Unraveled

by Reavis Z. Wortham

  Delmar shook his head. “We haven’t had anybody hurt in years. I’m gonna get one of my other mechanics to take a look at it. Cal should have been inspecting it pretty regular, so we’ll check the log to see when the last time was.”

  “You do that, and bring me that log. I need to look at it. What’s this feller’s name? Cal how much?”

  “Cal Willis.”

  “All right. I’ll be right here.”

  “I’ll be here with him,” Cody said. “I need to talk to him myself.”

  Delmar held out his hand to Cody. “Thanks, Sheriff. That was fast thinking on your part.”

  “I didn’t do much, just held it tight until you got up there with the chain.”

  “Good work. I’ll be back in a little bit.”

  Delmar disappeared into the swirl of people and Ned shook his head at Cody. “I don’t believe I’ve ever seen anything like that, the two of you climbing around on that thing like a couple of monkeys.”

  Cody dusted his hands off. “Seemed like the thing to do.”

  “I reckon it was, but I never. You should’ve let these carnival folks handle it.”

  “They weren’t moving fast enough to suit me, so I figured I’d better get busy. You’d have done the same.”

  “I doubt it. My climbing days are over.”

  Norma Faye grinned and offered Ned a bite of her cotton candy. “You’ll feel like a kid again if you eat some of this.”

  “Naw, I don’t believe I’d care for any. That stuff’s too sweet, but thanks anyway. You know, I saw a feller with a camera from the paper. You’ll likely wind up on the front page.”

  Cody chewed the inside of his lip, thinking. “That could be good or bad, depending on how you look at it. Right now I probably need to stay away from that kind of thing.”

  “Naw, it won’t hurt you none.”

  Norma Faye took another bite of cotton candy. “What are you doing here, Mr. Ned? You keeping an eye on things this last night?”

  He grinned. “Nope. I found out a little while ago that Mark ain’t never been to a carnival or fair, only a couple of powwows in Oklahoma, so I brought ’em out. They didn’t get to finish their fun the other night, and that wasn’t right.”

  Cody raised an eyebrow and tilted his hat back. “I’m surprised they aren’t right here underfoot, after all this excitement.”

  Norma Faye scanned the crowd. “You’re right. I bet they’re up to something.” She looked around, snapped her fingers, and gave Cody that grin he loved. “Tunnel of Love.”

  “If they have one, but not if Top’s with them. We’d better go look.”

  Ned waved a hand. “Let’s give ’em a few more minutes. I told ’em to meet me right ’chere. If they ain’t back in five minutes, then we’ll go walk ’em up. I’m sure they’re fine. There ain’t much more trouble they can get into here.”

  He rubbed the back of his neck. “You two’re beginning to remind me of Top and Pepper, though, gettin’ into more and more ever year.”

  Chapter Fifty-two

  I felt safer the minute the Funhouse darkness wrapped around me. I’d given Calvin Williams the slip and now all I had to do was wait for him to pass. Wheezing, I leaned against a wall to catch my breath. The hole in my foot had opened and blood soaked my sock.

  My atomizer was on the dresser in my room and the only thing I could do was concentrate on drawing long, slow breaths in and then forcing the air back out. Getting it all out was tougher, but I was able to straighten back up a couple of minutes later.

  I heard the entrance door slam open. The corridor I was in kept all the light out, so there wasn’t even a glow.

  Two chatty, squealing girls came in. “Where do we go?”

  Giggles. “I don’t know. Jesus! It’s dark in here.”

  “I sure hope nothin’ gone reach out and grab me.”

  “C’mon. There’s only one way.”

  The rustle of their clothes told me they were coming my way. I slid my hand along the wall to stay ahead of them. I felt around it and found an alcove of some kind. I backed into it and they passed close enough for me to smell their shampoo.

  They went on and I followed. A loud thump caused one of the girls to scream, and at first I thought Calvin had come in from the other side when I realized they were just having fun in a carnival attraction.

