Chapter Fifty-eight
Ned rubbed his head in frustration. He blew out his lips and replaced his hat.
Willie Mayfield passed, wearing new overalls and gnawing on an ear of corn. His son Bryce followed. The muscular young man was counting a wad of folding money and not paying any attention to the barkers trying to entice him closer. Someone called his name and Willie smiled and waved.
Cody suddenly ran out of energy knowing full well it was the letdown from the adrenaline dump. At the same time, he registered the Clays and Mayfields mixed in all around them. There were suddenly way too many clan members in close proximity. Cecil and Martin Clay seemed to be following Willie and Bryce down the midway, though it could have been only his imagination.
Cody picked up on Ned’s unease. “What’s wrong with you? All these feuding people making you nervous?”
“Partly. I don’t like ’em all in the same place at the same time. If things come unraveled here, we’ll be blowed up. But right now I’m mad as a wet hen. Them kids were supposed to be back by now.”
Norma Faye laughed. “I’m not surprised. They’re probably having a great time, something we should be doing instead of standing here worrying.”
“It don’t matter none. I done told ’em what to do, and it’s partly because there could be trouble. Now it looks like somebody let the gate down. This place is filling up like nobody’s business. I never thought about these two families all deciding to come at the same time.”
Cody shoved off the post where he’d been leaning. “Well, let’s go look for ’em again. If we make ourselves seen, it might take some of the fire out of these idiots if they’re thinking about starting something.”
“Then the kids’ll show up here and we’ll be gone.”
A woman with tight curls and deep dimples peeled out of a crowd around the Ring Toss game and saw Norma Faye. She rushed forward and they hugged. “Why girl, I haven’t seen you in years.”
“Christine Rankin!” They squealed like school girls as Norma Faye slid her arm around the woman’s thick waist. “Not since I moved into this life. Do you know my husband, Cody Parker?”
“I’ve heard of you, Sheriff, though we’ve never met.”
They shook and Norma Faye gave Ned a pat on the arm. “This is Constable Ned Parker. Me and Christine went to school together. Ned, why don’t y’all go find the kids and I’ll wait here for them? We can catch up while you’re gone.”
Relieved, Ned shook Christine’s hand. “That sounds good. A pleasure to meet you, ma’am.”
Cody paused. “I’m in the El Camino and don’t have a radio. Did you come in yours, Ned? If you did, we can call John and maybe Anna to come out tonight. It won’t hurt to have two more uniforms out here with all these people who don’t want to get along.”
“We came in the car, but I’m worried about them kids. You can go call on the Motorola while I look for ’em, if you want.”
Cody saw Ned was more worried than he let on. “I’ll wait ’til we get ahold of those knotheads. We can split up and find them faster than just one.”
“Fine then.”
Chapter Fifty-nine
Ned and Cody made their way to the darker end of the midway. They paused beside a pair of clowns joking around and selling balloons.
“Well, that’s about it.” Ned jerked a thumb toward the exhibit tents. “You don’t think them little shits went back there, do you?”
“I doubt it. The attractions in those tents cost more money than the rides, and I figure the kids would rather ride than look at a two-headed calf.”
“Well, you never know.” Ned tilted his head back and scanned the crowd and the lines. “They might have been on one of these rides when we passed them.”
“You’re right about that. Let’s stand here a few minutes to give them time to get off and make a sweep back toward the gate. I imagine they’re with Norma Faye already.”
Ned frowned at a group of men leaving the girly tent. “There goes Royal Clay.”
“He ain’t the only Clay I’ve seen here tonight.”
“Yeah, but he’s the meanest behind Wes.” Ned scanned the crowd. “There’s a bunch of ’em all right.”
Cecil Clay hurried up to Royal and waved his arms while he talked. Seconds later, they rushed back down the midway toward the gate.
A white-faced clown pulled a little girl’s pigtails and acted surprised they wouldn’t come off. Cody watched her giggle when he plucked a balloon from the other clown’s bouquet.
