Strolling Into Danger (A Seagrove Cozy Mystery Book 6) (6 page)

“I’m sorry,” Sadie said, “We should have dressed Lucy somewhere else.” She led Alena to a chair.

“This is Lucy,” she said. “She’s about the same build as your mother, but you can see the make-up on her face. We used it to make her look like your mother.”

“See,” Lucy said pulling the wig back to show Alena her blond hair.

“It’s a wig.” Alena nodded.

“I’m fine,” she said. “It was just a surprise.” She got up.

“I need to get ready for my shift.”

She started flipping through the clothes on the rack and pulled out the brightest skirt and top combo, slipping the skirt over her leggings.

Sadie, Betty, and the Pabelin-afied Lucy gathered in a corner to give Alena some privacy until she disappeared into the front of the tent and Pabelin’s sister came out. Her eyes were red-rimmed and she glared at the three women until they turned away once again. Lucy sighed when Pabelin’s sister left the tent and dropped onto the couch.

“That was so awkward,” she said. “I didn’t realize how distressing dressing up like a dead woman was going to be. Next time I’m saying no.”

“It’s almost over now,” Sadie said. “We just have to brave the big top for a few minutes and then we’ll turn you back into Lucy.”

Officer Wilson, dressed as a clown, stuck her head in the back flap of the tent. “Time to go,” she said. “He’s climbing up to the trapeze now.”

Betty flanked one side of Lucy and Sadie the other as they hurried her to the performance entrance of the big tent. Sadie looked in to see Winston on the platform above the center ring, the spotlight illuminating him as he bowed in all directions before grabbing his trapeze.

The women hurried past circus security, who were actually members of the Seagrove police force, and into the center ring. Above them was the safety net, and above that Winston was swinging the trapeze, getting ready to fly over to another trapeze where another man was waiting to catch him. A microphone was shoved at Lucy and as she took it, Sadie noticed her hands were shaking. Winston let go of his trapeze, tucking into a flip as a flood light came on and illuminated Lucy.

“Win, why did you kill me?” she asked in the husky voice and foreign accent that she’d spent the day before learning.

Her words boomed through the PA system, distracting Win. He missed the catch, twisting in the air to catch sight of Lucy below him, his face registering shocked disbelief. He fell to the net.

“Win,” Lucy repeated, “why?”

In the shadows around the ring, Sadie could see officers moving into place, ready to nab Winston Felton when he came down from the net. He bounced gracefully and Sadie thought the showmanship was probably instinctive. He kept his eyes on Lucy the entire time.

And her eyes followed him. Sadie wondered if Win could see the accusation from high on the net. She could see it and it gave her chills. Either Lucy was really getting into her role or she felt genuine outrage at this man.

“Pabelin?”

Sadie couldn’t hear the word from where she stood, but that was clearly what he said. He could not tear his eyes from her face. He flipped over the edge of the net and climbed down a rope ladder that Sadie hadn’t realized was there. He moved toward Lucy slowly and Sadie wondered when he would realize it wasn’t Pabelin.

“Pabelin,” he said.

“I’m so sorry. I would take it back if I could. I regretted the minute…” he stopped, confused.

“I love you, I didn’t want to kill.” He stopped midsentence, the truth dawning on his face.

“You are not her,” he said, slowly turning to see the ring of police officers dressed as circus folk closing around him.

He sprinted for the nearest pole and went straight up. It was more scaffolding than pole, Sadie noticed, but even with that he went up at an amazing speed. A female officer tugged off her clown wig and shoes and went up after him. But he had reached the high wire stretched high above the rings and started across it toward the big entrance the animals would come through later in the performance.

Sadie heard the loudspeaker and looked to see an officer had taken the microphone from Lucy.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” he said. “Please remain in your seats. The performance will resume shortly.”

No one had moved as far as Sadie could see. It had all happened so fast. All eyes were on the man who was now halfway across the high wire. Perhaps they thought this was part of the show. But Sadie had trouble watching, there was no net over that side of the tent. If he fell…

“Sadie!” Betty was trying to get her attention.

“Help me get Lucy out of this costume.”

Sadie turned to see Lucy yanking the layers of skirts down over Lucy’s legs, and ran to help her. She pulled the wig from Lucy’s golden head and pulled a plastic bag full of make-up remover cloths from her pocket to wipe Pabelin’s contours from her face.

Betty bundled the fortune teller clothes into a big black garbage bag, leaving Lucy standing in her T-shirt and sweats. Lucy kicked off the boots and Betty handed her the sneakers she’d carried in a tote bag. The transformation was complete. Win would have to look closely to see any traces of the woman he had loved and killed.

“Look,” Lucy said and pointed to the far end of the big top where the aerialist was approaching the far pole.

There was a ring of police officers around the bottom and the female officer who had followed him up the first pole was waiting on the platform on the chance he would try to make it back.

Sadie watched to see what he would do, but he never even slowed. He went from the wire to the platform and then up the pole to the top of the tent where he paused for a moment and then disappeared into the top of the tent.

“How did he do that?” Sadie asked, not that she expected anyone to have the answer.

She joined Betty and Lucy as they followed the officers out the nearest exit, which happened to be the performer’s entrance where they had entered. They turned to look up, but they were too close, the tent was in their way.

