Not looking each other in the eye, the four of us headed back to our tent. “Willow, something is going on. Do you think Sophia was trying to poison someone?” I whispered.

“I don’t know, Jade. It is a possibility. Nothing has happened, though. We’ll just wait and see,” she replied. 

I felt like lying in the tent so I could think about the different things that could happen. But it was too noisy, and there was no space to think. “Let’s go early for lunch to see what there is first,” Maxwell said, turning around at the other tent. We all agreed and followed him.

It looked like the cake had disappeared. I wondered where? However, it was safer this way because we didn’t know if this cake actually contained toxin. Most of the food was nearly ready to go, but I wasn’t hungry. Especially after what had happened during breakfast.

I looked at the entrance, and there was an unfamiliar maid walking in with the cake in her hands. This made me shiver. Was she going to put it back? No, it was even worse. She was walking to our table and placed it in front of Maxwell.

“What’s your name?’ Maxwell asked, staring into her eyes.

I could see she was thinking and didn’t answer for a while, “Uh, S-sarah M-mckenzie.” Maxwell didn’t look so sure, as he wrinkled up his forehead, and his eyes narrowed. I didn’t think that the maid was telling the truth either. Who thinks about what their name is? Unless she was lying. 

After quite a while, I realised something. This ‘Sarah’ was wearing a wig; I saw her real hair underneath; she hadn’t covered it properly. I tapped the table using morse code, hoping Willow would see it, and she did. Unfortunately, it looked like ‘Sarah’ knew Morse code as well. As soon as she saw it, she looked into my eyes and ran away. I whimpered. Am I in trouble now? 

Willow sat on the chair next to me and said in my ear, “It’s time to investigate.” I didn’t know what to investigate, but all I knew was that the maid that just came was not a maid. We both walked back to the tent, and I took out my case book.

“Ok, Jade, let’s sort out the facts first. You realised that this ‘maid’ had a wig, so she was obviously trying to disguise herself. But from who? Once you told me, I noticed that her hair was long, a hazel colour, and it was braided. Well, that’s a start. Did you find anything?”

As I finished writing things down, I told Willow, “Yes, did you see how she was thinking before she said her name. That could show that she is lying about her name. It is so obvious that she is trying to hide from someone, and we need to find out who. Also, she put the cake on our table. Why would she do that? The cake is for everybody. And did you see how she specifically put it in front of Maxwell?”

“You’re absolutely right, Jade! You don’t think she was trying to target my dad?”

I shivered. I was thinking that from the start, “Maybe, and your dad wrinkled his forehead with narrowed eyes. Does he do that normally?”

Willow’s eyes widened, “Oh, I was so concentrated on the maid that I didn’t see that. Yes, that’s when he knows that someone is lying. We have to find out who this is, and fast.”

This case does not have a name yet:

What happened?

A cake was set on the table for breakfast that was made with almonds (bitter almonds contain a poison called cyanide) and nobody touched it. A little boy ran up to it, and Sophie Mc’ cloud (someone from the other family) pulled the cake away from the boy. Willow asked why she took the cake, and she said that she read a lot of books. What does this mean? This lunchtime, an unfamiliar maid came up to us, and put the same cake on our table in front of Maxwell. This ‘maid’  was wearing a wig, so she wasn’t telling the truth about her being a maid. Her hair was braided, long, and a hazel colour. Maxwell asked her name, and she was thinking for a long time before she answered. She said her name was Sarah Mckenzie, but we think this is a lie, and so does Maxwell. Maxwell wrinkled his forehead and narrowed his eyes. Willow said he does that when he knows that someone is lying. I’ve also realised that Maxwell keeps looking back at Sophie’s family. 

That’s all we knew so far, and we needed much more information. I saw the maid again walking to us; I was scared. “If I see any of you girls say anything, I swear. I’ll kill you.” This was shocking for me and Willow, what were we to say? Did she think that we knew something?

Using our common sense, we both knew that Maxwell and Ava couldn’t have been the maid since they were at the table with us. So they were innocent. But Maxwell had been acting very suspicious since we arrived. I felt like an elephant was on my shoulders; all these questions made the case even harder. But at the same time, a case with more questions is a better case.

The part that I always love doing is making a name for our case. Willow normally does that since I never have any ideas. This time she was a bit confused, “What about ‘The Cyanide Cake’ or ‘Sparkling Cyanide' or ‘The Mystery Maid’. Oh I don’t know what to do, Jade.”

I smiled, and laughed at the same time, “What about ‘The Mystery of The Cyanide Maid’, that could work.” Willow jumped up and down, and I could see that she agreed. 

I was going to make a list of the things we had to do, so I didn’t feel so messy.

1. 
   

   Create a suspect  list of all the people who could've been the maid

   
   


2. 
   

   Find the maid

   
   


3. 
   

   The Maid’s real name

   
   


4. 
   

   Find out about the cake

   
   


5. 
   

   Announce who this liar is

   
   

Just then, I found an actual maid talking to the fake maid. I couldn’t hear what they were saying until I realised that Willow wasn’t with me anymore. Through the corner of my eye, I could see her hiding behind a statue, trying to hear what they were saying. Once the conversation had ended, Willow ran to me, “Jade, the fake maid is fake. She stole that maid’s uniform,” she said, pointing at the maid. “So we know that one of the guests has to be the liar. That rules out a lot of people.” We both beamed at each other, part of the case has been solved.

Now all we had to do was find out who the person behind the mask was. This was always the best part. It's like unfolding a new person. Life is a stage, everything you do is acting. That is what Willow always says, but I get a bit worried when she says that. Anything around me could be a lie and I wouldn't know.