by Cindy Bell
“Break in?” Brenda took a sharp breath. “Joyce, I want to help you, I want to find Rocco’s killer, but breaking in? What if we get caught? We might be arrested ourselves.”
“Honestly, it’s a big risk.” Joyce sighed as she looked in the direction of the trailers. “But there is one way that we can make it a little less likely that we’ll be caught.”
“Oh? How?” Brenda shifted closer to her.
“I’m going to make a call to Detective Crackle after all. I’m going to let him know that Cecilia was aware of Rocco’s criminal activities. That should make him want to at least question her. Which might be enough to delay the circus from moving on tomorrow, or at the very least it will give us some time to get into her trailer without being caught.” Joyce pulled out her phone. “Brenda, I mean it. You don’t have to do this with me. I can do it on my own.”
“There is no way I am letting you do this on your own.” Brenda narrowed her eyes. “I need to do this with you, Joyce. I want to know what really happened to Rocco.”
“All right.” Joyce took a deep breath, then exhaled. “I’ll make the call.”
Chapter 14
Brenda’s heart began to pound as she thought about the idea of breaking into Cecilia’s trailer. She’d agreed to do it, and she meant it, but as Joyce spoke on the phone to Detective Crackle, the reality of the decision began to set in. What if she was caught? What if she was arrested?
Brenda’s stomach twisted with worry. However, as she watched the tent being rolled up, she realized that she only had two options. She could either help Joyce, or she could stand by and watch as Joyce took the risk. Her friend was not going to let Rocco’s killer get away without a fight, and Brenda didn’t want to either. If that meant taking a risk right along with her, then that was what she would do.
Joyce turned back to Brenda as she ended the call.
“Arthur is on his way here to pick up Cecilia for a conversation.” She frowned as she tucked her phone back into her purse.
“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?” Brenda noticed the wrinkle in her friend’s forehead. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know. I guess I just feel a little guilty about the idea of Cecilia getting carted away in a police car. I mean, I’m sure if she is trying to protect someone, she has a good reason. She may even believe that the person is innocent. She’s such a sweet, young woman. I just hope that Detective Crackle takes it easy on her.”
“Joyce, you did the right thing.” Brenda straightened her shoulders, then looked into Joyce’s eyes. “She may be a good person, but whatever she is up to is interfering with this investigation. We need to find out what. Honestly, she could even be in trouble.”
“Trouble?” Joyce’s eyebrows raised. “What do you mean?”
“I mean if the killer is part of the circus, and he thinks he is about to be caught, maybe he threatened Cecilia. Maybe he told her she had to move the circus on, or she would be next.” Brenda took a sharp breath. “Wow, that could be it, couldn’t it?”
“You’re right, it could be!” Joyce’s eyes widened. “If that’s true then we need to find out for sure. Right now, while she’s with Detective Crackle she’s safe. But what if the killer gets worried about her speaking to a detective? What if she returns to even more danger?”
“We’re not going to let that happen.” Brenda looked towards the gathering of trailers.
“Do you know which one is Cecilia’s?”
“Yes, it’s the one where we were interviewed. Part of it is her office and the rest is where she lives.”
“We have to make sure that no one else is around to see us. Everyone seems pretty busy rolling up the tent, but we’ll have to be careful that no one notices us.” Joyce wrapped an arm around Brenda’s shoulders. “You really don’t have to do this with me.”
“Drop it, Joyce, I’m going, and that’s that.” Brenda shrugged her arm off. “When is Detective Crackle coming?”
“In just a few minutes. We should get in the truck, make it look like we’re getting it ready to leave. Otherwise someone might wonder what we’re doing here.” Joyce began to walk towards the truck.
As Brenda followed after, she heard the sound of a car pull up. She watched as Detective Crackle climbed out. He looked in their direction for a moment, then walked off towards Cecilia’s trailer.
“He’s already here, that was fast.” Joyce glanced at her watch. “The man certainly is determined. As soon as he leaves with Cecilia, we’ll go to her trailer. We’ll just make it as quick as we can.”
“Good.” Brenda nodded as she unlocked the truck. She did her best to appear calm, but her heart pounded wildly in her chest and she could feel the adrenaline kicking in.
