“Thanks,” I said dryly. “I can’t tell you how nice that is to hear.”
“I didn’t mean it that way,” Kade said, making a face that was supposed to reflect stern disapproval and instead made him ridiculously adorable. “You always look beautiful. You look as if you’d prefer being beautiful in bed right now, though.”
The double meaning of his words wasn’t lost on either of us and I could feel a blush climbing my cheeks. “Well, that will have to wait for a few hours. This place is nowhere near close to calling it a night.”
“I know,” Kade said. “I didn’t get a chance to see you after your tour with Brewer. What happened?”
“Oh, you do have ulterior motives for bringing me dinner,” I teased. “I see how it is.”
“Don’t be a pain. Tell me how things went.”
“They went pretty much as you’d expect them to go,” I replied, opening my food container and giggling when my stomach growled in appreciation the moment the heavenly aroma hit my olfactory senses. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was until Kade showed up with one of my favorite meals. “He held one of Nixie’s voodoo dolls and commented on how normal it looked. Then he petted Seth and had a moment where I swear he was almost human. Then we hit the midway, where Darynda and Delbert were in the middle of one of their patented fights, and he got some pie on him when they started throwing the clown props.”
Kade smirked. “I’m sorry I missed that.”
“It wasn’t nearly as exciting as it sounds,” I said. “The truth is, he’s extremely boring and clinical.”
“Are you saying he’s not sexy … like me?”
“Oh, he’s nowhere near as sexy as you,” I said, blowing a small air kiss for emphasis – and immediately hating myself for the cheesy move. “That came out more spaz than sexpot. Sorry.”
“I liked it,” Kade said, chuckling. “Did you read Brewer’s mind? I assume that’s why Max wanted you to show him around instead of me.”
“I did,” I confirmed. “He’s not evil or anything, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“I never thought he was evil.”
“Oh, really? That was my first inclination,” I said. “I must be slipping.”
“I think you’re just tired,” Kade said. “Tell me what you saw in that thick head of his.”
I blew out a sigh. “He’s … normal,” I said. “I don’t generally like using that word but there’s really no other way to describe him. He takes the garbage out every Wednesday. He dates a woman and they have three meals together a week – never more, never less.”
“That really takes the romance out of it, doesn’t it?”
“He’s not interested in romance,” I replied. “Don’t get me wrong, he thinks about sex as often as the next guy – which is to say every ten seconds – but he’s not one for warm feelings and mutual affection.”
“That makes me a little sad,” Kade said, capturing my hand. “I would miss our mutual affection.”
“That came out a little sanitized, didn’t it?”
“Just a little,” Kade said. “You can blame it on being tired. What else did you find?”
“He doesn’t necessarily think it’s us, but he doesn’t know where else to look,” I said. “He’s a good guy who goes to church every Sunday he’s not working, donates his time to a youth basketball league and otherwise spends his days fixating on work.
“This murder has him rattled. He’s not sure what to do because he’s never seen anything like it before,” I continued. “He thinks there’s something off about it – I mean other than the obvious – and he’s been reading up on the occult.”
“Like?”
“Just random crap at the library,” I said. “He won’t get anywhere with it, but he’s at a loss. He’s really worried one of us is guilty and that once we leave nothing else will happen and he’ll be blamed for letting a murderer waltz out of town.”
“What did you learn about the second victim?”
“It was a woman with blue eyes,” I replied. “Her name is Helen Welling and she’s not from around here. She was at the rest stop on the interstate and someone killed her in the bathroom late last night.”
Kade tilted his head to the side, his mind busy as he processed the new information. “That rest stop is only about two miles from here if you walk across the cornfield.”
I’d already figured that out. “Yeah, the murder sites are close,” I said. “There are no cameras at the rest stop, and it was so late at night there were no witnesses. No one saw Helen drive up, and she wasn’t discovered until early this morning.”
“Was she … um … missing any parts?” Kade asked.
It was an odd way to phrase a question, but I had to give him props for refusing to get graphic. I didn’t have that problem. “Her eyes were gouged out.”
“Oh, man.” Kade rubbed the back of his neck. “Were corn husks shoved in her eyes, too?”
I nodded. “Brewer considers it a signature, but he doesn’t want anyone else finding out. He thinks the fewer people who know the better.”
“What do you think?”
“I think someone wants to frame us,” I replied. “I also think that same someone won’t hesitate to attack us if the opportunity strikes.”
“We need to be vigilant,” Kade said. “We won’t be here much longer. We have only two more nights.”
His words had a sobering effect on me, but not for the obvious reason. We had only two more nights in Lincoln. That meant I had only two more nights with Kade before Max either gave in to my demands and admitted the truth or I blew Kade’s world out of the water myself. My stomach rolled at the realization.
“Hey, where did you go?” Kade squeezed my hand. “It’s going to be okay. We’ll keep each other safe.”
I forced a smile for his benefit. “It will be okay. I … have faith.”
Now I had to decide whether I was trying to convince him or myself.
I SHUT my tent down a full hour early. Even though some of the locals were disappointed, I feigned a stomachache and explained my mental channels were blocked when I was sick. The lie worked on most of them, and I told myself those who continued to complain were douches, so it really didn’t matter what they thought.
