by Robbie Cox
“Is this why you were so sullen Saturday morning on the road?” Chester asked, looking over at his grandson with worry etched on his face.
Wyatt nodded. “It was, and at the time, I didn’t have a clue as to what to make of it. It wasn’t until yesterday that I discovered the nightmare was a banshee, and she was sent to warn me about a loved one’s death. Your death, actually.”
His grandfather just stared at him, his face a blank mask, void of emotion or shock.
Wyatt ignored his grandfather’s silence, pressing onward. “That’s why I want you to let someone else act as ringmaster right now. Her vision showed you were murdered, just like my father. Someone is trying to kill you. Someone killed my father. We need to find out who before they succeed.”
Chester shook his head of thick gray hair. When he spoke, his voice was soft, almost distant. “Son, what happened to your father was a tragedy, but it was just a fluke accident. Who would want to kill him? Hell, who would want to kill me? We’re a family here. We may squabble and bicker, but in the end, we have each other’s backs. We don’t kill each other.”
Wyatt looked off in the distance, noticing Patrick walking up with a squat of a man beside him. Their direction seemed to be Chester, so Wyatt knew he only had a couple of more seconds to convince his grandfather someone wanted him dead. He turned back to his grandfather, determination on his face. “Look, I know how you feel about everyone here, but the truth is, someone wants you out of the picture, so they can sell the circus. That has to be it. Nothing else makes sense. You know how some are disgruntled that you won’t sell. Hell, even Hodges has been pestering you to take that lawyer’s offer.” He took a deep breath. “I’m not asking you to step down forever. Just give me a chance to figure out who’s behind it, that’s all.”
Chester waved him off. “Hodges is just a whiney worrywart. He doesn’t have an evil bone in his body. Surely not a murderous one. I don’t know what that banshee saw, but I do know no one in this circus would want me dead. Why not just ask me to buy them out? Wouldn’t that be easier?”
“Chester. Wyatt,” Patrick said as he approached, the little man right beside him.
Wyatt stared at the newcomer, a dwarf, if Wyatt guessed correctly, with a thick mane of red hair, and a beard and mustache that almost buried his mouth. The man could barely be more than three and a half feet tall with the darkest green eyes Wyatt ever saw as well as a body that reminded him of a small boulder. If the man’s skin was gray instead of a dark tan, Wyatt would have thought the man a baby ogre.
“What’s up, Patrick?” Chester asked, glancing at Patrick’s companion and giving him a nod of acknowledgment.
Patrick pointed to the dwarf. “This is Hudrik. He owns Tinkers, where I took your car Saturday.” Patrick’s face pinched into a tight knot of concern. “I thought you should hear what he had to say for yourself.” Patrick glanced down at the dwarf and nodded. Everyone else turned their attention to the squat man.
Hudrik played with his beard, running his sausage-like fingers through the bushy mass. “I gave your car the once over this morning,” the dwarf said, his voice deep, almost rumbling. He shook his head. “At first, when your man here told me what happened, I assumed your master cylinder went out, but that’s not the case.” He stared right at Chester, his dark green eyes narrow slits under bushy brows. “Someone cut your lines.”
“You mean the lines went bad,” Chester said, narrowing one eye at the dwarf as he spoke.
Hudrik shook his shaggy head. “Nope. I meant just what I said. Someone cut your lines. Someone wanted you to crash. You’re lucky you’re not dead.”
Wyatt turned to his grandfather, panic pinching his features.
Chester turned to Wyatt, and Wyatt could tell his grandfather began to accept the truth of what Wyatt told him. “Someone wants me dead,” Chester whispered, his voice dripping with disbelief.
Thirteen
Night started to swallow the day as April stood in front of the hostess stand at Fireside Grille, flames flickering from the lanterns perched on the stone wall behind the podium. She scanned the area behind the stand for any sign of Meredith, but had yet to see the dark-haired demon. Brandie and Kerry Underwood started their investigation, April signing the papers, unsure how Wyatt would take bringing an outsider into his circus world. Still, that didn’t mean April couldn’t exercise her due diligence with the avenues left to her. If Meredith could tell her when Chester Compton was destined to die, then April and Wyatt could be there to catch the person in the act. It wasn’t a guarantee, but it was the best course of action she had.