“There they are.” Joyce pointed through the windshield of the truck. “They’re already walking towards his car.”
“Won’t be long now then.” Brenda picked up a rag, then put it down again. She began to pace the length of the truck.
“He just pulled away, we’re in the clear.” Joyce waved Brenda towards the door of the truck. “Remember, act natural. If we walk too fast, or try to sneak around, someone will notice.”
“Natural.” Brenda nodded as she started down the steps of the truck. Her foot slipped on the bottom step and she stumbled forward. “Oops.” She winced as she reached down to rub her ankle.
“Are you okay?” Joyce called out from behind her.
“Yes, perfectly natural.” Brenda offered a short laugh. It surprised her that she could laugh at such a tense time, and yet once she did, she felt remarkably better. She and Joyce were on another adventure, even if it did come with quite a bit of risk.
When they reached Cecilia’s trailer, it appeared deserted. After a quick glance around, Joyce turned her attention to Brenda.
“I don’t see anyone nearby.”
“Are we sure about this?” Brenda hesitated as she looked at the trailer.
“Detective Crackle is going to have her occupied for a little while. The rest of the staff and performers are busy getting ready to leave. If there is any time that is a good time, it’s now.” Joyce gazed at the trailer, her own expression tense.
“A clue to who might have done this, who she is protecting, or she might be afraid of, could be inside.” Brenda bit into her bottom lip.
“Yes. Cecilia knows everyone here. She must know a lot about them. If we want information on our suspects, this is the place to get it. Aside from Rowan of course.” Joyce shifted the strap of her purse so that it was across her chest. “We’ll need to be quick, if we’re going to do it.”
“Yes, well we can’t rule out Rowan. He says he was doing something altruistic, but we can’t know that for sure.” Brenda shifted from one foot to the other. “What I do know is that if we’re going to do this, we’d better do it soon.”
“We’d better do it now.” Joyce met her eyes. “Brenda, you can just be the lookout. Let me know if anyone is coming.” Joyce started towards the door of the trailer.
“No way.” Brenda stepped up behind her. “If you’re going in, I’m going in.”
“First we need to find a way in.” Joyce looked over her shoulder once more, then reached for the door of the trailer.
“Maybe you can pick the lock?” Brenda held her breath as she watched Joyce try to open the door. When the door swung open, Joyce looked back at her with wide eyes.
“She must have forgotten to lock it when she left with Detective Crackle.” Joyce pulled the door the rest of the way open. “Let’s get inside quickly.”
Brenda realized that there wasn’t time to think about the decision anymore. She had to make it. Joyce stepped inside, and a second later, Brenda stepped inside behind her. As she pushed the door shut, a thin layer of sweat formed across her forehead. This was it, she was breaking, or at least entering, into someone else’s property. She just hoped that they could find something that would make the risk worth it. As she stepped farther in and passed the office area, she turned her
attention to the bedroom and froze. The small space, not much larger than the donut truck, was filled with possessions. It was far more to sort through than she expected. When she had visited the trailer before, the curtain separating the bedroom from the office area had been closed, blocking the possessions from view.
“It looks like Cecilia has a habit of keeping things. It’s going to take us a while to get through all of this. We’d better get started.” Joyce placed her hands on her hips for a moment, then began to sort through the pile of papers on the small desk.
Brenda began to open drawers in the kitchenette.
“Anything?” Joyce looked up from a large shopping bag that she had just dug through. It was full of mostly shoes and purses. Not terribly expensive ones from what she could tell, but certainly new and barely used. It looked like Cecilia was a bit of a shopaholic.
“Not yet.” Brenda pushed the last kitchen drawer closed. “Just what you would expect in the kitchen.” She looked through the kitchen window. “I don’t see anyone coming. I think we’re still safe.”
“Good. I’m going to check more of these shopping bags. See what you can find in that closet, I think it’s the only one in here.” Joyce pointed out a small closet beside the kitchen.
“Sure.” Brenda opened the closet door. “Looks like mostly cleaning stuff, but I’ll make sure.”
As Joyce sorted through the bags, her breath started to grow short. Had she talked Brenda into doing something this risky just to find purses and cleaning supplies? The paperwork she had looked through was mostly addressed to Cecilia’s father, nothing for her directly. There were some invoices regarding local suppliers, but nothing out of the ordinary. Now, she was wrist deep in clothes, not exactly groundbreaking evidence. She crouched down and peered at the space beneath the dresser. She swept one hand under it and gathered a significant amount of dust.
