The Corpse at the Carnival

by Grace York

  "That's right, she was the one who found the body."

  "Yes. Unfortunately, she and Paolo are each other's alibi's, which doesn't rule them out if they acted together."

  "Holly also said that Frankie had made advances toward Gianna, even though she was married to Paolo. Did she mention that?"

  Isaac checked his notebook again. "Yes, she did. It was common knowledge throughout the camp. It seems Frankie wasn't bothered who he upset."

  "It's going to be hard to narrow down a motive if everyone had a reason to dislike the man," said Addison.

  Isaac nodded, his mouth full of chicken salad sandwich.

  "Who else is on the list?" asked Addison.

  "Well there's Nabil, the Ferris wheel operator. He could have sabotaged the ride while an accomplice killed Frankie."

  "What motive would he have?"

  "By all accounts Frankie was a bully, and Nabil was one of his targets. Nabil is quite soft-spoken, doesn't fit the usual mould of carnival worker. Frankie gave him a hard time."

  "Did he know enough to sabotage the ride?" Addison asks. "I mean, if he did, he would have known how to get it going again. But you said he had to call one of the Hanleys to fix it."

  "That's right," said Isaac. "But that could have been a stalling tactic. Why stop the ride at all if you were going to get it started again straight away? He – or whoever did it – would have wanted it stopped long enough to draw as many of the staff as possible away from the camp."

  Addison sipped her coffee. "So either Nabil sabotaged the ride and said he couldn't fix it so it would cause enough of a diversion for his accomplice to murder Frankie, or Nabil didn't do it, someone else sabotaged the ride, and Nabil really didn't know how to fix it."

  "Correct."

  "So, who else knew how to sabotage the Ferris wheel?"

  "I asked Harriet. Hang on." Isaac flipped through his notebook. "Yes, here it is. She said there were two mechanics, plus Morris, all three of the Hanley brothers, and Harry herself who would know how to do it."

  "Well that narrows it down," said Addison.

  "Not really." Isaac closed his notebook and threw it on the desk. "Harry said after looking at it, she can't be sure the Ferris wheel was tampered with at all. She says it was a belt that broke, and that could have happened with or without human intervention. Once it's snapped, it's impossible to tell."

  Addison shook her head. "So we're back to the eighteen suspects, then."

  "That's right. Forensics have taken the belt away to examine, so they might be able to tell us more, but not quickly."

  They sat in silence for a while, finishing their lunch. Addison realised just how complicated this murder was going to be to solve. Eighteen suspects, an unpopular victim, very little evidence, and not enough resources. She felt for Isaac and his team.

  The front door to the station opened, and Addison looked up to see Short and Diaz enter. They let themselves through the barrier and came over to Isaac's office.

  "How did you go?" asked Isaac.

  Short's gaze went from Isaac to Addison and back again.

  "She's helping," said Isaac. He pointed to Addison's completed volunteer forms and fingerprints, still sitting on his desk.

  "Cool," said Diaz.

  Short remained silent.

  "It's fine, Kendall," said Isaac. "We need the help. If head office isn't prepared to give us any more uniforms, we have to find our own way. And besides, they suggested we get a volunteer in. I'm just doing what they asked."

  "Volunteers aren't supposed—"

  Isaac held up a hand to cut her off. "We'll talk about it later. But I'm not breaking any rules, don't worry."

  Kendall Short took a moment to process this, and Addison waited. She admired the young officer. Short was a rule follower; she reminded Addison of a younger version of herself. As Addison had grown older, she'd realised how to stick to her own moral code of following the rules while making those same rules work in her favour. Kendall was still rigid in her beliefs, though, and Addison admired that.

  "I won't do anything to get any of you in trouble," said Addison.

  Short cast one final look at her boss, before nodding.

  "We managed to rule out another seven," she said. Diaz went to the whiteboard and crossed off seven names. "So that leaves us with eleven suspects who all either were or could have been in the vicinity of Frankie's trailer at the time of the murder."

