by Bob Moats
"Act like you’re just needing a job for extra money and that you can travel. You both know how to bullshit, but if you get caught don’t kill anyone unless it’s absolutely necessary."
They got in the truck and drove off. Angelo, Penny and I stood with Earl and Paula watching them go.
"Think this is going to work?" Earl asked.
"I’m hoping on it. Buck and Mac both look like bikers and rowdies, they shouldn’t have any problems. Now if you and I went in for a job, they’d carry us out on a rail," I said smiling at him. "All we can do now is wait. I need to call the Walkers and let them to know they have to wait too. It’s going to be a rough night for them." I went back to my office to call.
~~*~~
Mac drove into the carnival parking and up near the tent. It was late but the crowd was still at a busy level. Buck and Mac got out and wandered around the place to get familiar with the rides again, it had been a long time for both to have been away from that kind of work.
They spotted the huge trailer that held the office and went up the stairs to the door. Buck knocked and heard someone yell to come in, they entered. There was a small counter with a rather rough looking woman behind the grill that separated the entrance from the rest of the truck.
"Can I help you mugs?" the woman growled.
"We’re looking for work," Buck growled back. The woman smiled, Buck had that effect on women, even the ugly ones.
"What kind of work?" she said nicer now.
"Carnie work, we’ve both got experience running the rides." Buck was trying to sound like a low life.
"What makes you think we need help?" she fired back.
"Carnivals always need help. You gain people, you lose people from quitters to those going to jail. We just figured maybe you had a couple holes to fill."
"Maybe we do, what are your backgrounds, criminal I mean?"
Buck grinned, he had a troubled youth and could prove it, "I’ve had a few run-ins with the law, back in Detroit, nothing near murder, mostly petty crimes, drunk driving, a few high speed chases. Never killed anyone I would admit to."
The woman looked to Mac, he smiled and said, "I was a choir boy in Kansas, maybe a few small infractions bending the law but I’m clean."
"No major warrants out for either of you? I will check, so don’t bullshit me."
Buck said, giving her his famous walrus smile, "We be good boys now, ma’am."
She sat staring at them, then said, "You’ll have to talk to Mr. Dark, the owner, but I’ll put in a good word. We need two big guys like you, now days we can only seem to get scrawny druggies and burnouts. Hang on and I’ll call him" She picked up a two way radio and called for the man. He came back to her and she told him that there were two men looking for work. "I think you need to take a look," she said with a smile.
Buck and Mac stood in the small lobby of the office and waited. Then the door flew open and in walked the strange man in the top hat. Buck could see what Jim had told him about how the man looked evil.
He strutted around Buck and Mac sizing them up like cattle. "I’m impressed, do you have any background in carnie work?"
Buck went over his resume of the Bob-Lo island work then Mac explained what his qualifications were. Dark just paced.
"Either of you into any criminal activities, anything that you wouldn’t do if asked, if you know what I mean."
"If you mean would we be above doing something shady? Anything short of murder wouldn’t bother us. If you know what I mean."
"Where are you from?" Dark asked Buck.
"Detroit, all around, I moved a lot."
Dark smiled and asked, "Did you know Piper Davis?"
Amazingly, Buck did, "Greasy little creep, into theft and kiddie porn, rode with the Vigilantes bike club. That Piper Davis?"
Dark smiled and told the woman, "Martha, get these men on the payroll. You two can start on the round-up. Can you handle that?"
"We’ll have people stuck to the walls," Buck said with his grin.
"Just don’t kill anyone... yet," Dark said with a smirk and went out of the trailer.
Buck smiled as the woman pulled the paperwork for them to fill out. They had to lie as to their addresses, luckily Buck still carried his Michigan driver’s license and showed it to her. Mac just said Buck was driving their truck and he had his license taken away. She accepted that, Buck was sure she didn’t really care.
