The Sequin Star (17 page)

‘Larry,' called Claire urgently, ‘when did you last see Kit?'

Larry flicked the cigarette away into the garden bed.

‘What?' asked Larry, looking startled. ‘I haven't seen Master Hunter. It's my day off.'

‘Larry, Kit's been kidnapped,' said Rosina. ‘Someone broke into the house and took him.'

‘Oh, oh – th . . . that's terrible,' Larry stuttered. He looked pale and dazed. ‘I've been out helping a friend move house. I've only just come back.'

‘But Mrs Bruce said that you took Kit out this morning.'

Larry rubbed his forehead, collecting himself. ‘I'm sorry, it's such a shock. I drove Master Hunter down to La Perouse this morning at about nine o'clock. He took several baskets of leftovers and delivered them to a family living in the unemployed camp there.'

Claire glanced at Rosina. ‘Jem's family. That was thoughtful.'

‘Then I dropped him back here at the house before eleven o'clock,' said Larry. ‘He said he was going to take a tram to visit Miss Sterling at the circus to ask her about his charity function. He didn't want me to drive him as it was a Sunday. That was the last time I saw him. I changed and went to help my friend.'

‘What time did you leave the house?' asked Claire.

Larry shrugged. ‘It was about eleven o'clock.' He swallowed. ‘Look, I don't want to be rude, but I think I'd better go.'

‘Of course,' replied Rosina. ‘You've had a terrible shock. And the police are on their way back, so I'm sure they'll want to talk to you.'

Larry nodded and hurried off to his room over the garage. The girls mounted their horses and rode out the front gate. The two police officers were still sitting in a car on the street.

Claire frowned as she looked over at them. ‘I hope Kit's all right.'

‘Don't worry, Claire,' said Rosina, trying to sound confident. ‘The kidnappers have asked for a ransom. They won't hurt Kit. As soon as the money's paid they'll let him go.'

Claire thought back to the chaotic scene in the entrance and the ransom note. ‘There was blood, Rosina. Kit may already be badly hurt.'

16
Investigation

It was midafternoon when Rosina and Claire returned to the circus lot. They rode past Manfred the Magician, who was strolling back to his caravan. The girls called out a greeting, which Manfred returned.

‘He looks very pleased with himself,' said Claire.

‘Manfred always looks pleased with himself,' Rosina replied. ‘He's probably been charming some pretty shopgirl with disappearing paper flowers.'

The girls unsaddled the horses and put them away in their yard, then they hurried to find Jem.

Jem was talking to Frank and Roy near the lions' cage. Frank handed Jem something, which he tucked away in his back pocket. It looked like a wad of cash. Jem wandered over to meet the girls, a broad smile on his face. Jaspar bounded over, tail wagging, and he licked both Rosina and Claire on the hand.

‘There is a great mystery to solve,' Jem claimed.

‘How do you know?' asked Claire. ‘What have you heard?'

‘Why, only that a swanky young man arrived at my mother's home this morning bringing baskets of food for the family,' Jem explained. ‘The kids were so excited. I think they ate until they were nearly sick. So who do you think the hero could be?'

‘That's no mystery, Jem,' retorted Rosina. ‘It was Kit.'

Jem's face darkened. ‘I don't know why he thinks we want his charity,' he snapped. ‘We can manage just fine without him.'

Rosina swallowed and squared her shoulders. ‘Shortly afterwards Kit was kidnapped . . . and he's now being held for ransom.'

Jem looked shocked. ‘
Kidnapped
?'

‘Yes,' Claire replied. ‘The kidnappers want twenty thousand pounds.'

‘Cripes – that's ridiculous. No one would pay that much for him. Not even his knuckleheaded New Guard father.'

Claire glared at him.

‘It's not a joke, Jem,' Claire reproved him. ‘It's very serious. Kit's been hurt.'

‘The police are looking for him,' Rosina added, her voice cracking.

‘Somehow that doesn't make me feel very confident,' Claire replied. Her eyes welled with tears.

Rosina gave her a hug. ‘Why don't we take the elephants over for a dust bath and we can talk it over?'

Most days the elephants were taken over to the back corner of the lot, near the boarded-up department store, where they could dig in the dirt and throw dust over themselves. Claire, Rosina and Jem walked the elephants over to the dust bowl and sat in the shade of the store, watching the elephants dig and play.