  Addison read through the names left on the whiteboard: the magician Paolo and his assistant and wife Gianna; Corey and Luc, the two clowns; two trapeze artists she didn't know; Owen Hanley; Jake Hanley; Hugh Hanley; Harriet Hanley; and Bob Carter. She was surprised to see Bob's name still there.

  "I didn't see Bob at the carnival yesterday," she said. "I would have thought he'd be at the pub on a Friday afternoon."

  "He says he'd had a meeting with Harriet and Dot," said Short, "and he was just leaving when the Ferris wheel broke down. So he was in the staff area with a red shirt on at the time of the murder."

  "Fair enough," said Isaac. "That keeps him on the list. You've interviewed them all?"

  "We have," said Short.

  "Right." Isaac pulled out a handkerchief and blew his nose. "Let's go through them."

  Short and Diaz took turns describing their interviews with each of the suspects, adding their suspicions or 'gut feelings' to the discussion. Addison stayed quiet and listened, taking it all in. She had an idea that the two officers were holding back in her presence, but there wasn't anything she could do about that. It would take time to earn their trust, particularly Kendall Short.

  Paolo and Gianna had been together in their own trailer at the time of the murder so, as Isaac had said, they were each other's alibi. They both had motive, in that Frankie was after Paolo's job, and he'd been making unwanted advances towards Gianna. That put them high on the suspect list.

  Corey, the first of the clowns, was openly gay. Frankie was homophobic, according to Corey and other witnesses. Frankie tried to bully Corey, but Corey wouldn't stand for it. Good for him, Addison thought.

  The other clown, Luc, had no real motive either. Frankie was derisive when it came to their jobs, saying clowns were the lowest form of entertainment at the carnival. But most of the staff agreed that Corey and Luc largely ignored Frankie anyway. When the entertainers and some of the staff got together after the shows each night to unwind Frankie only joined them briefly. He usually managed to upset someone, then went off to his own bunk laughing at his own callousness. Most of the staff were well used to ignoring him.

  The trapeze artists were both alone at the time of the murder, and in their own bunks. They, too, had been the subject of Frankie's jokes from time to time. They didn't like the man, and hoped he'd move on from the carnival soon, but insisted they had no reason to want him dead.

  Bob Carter had been in the area, as Short had already said. He'd been meeting with Harriet and Dot in Harriet's trailer, apparently discussing the arrangements for bringing the carnival back next year. It was a formality, as both Bob and Harry had explained. The Hanley Brothers Carnival had been coming to Getaway Bay for twenty years, and none of them saw any reason not to continue the relationship.

  Which left the three Hanley brothers themselves – Owen, Jake, and Hugh. Could one of them be responsible for murdering their knife thrower?

  11

  Addison listened as Short and Diaz described their interviews with the three Hanley brothers. All were alone and in or near the staff camp at the time of the murder. All had insisted they were innocent, of course, and none of them had offered up any sort of motive for why they would want to be rid of their knife thrower.

  Well they wouldn't, would they?

  Addison checked her watch. She really should be getting back to the beach house.

  "What are your next steps?" she asked Isaac.

  "We'll see what we can find out on each of these suspects," he said. "People are always hiding something. Someone will show up with a
motive."

  "Anything I can do to help?" Addison asked. She stood and gathered her things.

  "Keep your eyes and ears open around town," he said. "Maybe see if you can get anything more out of Holly."

  "Will do. Has the carnival re-opened?"

  "Yes," said Short. "The forensics team finished up last night, so we let them re-open today."

  "Okay. That's good for the town, at least." Addison made her way to the front of the station. Isaac followed, letting her out through the barrier.

  "Don't forget you signed a confidentiality agreement," he said, opening the front door for her.

  "I know. I won't discuss what we've gone through here. Although Adam's not going to be happy. He was the one who suggested we help you in the first place."

  "Oh, he was, was he?"

  A sheepish grin slid over Addison's face. "Yeah. I think he's been watching too many episodes of Castle. He's a big Nathan Fillion fan. I'll handle him, though."

