Sherlock waited until the girl got into a cab before he ran and got his coat and scarf. "She's gone. Come on, John, we have to go investigate on our own. I want to see just how smart these kids are."
"Why?"
"Because any of the seven might be the murderer."
"Wait… You said she didn't do it!" John called after Sherlock as he bounded off.
The detective made an impatient noise, "I lied to get her to relax! I can't tell a week after a crime has been committed—not when she's a brilliant liar. I couldn't tell whether she was lying when she confessed, or when she said she was innocent but would take the blame anyway." Rather than being upset, he seemed intrigued by this.
"So is this a ten?"
"Don't be ridiculous, it's only an eight."
x-x-x-x-x
It turned out that the school—Phoenix Landing Boarding School for Gifted Girls—only allowed girls in who showed exemplary marks in normal school and, when tested, had an IQ of over 120 and no criminal record.
Janet Leary, fifteen, a gorgeous Asian girl, had always been an enemy of the seven girls. She'd known Estella Cigam before they came to Phoenix, and had apparently gossiped behind her back.
It made sense that the seven girls—by all accounts, a rather odd bunch, not interested in anything the other girls were—were antagonistic towards her on Estella's behalf, of course. Everyone else simply adored Janet.
According to the police detectives on the case, Janet sealed her fate when she was accused of blackmailing Camilla but convinced the headmistress she didn't do it.
Estella was furiously refusing to believe Janet hadn't done it. In full view of all the students, Tarquinia lost control and punched her. Theodora had to be held back by Helga and Alyssa, and the other girls were all shouting at Janet. Estella, however, pulled Quinn back.
The entire school could attest to what Estella said next: "I will make it my personal goal to be the end of you, Janet Leary."
And then the seven, thick as thieves, returned to their rooms.
That night at midnight, someone snuck up on Janet, pushed her to the ground, and strangled her with a belt. The belt belonged to Quinn, Estella's roommate, who admitted that only the seven girls had access to their room, and Estella had been going through the drawer containing the belt that very evening.
Estella Cigam was arrested the next day while she and the other six were sitting at their usual lunch table in the courtyard. Upon the constable explaining what she was being arrested for, all of the others stood up and claimed they'd done it.
She turned to them and said, "My crime, my consequence—stay out of it."
"A bit melodramatic, don't you think? You make it out as if Estella is definitely guilty."
"What—you can't mean you believe her innocent?"
"We haven't even spoken to all seven yet; give her a chance before you post something condemning her."
"Yes, please do." An angry girl's voice said, and John spun around guiltily to see the first of the seven to be interviewed. "I don't know what's in that blog post, but you'd regret posting it. I'm Tarquinia, you know, the one who's rather prone to punching people?"
Sherlock whirled on her, eyes narrow. "But not strangling them?"
She smirked and raised an eyebrow, too smart for that to catch her off guard. "Well, that was just one time, so I wouldn't say I was prone to that." Quinn said smoothly as she closed the door behind her and studied the flat in interest.
"Come in and sit down. John won't post anything about the case itself until I've solved it."
She glared at John and then at Sherlock before relenting and sitting down on the edge of the couch.
"It should worry me that I'm facing the man who's smart enough to prove I'm a murderer, but honestly all I feel is relief."
"How did you meet Estella?" Sherlock asked, pressing his fingers together and studying her.
"Oh, um, she was my roommate, that's all at first. And Lord, she was brilliant. She couldn't go one second without lecturing me on herbs. I was writing a story one night, right? She comes up behind me as silent as a ghost and after a moment, she says "arsenic isn't a good arrow poison" and then walks off. The next time she spoke to me, she was telling me this one girl—a real diva, let me just say—was most susceptible to being killed with kindness than sarcastic humour."
"And what about Theodora? How did you come to know her?"
"Well, apparently the table Estella and I sat at was the only one free when Theo came from the library, so she sat down. I asked Estella to hold my hair band while I got lunch, and when I came back she'd given it to Theo to hide and they spent the entire lunch period insisting Theo had slingshot it up into the bird's nest."
"Camilla?"
She didn't need further prompting. "Cammy was Janet's roommate, and none too pleased about it. Estella met her when she extended her condolences for having such an idiot for a roommate, and invited her to our table when she laughed. She was hilarious, and we got on really well, especially when I got in rows with Estella—Theo always took Estella's side, and Eva follows Theo everywhere with a shrug and a smile to anyone else."
"You're not close to Eva, then?"
"No, she's always been Theo's and no one else's. She started hanging out with Cammy every weekend and Theo actually stomped her foot and whined, "But Eva's mine!" Hilarious, really."
"What about Alyssa?"
"Alyssa's great, really quiet, but it's a good thing; she never takes sides and she's always first to come to the three of us—that's me, Estella, and Theo—and tell us to calm down and talk to each other again. Without her, we'd be a mess."
"That leaves Helga."
"Dude, Helga scares me. She knows everything. We called her Helen of Troy, right? She started calling me Artemis, Theo Athena, Estella Eris, Camilla Eros, Eva Aphrodite, and Alyssa Eirene. I asked her why only she wasn't a goddess, then, and you know what she said? Why would anyone want to live a human life forever? And if Estella is like a ghost, when Helga sneaks up on you it's like she doesn't exist."
"Hmm. So she could've easily snuck up on Janet, pushed her down, and strangled her with a belt she took from your room without you noticing?"
Tarquinia's eyes blazed and she jumped up, glaring
"Relax, Miss Finnegan, Theodora told me that none of you did it and I believe her. It's hard to lie to me."
"You may believe her and you may not. But I won't believe you."
"I don't have any more questions."
"Good," She said, and stalked over to the door.
John spoke for the first time: "Did you kill Janet Leary?"
"You know what, John Watson? I walked up behind her, pushed her down into the mud, wrapped that belt around her neck, and pulled. I waited until she stopped struggling and ran back to my room, just because she said a few slanderous things about Estella and Cammy. Post that on your blog, doctor."
Sherlock raised an eyebrow as the door slammed behind her.
"Was she lying? That didn't sound like lying. Sherlock? Sherlock!"
"She called me dude." Sherlock said. Then, "I need to brush up on my Greek mythology. Are you coming, John?"
Neither one of them commented on the fact that John followed with a shrug and a smile.