Mike Ashley - The Mammoth Book of New Sherlock Holmes Adventures

"Exactly my thought! The woman was already dead when she was placed in the cage. It was covered with canvas and the killer expected it would not be found until show time." He turned to a pale Philip Rover. "Who had a key to this cage?"

"Only the animal's trainer. And I keep a spare one in my tent." "Does your brother have one?"

"I don't think so."

Charles Rover joined us then, summoned by the ringmaster. "What happened here?" he asked.

"Someone killed Vittoria and put her body in the tiger's cage," his brother told him.

"My God! Should we cancel the afternoon performance?"

Philip Rover scoffed at the idea. "We have five hundred people out there already, with more arriving every minute. The show will go on, but get this tiger cage out of here. The police will want to examine it."

I could see something was troubling Holmes, beyond the traumatic fact of the crime itself. "Did you gentlemen carry any insurance on the life of Vittoria Costello?" he inquired.

Philip brushed aside the question. "We have enough other expenses. I know of no circus that insures its performers. Why would you ask that?"

"In a death where there has been facial injury, one has to be certain of identification. Fraud of some sort is always a possibility."

"Go and look at the body," Philip told his younger brother. "Assure Mr Holmes of its identity."

Charles returned after a moment, the blood drained from his face. "It's Vittoria," he assured us. "There's no doubt. The ringmaster identified her too."

Sherlock Holmes nodded. "Then we must go about finding her killer."

"The circus isn't hiring you," Philip stated quite clearly. "This is a job for the local police."

"Ah! But they did not do well in Oxford, did they? The death of the Spaniard is still unsolved."

"I told you about that," Philip insisted. "It was an accident. We have no money for you, Mr Holmes."

"I was hired by Vittoria Costello to protect her," he informed them. "Now I must find her killer."

"Hired?" the younger brother repeated. "How is this possible?"

"She came to my lodgings in Baker Street yesterday, and told me of the incident with the horse and the poisoning of Diaz in Oxford. She feared the killer would succeed on his third attempt." He repeated some of what she had told us.

"But this is untrue!" Philip insisted. "She fell off that horse, as she had done before. And I have already told you the Spaniard's poisoning was a simple accident on his part. The poison was meant for a sick python."

"Why would she lie?" Holmes asked. "It would seem her death is all the evidence we need that she told the truth."

But the Rovers were already hurrying away to meet the police. A short time later, while the body was being removed through the big top's rear entrance, the spectators were finally allowed

inside. There was a buzz of speculation among them. They had

seen the police wagon draw up, and they knew something was amiss. Holmes and I took seats near the front of the grandstand,

waiting for some sort of announcement. When it came it was

vague and brief. The ringmaster held up his megaphone, a voice amplifier from America, and announced, "Welcome to the Rover

Brothers Circus! Due to an unfortunate accident, Vittoria the Circus Belle will not appear at this performance. Settle back and enjoy the show!"There were some groans from the spectators.

First came the clowns, followed by the team of acrobats with some tumbling and trapeze acts. The middle portion of

the show was devoted to the traditional equestrian performers.

If Edith Everage had been responsible for Vittoria's death she showed no evidence of nervousness as she went through her acrobatics with split-second timing. Finally the tiger cage was wheeled back out to the center of the ring and an animal trainer brought out the magnificent tiger for all to see. There was no hint that the beast had been clawing at a woman's body only an hour or so earlier.

The performance ended with a fine equestrian display, the riders carrying flags representing Britain and its colonies. As

the crowd headed for the exits I asked Holmes what we should do next. "There seems to be nothing more we can learn here," I said.

"You are correct that we have learned everything we need to, Watson. I direct your attention especially to the curious incident of the tiger in the morning."

"What curious incident? The tiger did nothing in the morning."

"That was the curious incident," said Holmes.

There was no way that the death of Vittoria could be hushed up or passed off as an accident. She had been killed and placed in that tiger cage. Both suicide and accident were out of the question. By the following morning the press had linked her murder with that of Diaz and the word was out that the famous consulting detective Mr Sherlock Holmes was on the case. The Rover Brothers Circus had been detained in Reading pending further investigation.

Holmes and I had taken a room for the night at the railroad hotel by the station. We had barely finished breakfast the following morning when Charles, the younger of the Rover Brothers, arrived to see us.

"I must speak with you about this terrible business," he said,

pulling up a chair to join our table. "Philip and I want to hire

you. He's had a complete change of heart on the matter." Holmes smiled. "I already have a client. Vittoria Costello." "I've found the dead aren't too prompt in paying their bills, Mr

Holmes. We want this business wound up as quickly as possible." "Very well," he replied. "Will this afternoon be soon enough?" Charles Rover was taken aback. "Do you mean that you have

solved the mystery already?"

"I believe so. Are you performing this afternoon?"

"Since the police are delaying our departure we have added a performance at two o'clock."

"Very good. Please hold tickets for Watson and myself." When he had gone I turned to my friend in amazement. "You intend to reveal the killer this very day?"

"I need only one further piece of evidence and the case will be complete." He finished his tea and rose from the table. "Come, Watson! The game is afoot."

We arrived at King's Meadow shortly after one. The publicity had attracted a crowd but they were mainly adults. The expected audience of children had been kept away by fear of further violence. We could see why the Rover Brothers needed help. Once inside the gate Holmes surprised me by not heading toward the main tent. Instead he detoured to the smaller tents where the Rover Brothers stayed. Philip Rover was just emerging from his tent with a blonde young woman who seemed vaguely familiar. She wore a long green dress and gloves, more suited to a night at the theatre than an afternoon at the circus.

"Holmes!" Philip said, perhaps a bit startled by the encounter. "I want you to meet my friend Milly Hogan."

I remembered the Everage girl's description of her as Philip's blonde doxy who traveled with him but rarely attended the performances. Sherlock Holmes reached out as if to shake her hand, but at the last moment suddenly grabbed her left wrist instead.

"What is this?" she asked with a gasp of fright. Already he was pulling up the sleeve on her forearm, revealing a small scar, faint but visible. We had seen it before.

"I believe we meet again, Miss Hogan.You came to my rooms in Baker Street on Tuesday posing as Vittoria Costello, as part of your plot to murder that young lady."

Both the Reading police and the Rover Brothers themselves demanded explanations, and Holmes was only too glad to supply them. We had adjourned to Philip's tent while Milly Hogan was being questioned elsewhere, and he began by describing her visit to us.

"The black wig was nothing to an actress, of course, nor was the assuming of Vittoria's character. If her plan went well we would never meet the real Vittoria so no comparisons would be made. Perhaps she had even intended to keep her face veiled until I guessed, wrongly, at her identity. As it was, both Watson and I noted how little she resembled the drawing on the posters, but we thought little of it. I believe the death of Diaz was indeed an accident, but it must have suggested the entire plan to her. She came to me two days later with her story of the previous attempts on Vittoria's life. Her whole point was to have me present the following day when the real Vittoria was killed, supposedly by the tiger the circus had just acquired."