  "Bye, Addison."

  "Bye."

  She'd been right to worry. Adam wasn't impressed at all when she told him she'd been helping the police and couldn't share what she'd learnt.

  "That's not fair," he said.

  "I'm sorry, Adam. It just happened." They were in the kitchen; Addison deciding what to make for dinner, Adam making himself a snack. Olivia had also come downstairs when she'd heard her mother arrive home.

  "Maybe you should have taken him the chicken soup," said Olivia with a laugh.

  "Maybe I should have," said Adam. "So you can't tell us anything?"

  Addison shook her head.

  "What about in a general sense – I assume they've got suspects. Can you tell us if they have any frontrunners?"

  "They have suspects, yes. Some are more suspect than others. But I don't think I can tell you any more than that."

  It was frustrating for Addison, too. She'd come to enjoy discussing things back and forth with Adam. He pouted for a while, and Addison decided to make his favourite dinner to cheer him up. She started pulling the ingredients for lasagne out of the fridge.

  Olivia and Adam retreated to their rooms – Olivia to study for a couple of hours, and Adam to do some more work on the book he was currently writing. Addison hoped it would take his mind off the murder.

  Her mind, on the other hand, buzzed with the murder as she chopped carrots and onions and prepared the rest of the ingredients for the lasagne. She almost burnt the béchamel sauce thinking about the Hanley brothers.

  It must be a difficult life, being on the road for eight months of every year. She realised they'd been born into it and knew nothing else, but still. On the plus side you'd get to visit a lot of places, but then, what would you really get to see in those places? And how many of them were the same places – like Getaway Bay – that they visited every year? She wondered how much time each of the family members got off, and whether they were really able to take time away from the carnival.

  Two of the brothers had managed to find wives, so they must have at least had some time for recreation. Or maybe that had happened during the four months of the year they spent on the family property? What was it Holly had said? They all had separate houses on the property, all except for Hugh, who was single and still lived with Morris and Dot. Harry and Owen had a little boy, too. Another generation growing up on the road.

  Their interesting lifestyle aside, Addison couldn't come up with a motive for any of the brothers to have killed Frankie. Holly had said Frankie fancied himself as a magician, wanting to step up from the knife-throwing gig. He wanted to be the lead act of the show, which fit with the impression Addison was getting of him. He seemed to have been a man with a big ego. She could definitely see him wanting the limelight, the status of being the headline act.

  That brought her back to Paolo and Gianna. But they were both such slight people, not big and strong like Frankie. Addison remembered seeing Frankie's knife-throwing act on opening night and thinking how solid he was. He must have lifted weights, or worked out in some way. Could Paolo or Gianna really have killed him?

  On the other hand, he'd been murdered with a knife in the back while he was sleeping. If he'd been awake and able to fight back it might have had a different ending. But as it was, whoever had killed him hadn't had too hard a job of it. That can't be a coincidence. They'd already established it was premeditated murder. Whoever killed him planned to do it at the time of day Frankie was normally taking a nap. Maybe that was because they knew they wouldn't be able to overpower him while he was awake?

  Addison decided to put it out of her mind for the rest of the day. Justin and Emily were only going to be in town for a couple more days, and she wanted to make the most of her time with them. She got back to work on the lasagne, and also prepared the ingredients to make Justin's favourite coconut and lime cake for dessert.

  By the time Justin and Emily returned from the beach the lasagne was in the oven, and the cake ready to go in next.

  "Is that what I think it is?" asked Justin, spying the cake batter in the loaf tin.

  "It is," said Addison with a smile. She managed to stop him before he could stick his finger in it. "Wait until it's cooked," she said, then pointed him to the unwashed mixing bowl.

  His eyes lit up like he was seven years old again as he grabbed the bowl and set to work on the leftover batter.

  "I have to ask what that is," said Emily. "I've never seen him so excited over cake batter."

  "Lime and coconut cake," said Addison. "I'll print the recipe for you. It's dead easy to make, and he loves it. Actually, we all do, but it's Justin's all-time favourite."