  I felt my way a little farther until the corridor bent and there was a dim yellow light over a door. The girls were gone, but I heard screaming somewhere ahead. I needed to get out pretty fast and get help.

  My mistake was that I didn’t go back to the entrance and wait for somebody to open it up. Then I could have simply dodged the attendant, and bugged out.

  Instead, I thought it was a good idea to walk through the whole Funhouse to the exit. I headed for the door under the weak light and the floor dropped out from under me.

  Chapter Fifty-three

  Pepper and Mark stepped out of a dented boat aluminum cart with flaking paint and left the musty Tunnel of Love behind. Pepper was mad as a hornet. “You didn’t even try to kiss me!”

  Mark grinned. “I held your hand.”

  “After I grabbed yours. You could have put your arm around me, like that couple in front of us.”

  “I could have, but the people in the cart behind us would have seen that, just like we did. I didn’t really like watching them rassle around, did you?”

  Instead of answering, she took another tack. “You didn’t seem too embarrassed to snuggle up to me in there.”

  “I didn’t have any choice. That little ol’cart wasn’t hardly big enough for the both of us. I don’t see how two adults could ride that thing without making babies.”

  Pepper’s mad dissolved into a fit of laughter. “I can’t believe you said that!”

  “Why?”

  “Because you’ve never said anything like that since we met.”

  “Well, maybe you’re getting to know me.”

  She studied his face and the features that defined him as Choctaw. Even though they weren’t kinfolk, he favored Miss Becky, something she hadn’t noticed before. “Maybe I am, but I don’t think I’ll ever really know you, Mr. Mark Lightfoot.”

  “Nope. Don’t know myself.”

  They passed the Funhouse and stopped to watch two kids feel their way through the glass and mirror maze. “Let’s do that.”

  Mark shrugged. “It’ll be more fun if there’s three of us. Let’s find Top.”

  “I don’t have any idea where he might be.”

  “He was headed this way…” Mark stopped and grinned. “I bet I know where he went.”

  “Where?”

  He pointed toward a sign at the end of the midway. “The boob show.”

  “They won’t let him in, and besides, he ain’t interested in half-nekked girls.”

  Mark threw back his head and laughed. “Girl, sometimes you don’t think straight.”

  “Why?”

  “Just ’cause.” Mark leaned over and kissed her cheek, brushing the eagle feather and making it tickle her neck. Pepper jumped and he laughed. “There. You feel better now?”

  She frowned and hit his shoulder with a fist. “That’s not cool!”

  “What? You were mad five minutes ago because I didn’t kiss you.”

  “Yeah,” she looked around. “But that was in the dark and nobody could see. Everybody and their uncle saw that.”

  Mark sighed. “Jeeze.”

  They strolled past carnies waving their arms and calling for the next suckers to lay down their money. Pepper glared at them. “So what makes you think he’ll be in the girly tent?”

  “Just some things he mentioned yesterday.”

  She took his hand to lead the way, but turned her head so he couldn’t see the grin on her face.

  Chapter Fifty-four
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  Deputy Anna Sloan thought she had the Lamar County Accident all figured out, except for one part, and that was why Frank and Maggie were on the dam in the first place. She used her Motorola to call Deputy Washington. “John?”

  He came back after only a moment. “Yessum?”

  “Where are you?”

  “Nearly to the carnival. They had some trouble, but it’ll all be over ’time I get there, Why, you need me?”

  “I need to talk to you. How about I meet you there in the parking lot.”

  “Come ahead on. I’ll find a spot close to the gate.”

  “See you in a minute. Oh, do you know where Ned is tonight?”

  “Yessum. He’s at the carnival now, and so’s Cody.”

  “Good. We all need to talk. And John, you don’t have to call me ma’am, or say yes ma’am. Call me Anna.”

  “Yessum.”

  “Anna.”