Shayla stepped up to the hostess stand from the seating area, her smile set firmly on her face. “Good evening, are you expecting others?” she asked as she reached for the menus.
April shook her head. “I was actually hoping Meredith was here. I need to ask her something.”
Shayla slid the menus back on top of the stack on the edge of the stand, her smile dimming. “Sorry, no,” she said. “Meredith now takes Monday nights off to spend with Jackson. Seems that’s his night off at the bar, so dear Meredith had to have the night off as well. Didn’t matter that I had Monday nights off for the longest time. Oh, no, Meredith got her way.” She shook her head as she blew out a heavy breath. “Is there anything else you need?”
“Yes,” another voice said from behind April—a male voice. “We’d like a table for two, please.”
April turned her head slightly, noticing Wyatt stepping up to the hostess stand, his smile more genuine than Shayla’s had been. “We’re having dinner together?” April asked, a slight smile pushing up the corners of her mouth.
“You two are having dinner together?” Shayla repeated the question, looking at Wyatt with pinched brows.
And why is that so hard to believe?
Wyatt just nodded, still smiling as he slid closer to April. “We are,” he said, looking into April’s eyes and ignoring the disbelief on Shayla’s face. “I never got the chance to thank you for your, uh, words yesterday. Seems like dinner would be a nice way of doing that.” Then he looked troubled, his eyes narrow slits as he continued to look at her. “Unless, of course, I’m taking you from something. Were you meeting someone else? That was pretty presumptuous of me, wasn’t it? I’m sorry. I’ll just...”
April reached out, placing a hand on Wyatt’s upper arm, silencing his ramblings. “You’re fine. Promise.” She returned his smile. “And no, I had no other plans. Dinner sounds lovely.”
A look of relief washed over Wyatt’s face as his smile slipped back into place. “Great,” he said, his voice holding his joy. He turned back to the hostess. “As I said, a table for two, please.”
Shayla cocked her head as she made a slight shrug. “Table for two,” she said as she slid two menus off the top of the stack. She gestured to the seating area and added, “Follow me, please.”
Less than a minute later, April was snuggled on one side of a booth with Wyatt’s pale red eyes looking back at her. She felt the blush warm her cheeks as she ducked her gaze from his, suddenly feeing self-conscious without understanding why. “Thank you,” she said. “For dinner, that is.”
He grinned back at her, his sparkling smile catching the breath in her throat. “We haven’t had dinner yet,” he teased. “But, you’re welcome.” He sat back in the booth, giving a one-shouldered shrug. “It’s the least I can do, really, after what you did to warn me about what could happen to my grandfather.”
She sighed. He still hasn’t accepted the truth of things. He doesn’t accept his grandfather’s death is a certainty, not just a possibility. Still, after his reaction yesterday at Cuddles, she was not about to attempt to change his mind. Not now. Not while they were alone like they were. “Have you discovered anything else?” she asked, reaching for her napkin just to have something to do with her hands.
Wyatt shifted in his seat, scooting closer to the table, his eyes lighting up. “Actually, I have. Someone cut my grandfather’s brakes the other
day. We almost crashed on the interstate. If it hadn’t been for my grandfather’s quick thinking, we surely would have ended up causing a major accident on the road. As it was, we got away with barely a dent in the front bumper.”
Without thinking, April reached across the table, taking Wyatt’s hand in hers and squeezing it. “Oh, god, Wyatt. I’m so glad you’re all right. That had to be terrible. Do you have any idea who did it?”
He smiled at her as he glanced down at their hands. “No,” he told her. “It could have been anyone.”
Embarrassment flamed April’s pale cheeks as she jerked her hand back. “Sorry,” she said. “I don’t know what came over me.” She swallowed and then took a deep breath to steady the humiliation that coursed through her. “I’m glad you’re all right, though.”