In truth, my stomach was upset. I wasn’t suffering from any malady other than a guilty conscience, but I was running out of time and an overwhelming feeling of dread was beginning to close in on me. I don’t normally consider myself claustrophobic, but that’s exactly how I felt.
My world was shrinking. How small would it get before everything was said and done?
I knew Kade would be at the big tent watching the main act. While part of me wanted to join him to watch the show together for what might be the last time, I couldn’t will my feet to walk in that direction. Instead, I headed toward the midway. If I joined Kade and Luke in the big tent I would have to explain why I closed my attraction early, and I wasn’t up for lying. I’d had more than enough of that.
I stopped at one of the concession stands long enough to grab a ginger ale – my stomach really was upset – and then headed down the game row. Ostensibly I was merely watching to make sure things were running smoothly. In reality I needed an aimless walk, and since I couldn’t leave the fairgrounds without risking possible murder and eye gouging if I crossed over the protective lines of the dreamcatcher, my options for stretching my legs were limited.
I wasn’t surprised to find the smarmy midway boss Mark Lane watching me when I turned the corner. Instead of walking in a straight line and risking having to talk to him, I swerved to my right and cut between two game booths to avoid him. Mark was the last person I wanted to deal with, and that included whoever was cutting off people’s body parts and leaving cornhusks behind.
I pulled up short when two young girls barreled into me, their excited giggles causing me to paste a smile on my face even though I was irritated that they weren’t watching where they were going. It took me a moment to realize I
recognized them. They were the girls who discovered Frank Ryland’s body. What were their names again? I searched my memory instead of reading their minds. That seemed like a lot of effort when I wasn’t feeling great.
“You’re Grace and Mary, right?”
The blond heads bobbed up and down as the girls solemnly nodded.
“How did you know that?” Grace asked. The only reason I could tell them apart was because I heard the cops talking to them in the field before they took them home to chat with their parents. I knew she was the younger one.
“I was in the field with you the other day when you found … um … the thing.”
“She means the dead guy,” Mary said, sipping from a bottle of water. “She was with that guy when we started screaming.”
“Oh, yeah,” Grace said, immediately brightening. “We know you, so you’re not technically a stranger.”
Ah, so that’s what was bothering her. “Did your parents warn you about talking to strangers?”
“We’re not supposed to ever do it,” Mary answered. “We do it sometimes, though. We can usually tell if someone is bad by the way they talk to us. You look okay, but that skirt is kind of weird.”
I glanced down at my gauzy blue maxi-skirt and smiled. “I guess it is kind of weird,” I acknowledged. “Your dress is pretty, though. I like the color.” I touched the simple cotton frock for emphasis. “The flowers are a nice touch, too.”
“Our mom made it,” Grace explained. “It didn’t come from a store.”
My heart went out to her. The lack of labels probably bothered her because the other kids teased her at school. Now I understood why the girls were playing in the field that day. If they didn’t have money for store-bought clothes they probably didn’t have money for toys either. That was a little sad.
“Well, it’s beautiful,” I said. “It doesn’t matter if it came from a store or not. Don’t let that bother you.”
“Did your skirt come from a store?” Mary asked.
“It did,” I replied. “I wish I could sew, though. If I could sew I would definitely make my own clothes. I don’t know how to do it, so I’m stuck getting my clothes in a store.”
Grace wrinkled her nose. “Why don’t you ask your mom to help you?”
My heart inadvertently pinched at the innocent question. These girls were too young to understand death. It had touched them and they didn’t even know it. I envied their ability to bounce back in the face of tragedy. “My mom died when I was a teenager,” I explained. “She never got a chance to show me cool things like that.”
“Oh, that’s sad,” Mary said. “Do you want me to ask my mom if she’ll show you?”
I smiled. “It’s a nice offer, but we’re only in town a few more days,” I explained. “We have to leave on Sunday. I won’t have time to learn.”
“You can stay with us if you want,” Grace offered. “We share a bed and a room, but you can sleep on the floor if you want.”
“Wow. That’s the best offer I’ve had all day.” I faked a bright smile. “That’s extremely generous, but I would be missed if I left the circus. Not only that, but I would really miss this place if I left.”
“I like this place,” Mary said. “I would love to ride around with the circus. You have a pet tiger and everything. We saw it.”
I smiled. “It definitely has its perks,” I said. “Speaking of that, why aren’t you girls in watching the big show? That’s where the tiger is.”
Mary and Grace exchanged a quick look.
“Well, um, we don’t have tickets, so we only got to see the tiger when they led it from that one tent to the other one,” Grace said.
“Oh.” Realization dawned. They didn’t have money. They were allowed to run around the carnival and see the games and rides, but not participate. Just seeing everything was supposed to be enough. I couldn’t have that. “Stay right here for a second.”
I walked to the ticket booth and instructed the girl behind the window to give me several books of tickets. When I came back I handed them to the girls and smiled as their eyes grew to the size of saucers.