  “Yessum, Miss Anna.”

  Chapter Fifty-five

  The Wraith, now once again Calvin Williams, aka Cal Willis the mechanic, aka Clocko the Clown, stopped the moment he saw Top duck into the Funhouse. Calvin cut between two rides and jogged back to his trailer.

  Connie and the baby were asleep in their one chair when he stepped inside the stifling interior. She blinked away the cobwebs and adjusted the sleeping toddler in her lap when the door slammed. “Aren’t you late? You didn’t go out looking like that, did you? Delmar’d have a fit if he saw you half made up.”

  He paused. “I went out to have a cigarette. I meant to tell you, Delmar wants me to, well, he has a new job for me.”

  “That don’t explain why you’re outside with half your makeup on.” She waved a finger toward three overflowing ashtrays. “And since when did you change your mind about smoking in the house.”

  Heat prickled his face. “This ain’t no house. It’s a goddamned trailer, and I can smoke anywhere I want to. I’m clowning up because I was thinking about skinning some extra money from the rubes with the after-catch over at the titty tent. I needed some air and some time away from that squalling baby and forgot I hadn’t finished.”

  She ignored his comment. “That don’t make no sense. You’re lying to me again. Them gals’ll skin you alive back behind that curtain if you get between them and their business. What’n hell you got to show or sell the rubes back there anyway?”

  Rage again boiled in his chest. “You better watch your mouth or you’ll be back up on the stage with ’em again, shaking them little things and showing what you got for fifty cents.”

  Connie’s face closed up and he knew he’d hurt her again, but he didn’t care. It was time to go anyway and her being mad made it that much easier.

  Ignoring her, Calvin dropped into a chair in front of a battered lamp table he used as a makeup dresser. He switched on a light and finished lining the white greasepaint on his face. He only had a few minutes, ten at the most. “Anyway, Delmar wants to send me out tomorrow as his new advance-man, so I’ll be gone for a little while.”

  The advance-man arrived in the next town before the carnival finished its current run, handling details such as licenses and sponsors. In the more stubborn towns, the ones with highly religious sheriffs or mayors, they sometimes passed bribes to the local officials before a carnival arrived in town.

  She frowned at still another obvious lie and shifted the baby’s sweaty head lying on her arm, watching him pull on his wig and add the nose. She was young, but experienced beyond her years. “Since when are you doing that? What happened to Ray Marco?”

  “Nothing. He’s still working.” Calvin couldn’t come up with a story fast enough to answer her question. “Now, let me alone.”

  Instead of continuing the argument, she lit her own cigarette and concentrated on smoothing the baby’s cowlick. Five minutes later, Clocko the Clown left the trailer for the last time and headed toward the Funhouse.

  When he was gone, Connie looked around the empty trailer and relaxed. It was better when he wasn’t there.

  Chapter Fifty-six

  Deputy Anna Sloan joined John in the passenger seat of his car and closed the door. He immediately opened the driver’s door and put one foot on the ground, keeping the dome light on so anyone looking inside could see the two deputies talking.

  “Miss Anna, looks like we missed some excitement.”

  The volunteer fire truck was back outside the gate, along with an ambulance and several cars parked haphazardly at the entrance. None of their emergency lights were on and the small crowd of men beside the truck seemed to be loafing rather than working.

  “I was away from the radio, talking to someone about Maggie and Frank’s wreck. I think I’ve found out what’s going on, and who’s doing it, and how this feud is still burning.”

  John grunted. “Well, I hope you have.”

  “But I still can’t figure out why they were on the dam that morning. That road didn’t lead to anyone’s house or anywhere they needed to go.” She paused. A mental itch needed scratching, but she wasn’t sure how to do it.

  “Maybe they’s just driving around.”

  “Talking!” Anna sat forward in excitement. “You’re right! They were talking, or arguing, but they weren’t just driving around.” It all came to her in an instant. “They’d parked on the overlook, back up against the trees. You can’t see inside the car from there, no matter what direction you’re traveling.”