Claire sat, deep in thought, while Jem and Rosina chatted. Elsie used her front foot to stomp on the ground and break up the soil. She then sucked up dirt with her trunk and sprayed it over her back in a fine, brown cloud of dust. Empress rubbed her head against Elsie's side then blew dust over them both.

‘It must be someone who knows Kit,' Claire announced after a while.

‘Why do you say that?' asked Rosina.

‘It's someone who doesn't like Kit or his father,' Claire added.

‘Well, that must narrow it down to a few hundred thousand people,' Jem scoffed.

Claire scowled at Jem, her arms crossed. ‘Don't be silly.'

‘I just mean they're very wealthy, they're involved in the notorious New Guard, and they probably employ a lot of people,' Jem said defensively. ‘In fact, they might've put a lot of people out of work. Frank said he heard that Mr Hunter has had to close down a number of his stores in the last year.'

‘No squabbling, children,' Rosina admonished. ‘This isn't helping.'

Claire picked up a fallen twig and began to strip the leaves off. She watched as the two elephants used their trunks to groom themselves.

Lula galloped over towards them on four paws. She threw a clod of earth at Empress, which fell harmlessly at her feet. Empress picked up the clod and shot it back at Lula like a cricket ball. Lula dodged it and dashed to the safety of Rosina's lap.

‘Let's think about what we do know,' Claire suggested. ‘We know that someone was driving a blue van, and that they arrived at the house after Kit came back from Happy Valley with Larry.'

‘Yes,' agreed Rosina. ‘That was after eleven, and Mrs Bruce came home at midday to find the house ransacked.'

‘Well, don't you think it's odd that the robbers knew
exactly
when to strike?' asked Claire. ‘The house is usually full of people, but today there were no watchmen, all the staff were conveniently absent and Mr Hunter was away.'

‘They might've been casing the house for weeks,' Jem suggested. ‘They could've had spies watching the household to see when it was safe to strike – that would've been quite easy to do.'

‘Perhaps,' agreed Rosina. ‘They must have been planning it for a long time then.'

‘They also seemed to know what to look for inside the house,' Claire added. ‘They managed to get in and out fairly quickly.'

‘Or they may just have figured that any house that size would be full of stuff worth taking,' replied Jem.

Claire sat and thought for a while longer.
Who had a motive to attack Kit?

Claire lay tossing and turning on her narrow bunk. The mattress was hard and uncomfortable, and her thoughts were keeping her awake. She had slept for a few hours, but then she heard a vehicle outside. The engine sound was soft but unmistakeable. She thought she heard it turning onto the lot. She peered outside into the darkness. There was no sign of headlights. The engine cut out. A door closed.

She lay there, listening. Her imagination started to run wild.
Why would someone drive onto the lot with no headlights? Perhaps it was someone coming to steal the horses or let the elephants loose. Perhaps it's burglars, coming to rob the circus.
Should I get up? Should I go out in the darkness and see who's there?

Reluctantly Claire clambered out of her bunk and paused, listening. She crept to the caravan door and eased it open. Outside, all was quiet and darkness. Claire padded down the steps in bare feet. She stubbed her toe on one of the rocks by the campfire and had to catch herself from crying out. Her eyes and ears strained through the blackness. There was no movement, no more noise.

After a few minutes of waiting and listening, Claire climbed back into the caravan and into bed, lying there for what seemed like hours. At last she wriggled out of her bunk again and went to the latrine. She fumbled for the torch they kept by the door for this purpose. Claire unlatched the door and slipped out, pulling one of Rosina's old coats over her nightclothes. She peered around cautiously.

Outside, the sun hadn't risen yet but there was a soft, predawn light. No one else was up yet. Claire scanned the lot, trying to see if anything was out of place.

She noticed that one of the circus vans was parked over in the far corner of the field, near the back of the abandoned department store. It was the blue van that Frank and Roy had taken yesterday to deliver the rabbit skins. Claire thought hard. It definitely hadn't been parked there yesterday afternoon when they had taken the elephants for their dust bath.