“These tickets can be used for anything here,” I explained. “You can get food and souvenirs. You can go to any show you want to go to. You can ride any ride you want to ride.” I held out two lanyards with special passes attached to them. “These aren’t good tonight, but if you come back tomorrow you can use them to play any games you want to for free, too.”
“Oh, wow!” Grace clapped her hands and hopped up and down. “This is the best thing ever!”
Mary didn’t look as thrilled. She bit her lip as she searched my face. “We can’t take these. We might get in trouble.”
“You won’t get in trouble.” The answer was automatic, but then I realized she was most likely referring to her parents. “If your mom and dad have any questions, tell them to ask for Poet. I’m the only one here, and I can give this stuff away for free whenever I want.”
That was a slight exaggeration, but I knew Max would never begrudge the girls a day of fun, especially given what they’d been through.
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure,” I said, patting Mary’s head. “You guys can spend the entire day here tomorrow and do whatever you want.”
“It will be like Christmas,” Grace enthused.
“Yes, just like Christmas.”
For some reason, and I had no idea why, the simple act of making two little girls happy for twenty-four hours eased some of the acidic bubbling in my stomach. “I hope you guys have a happy fake holiday. I think you’ve earned it.”
20
Twenty
After leaving Mary and Grace to dream about their upcoming big day I continued my trek around the midway. It was busy, which was to be expected, but it wasn’t as busy as it should be. I couldn’t help but wonder whether that was because of the body. Because we didn’t have television reception it was impossible to keep up on the local news, so I wasn’t sure the discovery of the second body had made the evening news. I made a mental note to check online when I got back to my trailer.
I was so lost in thought I didn’t notice the dark figure cutting off my path until it was too late to change direction. I scowled when I realized who it was.
“What do you want, Mark?”
“I just thought we should chat,” the midway manager said. “Have you noticed attendance is down?”
“Yes.”
“That’s not my fault,” he said. “I don’t want to be blamed when you and Max have your monthly meetings and pore over the bills. This cannot be blamed on me.”
I blew out a weary sigh and shoved a strand of hair behind my ear. I hadn’t even considered blaming Mark. I knew exactly why attendance was down. “Why would we blame you?”
“You always like to blame me.”
That was true. “It’s the body,” I said, glancing around to make sure no one was listening. “People are frightened because a dismembered body was discovered so close to the fairgrounds. You’re not to blame. I know that.”
“What about the second body?”
I narrowed my eyes. How did he know about that? He wasn’t around when I gave Detective Brewer his tour earlier, and I’d secretly been thankful for that. It’s hard enough to explain grown men dressing as clowns. There’s no explanation for an oily buffoon running the midway, even if he is technically good at his job. “What have you heard about that?”
“It’s on the television station’s website,” Mark answered. “I read about it before we opened the gates.”
The fact that Mark thought to do that before I did irked me. “Well, what are they saying?”
“Just that a woman was found at the rest stop and she’d been murdered,” Mark replied. “They’re not pointing fingers and calling for pitchforks yet, but the news anchors mentioned the proximity to us – and the other body – so I think people are expected to draw their own conclusions.”
“We’ll be out of here Monday morning,” I said.
“We’re not guilty, and everyone will have forgotten all of this by the time we swing by again next year. It’s not a big deal. Don’t dwell on it.”
“That’s easy for you to say,” Mark shot back. “You’re Max’s favorite. He’ll never fire you. We all know he hates me.”
I couldn’t argue with that. Everyone hated Mark. That didn’t mean he was in danger of being fired. He was far too good at soaking people out of money with rigged games. “You’re fine,” I said. “I … .” A hint of movement over Mark’s left shoulder caught my attention, and when I focused my eyes on the spot behind the nearby game a face jumped out of the crowd. It took me a moment to realize that I recognized it.
“Are you even paying attention to me?” Mark was annoyed. If I was in his position I would be irritated, too. Because he was the one doing the irritating tonight, though, I had no sympathy.
“I don’t have the energy to pay attention to you,” I said, keeping my eyes glued to the woman I saw at the farmers market that first day in town. She’d been fixated on me then, too. “You’re not in danger of being fired. We know this isn’t your fault. Look around, Mark. Attendance is down, but we’re clearly not in danger of losing money.”
“Well, I … .”
I was done listening to him, so I cut off whatever he was about to say. “Suck it up and do your job,” I ordered. “Everything will be fine. There’s no reason to be … well … you.”
“You have such a warm spirit,” Mark deadpanned. “Thank you for making me feel better.”
“Don’t mention it.”
I left Mark with his nasty thoughts – I got a gander at exactly how nasty they were when my mind brushed up against his as I passed his still-sputtering figure – and headed straight toward the young woman. Her eyes widened when she saw me approaching, but unfortunately for her there was nowhere to flee. She’d picked a spot without an easy exit.
“Hi.” I plastered a bright smile on my face as I greeted her. “I’m Poet Parker. Are you enjoying your visit to the Mystic Caravan Circus?” It was a friendly and somewhat generic greeting, but it got a specific message across. I had no intention of backing away until I learned something about this woman, like why she was so fascinated with me, for example. I wanted her to know that.
mystic caravan mystery 02 - freaky lies Page 17