There was a whistle and Sadie looked to see the Strongman standing on top of one of the big trailers that hauled the circus. He waved for them to come over.

“Come on,” Sadie said to Betty and Lucy and they ran to the semi.

“How do we get up?” Sadie called up to him.

“There’s a ladder at the back,” the Strongman called down and Sadie knew why she’d never heard him speak.

He had the most beautiful voice she’d ever heard and his accent was BBC English. A perfect voice for wooing women but absolutely wrong for a man who needed to intimidate. It was far too refined.

They ran to the back of the trailer and Sadie scanned the top of the circus tent while Lucy and Betty went up ahead of her. She still couldn’t see any sign of Win on the tent.

“Sadie!” Lucy called down to her. “Come on. You can see everything from up here.”

Sadie climbed the cold metal ladder attached to the back of the semi-trailer and climbed up on her hands and knees. Lucy put out a hand and helped Sadie to her feet and pointed to the big top tent. Sadie steadied herself with a hand on Lucy’s arm and looked where the three others were pointing.

Win was running along the top ridge of the tent. Sadie couldn’t help but admire his agility, then she thought of how high he was and decided she admired his courage more. Of course, she then thought of Pabelin and decided she didn’t admire him at all. Then he slipped, his foot sliding out into thin air and he dropped to one knee. She held her breath as he regained his footing and moved forward again.

He reached the far pole, stood there a moment, and then jumped. He landed on the slope of the tent roof and slid to the edge of the roof. As he reached the edge, he stood, bent his knees, and as his feet hit the point where the canvas dropped away into wall, he jumped. He soared toward a truck parked near the front of the circus. He tucked and rolled as he landed, ending on his feet, still moving.

He ran, jumping from truck to truck, until two officers climbed to the roof of a truck in his path. He veered to the left, jumping across the ten-foot wide walkway. Sadie held her breath, thinking he couldn’t possibly make the distance, but he flew, arms outstretched and then rolled, landing on the motorhome. She would have clapped if he wasn’t a murderer.

Now Win was running toward them, but before Sadie could think about climbing down the Strongman positioned himself at the end of the trailer nearest the aerialist. Win slowed, and Sadie could see him calculating. His next jump took him toward the circus performers’ trailers. He made four more flying jumps before a pair of cops appeared on an RV in his path. Win changed direction again.

Sadie wondered if they had enough people to trap Winston.  At some point, they would run out of officers, and Zack’s people couldn’t make the huge jumps that would allow them to catch Win. It took time to climb down from the trailers, run across the gaps and climb again. By the time the officers appeared again the aerialist had moved across another gap the officers couldn’t hurdle.

Win left the jungle of motorhomes and trailers to run along the line of semi-trailers that ran from the far fence to the front of the midway. He would pass on the other side of the big top and Sadie worried they would lose sight of Win. If she lost sight then surely Zack and his team would lose him, too.

“Stop him, Chief,” she said under her breath and Lucy slid her arm around Sadie.

“They’ll catch him,” Lucy said. “Don’t worry.”

Sadie spotted four officers climbing a trailer on the other side of the big top.

“Look,” she pointed. “They are going to cut him off.”

Winston saw them, too, and on the next truck he changed direction again and jumped for the trailer that carried the wild cats. His first foot hit the trailer right on the edge, but he didn’t have the momentum to follow through and he teetered there, trying to force his body forward. Then he fell in a slow motion arc backward and down, disappearing from view. A roar split the air, sending sharp pangs of fear up her spine and raising the hair on the back of her neck. She ran to the Strongman.

“Where did he fall?” she asked in a panic.

“Don’t worry, the cats all have roofs over their cages,” he said, the melodic quality of his voice taking her by surprise yet again. He saw her react.

“I know. My voice. It’s all wrong.”

“But it’s so beautiful,” Sadie said. “You could do radio or voiceovers. Anything.”

“Yes, but what I love is to be the Strongman in the circus. That I can do without my voice. And it is a good thing.”

“It’s good you don’t have to use your voice?” she asked.

“Yes. And maybe I’ll get the chance to tell you why, but now we should join the others. I believe they have captured Winston and I would like to know what he has to say for himself.”

He helped them from the top of the tractor-trailer and led them toward the cathouse. They found the Chief and four of his officers leading Win Felton back toward the big top. He was handcuffed and scowling, radiating rage. Sadie took a step back and ran into the Strongman.

“Sorry,” she croaked.

“No need to worry,” he said. “They have him.”

But the moment the words were out of his mouth the handcuffs slid over Win’s hands and fell to the ground. There was a shout from one of the officers and Win broke free, sprinting for the big top. A crowd of people ran after him. Sadie couldn’t tell the circus people from the police because so many were dressed as roustabouts or performers. She grabbed Lucy and Betty’s hands and joined the crowd racing to the big top.

They came to a standstill at the edge of the nearest ring and Sadie dragged her friends around the edge of the throng until they could see what was going on. Winston Felton was climbing the center pole. He was about halfway to the platform and three police officers climbed after him. Win was pulling away. He was quick and nimble. His shoes were made to be flexible. The officers had on heavy lugged sole boots, the two uniformed cops were weighed down with their utility belts and the clown’s baggy clothing hampered the third.