Cody met the first clown’s gaze and received a big wink. Cody smiled back before a boy and girl making their way through the glass maze of the Funhouse caught his attention. For a moment he thought it was Pepper and the boys, but when she turned her head to find a way out, the wavy glass distorted her image and disappeared.
“You know, we better keep moving so these Clays and Mayfields don’t bunch up.”
Ned sighed. “Good idea.”
A different kind of shriek reached them and Ned stopped. “What now?”
A shout floated over the crowd. “Fight!”
The crowd surged back toward the entrance.
Chapter Sixty
The floor didn’t really fall out from under me, but it sure felt that way. The false panel only dropped a couple of inches, making me think I was going all the way through and into a basement. I guess if that’d happened, I’d’ve died right then and there.
Instead, I hollered and jumped back. Somebody grabbed me around the waist and I screamed like a little girl.
“Damn! And all this time I thought you were a boy!”
I turned to fight, and saw Pepper falling back in the dim yellow light and into Mark’s arms, laughing. “Dammit girl!” The shock on her face was funny, but I couldn’t enjoy it.
“I can’t believe you cussed!”
I looked past Mark, and into the darkness. “Did anyone come in behind you?”
I could barely see them in the feeble light, but it was enough to tell they were frowning.
“Why?”
My knees went shaky and I wanted to cry. “There’s somebody after me.”
Mark spun. “Where?”
Pepper saw the look on my face and grabbed my arm. “Who? Are you all right?”
“No. My foot’s bleeding like a stuck hog and Calvin Williams is here.”
“Who?”
“Aunt Norma Faye’s ex-husband.”
“So what?”
“He’s after me.”
“Why?” She grinned like she does when she’s up to something she don’t want the adults to know. “What’d you say to him?”
“I’ll tell you later. C’mon!”
We heard the entrance door open and a voice came through. “Where you going, Cal?”
“Just want to give the kids a little extra thrill.” The door slammed shut. That was all we needed.
Chapter Sixty-one
Norma Faye and Christine were laughing and acting like school girls out for the night when Anna and John Washington came through the gate. Norma Faye called them over.
John stopped at a distance. “Howdy, Miss Norma Faye.”
“John, I wish you’d leave out the Miss part.”
Anna rolled her eyes. “He won’t listen.”
“Cain’t.” John glanced around. “Least not in public. That all right?”
“As long as you promise to drop it when it’s just us.”
“Deal. You seen Mr. Ned?”
All three women laughed, surprising John before he realized what was so funny.
“He was just here with Cody. They left to go find the kids.”
“That’ll take a while, I ’spect.”
Anna positioned herself to keep an eye on the patrons passing in all directions and watched the carnival workers beside the Skydiver. �
��Anyone hurt bad?”
“Nope.” Norma Faye raised her thick red hair to cool the back of her neck. “A couple of girls banged up, but that’s all. One of them was a Clay.”
“Good.” Anna raised an eyebrow at the name and watched John intercept a group of black teenagers who squealed in delight when they saw him.
He wrapped a couple in his big arms and launched into an animated conversation with the kids. “Sharonda Mayfield! When’d you get out of jail?”
The others around her screamed and laughed at the joke that was old as the hills.
Running out of conversation in the loud midway, Christine gave Norma Faye a squeeze. “I want to come see that house of yours.”
Norma Faye laughed. “Any time. It’s a lot better than that shack where we lived and you stayed with me that week Calvin went hunting in Oklahoma.”
“It was too bad he came back, hungover and stinkin’ to high heaven. Honey, you sure picked a loser in that one. He never was worth half of nothing, and that house! I don’t believe I ever saw a rat come running out of an oven before!” They laughed and Christine left after more promises to get together.
When she was gone, Anna sidestepped closer to Norma Faye. “Did you ride over here with Cody?”
