‘Anyway, it made Daniel uncomfortable to watch – and I wonder whether it upset him that Joshua was Tutankhamun and not him, even though he never says it. He started trying to make Joshua leave. Joshua wouldn’t hear of it for ages, but finally he saw sense, and agreed. They packed their bags and headed for London. And the day after they got there—’
‘Joshua died,’ cut in George. ‘He was only twenty-seven, and he’d always been healthy, so it makes no sense at all. Apparently, he got sick, and the doctors thought it was food poisoning.’
‘Food poisoning!’ said Daisy. ‘Hah! We’ve seen that before, haven’t we! Arsenic poisoning, more like.’
‘That’s what I thought,’ said Alexander, nodding. ‘It fits, doesn’t it? And Daniel thought so too.’
‘The whole book’s about it, really!’ George put in. ‘Daniel’s obsessed with the idea that Theodora ordered Joshua’s murder because she wanted all the rest of his money. He left it to the society in his will – a will she helped him make. Daniel thinks that he was meant to have been poisoned too, only he was too suspicious to eat any of the going-away meal that the society – and more specifically Miss Bartleby – prepared for them. I know Daniel said that he was here for a family reunion, but he’s obviously lying. He’s here to spy on Theodora, and prove what happened to his friend Joshua.’
‘And he decided to take matters into his own hands!’ said Daisy.
She was swept up with enthusiasm, but I frowned. I was not so sure.
‘Why wouldn’t Daniel want to take the evidence to the police?’ I asked. ‘Why kill Theodora before he proved anything – especially if it was Miss Bartleby who actually cooked the food? And why frame his own sister too?’
‘But he thinks Mrs Miller ordered Joshua’s death!’ said Alexander. ‘So he blames her for it. And I know he’s acting nice to Heppy, but what if he blames her for not leaving with him? What if he wants to punish her as well as his mother?’
‘Excellent point,’ said Daisy, rather regretfully – it always annoys her when Alexander says something clever. ‘But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Yes, we must find out exactly what happened to this Joshua person, and whether Miss Bartleby, and therefore Mrs Miller, is behind it – but first we must consider our other suspects.’
4
‘Miss Doggett’s really suspicious,’ said Alexander. ‘That creepy comment about the gods punishing Theodora! She was arguing with Theodora l
ast night; she’s angry that Mr DeWitt has become such a big part of the society; she’s jealous that Theodora is Hatshepsut; May overheard her threatening Miss Bartleby; she has expensive taste in clothes and she has a doll that looks like Theodora in her room with pins through it.’
‘And she thinks that she can use black magic!’ said Amina scoffingly. ‘It’s so stupid!’
‘Yes, but she believes in it!’ said Alexander. ‘I guess you might kill for something you believe in that much. And she thinks she can control the other members of the Breath of Life – at least, I guess that’s what the spell means.’
Daisy had gone quiet. I looked over at her and saw her practically crackling with energy. ‘What is it, Daisy?’ I asked.
‘Oh, nothing much,’ said Daisy. ‘Except that I know a very important thing.’
‘Would you like to share it with us?’ asked George. ‘Or would you rather keep it to yourself?’
‘I was waiting for the opportune time,’ said Daisy with dignity. ‘And now it has come. The thing is this: while Hazel and I were distracting Miss Doggett on the deck earlier, I pretended to trip in order to stumble against her. She had her bathrobe on so very tightly, after all, that I wondered why.’
‘And …’ said George, eyebrows raised.
‘And Miss Doggett’s nightdress has blood on it. Just a few smears on the stomach and chest – or at least that’s all I saw. But it does.’
I was electrified. I looked at Daisy, and I felt the spark jump between us. This was enormous.
‘And that, combined with what I found on top of her wardrobe, is very interesting indeed. Now we all agree that the doll’s injuries were really very similar to Theodora’s, don’t we?’
Everyone nodded. ‘Three wounds around her heart,’ said George.
‘Yes,’ said Daisy. ‘And, of course, it might be a coincidence, only I don’t believe in coincidences, not when murder is involved. I believe Miss Doggett saw the body and added those pins to the doll afterwards. So when did that happen?’
‘After she – oh!’ I cried.
‘Exactly, Watson! Miss Doggett came out of her cabin, she looked in at Theodora’s body, Miss Beauvais fainted and she was taken into Miss Doggett’s empty cabin. She was then still in that cabin when we went in to examine it, and we also saw Miss Doggett moving about on deck during that time. So we can assume she did not at any point shove past Miss Beauvais, climb up onto the top of the wardrobe and push pins into a doll. So … when did she do it?’
‘During the night,’ I breathed.
‘Indeed,’ said Daisy. ‘Which means that either Miss Doggett committed the murder, or she saw the body after the murder, but before it was discovered this morning. And that – well, that is extremely suspicious, don’t you agree?’
I nodded, fizzing with amazement. What had seemed only an hour before to be a very simple mystery was unfolding into something fascinating.
‘Then there’s Miss Bartleby,’ I said. ‘And now we know more about Joshua, doesn’t it make sense of what she said to us earlier? She’s remembering his death.’
‘Not just remembering, confessing to it!’ said Daisy. ‘And to Theodora’s death too. Not that it’s a particularly good confession. She didn’t have any blood on her clothes, or any in her room that I could see, and she kept on mixing up the victims. I don’t think the police would give her the time of day if we presented her as our main suspect.’
‘Maybe she’s only pretending to be confused, though!’ I said, although I wasn’t sure I really believed that.
‘Hmm, yes,’ said Daisy. ‘It’s possible. And she could have got rid of her bloodstained clothing in the Nile – May heard a splash, didn’t she? We must investigate what that was. Why, anyone could wrap their bloodstained clothes around a – a paperweight, or something, and toss them over the side of the boat.’
‘Perhaps we’re supposed to think that poor Miss Bartleby is upset enough to confess to something she couldn’t possibly have done, using incorrect facts, and discount her immediately?’ asked Alexander. ‘It might all be a clever double bluff.’ He paused. ‘I’m not sure I believe it, though. I feel sorry for her. She’s like my mom’s mom – sweet. I bet she bakes cookies.’
We all looked at each other and carefully did not mention his other grandmother, the Countess, who was certainly not sweet at all.
‘I think I agree with Alexander,’ I said. ‘What she was saying to Daisy and me earlier – she seemed so upset. I think she really is mixed up between Theodora’s murder and Joshua’s death.’
‘Remember how she was behaving during the ritual?’ asked Alexander. ‘She forgot things then too. And she looked really confused about it.’
‘So you think she truly can’t remember what happened,’ said George slowly. ‘But does that mean she didn’t commit the crime?’
‘We can’t be sure,’ I said, after a pause. ‘It’s not as though she can’t do things – it’s only that she forgets them. And if she really does believe that she committed the crime – and I think she does – then we ought not to discount her. We can’t ignore a confession!’
‘But then what’s her motive?’ asked Amina.
‘Obvious,’ said George. ‘If she had something to do with Joshua’s murder, she might be afraid of it getting out. Perhaps Mrs Miller was the one who ordered it, and Miss Bartleby can’t live with what she did any more. She’s certainly fixated on it!’
‘So that’s Miss Bartleby,’ said Daisy, nodding. ‘And then there’s Mr DeWitt!’
‘But he was on Theodora’s side last night!’ said Amina. ‘Doesn’t that – what’s the word – rule him out?’
‘Not necessarily,’ I said. ‘He wants to get higher up in the society, that’s obvious, and now Theodora’s dead he might even be in with a chance of taking it over. He hates Miss Doggett, we saw that, and I think he’s quite ruthless.’
‘What did you find in his room?’ asked George.
Daisy flushed. ‘Er,’ she said. ‘We weren’t – we weren’t able to—’
‘So the great Daisy Wells failed a task!’ George cried.
‘Oh, do let up,’ snapped Daisy. ‘We were stopped by the suspect on deck! Then you called us over – we didn’t have time to finish our investigation. We—’
‘HELLO!’ said May from the doorway. ‘HELLO, HELLO!’
‘Mei!’ I cried. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘I got out again!’ said May triumphantly. ‘When the men were taking away our breakfast things. I’ve been doing some more detecting. I found blood in the murderer woman’s room, and the wrinkly man’s.’
‘WHAT?’ we all said.
‘He didn’t notice me – he was eating his breakfast,’ said May. ‘But there’s a pair of trousers hidden under his bed with blood on them. I think he’s suspicious.’
‘I’m becoming more and more impressed with the Wongs the more I know about them,’ said George. ‘Are there any more of you?’
‘Teddy,’ said May. ‘Only he’s still a baby, so he couldn’t come along this time. Well? Aren’t you coming to look? Hurry, hurry, before Father finds me!’
‘May!’ I said. ‘You have to go back to your cabin!’
But then I looked over at Daisy and heard her voice in my head, as clear as anything: Don’t be such a grownup, Hazel Wong. I sighed. ‘And anyway, how are we supposed to get in?’ I asked weakly.
‘As to that,’ said George, ‘I have an idea.’
5
Which was how I found myself hovering anxiously outside Mr DeWitt’s closed cabin door, the sun on my back and the churn of water beneath me. We were moving quickly up the Nile, the river wide and sparkling, high lion-coloured hills rising far away behind a green streak of palms.
We had no idea, really, whether George’s idea would work. I felt jittery, heart thumping, every inch of my body itching with nerves.
Alexander and George stood side by side, facing the closed door. Amina and I were off to one side, squashed together –
and crouched behind our feet, squeezed as small as possible, was May. She shifted against my ankle impatiently, like the little monkey we nicknamed her. Very gently, I pressed my right foot down on her hand to remind her to stay still.
Amina squeezed my arm, I nodded at George who cleared his throat and nudged Alexander, and Alexander gave me an apologetic look that made my heart beat even stronger. Then he turned to George and said loudly, ‘Hey! Don’t touch me!’
‘Then keep away from me!’ George said. ‘I say, I got here first!’
‘You did not! Look, this is totally unfair – you KNOW how much she means to me.’
‘And I told you in strict confidence that I liked her. You pretended to support me! See here – DAISY! DAISY! DAISY! PLEASE!’ George began to shout. I could tell he was enjoying himself. Alexander, on the other hand, looked distinctly uncomfortable – or perhaps I only wished he was.
‘DAISY!’ he cried, and there was a definite pink tinge to his cheeks. ‘PLEASE – DAISY!’
They shoved at each other and yelled – and, as we had hoped, there was movement within the cabin. The door snapped open a few inches and Mr DeWitt was standing there, staring out at George and Alexander with an expression of bemused horror.
‘What’s all this shouting?’ Mr DeWitt asked. ‘What’s wrong? Is someone else dead?’
I thought how odd that statement was, if he truly thought that the murderer was Heppy. She was locked away, after all – the ship ought to have seemed entirely safe.
‘They’re arguing over Daisy,’ said Amina. ‘Typical silly boys!’
‘It isn’t fair!’ panted George, lunging at Alexander. ‘I love her!’
‘I love her!’ cried Alexander, his voice cracking slightly from embarrassment. Mr DeWitt, though, clearly took it as a sign of emotion. He took a step forward, out onto the deck. I nudged May gently with my toe, and she moved forward to catch the door before it closed all the way.
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