by Peggy Dulle
He laughed out loud. “Teach, you don’t know a thing about computers. I’m surprised you can successfully turn that ancient laptop on and even get to the Internet.”
“Now, Justin. I’m not that computer illiterate.”
“Close, Teach, really close.” I heard him clicking away on his computer keyboard. “Give me the website.”
I gave him my ID and password for the Uptown Clowns website.
I heard him whistle. “These clowns are out there, aren’t they, Teach?”
“Yeah.”
“I see the sites you’re talking about. I just tried a few tricks, but I might need a little time to get into them.” His voice faded, like his attention was directed at his computer rather than me.
I spoke up, “Why don’t you call me when you find out something.”
“Oh, okay, Teach. Talk to you soon.”
I hung up, shut off my computer, and took Shelby for another walk. This time we walked to the park rather than driving. It was a good mile and we both were panting when we got there. The egg hunt was over and most of the children had left. Thank God. I wandered back to the booth where I’d left off earlier in the day. I didn’t spend much time looking at the craft booths. You can only have so many apple things in a house before you get sick of them and move on to another decorative theme. I noticed a lighthouse wall hanging in one of the booths. Maybe that would be my next theme.
Shelby whined and I heard Tom say, “Liza, you’re a big chicken.”
His voice brought a tingle to my skin, just as it had the first time I’d laid eyes on him. But I crossed my arms. “What do you mean, chicken?”
“I saw you leaving earlier, just as the egg hunt was beginning.” He teased.
“Children running wild isn’t my idea of a good time.”
He shook his head and sighed. “Yeah, it was a bit hectic, wasn’t it?”
I bit back a smirk. “It was more than that.”
He leaned down and petted Shelby, then raised his gaze to mine. His eyes glistened and his smile broadened. “How about some dinner?”
Two nights in a row? This was starting to sound like dating, but everyone has to eat, right? “Well, I did have a dinner date with a clown, but I have enough balloon animals at the moment, so sure, dinner would be great.”
He put his hand up. “Wait, you had plans with a clown?”
“It’s a long story.”
He grabbed my arm. “Let’s go and you can tell me all about it.”
We got into his police cruiser. I’d never been in one before. It was filled with gadgets and weaponry.
“Expecting a war?” I asked.
“No.” He shook his head. “But I’m always prepared for one.”
We stopped at the inn and I let Shelby back into the room. She climbed onto the bed and went to sleep. The walk was a bit too much for her, too.
When I stepped outside of my room, Tom was on the phone. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but it was hard to ignore when he started yelling. I could tell the call hadn’t brought welcomed news.
When he got off, he slammed his cell phone shut. Then he turned to me and smiled. “What would you like for dinner?”
His transformation was a little scary. “Who are you? Jekyll and Hyde?”
“Excuse me?” He frowned.
“You were yelling like a madman on the phone and now you’re all smiles. I don’t think I should go to dinner with someone with multiple personalities.”
“Oh, sorry,” he said. “It’s just my ex-wife. We have joint custody of my son, Michael. It’s my week to have him, but she’s decided he needs to go to Maui with her and her new husband. It’s not that I don’t want him to go but I was looking forward to taking him to the festival.”
“How old is he?”
“Seven.”
“Is he going to be gone the whole week?”
“Yeah.”
“Hard call.”
“Yeah, it usually is with Pamela.” His expression soured when he said her name.
“Is that your ex?”
“Yeah.” He gazed up at me. “Still want to have dinner?”
I smiled. “With Jekyll or Hyde?”
He laughed and gave me a playful look. “You choose.”
“I think I’d like Mexican. Do you have a suggestion?”
“How about a chicken quesadilla in my hotel room?”
I shifted uncomfortably. Was this what I wanted? He certainly intrigued me and it was hard to deny the way my body reacted to him. I decided to be honest. “It’s tempting.”
“You didn’t say no, so come on. I promise not to attack you,” he said dramatically. His expression was pure vaudeville.
“You’re a cop, you’re not supposed to attack lonely defensive women.”
“I doubt you’re either one of those, Liza.”
I looked away as I felt my face flush. “Can I bring my dog?”
“Sure,” he said, smiling.
As I walked back into my room, Shelby looked up from the bed. “Come on girl. We’re going visiting.”
She jumped down from the bed and followed me. As soon as she saw Tom, she started whining. She didn’t stop until he bent over to pet her. She licked his face and he laughed. I rolled my eyes.
We stopped in front of Room 17. Before we entered, I put my hand on his arm. “Did you get your bathroom fixed?”
He smiled. “Yeah.”
“Okay.” He opened the door and Shelby and I stepped through. She went directly to the bed, jumped up and went back to sleep.
“She makes herself at home, doesn’t she?”
“Yep.” Unlike me, I thought. This had to be the first time I’d ever been to a man’s hotel room, especially one that I’d only known a few days. I sat down next to a small table.
Tom took flour quesadillas out of his refrigerator, added some cooked chicken meat and cheese, wrapped them up and put them in the microwave. He brought the quesadillas and the diet Coke over and sat down at the table with me. It was nice that he remembered.
