Killing at the Carnival

by L. A. Nisula

  “I got him, Miss Pengear.”

  Chatsworth smiled at me. “Not that I put up much of a struggle.”

  I smiled back. “I wanted to show you some pictures.” I led the way back to the photographer’s booth. The photographer looked ready to protest again without Inspector Burrows around, but then she saw Chatsworth with me and handed over the box with no questions.

  I handed Cheerful Chatsworth the box. “Just look through those and tell me if you see anyone you recognize in the background of any of the pictures.”

  Cheerful Chatsworth took the box from me and flipped through the photographs with less enthusiasm than Art had shown. He was halfway through when he said, “Well, I’ll be. Who would have thought?”

  “What?” I asked.

  Art leaned in to look.

  “I was just telling you about the Amazing Archimedes, and there he is. I know the carnival world is small, but still, fancy that.” He held out the picture. “Right there.”

  I leaned in expecting to see mutton chops and a too-big suit. Instead, Cheerful Chatsworth was looking at an entirely different picture and pointing to a skinny man in a shabby black suit, clean shaven, and clearly taller than the man Art had identified.

  “Something wrong, miss?”

  “No, no, just not who I was expecting.” I took the box from him and flipped through until I found the picture Art had identified. “Do you know this man by any chance?”

  Cheerful Chatsworth stared hard at it. “Sorry, no. There’s something vaguely familiar, but then mutton chops hide so much, anyone with them looks vaguely familiar. Was there something else?”

  “No. You’ve been a great help, though. Thank you.”

  As Cheerful Chatsworth left, I turned back to the photographer. “Can I buy these from you?”

  “Sorry, miss. I can’t sell them to anyone who’s not the subject. If the inspector were to come back and ask, that would be different, but I take it you don’t have an official position?”

  I avoided the question. “I’ll talk to him, then. Thank you.”

  I handed back the box and left the booth. At least I had a clearer idea of what Art's suspect looked like and a promising new suspect. Of course, a magician was a rather obvious choice, but that didn’t make him a bad suspect. If he was still around, where would he be? Was it too much to hope he would come back today?

  Art ran up behind me. “Here, miss. Just keep it quiet.”

  I glanced down and saw he was cradling the picture he had recognized in his hand.

  “Could only get the one. Sorry.”

  “I don’t want to know how you did that.” I dropped my handbag on the ground. Art dove for it and picked it up, slipping the picture inside as he stood.

  “Need to be careful, miss. This place is crawling with pickpockets. Never know when one’ll take your bag.”

  I smiled. “I’ll be on the lookout.”

  “So what are we investigating next?”

  I noticed the use of “we,” but Art seemed to be my best guide to the carnival. “If Archimedes comes back today, where do you think he’d go?”

  Art folded his arms and stared at the midway. “Depends on what he was doing here. He didn’t seem to be visiting Lucinda.”

  “Maybe he was looking for a job?”

  Art furrowed his brow, making quite a show of thinking. “We already have a magician, but if he was willing to do something on the midway to drum up business...”

  “Do you think he would be?”

  “Depends on how badly he needed the job.”

  I thought back to the photograph. “Judging from his suit, I’d say he needs a job.”

  “And a meal. I know where to look. Come on.” Art led me back to the performers’ area behind the wagons. “If Kingston was considering him, he’d tell him to come back today and audition. The only time Kingston has for auditions is in the middle of the afternoon. And if Archimedes is broke, then he’ll probably try to get a meal out of us too while he’s at it.”

  “So that’s where we’re going?”

  “That’s right. Dining tent is this way.”

  ~*~*~

  The dining tent was exactly what it sounded like: a large tent, this one plain canvas and threadbare in spots, filled with trestle tables and folding chairs. There were a few performers sitting at the tables talking over the remains of what looked like greasy fish and indifferent chips. A few junior members of the troupe were cleaning up what was left of the serving trays.

  Art poked me in the ribs—or more accurately the stays— and nodded to a chair in the corner where a man was hunched down, hiding in his coat collar. He was shoveling the last of the greasy fish into his mouth while his eyes darted from face to face, the classic look of someone who had snuck in where he didn’t belong. I nodded to Art. That had to be our man. Before I could decide on the best way to approach him, Art had started across the room, weaving between the tables. I followed him.

  Art sat down across from Archimedes and stared at him. The magician looked up, saw how old Art was, and went back to his food. I sat down beside Art. Archimedes looked up again. This time he saw me and put down his fork.

  “I’m meant to see Mr. Kingston at two. He wasn’t there, so I—” He gestured to the meal.

  “I’m not with the circus.”

  He relaxed.

  “But I did want to talk to you. Have you heard about the incident yesterday?”

  “That’s all anyone’s talking about, but I wasn’t at the show.”

  “Does the name Spalding mean anything to you?” I watched his face, but he didn’t react in any way I would call guilty.

  “Isn’t that the victim’s name?”

  “Why do you think that?”

  “Like I said, it’s all anyone’s talking about here.”

  “What about the Crilston Bank?

  This time there was a reaction, but it could best be described as irritation. “Not that old thing again. They thought I had robbed the bank, but I had an alibi.”