Norma Faye rolled her eyes. “Yep. We’re on a date.”
Anna hadn’t been on a date since she moved to Chisum. Recuperating from the shotgun blast and working nearly eighteen hours a day didn’t lend much chance at finding anyone. It was a vicious cycle, no dates and no social life meant she could work harder and longer hours.
“At least you’re on one.” Anna passed both hands up and down her uniform. “I haven’t had too many guys ask me lately. That’s one reason I’m working tonight.”
“I might know someone…”
“No. That’s not what I meant. Cody brought you here for a night out and here you stand, talking to me.”
“That’s okay. It’s his job, and besides, this is the life I chose.”
Anna studied Norma Faye’s face. Her mass of red hair was even brighter in the colored lights. “Cody told me how y’all got together. You’re both lucky.”
“We sure are. It didn’t happen the way I would have liked, and there was a lot of talk. I believe I heard the word ‘hussy’ about once a day for a year, but I didn’t care. We were supposed to be together.”
“Why don’t I find him and send him back? Y’all need to enjoy your time together.”
“He’ll be back in a little while with Ned and the kids.”
“Well girl, I love your spirit.” Anna paused, watching two men glare at each other in the middle of the midway. “Uh oh. I better get over there.”
Norma Faye followed her gaze. “One of those guys is Cecil Clay. The other two with him are kinfolk. The other’n over there is a Mayfield, but I don’t know his name.”
“All the more reason.”
Chapter Sixty-two
Anna left Norma Faye and headed directly toward Cecil Clay. She caught John’s attention as she passed and pointed. The warmth in his eyes vanished and he left the youngsters to make a bee-line toward Bryce Mayfield, who wouldn’t break eye contact with Cecil.
If seen from above, a viewer would have witnessed a stunning sight. Cecil Clay and Bryce became human magnets, their posture drawing people toward them from up and down the midway. With the hive-instinct of insects, family members left what they were doing and headed toward the building confrontation.
Rage radiated from young men tight as fiddle strings and the air crackled with electricity. Clay’s cousins Andy, Martin, and Wilbur formed a line facing the gathering Mayfield clan.
Bryce Mayfield slipped one hand into his overalls and met Cecil’s gaze. It was as challenging as two fighting dogs in a pit, and just as effective. Almost as if it were orchestrated, more Clays pressed within feet of their adversaries. Neither advancing line was intimidated by the other.
Sensing the coming storm, onlookers stopped to watch the action, packing people into the leftover spaces in front of the games. Even the barkers quieted down, straining to see the conflict.
John stepped between them, holding out a hand to warn his people back. “Hold on now. You Mayfields settle down!”
Anna rested one hand on the butt of her pistol. “You men cool off! We’re not having this here tonight!”
“Shut up little girl!” Royal Clay’s unwashed hair was combed back behind his ears and his blue work shirt needed to visit the inside of a washing machine. “My people don’t have to take no shit off a woman deputy at any time.”
Her voice was calm and steady, not reflecting how she felt inside. “How’s that knee, tough guy?”
The man put his hand in the middle of Anna’s chest. “You was lucky this mornin’. Now, go on home and scrub a commode or something and let the men settle things….”
He pushed and Anna’s leather sap once again came out of nowhere, this time cracking against Royal’s head. His eyes rolled back and he collapsed in a heap, blood gushing from a split in his scalp. She stepped back, ready for another swing at the next target that was Cecil. “Give me a reason, young man. Just one.”
“There’s too many innocent people here for this.” John hadn’t taken his eyes off the collection of opponents pressing close. “Bryce! You better get that hand out of that pocket.”
The men wavered and shrank back. Willis wriggled his fingers into a set of brass knuckles. “John, go on and get gone. This needs to end here.”
“Nothin’s happenin’.” John drew his own sap that looked tiny in his big hand. “Y’all back off or I’m fixin’ to hurt somebody.”