I took a bite. “These are good.”
“Thank you. Actually, I’m a really good cook. If my house was finished, I’d cook you a real meal.”
“How long have you been living at the inn?”
“Too long.” He let out a sigh.
“That’s very specific.”
“Sorry, it’s been four weeks. I’m just ready to go home.”
“Is the remodeling almost done?”
“That’s what they’ve been saying for the last two weeks.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“I’m still sorry.”
Just then my cell phone rang. I flipped it open. It was Justin. I wondered what he’d found.
Chapter 6
“Hey, Teach.”
I turned away from Tom. “Hi, Justin.”
“Tell your friend to ban his child from visiting that clown website.”
“Why?”
“Besides the fact that it reads like the white supremacist of clowns, it’s like a cult thing. And the sites that you couldn’t get into are all pornographic. I’m talking young children and adults doing things that are just gross.”
“I’m sorry, Justin. I didn’t mean for you to see that.”
“I’m seventeen, Teach. It’s okay. Just tell your friend to do something before his son gets sucked into the Uptown Clowns.”
“Thanks, Justin.”
“Anytime, Teach.”
I closed my phone. What the hell was I doing? I wasn’t a cop or even a private investigator. I was just a kindergarten teacher with a computer that had an annoying habit of displaying the wrong date. I wasn’t equipped to handle psycho clowns, pornography, or child kidnapping. But the man across the table from me was. Did he know about the clowns?
“Tom,” I said quietly.
He reached over and touched my hand. “It’s okay, Liza. If you want me to walk you back to your room, I will.”
“It’s not that.” I shook my head.
His smile broadened.
I put my hand up. “It’s not that, either.”
He frowned. “What’s going on?”
I told him the whole story. My computer, the date, who’d I’d talked to, and what I’d found. When I was finished, he leaned back in his chair. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
I leaned forward. “I’m sorry. I’m just a crazy teacher who thought she could help. I’m in over my head and I’ll be going home tomorrow.” I got up.
Tom caught me at the door. “I just want to know one thing.”
I turned. “What?”
“Actually two things.”
“Okay, what?”
“First, the attraction between you and me – is it real or did you just need information?”
I reached up and touched his face. “Oh, no. That’s genuine.”
He smiled, then the lines in his face deepened. “How did you find out all that information about Jessie’s kidnapping?”
“You didn’t know about the Uptown Clowns?”
“No.” He shook his head. “We had no idea. How did you put that together?”
“From the bobble-head.”
He took a deep breath, frowning. “What bobble-head?”
“The one that Todd said he saw on the dash board of the van that took his sister.”
“He never said anything to us about that.”
“Maybe he forgot or thought he’d told you?”
“Tell me what you found out about the Uptown Clowns,” he said irritably.
I knew his change in attitude was directed more at himself for not knowing about the bobble-head than toward me, but it still annoyed me. I told him what Justin had told me.
Tom handed me a piece of paper. “Write down the website address.” I did as he asked. He dialed his cell phone. Then he read the address to the person on the other end. “Check it out and get back to me, right away.”
He turned back to me, scowling. “As for you, young lady, you are going to stop investigating immediately.”
I don’t do well when people try to tell me what to do. It usually makes me do the opposite.
He reached over and lifted my face so that our eyes locked. “Did you hear me?”
He had amazing eyes, the kind that could talk you into almost anything. Finally, I nodded. “Okay,” I said, avoiding his gaze.
He lifted my lips to his and we kissed. I hadn’t been kissed like that in years. My entire body responded like a tidal wave, starting at my toes and traveling all the way to my head. When we separated his eyes were glistening. He made my pulse race and my breathing shallow. Oh, it was tempting.
He stepped back. “I’ll walk you back.”
I tilted my head up. “Are you sure?”
“No, it’s probably the worst decision I’m going to make this year, but I’m going to walk you back to your room anyway.”
I whistled and Shelby jumped off the bed. Tom walked me to the door of my room. “Good night, Liza.”
“Good night, Tom.” I kissed him gently on the cheek, opened the door and walked inside. I went directly to my laptop and dialed Justin’s number.
“Hey, Teach. It’s kind of late.”
“I know. Give me the IDs and passwords you used to get into the other sites on the Uptown Clowns.”
“Giving them to your friend?”
“Yeah, I think he’s passing them on to the police.”
“Good idea.” Justin read off the information and I jotted them down.
“Thanks again.”
“No problem.”
I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, but stopping my investigation wasn’t it. I went to bed, but slept terribly. Maybe it was Tom or the psycho clowns I kept dreaming about.
In the morning, Shelby and I went back to the park. According to the list of events I’d been given when I checked into the inn, there was a Clown Extravaganza today. I wondered if I’d see any Uptown Clowns.
Chapter 7
The event was just getting started when I arrived. There were seven or eight booths set up in the middle of the park, each with clowns sitting behind them. On the center stage were ten clowns practicing acrobatics. The children hadn’t arrived yet, so I wandered around until I found the booth with the round collared clowns.
I walked up and extended my hand. “Hi, my name’s Liza. I love clowns.”