  "Thanks," said Emily. "Sounds delicious." She tried to get her finger in the bowl for a taste, but Justin took off with it.

  "Mine!" he said, laughing and pushing her away.

  "Take it outside," said Addison. "No running in my kitchen."

  Olivia appeared at the bottom of the stairs and, quickly realising what was going on, ganged up with Emily to tackle Justin for the bowl. Addison had to laugh at them, grown adults fighting over the cake batter. They were worse than children.

  She shooed them outside and got to work on a simple salad to have with the lasagne. Layla came home, Adam came down from his room, and the rest of them finally stopped fighting when the bowl had been licked clean.

  They enjoyed a nice quiet night together, and Addison realised how lucky she was to have such wonderful family. She included Adam in that, too. He'd gotten over his disappointment at not being included in the police investigation, and spent the evening laughing and joking with them all.

  Addison was pleased he'd decided to stay on at the beach house after the incident last month. She was still coming to terms with what had happened herself. The incident had ended up costing her three of her first four boarders, and dealt a massive blow to her ego. But Adam had kept reassuring her it wasn't her fault, and deep down she knew he was right. He'd convinced her to re-advertise the boarding house and promised to help when it came to vetting anyone who applied.

  She hoped she'd get some new applicants soon.

  12

  Addison enjoyed a rare sleep-in on Sunday morning. With no baking required for Hazel's cafe, and the hot cross buns for Easter breakfast already prepared, there was nothing she needed to wake early for. It was after eight o'clock by the time she finally stepped into her kitchen.

  "Good morning," said Layla, already in the process of making coffee. "Do you want one?"

  "Yes please." Addison automatically went to the fridge and pantry, gathering ingredients for their Easter Sunday breakfast. Olivia had requested pancakes, which received no opposition from anyone else.

  "Are the kids up yet?" Layla asked, placing a steaming mug on the bench for Addison.

  "I heard showers running, so I expect they'll start drifting down soon enough."

  "Relax and enjoy your coffee," said Layla. "Then we'll make a start on breakfast."

  Addison didn't need telling twice. She grabbed he
r coffee and opened the back door. "Let's sit out here," she said.

  The verandah wrapped around three sides of the beach house, and was one of the reasons she'd fallen in love with the house at first sight. The previous occupants had left an old cane lounge suite on the back verandah, and Addison and Olivia had cleaned it up and replaced some of the worn cushions.

  Addison sank into one of the chairs, and Charlie wasted no time jumping up on her lap.

  "Good morning, boy," said Addison, giving him a cuddle. "Have you had your breakfast?"

  "I gave him some of his dry biscuits earlier," said Layla, lowering herself onto the cane sofa.

  "How long have you been up?" asked Addison. Layla wasn't usually an early riser.

  "A couple of hours. I couldn't sleep."

  "Is anything wrong?"

  "No… yes. I don't know." Layla cradled her coffee and took small sips. Addison waited for her cousin to gather her thoughts.

  "Is it the gallery?" Addison finally asked when Layla didn't respond.

  "That's part of it. It feels odd rebuilding at my age."

  "You're the same age as me," said Addison. "We're only fifty-five. And what's age got to do with it, anyway?"

  Layla shrugged. "I know you're right. But it was hard enough building the gallery and starting a new life five years ago. Now I feel like I'm starting all over again. I can't keep doing this, Addison."

  Addison leaned over and wrapped an arm around her cousin. "You don't need to keep doing this. The gallery burning down was a deliberate, horrible act by a nasty person. That isn't going to happen again. It's sad that you have to go through this, I know. But you're nearly there. Once it's done you'll have your home back for good."

  "You're right. I'm just being silly. But with losing Dad and Jenna so close to each other, building the gallery again feels so… heartless. It's like I'm focusing on a building, when they were so much more important."

  Now they were getting to the real problem. Layla was trying to rebuild her life while she was still grieving the loss of two close family members. She felt guilty for moving on when they couldn't.