Skipping the first 14 parts and ahead to the good stuff…
Eth and Bub rushed back to the circus camp where the police were already in attendance and taking statements regarding the murder. To make matters worse, the Strong Man was giving his statement in a final attempt to pin the crime on the Clown.
“Yes sir, last night I saw the Clown enter the Trapeze Lady’s mobile home and moments later I heard screaming and the sound of bludgeoning. Moments later I saw him leave, bloodied and out of breath, desperate to return to his home unnoticed.”
“Interesting,” Bub spoke up. “You saw all that in the dark, moonless night without any lights?”
The Strong Man quickly became defensive. “Just what are you kids insinuating?”
“We may be kids,” Eth said, “but this case is literally child’s play. When we came to your mobile home looking for clues this morning, we saw the weights on the floor but no rod. Yet you said you spent the morning bench pressing and lifting weights. Interesting you can do that with no rod.”
“Instead of spending the morning lifting weights as you claimed,” Bub added, “you were outside roaming in the field looking for something, specifically the rod you used to murder the Trapeze Lady last night. You attempted to dispose of the evidence by flinging it into the field, but we found it this morning.”
The Strong Man was stunned into silence and quietly sat down. Staring at the ground, he heaved one final sigh before admitting to the crime. “You got me there,” he muttered. “I may be the world’s strongest man but I’m also the world’s dumbest criminal. Yeah, I did it. I heard the Trapeze Lady was next in line to inherit a fortune from her late uncle’s estate and thought I could get that fortune for myself. But I would have gotten away with it had it not been for you meddling kids.”
Moments later the Strong Man was handcuffed and escorted to one of the police cars, leaving the Clown overcome with relief. “You guys did it,” he smiled at Eth and Bub, “I should have never doubted you in the first place. What can I do to repay you?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Eth smiled back. “As they always say, the show must go on.”
With that, the two boys returned to the trail to resume their walk through the woods as they had originally planned.
The End
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