They finished up and the woman called on the two way for some person named Skeeter to come to the office. About ten minutes later a man entered, he was introduced as Skeeter Lynn. He was about half the size of Buck and looked like he hadn’t bathed in a few weeks.
"Yeah, Martha what’s up?" he spoke with a toothless grin.
“Dark said to get these mugs started on the round-up. Watch them for a while to make sure everything is good.”
“You got it sexy woman,” he said with a cough. He led Buck and Mac to the midway and over to a corner where the massive ride sat. Its job was to spin fast, forcing people against the walls as it lifted them off the ground. It was centrifugal force that held the victims to the wall.
Skeeter set them up with the ride and watched for a bit. Luckily the round-up was a standard ride so Buck and Mac both had experience with it.
Skeeter smiled and said, “Yeah you know what you’re doing. Have fun.” He walked away as Buck pulled his cell phone to call Jim.
*
Chapter 5
I was in my office and picked up the desk phone and dialed the Walkers. The husband came on and asked right off if we found them.
"Mr. Walker, please be patient, we have two men now inside the carnival and they should be able to find out what happened, you just have to wait now. I’ll keep you informed as soon as we have something. This is our first priority and I’m going to be bringing the police in shortly. We are doing our best."
He was silent, then, "I guess we will just have to depend on you, thank you and we’ll be here." He hung up but I could tell he was upset, I didn’t blame him, now I really had to find the boys. I went back out to the lobby and was standing behind the couch when my cell phone buzzed.
I grabbed it from my pocket and read the caller ID, it was Buck. "Can you talk?" I asked.
I could hear a loud amount of noise and he yelled into the phone, "Yeah, we got the job, this Dark guy looks evil as you said. We just started, will fill you in later," he said and hung up.
I looked to the expectant group sitting in the lobby, "They’re in." Everyone gave a sigh of relief and Earl said, "Now it’s up to them."
"Yeah, but I’m going to call Lynn to let her know what we’re up to and to be ready." It was just after five in the afternoon, I didn’t know if Lynn was in the city or still on her honeymoon, I hated to interrupt if they were, but I called. She came on after three rings.
"Now what do you want?" she laughed.
"I wanted to see if your honeymoon is still going on or are you back to work?"
"Hell, we just got into the airport in LA and were just heading out to find our car. I hope you don’t have a major crime to report?"
"No, just missing boys, two, ages ten and eight and we’re suspicious of a carnival that rolled into town this week. Long story, I’ll fill you in when you hit town, call me."
"Okay, we have a long ride back to Vegas so it will be later tonight or tomorrow, if it’s not a priority."
"As of right now we have the situation sort of under control but will let you know more later. Enjoy your ride," I said and hung up.
"I hate waiting," I said and sat next to Penny on the couch. "Lynn and Deacon have a couple hours before they are settled back home. Buck and Mac probably won’t find much on their first night, but I hope they do some snooping. We may as well go home; I’m worn out from running around in the heat today."
"And you missed your nap," Penny added.
I looked at my watch and said, "We could still snuggle when we get home."
"Forget it, you can’t snuggle w
ithout fooling around," she snickered.
"Fine, let’s just go home then."
Earl and Paula got up and said they were going to get something to eat and left. I asked Angelo how he enjoyed the day at the carnival.
"I liked it, well not the missing kids, but the whole thing was good. If you need any of my contacts in the family to help finding the boys just let me know."
I thought about bringing in Angelo’s whole family and have them attack the carnival and put Dark in cement boots. Of course, Lynn would have a fit, so I may need what the mob could find out for me without murdering anyone. Penny gathered her things and the three of us went to the van.
We arrived home and I took Willy out from the kitchen to do his business, as Angelo went to his guesthouse. Penny was nuking a couple pasties and I settled on the couch. We ate our meal and then watched TV with our beer and chips.