  “What was it?”

  “I was losing at cards to the ringmaster and two roustabouts, but the police didn’t want to believe any of us. They thought with my knowledge of locks that I was the best suspect.”

  “A card game? Was anyone from the bank there?”

  “There was… Oh, I didn’t connect… You mean the victim is that Spalding? The bank manager?”

  “So he was there?”

  “Lost even more than I did. That was odd, though.”

  “Why? Was he trying to lose?”

  “No, no. I would have been able to tell. Most common cheats are trade secrets to me. No, what was odd was that he didn’t remember I was there. In fact, that was why the police were so suspicious of me, not just my act.”

  I could feel Art sit up a little straighter. So he’d sensed it, too. A chance at motive. “What happened?”

  “They questioned me again and again, but there was no proof against me since I didn’t do it, so they had to let me go.”

  “And then?”

  “Well, no one really wanted me around after the police were so interested in me. I was friendly with a clown named Chatsworth in another carnival playing nearby. He knew a magician’s assistant who had just left the outfit and needed a magician.”

  “Lucinda? I think she was Pauline then.”

  “That’s right. We met up and had an act for a little while, but she said she wanted to get out of magic, so she started working with a knife thrower. The circus got another magician’s assistant who came with another magician, and I went to another show.”

  “And now you’re here. Why?”

  “I’ve been trying at every show I run into.”

  “So Lucinda had nothing to do with it?”

  “No, I didn’t know she was here until I saw a poster with her on it outside the cowboy tent. I had hoped she’d put in a good word for me, but I think she… Well, Mr. Kingston seemed interested enough in me when I first spoke to him then when I
went back he was a bit… cold. It very well could have been the murder that spooked him, though. It might not have had anything to do with Lucinda at all.”

  “Why would she sabotage your chances? Did you part on bad terms?”

  “Not really. I was a bit annoyed. She was the one that left. But I didn’t try to stop her. Not really.”

  “Not really?”

  “I knew they wouldn’t keep me without her, so I tried to get her to stay. I even offered to give her a raise out of my own pay. But in the end, she insisted she wanted something different, and I couldn’t very well tie her up. I mean, she’d know how to get out of it if I did.” He smiled so we’d know he was joking.

  “What was your act like?”

  “A little sleight of hand. I was trying for a gimmick, something I’d be known for, and I’ve always been good with ropes. So most of it was her tying me up and me escaping.”

  That gave me an idea. “Does an assistant know how to do the tricks?”

  “Certainly. In fact, sometimes it’s the assistant doing the trick while the magician does the distracting.”

  “So an assistant would know as much about the act as the magician?”

  “I wouldn’t say that, or they’d start their own act. But yes, they would know quite a bit, certainly more than the average person.”

  “Was she any good at locks?”

  “Not at all. Didn’t have the patience for them.”

  “What about acrobatics?”

  “I suspect trapeze is somewhat like that. That’s what she was doing when Chatsworth suggested she work with me. So is magic , for that matter, at least of the disappearing tricks are not dissimilar.”

  I tried to distract him from that question. “Did you know Lucinda before you worked together, when she was with the Weston circus?”

  “A little. Like I said, I was friendly with Chatsworth.”

  “I have a photograph here. Could you take a look and tell me if you recognize anyone in it?”

  “Sure.”

  I reached into my handbag and pulled out the picture Art had snatched for me and slid it across the table.

  Archimedes looked at the picture. “Maybe, almost. It could be Preston. Tom, Tim, something like that. He was courting Lucinda back when she worked with me. I can’t quite tell, though. He was clean shaven then.” He tapped the mutton-chop man.

  “Did you know him well?”

  “Not at all, really. He was a townie, not with the circus. I only saw him once or twice when he came to meet her after a rehearsal.”

  “When was he courting her?”

  “As long as I knew her.”

  “Do you know what he did in town?”

  “He worked in a law firm as a courier, delivering papers and things. Before that, he did the same for a bank. I once needed a little help with a debt collector, and he knew what to do, according to Lucinda.”

  “Did he work for Spalding’s bank?”

  “No.” Archimedes poked at his fish. “But now that I think of it, I think his law firm was nearby.”

  “How nearby?”

  “Next door.”

  “And you never told the police?”

  “None of us associated the Weston circus with anything. And I didn’t really get to know Lucinda until later, after I was away from Goston. Believe me, I was desperate to clear my name. If I’d thought of it, I would have told them to save myself.”

  “When did she meet him?”

  “I have no idea. They were already stepping out together when we started working together.”

  I sat up.

  “So he would have been with her when she was in Backworth, near Goston.”

  “I suppose they would have been. You don’t think—”

  “I don’t know.” But a theory was forming in my mind. “Thank you for your help.” I picked up the photograph and grabbed Art’s shoulder to pull him along with me.

  Chapter Eleven

  Outside the tent, I finally let Art shake me off. “I was going to question him some more.”

  “That’s why I dragged you out of there.” I thought fast how to convince him to leave it alone. “We don’t want to tip off any of the suspects, so we have to go gently.”

  “I see. Trip them up. Lull them into a false sense of security, and they’ll make a mistake.”