Chapter Sixty-three
No one had ever seen Clocko the Clown in the Funhouse, but that didn’t make any difference. Clowns were known for doing whatever came to mind, and Calvin had an idea. If he caught the kid inside, he could have enough to time to finish up before he left.
He knew the layout of the Funhouse as well as the owner, Fredrick Bellows. Calvin Williams was the best mechanic they had at the carnival, and spent his days helping to maintain and repair the rides and exhibits. He even repaired some of the oddities and illusions such as the corpse of the Outlaw Ben Steele. Supposedly gunned down during a bank robbery in the 1880s, the corpse was nothing more than a mannequin body with a dried leather face made from deteriorating deerskin.
Calvin had fixed the Funhouse’s false drop only two days before and he almost laughed that Top was trying to hide inside a place he knew as well as the back of his hand.
Kyle Philips, the kid taking money at the door, was surprised when Calvin jumped the rail. “Where you going, Cal?”
Aggravated, he held the door open for a moment. He didn’t need anyone to question what he was doing. Calvin had an agreement with Delmar that he clowned when he wanted to, and could come and go as he pleased.
He spoke softly so only Kyle could hear. “Clocko, you dumbass. When I’m in paint, it’s Clocko.” He widened his eyes, spread his hands and fingers and rocked back and forth. “Just want to give the kids a little extra thrill.” He paused. Well, hell, he didn’t have to follow the kid through the maze. He spun and Kyle backed out of the way.
“Cal…Clocko.” Kyle held up both hands in a startled defensive move. “What’n hell you doing now?”
“Shut up, kid. It’s none of your business, but I changed my mind.” He pushed the young man out of the way and shoved through a half dozen teenagers lined up for their turn.
They laughed and pointed at Clocko the Clown, but one of the boys puffed up. “Hey clown, don’t push my girlfriend! What’s that all about?”
Clocko turned dead eyes on the kid who quickly found something more interesting further down. The boy took his frightened girlfriend’s hand and they left, dodging another clown coming from the opposite direction with a spray of bright balloons.
Clocko
held out a hand. “Hey, Dale.”
Instead of reacting the same way as Calvin when Kyle called his real name, Baggy the Clown paused. “What?”
“Loan me a couple of them balloons.”
Baggy peeled two away from the strings in his hand and passed them over. “You better do something before Delmar sees you standing around like you got good sense. You’re supposed to be in character.”
Clocko’s eyes widened and he held both hands wide again, this time speaking in falsetto. “Well I needed a balloon!”
Two teenagers laughed as they passed, reaching for the balloons in Clocko’s hand. He leaned in, showing his yellow teeth and the frightened kids hurried away.
Baggy skipped in a circle. “Balloons for sale! Ballooooooonnnnsssss!”
“Hang around with me for a few minutes,” Clocko said.
Baggy shrugged. “Sure.”
In a complete reversal of personality, Clocko lightly pulled a little girl’s pigtails and handed her one of his balloons. She let go of her smiling father’s hand, took it, presented the clown with her own smile. Patting her on the head, Clocko turned to a tall teenage boy. “Hey, smell this flower and tell me if you like it.”
When the youngster leaned in for a sniff, Clocko squeezed a bulb in his pants pocket, sending a squirt of water into his face. The boy’s friends laughed and the teenager good-naturedly wiped it away, grinning from ear to ear for being taken.
Clocko’s smile was painted on, but his real lips buried in a thick layer of red paint were pursed in concern. His multiple personalities struggled to get free. To hold them steady, he gave another little boy a pat on the head and positioned himself to watch the Funhouse exit door, using Baggy and his balloons as a shield.
Chapter Sixty-four
The Funhouse would’ve been great if we’d been in there to enjoy it. Instead, I needed to find Grandpa. Pepper and Mark led the way faster than I wanted. My foot hurt like sin and blood squished in my tennis shoe.
Unraveled Page 25