Around eight, there was a loud knocking on our front door. I wondered why the alarms hadn’t gone off then realized that I hadn’t set them. I peeked through the little hole in the door and saw a big nose. Then I saw teeth, they were attached to Deacon. The goof ball was smiling in the peep hole, I opened the door and let them in.
"Should we be honored that you came right here from your honeymoon?" I asked.
"Don’t flatter yourself, we went home and changed, then came here. Now what is this big case you have?" Lynn asked.
"Well, it may not have anything to do with you; it’s a missing person case."
She shrugged, "I can handle it; we all share now since they’ve been cutting back on departments. Is it missing or a kidnapping?"
"Not sure, but the boys have been missing for a day now. If they might have just wandered off, but they should be back by now."
"Talk to me Sherlock," she said as she and Deacon sat.
I explained the whole day from the early morning tent departure to Buck and Mac getting a job.
"Carnie Buck, I love that. I need to go take pictures tomorrow," Lynn laughed.
"I’m sure he’d appreciate that. Now can you do anything?"
"Nope, not until we have probable cause or some evidence that the boys went there in the first place. No judge would sign a search warrant on conjecture. Now if Buck and Mac can find something that would allow us to go in and search. Of course, we could go in and ask nicely if we can look, and maybe they’ll give us permission to look see, but I doubt it. From past experience, carnivals aren’t too cooperative with us. In the morning I’ll do a background check on this Jacob Dark, maybe he’ll come up dirty and we can harass him."
"I thought about having Angelo bring in his family but I knew you’d never approve that."
"Damn skippy, I don’t want to see any wiseguys near this. Or just don’t let me see them." She grinned and asked, "We’ve been here for twenty minutes and still haven’t been offered a celebratory wedding drink, are you getting cheap as well as senile?"
"Are you able to drink being pregnant?" Penny asked.
"In moderation and small amounts, it’s still early in the term and I don’t drink much."
I went to the kitchen and opened the brandy we had for special occasions. I poured the liquor into four glasses and put them on a tray. I handed out the glasses and sat.
I held up my glass, "Here’s to a long and happy marriage and a happy baby." We drank, Lynn sipped.
Deacon told us all the details of their honeymoon in Hawaii and left not much out, much to Lynn’s dismay. She had to hit him a few times.
We sat talking for a while and then they said they were tired from their trip back and we finished up the evening.
At the door Lynn said, "I’ll get on this in the morning. I can understand what the parents are going through, especially now that I’m going to have a child myself."
"I’ll be in touch," I said. They left and I set the alarms and pulled Penny to the bedroom. She was dragging, but short of carrying her, I got her to bed.
~~*~~
Around midnight, Buck and Mac had finished the shift of getting people on and off the round-up. The crowd had thinned and then finally went home. Buck and Mac closed down the ride and secured it, then they turned to see Mr. Dark approach.
"Men, I watched you both and you attracted a lot of nice young ladies to this ride. Women like big strong men like you, I think you can be handy. Are you open to making a lot more money?"
"We don’t have to kill anyone, do we?" Buck said with a grin.
"Oh goodness no, just convince a few nice ladies to join our traveling show, that’s all. Not hard is it?" Dark said with an evil smile.
Buck leaned towards Dark and said, "I get what you are saying, we don’t really need to convince them do we?"
"You understand, fantastic, we have a deal?"
"As long as the money is good too."
"Oh, it can be if you deliver the goods."
"We can do the job," Buck grinned.
"Fantastic, you can go off to your little camper for now, but I think maybe we can arrange better quarters for you. Oh and I called my friend Piper Davis and he remembers you too. He said to say hi and gave a glowing report of your past, I like it." He turned and walked away. Buck looked to Mac and smiled.
~~*~~
The next morning, Sunday, Angelo was preparing his famous sausage, eggs and cheese biscuit sandwiches and the smell pulled me from my sleep. I hit the bathroom and quickly went to the kitchen before Penny ate everything.
I had my fill since Angelo made extras and even Willy had his treat. Penny was making a piggy out of herself and I joked to her that her butt was getting bigger. Big mistake.
