It kind of went a little off-topic. I thought I'd give Tiger just one triumph, seeing as it is Christmas.
The drawing room was filled with people, all smiling and drinking except Tiger, who was crouched in a corner. He didn’t much feel like celebrating. He never did.
The door swung open and a fat, red-faced man in a white apron entered, holding a covered dish, entered.
“Excuse me,” he said loudly, and everyone turned to look at him. “There’s… err… been a bit of a problem with the turkey.” He whipped the cover aside to reveal a charred black turkey.
Tiger expected his father to immediately take charge and start asking questions, but nothing happened. Instead, everyone started talking at once.
“When did this happen?”
“How did that turkey get burnt?”
“Who did it?”
Tiger said nothing. He was thinking. It seemed very weird. It was too half-hearted, too small. No-one here would want to do something like that. Unless…
“It’s a distraction!” he said triumphantly, but no-one heard him. The room was rapidly dissolving into chaos. Fingers were being pointed, people were being blamed, everyone was trying to test the turkey with different kinds of magic…
Where had all this come from? Where was the ordered, measured, thoughtful reaction that usually met any problem, however small?
Then Tiger realised.
His father wasn’t there.
He quickly cast an amplification charm on himself and then yelled “SHUT UP!”
Everyone turned to stare at him. That had come out a lot louder than he had intended. He took a deep breath and then said calmly, “My father isn’t here.”
Instantly the chaos returned, except even more chaotic than before. No-one knew what to do any more. There was no clear leader to organise and plan things.
From out of the mass of voices, one emerged loudly: Holly’s.
“Tiger!” she was saying. “What have you done?” She marched up to him, deliberately invading his personal space.
Tiger shot her a look but didn’t step backwards. “Nothing,” he said, trying to keep his voice level.
“You liar! You’re the one responsible for this! You’re the only one who has a motive – “
“Holly,” said Tiger, “Are you even more of an idiot than I already knew you were? Everyone here has a motive, what we need to consider is opportunity. Who could have done this?”
“You!” Holly screamed. “You did it, you liar!”
“Do you have any actual proof?” he asked, mind whirling. People here distrusted him, and quite a lot wanted him gone. If he couldn’t do something fast, he might be in danger. He needed to figure out who had really done it.
“I heard you muttering to yourself! I saw the notebook with the plan in it!”
“Blatant lies,” said Tiger. Who could have made Francis Moon vanish? Surely no-one could. It was completely and utterly impossible. Tiger couldn’t even imagine how to go about it without being caught within seconds.
“I didn’t do it, Holly,” he said, struggling not to panic and keeping his voice carefully level. “I’m fifteen. There is no possible way I could have done this.”
“Then who did?” challenged Holly boldly. Everyone had now turned to look at the siblings. Tiger knew he was trapped. He had seconds to come up with the answer.
In a flash, it hit him. It was obvious.
“He did,” said Tiger.
The door swung open. “Well done, Tiger,” said Francis Moon. “Yes, I did it. The turkey was my doing as well – I thought it would make a good distraction.”
Tiger fought to keep the smug look off his face. “Why did you do it?” he asked, genuinely puzzled.
“Can’t you work it out?”
“It was some kind of test…” Tiger said quickly. His father was always testing everyone around him.
He hesitated. “You wanted to see… how we coped without you… Am I right?”
“Absolutely!” said Francis, smiling. “And I’m afraid you rather failed this particular test. Now, shall we all proceed to the dining room? The real turkey is cooked to perfection.”