“Anything Brenda?”
“Nothing but bleach and a mop that hasn’t been used in quite some time.” Brenda closed the closet door. “How long do you think we have left?”
“Let’s not think about that, yet.” Joyce turned her attention to the bed. “Help me look under the bed. Maybe there’s something there.”
“Sure, let me get down there.” Brenda dropped down to her knees.
“Thanks, Brenda.” Joyce sighed with relief. It was difficult for her to get down on her knees, and Brenda had a subtle way of preventing her from ever overdoing it.
“Nothing under here but flattened boxes and some magazines.” Brenda straightened up.
“I just don’t understand it.” Joyce gestured around the room. “She has all of this stuff, and I haven’t come across one personal thing. In fact, I haven’t even spotted a photograph of Cecilia, or her father, in all of this. None of her and the other performers. Nothing.” She turned to face Brenda. “Why wouldn’t she have any of those things?”
“That is odd.” Brenda frowned. “Maybe there’s some special place she has everything hidden. Maybe she doesn’t trust the people around her.”
“Are there any hidden compartments under the floor? Flooring that can be pulled up?” Joyce looked around at the floor, which was scattered with boxes and bags. “It would take us too long to clear it to look. I’m sorry, Brenda, I don’t think we’re going to find anything.”
“Let’s take one last look.” Brenda stepped into the small bathroom. “Maybe we missed something.”
“Okay, I’m going to go through some more of these bags and clothes. Maybe she’s hidden something in the piles.” As Joyce began to sort through the neatly stacked piles of clothing, she noticed that some of them were costumes. Other garments appeared to be far too large for Cecilia, and some seemed pretty old fashioned. None of it struck her as something that Cecilia would choose to wear. As she got near the bottom of the pile, her fingertips struck something surprising. It felt like hair. She yanked her hand back, a little startled by the feel of it. Then she shifted some clothes over to get a closer look. She revealed a red wig, a little too bright red to be an average hairstyle. She pulled the wig out of the pile and stared at it.
“Brenda, look what I found.” Joyce turned towards her friend and held the wig up.
“Interesting.” Brenda gazed at the wig in Joyce’s hand. “Was it buried under a pile of stuff?”
“Not exactly.” Joyce gestured to the clothes that were stacked in neatly folded piles. “I’m not sure what all of this is, but I can tell you that not all of these clothes are for Cecilia to wear. Maybe she distributes them to the performers?” She picked up a large button-down plaid shirt. “I can’t picture her ever wearing something like this.”
“No, me either.” Brenda frowned, then looked back at the wig. “What’s caught your attention about it?”
Joyce looked back at her with surprise. “Well, because of the red hair, of course.”
“Yes? What about it?” Brenda blinked.
All at once Joyce recalled that she hadn’t told her friend what Detective Crackle had revealed.
“According to Detective Crackle, a strand of red hair was found in the rope that was attached to the bar with the loose bolts.” Joyce cleared her throat. “A red hair that wasn’t real.”
“When did he tell you this?” Brenda’s eyes widened. “When you were on the phone with him just now?”
“Actually, he told me when I went to his place for coffee. I’m sorry I forgot to tell you about it. Please keep it quiet, it’s something that the police aren’t sharing with the public or the media.” Joyce frowned. “I’m sorry, Brenda, I just forgot to tell you.”
“That’s okay.” Brenda gazed at the wig with new interest. “Finding this means that we might have just found who Cecilia is trying to protect.”
“What do you mean?” Joyce sighed. “It’s just a wig. Lots of clowns wear wigs.”
“A wig that might have DNA on it, a wig that might give us an idea of who was wearing it. We should get it to Detective Crackle.” Brenda started towards the door of the trailer.
“No Brenda.” Joyce took a step to cross from the bedroom into the kitchenette. “If we tell him then he’ll know we broke in. Besides, this looks like it hasn’t been worn in years. It even has dust on it.” She brushed some dust from a few strands of hair. “I don’t think it’s relevant after all.” She set the wig back down, then froze.
