The Circus Caper: An Emily Jones Mystery
A good detective looks at things from different points of view. Why would the suspect want to commit the crime? I don’t investigate crimes too often, but a tall tale is just as bad.
I was eating lunch with Matthew Parker and Zoe Grant in the school cafeteria, and as we were just getting comfortable, Jay Smouse walked up. He always happens to be wherever Zoe is.
“Hey, Zoe,” he said. “I saw you didn’t have chocolate milk, so I got one for you.”
“No thanks,” she said. “I don’t like the chocolate milk here.”
“Have you been to the circus yet?” Jay asked.
“Oh yes,” Matthew said. “I went yesterday with Emily. It was so cool!”
“I was asking Zoe…”
“No,” Zoe said. “I’ve been busy with the school newspaper.”
“Well, did you hear about my heroic act?” Jay asked.
“No, Jay,” Zoe said.
“Do you want to hear about my heroic act?”
“Not really—”
“Well, last weekend, I went to the circus,” Jay began. “It all went well at first. There were clowns, acrobats, trained animals and even tightrope walkers!”
“One tightrope walker,” I said.
“Potato, tomato,” Jay said. “Same thing. Anyways, after the show my uncle paid for me to have a backstage tour. We went to the tents behind the circus.”
“Oh yeah,” Matthew said. “I wanted to go backstage, but my dad wouldn’t pay for it.”
“Don’t interrupt me,” Jay said. “ We were walking with a group of about 20 people when suddenly, the elephant broke loose! The feeder had left the door open. The elephant was so big that he couldn’t see a little child nearby. Luckily, I was there. I grabbed the child in my arms and took her to safety. But I put myself in danger, for the elephant was now charging at me. At the last moment, I laid down, and the elephant jumped right over me!”
“Did that really happen?” Matthew asked.
“Of course,” said Jay, “You can call my cousin and ask.”
“Wait a minute,” I said. “You don’t need to call her. I can tell the whole story is a big fib.”
How does Emily know Jay is lying?
“Wow,” Zoe said sarcastically, “Jay is making a story up?”
“Jay,” I said, “it was scary to lie down and let the elephant jump over you, right?”
“Not at all,” Jay said.
“No,” I said, “Fun fact about elephants: They can’t jump.”
“Well, maybe I was using some creative license,” Jay said.
“Lying,” Zoe said.
“Exaggerating slightly,” Jay said.
“Lying.”
“Oh, fine!” Jay said. “I made my heroic act up. My uncle took us backstage, but the elephants were sleeping peacefully in their cage. I just wanted to seem impressive.”
“The only impression I’m getting is that you need a dose of reality,” Zoe said.
Reid S., 14, Utah