She finished her sandwich, stuck her tongue out at me and stalked off to her bathroom.
"Mr. R., I think you may be in trouble, women don’t like being told their asses look fat," Angelo said.
"Angelo, you are wise beyond your age. I knew as soon as it slipped out of my mouth. The thing about Penny is that she holds it in until the right moment then she lets loose. So I’m in terror all day," I said with a laugh.
I finished up my meal and then my cell phone buzzed, it was Buck. "Talk to me," I said.
"I think we got him," was all he said and hung up.
*
Chapter 6
I figured Buck was in the middle of something or he would have said more, so I just had to wait, but the news was encouraging. Penny came back out from the bathroom, all dressed and ready for the day. I wondered if my fat ass comment had settled.
She kissed my cheek and pinched my butt. "Hmm… getting a bit cheeky there, lard ass."
I just had to hold in the laugh and hope that was it. Then she said, "Angelo we need to get Mr. R. a bigger stool so his butt can fit on it." Angelo held his laugh also.
Penny leaned down to pick up Willy and said to him, "Be careful baby, so daddy doesn’t sit on you."
"Okay! I apologize for my insensitive remark, can we drop it now," I pleaded.
"All right blubber butt, it’s over." She kissed me again and took Willy out the sliding patio door to the backyard.
I just shook my head and Angelo laughed aloud. I stood and went through the patio door to the back and found Penny standing on the lawn with Willy running around the yard like a mad dog.
"He’s getting his exercise, we need to make him walk more instead of carrying him all the time," she said.
"I agree, but he’s so small he’s liable to get stepped on," I said just as my cell phone buzzed. I pulled it out and the caller ID said it was Deacon. "Hey big guy, is the honeymoon over yet?" I said.
"Not yet, we are just getting started. Just called to see if you’re going to that carnival again. Lynn did a quick check and could find nothing on Jacob Dark. She has Warren checking on the city permits for the carnival to set up and see what that says. Otherwise, he’s not on the radar, no criminal past that she can find. Heard from Buck yet?"
"As a matter of fact, he called about ten minutes ago and cryptically said that we got him and hung up. I suppose we’ll hav
e to wait until he can talk. Are you and Lynn thinking about going to the carnival?"
"If you guys are, Lynn wants to see carnie Buck as she’s calling him now."
I turned to Penny and quickly told her what Deacon said, she replied, "I’m all for going to see carnie Buck too."
"Okay, tell Lynn that you guys can meet us at my office in an hour. Bring a couple of fans," I said and hung up.
"Willy can go with us this time, he may enjoy the kiddie boat ride," Penny said with a grin and called to Willy. He came running and she picked him up and headed back into the house. Angelo was just finishing cleaning the kitchen and I asked if he’d like to go to the carnival again.
"Thanks Mr. R. but I got plans for today and I’m calling mom this afternoon, she may come out for a visit."
Penny heard this and made a little happy squeal, "When do you think she may be here?"
"We have to work it out, I’ll let you know. You have to recommend some good shows to go to also. Mom is going to be here for at least five days so we need to have things to do."
"Is Gino coming also?" I asked.
"It’s not common knowledge whether he is coming or not, you get what I mean," he said with a wink.
I wasn’t going to ask further, it sounded like a clandestine trip, one mob capo getting out of town under cover. I hope there was going to be no criminal activities that the Feds may spoil Angelo seeing his mother.
"Don’t worry, Mr. R. it’s all good, Gino just needs to get away from the life every so often."
"Good, you know that they are more than welcome to visit us while they are here. Are you putting them up in the Tropicana again?"
"Yeah, mom likes the place so it’s going to be where they will stay."
Penny spoke, "You make sure that Francis and I can have a day to ourselves, just the women."
"I think she is already planning on it, she asked me to get reservations for that spa she enjoyed last time she was here, and she said to get one for you too."