“What is it, Joyce? What do you see?” Brenda followed her line of vision.
“Interesting.” Joyce reached towards the cluttered table and picked up a sheet of paper. “Look at this.” She handed it over to Brenda.
Brenda looked over the large picture. It featured a group of clowns advertising the special anniversary performance. It included Rocco, Slappy, and a couple of other clowns, but no Joey. Were they planning on leaving him out?
“This could be motive. Rowan said that Rocco was going to include Joey in the show, but from this it looks like he didn’t?” Brenda sighed. “Joey would have access to the shoes, a red wig and face paint.”
“I think we need to find out more about this.” Joyce took the piece of paper back.
“I think so, too.” Brenda glanced at her watch. “Joyce, we need to get out of here, we’ve been in here longer than we ever planned to be.”
“We have?” Joyce gulped as she checked her own watch. “Yes, we have. Hurry Brenda, she could be on her way back already.”
“Or she could be here.” Cecilia stepped through the door of the trailer and glared at them both. “What are you doing in my trailer?”
Chapter 15
Joyce jumped at the sound of the woman’s voice. The flier slipped out of her hand.
“Answer my question.” Cecilia closed the door behind her.
“We’re just here looking for you.” Joyce smiled. “The door was open, so we thought we’d let ourselves in.”
“I don’t believe that for a second.” Cecilia laughed. “Trust me, when you’ve worked as long as I have in this business, you learn how to read people. You tw
o were sneaking around in here.” She placed her hands on her hips. “But why?”
“Listen Cecilia, we’re worried about you.” Brenda took a step forward. “Is someone intimidating you into leaving so fast?”
“What are you two talking about?” Cecilia narrowed her eyes.
“You suddenly want to leave so badly, so quickly. If you are trying to protect someone, the person who killed Rocco, this is only going to get worse for you, Cecilia. A killer is a killer, even if he’s a friend.” Brenda looked into the woman’s eyes before Cecilia abruptly looked away. “Do you really want to live the rest of your life on the run?”
“I don’t know what you mean.” Cecilia sniffled, and when she looked back up, there were tears already on her cheeks.
“We know that you care about Joey, Cecilia, but if he had something to do with this, you need to tell us.” Brenda bent down and picked up the flier from the floor. Then she held it up for Cecilia to see. “Wasn’t he meant to be in the show.”
“Yes, he waited so long to do a show.” Cecilia sighed as she looked at the picture. “He was so excited about it, but then it fell through. I suppose it is possible that Joey had something to do with this. He’s a very good man, but he can also be very bitter. He really wants to be a clown. Rocco promised to train him, to include him in his special anniversary show with Slappy. Then Rocco just left him out in the cold.” She frowned as she gazed at the piece of paper. “Joey has never had an easy go of it. He was abandoned.”
“Abandoned?” Joyce’s eyes widened. “I didn’t think that was something that actually happened.”
“In his case it did. First, his father brought him to us, he wanted to see if we would put him in the show. I remember, I was only a kid at the time. Joey was already huge, but he was only two years older than me. His father insisted that he be in the show. But my father declined. He said that Joey was too young, and that once he was an adult, he could make the decision for himself whether to join the circus or not.” Cecilia looked back up at Joyce. “But the next day Joey was there with us, and his father was nowhere to be found. The town we were in had no record of Joey, and Joey told us that he had traveled a long time with his father. My father had two choices. He could turn Joey over to the authorities, and Joey would likely lead a difficult life, or he could keep Joey with the circus. He decided to keep him. He eventually managed to legally adopt him.” Cecilia sighed. “But he never let Joey participate in any shows when he was a kid. Soon the other performers began to take him under their wing, and it wasn’t long before my father let him work behind the scenes. Rocco and his family always joked about incorporating Joey into one of their shows. But Joey took it seriously. He wanted to feel weightless and fly through the air.” She shook her head. “It was impossible of course. He is too big for the trapeze. Rocco was only trying to be friendly and supportive, but to Joey it turned out to be a cruel joke. Then Rocco said he would train Joey as a clown, and he could be in the special anniversary performance with Slappy. Joey was so excited, he felt as if it was his lucky break. But as you can see, that fell through as well. Rocco left him out in the end. He said Joey needed more training.”