“It’s all right,” he assured her, his smile never wavering. “And I’m glad we’re all right, too. It was scary as hell to be honest. Something I never want to experience again for sure.” He cocked his head a little as he stared at her. “I don’t remember ever seeing you at the circus before, and I’ve been here every time Grandpa brought us. Not a fan?”
“Hey, folks, I’m Daphne. Can I get you started with something to drink? Appetizers?” the waitress asked as she stepped up to the table, pen and notepad in her hands.
They each ordered tea, and Wyatt ordered some cheese sticks with marinara sauce. As Daphne walked off, promising to be right back with their drinks, April gave a slight shrug. “It’s not that I’m not a fan,” she told him. “It’s just, when you’re surrounded by kids for nine months out of the year, you kind of want a break when it’s handed to you. I usually use spring break to regroup and relax, bracing for the end of the year craziness that swallows Black Hollow Academy, and trust me; it gets pretty crazy.”
Wyatt laughed, and it sounded like bells in the wind, bringing a warmth to her chest. “I bet it does,” he said, still chuckling. “I remember being a kid at one point in my life.” He shrugged a little. “It was different for me, though. My family owns the circus, so we’re always on the move. My mother, god rest her soul, homeschooled me while we traveled.” His lips slid into a nostalgic smile as he glanced down, and by the look on his face, April could tell it wasn’t the table he saw. “I swear, I did everything I could to get out of doing schoolwork.” He chuckled, glancing back into April’s eyes, and she saw the memories dancing behind his faded red orbs. “One time, I was just tired of the lessons. I had been struggling with math for weeks and didn’t want to face another day of numbers and letters mixing. So, before mom came into my room in our trailer, I slid under my desk and hid. When she came in, she stared at me, her hands on her hips as she asked me what on earth I thought I was doing.” Wyatt shook his head at the memory. “I told her I was absent, calling out sick. Mom just stood there, laughing as she stared at me.” He shrugged. “She thought my ploy was so ingenious and funny, she gave me the day off. We spent it baking peanut butter cookies, instead. Of course, it was full of measurements and weights, so Mom still snuck her math in there. Still, I wouldn’t trade that day for anything. One of my best memories.”
April’s cheeks hurt with how much she felt herself smiling right then, laughing right along with Wyatt. “I can see why. That is definitely a memory worth holding onto.”
He nodded as Daphne returned with their teas and quickly scribbled down their orders. “Yeah, Mom was a trooper,” Wyatt continued once the waitress left. “She never intended on joining the circus. Hell, she didn’t even know about the paranormal world until she fell in love with my dad.” He shook his head. “The rest of the family tried to talk him out of marrying her, saying a human wouldn’t fit in with our lifestyle, some even believing their union was bad luck, but dear old Dad wouldn’t listen to them. He courted her the entire time the circus was in her town, asking her to marry him before they pulled up stakes. Quick, but then again, that’s the way it is in the circus. We never stay in one place long enough to lay down roots, so Dad knew he needed to make a move before the circus left town.” His smile grew as he let out a soft chuckle. “Luckily for me, Mom was just as eager to say yes as Dad was to ask her.”
“Your mother is no longer alive?” April asked, a sadness filling her for the man across from her. He already told her his father had been killed, and her vision told her Wyatt’s grandfather was next, leaving Wyatt alone. At least, she assumed he was alone. Panic gripped her as she wondered if there was a Mrs. Wyatt somewhere or a girlfriend at least. Wyatt didn’t strike April as the type to have dalliances on the road, but she had known better men to succumb to temptations and a wayward urge.
Wyatt shook his head, a mistiness in his eyes. “She died of cancer when I was a teenager. Hardest thing I ever had to witness, and the only time I saw my father step away from the circus. He threw himself into it after my mother passed away, losing himself in the business to bury his pain.”
“I’m sorry,” April said. “I bet that was rough.”
He shrugged. “It was at first. Then the carnival became even more of our family. That’s why I know grandfather won’t sell, and why I find it hard to believe someone would kill him. We’re a close knit group, tighter than most families.” He shook his head. “It just doesn’t make sense.”
