A/N : I only own well you know who I own
Tuesday
"Peter,how do you know the guests were being blackmailed?" Susan asked the next morning
"It's in this paper ,right here 'Those who's song is heard must pay the piper' " Peter said .
"Well how many guests were being blackmailed ." Edmund asked.
"What difference does that make,there's even ten likely suspects in this house." Susan said.
"Nine." Peter corrected."Sylvia can't be a suspect ,but we might be able to eliminate the servants,which leaves our six guests .Remember all of them left the room at one point or another."
"Arthur did ask where Thomas was." Edmund reminded them.
They went down to breakfast the other guests were already seated,they looked up as the children entered,then looked back down at their plates.
"Thank goodness the murderer left ." Bertha said.
"Who says they even did ." Edmund asked bluntly .
"Are you saying one of us is a murderer." John demanded half rising from his chair.
"No ones saying that,but all of you have a motive for wanting him dead." Peter said putting the sheets of paper in the middle of the table; everyone leaned forward.
"What do you mean,we all have a motive,"Arthur asked looking at them.
"Four of you were being blackmailed,one of you was cheated out of a hundred pounds at a card game and one of you nearly lost your company when Thomas decided to sue." Peter said taking back the papers,"It's all in these papers."
"This is just ridiculous,you four are children,what do you know about murders?" Arthur snapped,he turned to the other guests," As far as we know the murder could have been some deranged maniac ."
"It was raining last night." Susan pointed out.
"She's right,if it was some deranged maniac,there would have been broken glass and the carpet would have been wet,also the papers would have been on the floor." Mary spoke up.
The four of them looked at her in surprise,then Peter said,"She has a point."
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"So how do you think Thomas died." Edmund asked,he,Peter and Susan were in Thomas' study,Lucy was with Sylvia and the other guests were occupied. It was dark and rainy outside .
'Why are we even in here,it's creepy with the corpse right way he was stabbed then hit over the head " Susan said staying as far from the body as she could .
"Clues." Peter said examining the body as best he could,there seemed to be nothing amiss,but then he looked closer at the body ,there seemed to be no blood around. the stab wound."Anyway Su,you're wrong,Thomas didn't die from being stabbed,he died from being hit on the head,I think the knife was put in there to throw anyone who investigated off the scent."
"Aha! that means somewhere in this house is the missing murder weapon." Edmund said looking gleeful .
"You're enjoying this too much." Susan said darkly looking at her brothers.
"What we should do is try to see who had the most to gain by killing Thomas." Peter said .
"Why now,why not before when they had a must have had tons of oppurtunities. According to the maids,they've all been several times ." Susan said .
"Yes,but did they really have a chance,I think whoeover killed Thomas waited until there were alot of guests ." Peter replied,they left the study.
Everyone was in the parlour, having biscuits and tea,Sylvia looked up when they entered,her eyes were red rimmed. "My guests tell me you suspect them of murder." she said softly.
'They have no proof." Dorothy said looking at them over her teacup.
"We have some proof." Peter said turning to Sylvia,"Your husband was blackmailing four of your guests. One of them was cheated out of a hundred pounds and one of them nearly lost his company when your husband decided to sue. Problem is we don't know who fits what. Well,it's actually not proof it's motive."
Sylvia paled,"Oh dear" she murmured.
"How do we know one of you four didn't do it?" Robert demanded.
"We never left the study." Susan pointed out .
"That's not true,your little sister left the study a few minutes before the body of Thomas was discovered." Arthur said snidely."She was gone for twenty minutes,she had enough time to murder Thomas and come back."
"That seems unlikely,she's just a little girl." Sylvia said coming to Lucy's defense.
"Besides she doesn't even know where the study was." Edmund replied."More than likely she got lost."
"That does sound more likely,honestly accusing a child of murder,perhaps you're the murderer." Bertha murmured shaking her head.
Arthur sputtered and turned red,but no words came from his mouth,he finally sat back.
"What else did you find out?" Sylvia sked twisiting her handkerchief,everyone else looked at them .
"Thomas died from a being hit over the head with some sort of object." Peter said.
"But what about the knife,in his back?" Mary asked.
"I think that was put there to throw anyone off the scent." Peter said looking at Edmund,he knew about stuff like that.
"How can we help?" Bertha asked.
"Hold on just a minute they're children,what do they know about solving murders,why don't we let the professionals solve the murder." Arthur demanded.
"Were trying to help." was all they said.
"I think it's a good idea,they might be young,but they seem to know about stuff like this.I for one want to be eliminated from the list of suspects." John said,the others agreed and turned to the three of them. That was when they realised like it or not,they were now investigating a murder.