The two clowns jumped up, danced a bit, and then extended both arms. “And we love you, too!”
“So how does a person become a clown?”
“Lots of hard work, specialized training, and gobs of make-up.” The clown on the right handed me a brochure.
“You have a clown camp?” I asked, eagerly.
“Sure. It’s four days of fun. You’d love it.” His hand brushed across the air, gesturing with zeal.
I turned the brochure over in my hands. “When does it start?”
“Actually, because of Spring Break, we run several camps every few days for a couple of weeks.”
This week’s camp probably had already begun. It was a good thing that in my district we voted to extend the school year by a week so that our Spring Break was actually two weeks instead of one. I always think it’s a great idea the Friday before Spring Break, since you never really feel like you’ve gotten a rest when it’s only a week. But in June when the rest of the world is already out for the summer, I’m never quite so sure it was a good idea. But this time it might work out well for me. “Where is the camp?” I asked.
“At our compound in Santa Dominga.” He pointed to the brochure. “There’s a number on the back to call for a reservation. Our website is also listed. You’ll have a great time.”
Even though I felt a tremor of alarm deep in my belly, I ignored it and smiled at the clown. “Maybe I’ll give it a try.”
He handed me a balloon butterfly and flashed me an animated smile. “You’ll learn to make all sorts of things with balloons.”
I put the brochure into my purse, waved at the clowns and went back to the booths. I’d only made it through one fourth of the perimeter of the park. The sixth booth was a quilting booth. A huge quilt hung in the back of the booth, appliquéd with the signs of the Zodiac. A woman was selling raffle tickets for the quilt. Her nametag said, “Chris.” Maybe it was Martha’s friend.
“Good morning. That’s a stunning quilt.”
She smiled. “Yes. Our local Quilting Guild made it. All of the proceeds go to the Missing Child Foundation.”
I handed her ten dollars. “How many tickets will this buy me?”
“The tickets are a dollar a piece.” She handed me ten tickets.
“Do I need to be present to win?” If I was going to go to clown camp, I wouldn’t be here much longer.
“Oh, no. The raffle won’t be done until the end of the year.” She pointed to the quilt. “We take this to all the quilting shows in the state. We sell the raffle tickets and then have a drawing on December 20th.” She pointed to my tickets. “You’ll need to fill out the back with your name, address and phone number. We’ll contact you if you win.”
I started filling out my tickets. “Do all of your raffles benefit the same charity?”
“Yes,” she said, turning serious. “One of our previous members had a child kidnapped several years ago so it’s our Guild’s charity of choice.”
I shook my head. “A child was kidnapped. That’s terrible.”
She folded her hands together. “It was over ten years ago but we never give up hope.”
“Is that the missing child poster I see in some of the store windows?”
“Yes. Jessie was the daughter of Martha McGowan. She was one of our members.”
“Is Martha still with the Guild?” I knew the answer, but asked it anyway.
“No. She died,” she said grimly.
“Oh my. First the daughter is kidnapped and then the mother dies. That’s so sad.” It was still heartbreaking, no matter how many times I he
ard it.
“Yes.” She sighed deeply. “She was a good friend.”
“When did she die?”
“We’d just come back from a quilting show in Santa Dominga.” She leaned toward me. “Martha was so excited. She’d seen her brother-in-law, Carl, at a restaurant.” She pointed to the center of the park. “He’s one of those clown people.”
“Her brother-in-law is a clown?” This was intriguing.
“Oh yeah, so was her father-in-law. Her husband, Dave, broke with the family tradition and opened the grocery store in town.” She snickered. “Boy, did that family have fights about that.”
“Are they local?”
“Yeah, the McGowan’s have been in Gainsville for a long time.”
“Are they still around?”
“No. The father is dead, Dave moved away, and Carl runs some clown camp in Santa Dominga.” She glanced toward the woman standing next to me.
I handed her the tickets with my name on them. “Thanks for the chance to win that beautiful quilt.”
“You’re welcome.” Chris turned to the lady standing next to me and sold her some raffle tickets.
It was my cue to leave. Clowns? Clown camp? A clown family tradition? A kidnapped child? How did they all fit together?
Shelby and I went back to the inn. I took the brochure out of my purse and I noticed that the website was different from the one I’d visited before. After turning on my laptop, I typed in the website. Bells and whistles started playing. Clowns did acrobatics across my screen. Balloons inflated and spelled out the words, “Welcome to Uptown Clowns.” Different from their other website, it listed the camp reservation. I clicked on the daily schedule. Each day started with Clown Meditation, followed by various classes on balloon animal making, magic, face painting, and acrobatics. Each day ended with an Evening Extravaganza. What the hell was that? And how does a clown meditate?
I stared at the screen. Tom had told me to stop investigating. But what harm was there in going to clown camp? The acrobatics would be good exercise and everyone could use more make-up tips, couldn’t they? I had another day to enjoy the festivities in Gainsville and then I’d need to take Shelby home. I’m sure I could get Justin to stop in and check on her, since he lived across the street. I don’t think she’d be welcome at clown camp.