“Greed never does,” she told him, her heart aching at what he went through back then and now. “But we’ll figure it out. You’ll see.” Yet, in the pit of her stomach, she wasn’t sure whether or not she was lying to him, giving him false hope. How do you find a killer in the midst of people who could look like anyone or anything?
Fourteen
Once dinner was over, Wyatt and April walked out of Fireside Grille, the night life of Black Hollow in full swing, the bright flashing lights of Professor Compton’s Phantom Circus sparking up the darkness. Over dinner, April told him about hiring Underwood Investigations to help solve his father’s murder as well as try to discover who wanted to kill his grandfather. He offered to pay for it, of course, embarrassed he hadn’t thought about hiring someone before.
He then told her about his conversation with his grandfather, and how he convinced Chester to permit someone else to act as ringmaster until they found out who wanted him dead. It was easier once Hurdik told them about the cut brake lines. Of course, Wyatt knew it wouldn’t last for long, so they needed to find out who was behind it all quickly.
Wyatt stared across the street at his grandfather’s life, the screams from kids on the rides slicing the air, the barking of the men calling out to the passing crowd to try their luck at games of chance, and the smell of greasy carnival food reaching them even where they stood. Wyatt took a deep breath, inhaling more than the aromas, listening to more than the sounds. He basked in the life of his family, the excitement, the thrills, the chance for people to lose themselves, if even for a few hours. He could see why his grandfather refused to sell the circus. It was more than just a living; it was a way to carve out a life, to bring merriment and joy to people who, just a few moments ago, may have felt miserable and needed to forget their own life for a few hours; it was a way to make a difference in the world by offering an escape from a life that could sometimes bring people to their knees. This was his grandfather’s legacy; it was Wyatt’s as well, one he needed to save from whoever threatened his family.
“You doing all right?” April asked from beside him, a worried expression scrunching her face.
He glanced over at her, smiling as he nodded. “I am,” he assured her. “I was just thinking about why my grandfather loves his circus so much.” He took a deep breath, his shoulders rising with the inhale. “I didn’t get it, to be honest. I mean, I knew it was our life, a way to be a part of the world as paranormals without being persecuted. I knew it was a way to keep our family safe, protect the phantoms, but I still never truly got it. Until now, that is; until someone’s threatened it, and someone else wants to rip it away from us.” He took another deep breath, feeling the excitement from across the street filling him. With a grin
spreading his cheeks, he glanced over at April. “Care to go to the circus with me?”
April smiled back at him, and a warmth filled his chest he couldn’t explain, even though he knew the source. “That sounds like fun. It’s been a few years since I’ve actually visited the circus. When Reina and I were there yesterday, it was just to find you. It’s about time I went again.”
He nodded once, smiling. “Great. Let’s go.” He winked at her. “I know some of the circus’s better, well-kept secrets.” He then chuckled. “I can also get us at the front of the lines and the best seats in the house.” He held his arm out, crooking it so she could loop her arm around his. “Shall we?”
She gave a slight dip of her head as she took his offered arm. “We shall.”
Together, they crossed the street, and Wyatt ushered her through the admissions gate, giving the woman in the booth a short nod as he passed. He noticed April craning her neck in all directions, absorbing the sights, sounds, and smells he grew accustomed to over the years. He watched her as he guided her over to the Ferris wheel, doing his best to see the circus through her eyes, taking in the quirky characters who ran the game booths, the vendors hawking their wares; the clowns roaming around joking with the kids. It was like Wyatt brought April into his home by bringing her to the circus. He glanced around, looking for someone he would want her to meet as they crossed the grounds, but no one stood out right away. Instead, he walked her over to the front of the line, said hello to Arthur at the controls, one of the gorilla shifters who helped set up the rides.
Arthur cocked an eyebrow at Wyatt, but said nothing as he opened the small door and gestured the two of them inside. Once they were seated, the belt snug around them both, Arthur just shook his head and moved back to the controls.
“What does he think is so funny?” April asked Wyatt as they settled back in their seat.