Le Cirque d'Morte

This case had all the flair of an Agatha Christie. The third murder was a forgone conclusion.

The victim told me little I didn't know but confirmed all by suspicions. Emma Saunders, burnt alive, tied at a stake in plain sight with no witnesses. The fire would had to have burnt fast and hot to do that amount of damage to a corpse therefore an accelerant had been used. Traces were still detectable on the concrete, the same accelerant used by fire performers, most commonly, fire battons. Also the cord once again used to bind the victim was light fibres, silk most probably that perished in the fire. The locket found on the body immedaitly indicated the personal connection with the crime. Emma Saunders's ex-husband.

The method of the murder also answered motive. It was personal. Obviously revenge. Only that would be satisfied by such a violent and voyeristic death. Correlating the differing skills of the killers wasn't difficult.

• Simon Brown was killed by two knife throwers. (The marks left on the tiles)


• Lance Peterson was killed by the strong man an a trapeeze artist. (The strength required and the bindings.)


• Emma Saunders was killed by the Fire Performer. (The type of accelerant use on fire batons.)

It then became a matter of which travelling circus it was. Unsolved police reports follow Augustine's Greatest Circus and their movements for almost ten years.

Conclusion. The travelling circus troop that used each other for alibis while systematically murdering those that had wronged them.

The only loose end is the flower.