  John watched a couple walk past, holding hands. “They was doin’ this, ’cept not with the light on.”

  “They’d probably been doing more, but I’m sure they were talking it out. But before I can tell you what I suspect, we need to visit your aunt, Miss Sweet.”

  “I already have.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  “No’m. I just visited with Miss Sweet this evenin’ and she said some things that made sense then told me to go talk to Rubye who worked for Frank.”

  “That’s where I was.”

  “At Saperstein’s grocery store.”

  “Right! You know her?”

  John laughed again, delighted with the young woman. She’d been there less than a year and had gained the respect of every deputy in Lamar County. “Sure do. Took her out a few times when we was younger.”

  Anna cut her eyes across the car. “Miss Sweet told you the same thing I heard from Rubye.”

  “Yep.”

  “A baby.” She sighed, as if a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders. They’d solved part of the Lamar County Accident. “Rubye told me something else, too. She said Bryce and Willie Mayfield is for sure two of ’em we’re after. They’ve been setting fires and were the ones who cut up Alfred Clay last night. You know them?”

  “Sure do. She know that for a fact?”

  “Overheard Willie tell Bryce where to find Alfred and then to meet him here for an alibi.”

  “This is a good place to be seen all right.”

  “I’ll get a warrant tomorrow…”

  John cut her off. “Don’t need to.”

  “Why not?”

  “I just saw ’em go in. Will Rubye testify to what she heard?”

  “Said she would.”

  John set his hat. “Let’s go pick ’em up for suspicion.”

  They were finally getting a handle on things.

  Chapter Fifty-seven

  Pepper pointed. “There he goes sneakin’ into the Funhouse without paying when the ticket man was talking to that clown with the balloons.”

  “I can’t see him doing that.” Mark led her toward the big, two-story attraction with different size boxes protruding from odd places. “I bet he’d already paid and had to leave for some reason and went back in.”

  “I swear, you sound just like Miss Becky. He’s not as little and innocent as y’all think.”

  “You’re right a
bout that.” Mark dug in his pocket when they reached the ticket taker. “I don’t think nothin’, though.” He held the money out to the ticket taker. “Three.”

  The man in a faded shirt took the money and dropped the change into the money apron tied around his waist. “There’s only two of you.”

  “My cousin just went in and I’m ashamed to tell you he didn’t pay.” Mark met the man’s eyes and looked apologetic.

  The carney’s head snapped toward the entrance ramp. “I didn’t see nobody.”

  “You was talking. I just wanted to make things right.”

  The man dug in his apron and tried to give Mark his money back. “Here, kid. Y’all go in for free. I don’t run across very many kids as honest as you.”

  Pepper’s mouth fell open as Mark refused the offer. “Nossir. Go ahead and keep it. You don’t have to do that for us.”

  The carney held the change out to Pepper. “Well, you take it then, missy, if your boyfriend won’t. Y’all use it later.” He winked. “But stay away from the games.”

  Pepper took the money, stuck it in her pocket, and pushed Mark forward. They stepped inside and the door closed, leaving them in total darkness. She slugged him in the back. “You knothead. Why didn’t you take the money? He was just giving it away.”

  “Because it wasn’t right.” She heard Mark laugh and he vanished into pitch black.

  She reached for him and found nothing but the thick odor of stuffy, stale mildew. Pepper held out both hands and felt her way forward. “Where’d you go?”

  Someone pushed her shoulder from behind and she shrieked. Mark laughed and grabbed her around the waist. “It’s me.”

  “How’d you get around me?”

  “I felt a gap in the wall here. You just stepped right past.”

  “Well, it’s so damned dark I can’t see a thing.” She advanced, holding both hands out and feeling her way in the walk-through. Mark stepped close, wrapped his arms around her waist, lock-stepped behind her, and they went to find Top.