  “Exactly.”

  “So what’s the next move?”

  “We have a lot of new information now. I am going to get myself some tea and something sweet and consider how what we’ve learned fits together.”

  “That sounds, um, necessary.”

  Good. I didn’t want him to think it sounded like fun. “Do you want to come along?”

  “Nah. I think I’ll go find Hawk and see what he’s up to. I kind of promised I would.”

  “I’m sure he’ll like to see you. Thank you for your help.”

  As I watched Art walk away, I couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being about as honest as I was. I just hoped he wouldn’t get into any real trouble. Not that I could blame him. I listened to Inspector Burrows just as well as the boys did to me.

  I didn’t want to lie directly to Art, so I went to the midway to get something to eat. I found an ice cream booth and meandered towards the show tents while I ate. It all seemed to lead back to Lucinda. But she was the one person who couldn’t have shot Spalding. We all would have seen it. I went through the trick in my mind, trying to find an opportunity for a magic trick, sleight of hand, something. But her hands were visible the whole time, one of them on the card for the critical part. If there was a magic trick, I hadn’t been able to see it. But I knew Lucinda was involved somehow, even if it was indirectly. If I wanted to begin at the beginning, it was with her. I tossed the remains of my ice cream in a bin and started for her wagon. I wasn’t sure if I was hoping she was there so I could talk to her or away so I could poke around at my leisure. I smiled to myself; I’d find one situation or the other there.

  Lucinda was there. As I walked towards her wagon, she looked out the window and spotted me at once. I tried to look cheery as I waved to her. It didn’t work. She came out of the wagon and approached me, surreptitiously scanning the ground looking for anything I could be looking for.

  “Still searching for clues?”

  I thought fast. “Oh, Inspector Burrows is convinced he has the right man, but now I find all of this so interesting. Have you worked at other… outfits, do you call them?”

  Lucinda seemed to relax a little. “This is my seventh. I used to be a magician’s assistant.”

  “Now that must have been fun. All those costumes and devices. I loved the beading on the one you wore in Nick’s show.”

  “I still have some of my old costumes. Would you like to see them?”

  “I’d love to.” It seemed like a good way to get inside her wagon, and maybe I could see something useful.

  Lucinda led me inside and went to the back of her wagon, where she had a large traveling trunk. “There should be room for you to sit by the table.”

  I found a place to sit on the bench sticking out from under the table.

  Lucinda opened the trunk and began to dig through. “So you know that police inspector, Burrows I think his name is?”

  So that was why she invited me in, to find out how involved I was. “A little. I’m a typist, and I’ve done some work for him. He’s a very good policeman. If he thinks Nick did it, then, well, I suppose he knows his job.”

  “Hard on your young friend, though, but little boys do bounce back.” She pulled out the first of the outfits, a pale-tan silk dress with a cage skirt and mounds of lace. “This was from the time I was a knife thrower’s assistant.”

  “That must have been terrifying.” I scanned the wagon, looking for anything that might inspire some theory.

  “I trusted him, and he was a complete professional.”

  I tried to keep the thread of the conversation so Lucinda wouldn’t become suspicious of me. “I still wouldn’t do it.�
�

  Lucinda smiled. “It takes a certain kind of person to do it. Now this was from my magician days.” She held up a red taffeta bustle with deep gathers and flounces and a corset with gold braid and paste rubies and black feather trim. “I’m rather glad to be done with it, really. It took me over an hour to clean it when I needed to. And the tricks he did involved a lot of flash powder and greasepaint.”

  “It must have sparkled beautifully, though.”

  “Oh, it did.”

  And then I spotted it. The poster Flyingcrow had mentioned. As she poked through the trunk, I got up to get a better look.

  “Now there’s one in here you’ll like from the days I was a bareback rider. Let me see where I put it.” She dug around in the trunk. “So your inspector friend is done with us, then?”

  I meandered towards the poster, a tricky thing to do when there weren’t more than three paces between me and it. “I’m not sure I’d call him my friend. I think he’s substantially done, just has loose ends to tie up, but then he doesn’t really confide in me.”

  “I see. So we’ll be rid of him soon?”

  “I would think so.” I realized she had looked up from the trunk and was watching me. I stopped meandering. “These costumes are all so pretty. It must be so much fun to wear them.”

  Lucinda grinned. “It is, I suppose. But caring for them is another matter entirely. And on the road, when you never know what the setup will be at the next stop…”

  I let her ramble on as I scanned the poster, looking for a clue, when something else caught my eye. Two playing cards left on the table. Both ace of hearts. The one on top was shot clean through the center; the one underneath had been shot slightly higher, between the center heart and the “A” in the upper corner. I realized Lucinda had stopped talking and quickly turned my attention to the poster. “Was this from your assistant days?”

  “No, that was a trapeze act.” Something in the way she said it made me stop myself from turning around and lean in to examine it. I latched onto the first detail I saw. “That beading is fantastic. And look at those feathers. Does someone with the show do all of that?”

  “I got that one from a woman in London. She retired, though. I’d hoped she’d make my costume for Nick’s act.” Lucinda’s voice was back to normal, so I wandered back to the table.