Circus of Nightmares: Death is the Ultimate Illusion (The Anglesey Mysteries Book 2)

by Conrad Jones

  Kelly stepped outside into the covered porch. There was a gas cupboard there, which housed the meter and the electric cupboard was next to it. They were always locked and could only be opened with the triangular key thingy which her dad had given to her. It was open. She pushed the door and saw that the main fuse for her house had been tampered with. It was held in place by a fuse wire that was sealed by the utility company who supplied her. The concept was the fire brigade could turn off the gas and electric from the outside in the event of a fire. The fuse wire had been cut, which meant they had removed the fuse, messaged her and then replaced it. They had been at her front door the entire time. How brazen was that?

  Kelly scrolled through her phone and found Jack’s number. She rang him and he answered within a few rings. His voice was excited, like a teenager with his first girlfriend.

  ‘Hello babe,’ he said. ‘I was just thinking about you. In fact, that’s a lie. I’ve been thinking about you all night. Not in a pervy type of way. You know what I mean,’ he stammered.

  ‘Don’t get yourself all hot and bothered,’ Kelly said. ‘I’m not calling to make up. Everything I said yesterday still stands but I need to talk to you.’

  ‘Oh, okay. What’s up then?’ Jack asked, sulkily.

  ‘I need you to take all the pictures you’ve tagged me in, off Facebook,’ Kelly said. ‘All of them, Jack and I mean they need to be taken down this morning.’

  ‘Why can’t I have pictures of you on Facebook?’ he moaned. ‘Is this about what happened yesterday?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘I thought so,’ Jack said. ‘You’re overreacting. I thought so yesterday if I’m honest.’

  ‘I’m not overreacting,’ Kelly said, calmly. Although she didn’t feel in the slightest bit calm. ‘I want those photographs removed please.’

  ‘I’m at work,’ Jack said. ‘I’ll do it later. What did the detective say last night?’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘He called and asked for your mobile number,’ Jack said. Kelly stayed quiet, simmering beneath the surface. ‘He said they’d written it down wrong and needed to clarify something with you. What was it about?’

  ‘You are such a stupid idiot,’ Kelly said, shaking her head. ‘It wasn’t the police. It was them.’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘The murderers, stupid,’ Kelly said. ‘They got your name and number from your van. Now, they know where I live and thanks to you, they have my mobile number. You gave it to them.’ She was fuming. The urge to shout and scream at him was powerful but she resisted. ‘They cut off my power and threatened me last night, you bloody fool.’

  ‘They cut off the power to your house?’ Jack asked, shocked.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Oh my god,’ Jack said. ‘Have you told the police?’

  ‘No, of course not and you had better not say anything to them either,’ Kelly said. ‘You’ve done enough damage, thank you very much. I can’t believe you gave them my number. I wondered how they got it. I should have known.’

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ Jack said. ‘He sounded so genuine. Why would I think he was lying?’ Jack sighed. ