Death Sets Sail
Page 15
‘I should say I do!’ said Daisy. ‘We have not been entirely clear with you. We may appear like schoolgirls on holiday, but that is, in fact, a ruse. We are policewomen and, although we have been trying to keep a low profile, the time has come to reveal ourselves. Show them our credentials, Miss Wong.’
I stood up too, and now I opened my hand to show the things that were pressing deep creases into my palm – the badges Inspector Priestley gave us two years and eight cases ago.
Of course, they are simply shiny toys that Daisy and I keep for sentimentality’s sake, but none of the people on the Hatshepsut (apart from George and Alexander) knew that, and as they flashed in the sun they looked most impressive. I was almost taken in myself.
My father made a furious noise. I stared at him, willing him not to ruin the moment, and he shook his head in disgust. I felt ashamed, but we had to keep going.
‘Official badges of the British police force,’ said Daisy. ‘We are two of their youngest and most promising officers.’
‘But,’ Mr Mansour cried, ‘you are girls! Girls cannot be in the police!’
‘Nonsense,’ said Daisy. ‘Women have been working with the police for years. Haven’t you heard of Maud West? And there are plenty of women officers too these days.’
‘This is ridiculous. You’re lying!’ said Mr DeWitt.
‘You can call our supervisor once we get to Aswan,’ said Daisy with a shrug. ‘We have a personal line to him at all times.’
‘But they are schoolgirls!’ I heard Mr Young say plaintively in the background. ‘I’m sure they are!’
‘Ridiculous,’ snapped Daisy. ‘We can show you our passports. We are policewomen and, since I do not see anyone else on this ship with more authority, we must be allowed to take over this case.’
2
‘I cannot allow it!’ said Mr Mansour. ‘You are young women! And, besides, the case has been solved. It has been clear from the very start that Miss Miller was responsible.’
‘Perhaps,’ said Daisy. ‘Or perhaps not. Miss Bartleby, may I ask you a question?’
‘Of course, dear,’ said Miss Bartleby vaguely.
‘What did you do last night, after the ritual?’
‘I put Theodora to bed, of course. Heppy helped me. We always do it together. I tuck her in tightly, and then Heppy reads to her, and then we leave.’
‘Very good,’ said Daisy. ‘And then you went back to Heppy’s room?’
‘Why, of course!’ said Miss Bartleby. ‘We spoke together, and then I went to bed.’
‘And did she ask you to do something?’
There it was again – the haunted look in Miss Bartleby’s eyes. ‘Indeed, she did,’ she said. ‘She – ah – asked me to brush her hair.’
‘And?’
‘And she – asked me – asked me to lock her in,’ said Miss Bartleby.
‘AH!’ said Daisy. Miss Bartleby’s face flooded with relief.
‘Yes, I did do that! I locked her in and said goodnight and went to my own bed.’
I had another stab of doubt. Miss Bartleby was so vague, so suggestible. We had seen her forget things in the ritual last night, and she had been so confused when we had spoken to her this morning. Could her evidence be worth anything now? Could we really use this to build our case? But then—
‘See here,’ said Mr Young. ‘Er. I think I may know something about this.’
We all turned in surprise to look at him. He was sitting anxiously, drawn into himself.
‘I – well, I decided to take a turn around the deck last night, just after twelve. The lamps were still lit, and the whole thing was really quite pleasant.’
‘Wonderful for you,’ said Daisy shortly. ‘What happened next?’
‘Well, I was up by the saloon when I saw someone coming out of the port cabin closest to me and I heard someone else call after her. It was – well, it was you, Miss Bartleby, and Miss Hephzibah Miller’s voice calling. She said – and I didn’t mean to overhear, you understand, it simply happened – she said, “Lock the door after yourself, please, Miss Bartleby.” Miss Bartleby agreed, put the key in the lock, and turned it. She went away to her own cabin – I saw her go in. Then I walked past Miss Miller’s door. The key was turned in the lock. So I can confirm that Miss Miller was locked into her room last night.’
‘Mr Young!’ cried Daisy. ‘Whyever didn’t you say this before?’
‘I – er – I thought,’ said Mr Young, ducking his head and rubbing his neck awkwardly, ‘I thought that, well, I thought it wasn’t relevant. I’m not – I’m not used to this sort of thing.’
‘I see that,’ said Daisy, through her teeth. ‘Well. You have given us the most important piece of evidence yet. Don’t you see? Don’t you all see? If Heppy Miller was locked into her cabin – a fact confirmed by two people – she could not have sleepwalked into her mother’s cabin to murder her. She has been framed!’
3
‘Yes, but,’ said Mr Young, turning pinker than ever, ‘she, er, did get out, didn’t she? If you’re so clever, how d’you explain that?’
‘Easily,’ said Daisy. ‘Someone turned the key and unlocked the door – after Miss Bartleby locked it at midnight, and before this morning. Someone wanted Heppy to sleepwalk through the crime scene, and someone knew that she would. Someone on this ship – someone whose cabin is on the saloon deck. And I am clever, thank you very much. I should like you to remember that.’
‘We both are,’ I put in. ‘We’re policewomen, aren’t we?’
Daisy turned her eyes on me, almost laughing. I fought the urge to smile back.
‘This – this is nonsense,’ stammered Daniel. ‘You are girls! You aren’t the police!’
‘I agree,’ said Mr Mansour. ‘I cannot simply trust that—’
‘They certainly are,’ snapped my father. I jumped, startled. What was he—?
‘I was afraid this would happen,’ my father went on. ‘That my daughter would be disrespected and disbelieved just because she is a young woman. I tried to dissuade her from pursuing this career, but she – well, she is just as stubborn as I am. She would do it, and I have given up the argument. Take it from me: these girls are exactly who they say they are.’
‘Mr Wong!’ gasped Mr Mansour. ‘Are you – are you certain?’
‘I am,’ said my father, through teeth that I could tell were slightly gritted.
‘Thank you, Mr Wong,’ said Daisy, curtseying. My father eyed her as unlovingly as ever. He might be willing to back us up, but I knew (with a warm glow, as though I had swallowed a candle flame) that it was all for me, and not for Daisy. ‘Now that’s cleared up, may we be allowed to carry on with the case? As I think we have proved, there is more going on with this mystery than initially meets the eye. Mr Mansour?’
I could see Mr Mansour wrestling with himself. He looked at my father, and then doubtfully at us. And then—
‘There are still several hours before we reach Aswan, and the police there,’ said Mr Mansour, twisting his hands together in thought. ‘But until then I – well – I don’t like it.’
‘You don’t have to like it!’ said Daisy.
I nudged her. ‘When we arrive in Aswan, we’ll tell the Parquet what we’ve found and then step back,’ I said to Mr Mansour. ‘We promise!’
Mr Mansour looked at my father one more time. My father nodded, and Mr Mansour threw up his arms.
‘I suppose I have no choice,’ he said. ‘But it is not how we do things here in Egypt!’
‘See here!’ cried Daniel. ‘This is ridiculous! Have you all taken leave of your senses? These are two little girls! They have no authority! They’ve barely stopped playing with dolls!’
I felt my cheeks heat up.
‘We’re not so many years younger than your sister,’ said Daisy. ‘And you’re prepared to believe that she committed a murder last night. If she’s old enough to be accused of one, we’re old enough to prove she didn’t do it. And what’s wrong with being a little girl? Ha
tshepsut was twelve when she became queen of Egypt.’
‘I expect people complained about her too,’ said Daniel.
‘I expect she chopped off their heads,’ said Daisy calmly. ‘Never underestimate a young woman, Mr Miller.’
Daniel was left gasping at that.
‘Now Miss Wong and I need some time to confer in our cabin. Miss El Maghrabi, you may accompany us. Mr Mansour, please make the saloon bar ready for us to use – and we would like a late lunch served to us. We will be speaking to everyone with a cabin on the saloon deck. Is that clear?’
‘Perfectly, Miss Wells,’ said Mr Mansour. ‘I shall make sure it is done.’
I looked round at our suspects. Daniel was furious – that was easy enough to see. Miss Bartleby was fluttering anxiously, one hand on her stomach. Mr DeWitt was watching Daisy with a curious twisted smile on his face, and Miss Doggett was glaring at her, so poisonously that I had to take a step backwards.
Daisy had her head thrown back, shoulders set, smiling slightly like the statues of Sekhmet we had seen in the Cairo museum. She did not seem to be afraid at all – but suddenly I got a chill. We had never announced ourselves like this to our suspects before. They had never known we were on their trail. Whoever the murderer was, they knew that we meant to uncover the truth. Would we be safe?
4
Daisy, Amina and I all piled into the cabin that Daisy and I shared. After a moment, there was a knock, and George and Alexander stuck their heads round the door.
‘We gave Mr Young the slip,’ said George. ‘He thinks we’re washing before lunch. Daisy, how dare you!’
‘I think I was brilliant,’ said Daisy with a shrug. ‘I’ve got us on the case, haven’t I?’
‘Yes, but only you!’ said George. ‘We still have to pretend to have nothing to do with detection at all.’
‘It isn’t my fault that Mr Young knows how old you are,’ said Daisy. ‘Who’d believe that schoolboys could be detectives, after all?’
‘It’s not fair,’ said Alexander.
‘Oh, we’ll let you assist us,’ said Daisy. ‘Remember, just the way you did with Dr Sandwich on the Orient Express!’
‘Daisy, this isn’t revenge for that, is it?’ I asked. In our Orient Express case, Daisy and I had to pretend to be ordinary schoolgirls while Alexander helped with the official investigation. I know it rankled with Daisy, then – I ought to have known that she had not forgotten it.
‘Don’t be silly, Hazel!’ said Daisy – proof, if I needed it, that it was exactly that.
‘Of course you can help us,’ I said to Alexander and George. ‘We’re sorry – or at least I am!’
‘Traitor!’ Daisy whispered in my ear.
‘Let’s have a meeting,’ I said. ‘While we’re all here. We need to think through what’s happened just now. We know, properly, that Heppy really is innocent.’
‘I never thought Mr Young would be useful!’ said George.
‘He’s a really bad tutor,’ said Alexander.
‘But an excellent witness!’ said Daisy. ‘I must say – and I do hate to – that we owe you boys for bringing him onboard. He’s the perfect witness at the perfect time, and his story proves that Heppy really was locked in her cabin last night. She couldn’t have got out unless someone opened the door for her – and, since we know she did get out, it follows beautifully that someone did just that.’
‘Poor Heppy!’ I said. ‘She really does think she did it. We couldn’t persuade her otherwise.’ My heart ached for her every time I thought about it.
‘How did you get in to see her?’ asked George curiously.
‘Oh, Amina came up with a brilliant plan,’ said Daisy.
‘It was just a prank,’ said Amina. ‘Easy, really.’
‘It was wonderful,’ said Daisy, and Amina glowed.
‘So Heppy’s cleared,’ said George. ‘All right. We’re left with four suspects. Which one of them did it?’
‘I think we should do a re-creation before the interviews,’ I said. ‘We still don’t know exactly how the murder happened, after all.’
‘Exactly what I was going to say, Hazel,’ said Daisy, and I could tell she was a little put out not to have suggested it first. ‘A re-creation, before we eat. We can use this cabin as Theodora’s, even though it isn’t a perfect copy – it’s on the wrong side of the boat, after all.’
‘When has perfect mattered?’ I asked. ‘We once did a re-creation with a doll’s house!’
I only realized after I had said it that I’d admitted to the boys that Daisy and I had recently played with dolls. I ought to have been embarrassed – but I found I was only proud of our ingenuity. Daisy and I do anything we need to in order to solve a case, and that is all there is to it.
‘Very clever,’ said George. ‘All right, how do we organize this one?’
‘It’s easy enough,’ said Daisy. ‘After all, we’re only testing whether we can kill someone without them making any noise.’
5
‘Daisy!’ I said, aghast. ‘We can’t kill someone!’
‘Well, I know that,’ said Daisy. ‘And I didn’t mean that at all. George understands, don’t you?’
‘We need to do a test of noise,’ said George, nodding. ‘We need to prove that a pillow over Theodora’s mouth could have kept her quiet enough – after all, Daisy said that she only heard some thumping, no screaming at all. And, while we’re at it, we need to work out whether it would have been possible to quiet her and stab her at the same time.’
‘Are you sure we really need to do this?’ asked Alexander. ‘We don’t want anyone to get hurt.’
‘Of course we need to!’ said Daisy fiercely. ‘We must know everything. We need a complete picture, otherwise we won’t properly understand the truth. Detection has to be perfect. We have to see it all. If you don’t understand that, you don’t understand anything! See here, if you’re going to be wet about it, I’ll be the victim. Someone come and kill me.’ As she spoke, she clambered up onto her bed, threw herself down on her back and squeezed her eyes shut. She looked rather like a princess in a fairy tale, with her hair streaming down around her shoulders and her hands on her chest.
‘I’m not doing it,’ said Alexander. ‘No way! You could get hurt! George, don’t!’
George sighed. ‘I – see here, Daisy, are you certain about this?’
‘OF COURSE I AM!’ said Daisy, sitting up with a snap. ‘Will SOMEONE come here and MURDER ME?’
Amina and I looked at each other.
‘I don’t want to do it,’ I said helplessly. ‘I don’t think this is a good idea, Daisy.’
‘Oh, all right, I will!’ said Amina. ‘But I agree with the rest of them. Daisy, this is stupid, and dangerous. Do you want to get hurt?’
‘I want the truth!’ said Daisy. ‘Come here at once!’
Amina walked across the cabin on light feet and knelt down beside Daisy. ‘I really am sorry about this,’ she said quietly – and then quick as a flash she pulled Daisy’s pillow from under her and pressed it over Daisy’s face. Daisy made a furious muffled noise like a swarm of wasps.
‘I can’t hear you,’ said Amina sweetly, leaning on her chest. ‘Speak up.’ I had the rather uncomfortable feeling that she was enjoying herself.
‘MMMMPH!’ said Daisy. Alexander, George and I looked at each other doubtfully.
‘Go into Amina’s cabin!’ I said to them. See if you can hear anything!’
George nodded, and he and Alexander ducked out of our room into cabin ten next door. They were back a minute later.
‘We couldn’t hear much,’ said Alexander. ‘A few noises that could be the thumpings Daisy heard, but nothing I’d worry about if I woke up and heard them in the middle of the night.’
‘And now I stab her, I suppose?’ asked Amina. ‘I have one hand on the pillow over her face, and then the other holding the knife, and I’m leaning on her chest to hold her down. Oh, this is awkward! Here, give me something to stab with.’
‘Shan’t,’ said Daisy thickly, through the pillow.
‘Rude!’ said Amina, twinkling down at her.
‘Wait!’ I said. ‘This isn’t right.’
‘It’s the body, isn’t it, Hazel?’ said George.
I nodded at him. ‘There weren’t any wounds on Theodora Miller’s hands or arms!’ I said. ‘She couldn’t have been flailing like Daisy is, otherwise she’d have been all cut about there as well, and she wasn’t.’
‘OH!’ said Daisy, muffled. ‘Stop it, Amina – let me go!’
Amina lifted up the pillow, and Daisy’s flushed face came into view.
‘I know why she didn’t fight!’ she said. ‘She was tucked in! Remember, Hazel, what Miss Bartleby said? She always tucks in Theodora tightly? If she was all wrapped up in her sheet like a mummy, she might not have been able to get her arms out quickly enough to defend herself when she was attacked. And if the pillow was held over her head firmly – Amina, excellent work, but you didn’t press hard enough—’
‘— I didn’t really want to kill you!’ exclaimed Amina.
‘— then she might very well have died without anyone hearing her cry out. But I do believe we’ve shown that the murderer had to be awake to do everything that we know they did. It’s hard work to stop a murder victim making a noise! Excellent work, Detectives!’
‘Hold on,’ I said. ‘That isn’t the end of the re-creation.’
‘Nonsense, Hazel,’ said Daisy.
‘We’ve proved how Theodora died, but not what happened next. So, Daisy, you lie there, tucked in. You’re dead. I’ll be the murderer this time.’
‘Bossy!’ muttered Daisy.
‘Quiet!’ I said. ‘You’ve been murdered.’
Suddenly I was enjoying myself.
‘You’ve changed, Hazel!’ hissed Daisy as I bent over her. I stuck out my tongue at her, and she narrowed her eyes at me. Amina moved away rather reluctantly.