Claire wandered over to take a look. On the rear tyre, Claire noticed flecks of white against the black. On closer inspection, she realised they were several pieces of gravel wedged in the rear tread. White gravel from a driveway? Kit's driveway was white gravel. Was it a coincidence . . . or a clue?

The door to the van was unlocked. Claire climbed into the front seat to have a look, closing the door behind her. Keys to the circus vehicles were often kept under the floor mat on the driver's side so that they were easy to find. Sure enough, the keys were there. Claire left them and climbed over the seats, into the dark rear of the van. There was a strong, gamey smell, which nearly made Claire gag.

Switching on her torch, Claire scanned the back of the van. It was completely empty. She heard a sound outside the van and froze, switching off the torch. She crawled forward and crouched in the shadows just behind the driver's seat. Someone opened the door and fumbled around on the floor. Claire hardly dared to breathe. The engine turned over and the van was put in reverse.

The driver rested his elbow on top of the seat, twisting to look back through the rear window as he reversed. Claire crouched lower onto the floor.

The van was driven to the southern side of the lot, back to where it was usually parked. The driver killed the engine, withdrew the keys and slid out. Claire felt a huge wave of relief, which quickly turned to panic as she realised that the door was being locked from the outside.

She scrambled to the rear window and peered out. The person walking away from the van, with his hands jammed in his pockets, looked suspiciously like Jem.

Claire waited until the figure was out of sight before carefully checking all the doors. The front doors were locked, but the rear door opened from the inside.

Relieved, Claire took a deep breath, carefully opened the door and jumped down. In the growing dawn light, Claire examined the floor of the van. There was a dark, dried smudge on the floor. Claire sobbed, the shock of the last few minutes hit, making her legs feel wobbly.

Was this the van that was involved in Kit's kidnapping? Was that Kit's blood on the floor? If it was the getaway vehicle, what was Jem doing parking it this morning? And where could Kit be now?

Claire went to the latrine – her least favourite part of circus life. She washed her hands in the kerosene tin of water outside and wandered back to the caravan. People were beginning to stir around the camp, fetching water and lighting fires. Rosina had already gone to feed the horses.

Claire dressed in her work clothes, thinking back over the events of the last few days. Jem obviously felt jealous about Kit's wealth. Jem knew details about Mr Hunter's business interests. Claire had seen Jem taking money from Frank. Could Jem possibly have played a part in Kit's disappearance?

By breakfast time, Claire had sifted through the various scenarios over and over.

She went to the cookhouse for breakfast – steaming porridge with stewed apple and hot cocoa. She sat down at one of the tables in the cookhouse tent by herself and ate slowly. A few minutes later, Jem came to fetch his own meal.

‘Morning, Claire,' Jem called cheerily. ‘Did you sleep well?'

‘Not particularly,' replied Claire. ‘I had nightmares about Kit. I worried about him lying somewhere, cold, scared and alone.'

Jem looked uncomfortable. ‘Well, hopefully the police have found him already.'

Claire had a long, hard look at Jem. With his thatch of blond hair, freckles and flat worker's cap, he looked cheerful and friendly. But did she really know Jem?

‘Do you honestly hope that, Jem?' Claire asked. Her voice sounded brittle. ‘You don't like Kit much, do you?'

Jem shrugged. ‘He's all right. He's just a toff. We don't have that much in common, but I certainly don't wish him any harm.'

Claire paused. ‘Jem, why did you move the blue van this morning?'

Jem stared blankly at Claire. ‘What do you mean? Why the interrogation?'

‘I know you moved the van,' Claire replied. ‘But I don't know why?'

Jem glanced around and shrugged. ‘Frank asked me to move it first thing this morning. It wasn't where it was supposed to be and Frank didn't want Alf to get mad. It's not important.'

‘But what was it doing there? It came onto the lot in the middle of the night, didn't it? I heard it sometime before dawn when everyone was supposed to be asleep.'

Jem shook his head. ‘Jeez, I don't know, Claire. Why are you so concerned about it?'

‘Because Mrs Bruce told us that the neighbour saw a blue van being loaded up in the front driveway of Kit's house yesterday,' Claire reminded him. ‘And you were moving a blue van this morning that mysteriously appeared back on the lot in the middle of the night. A van that I think has bloodstains on the floor.'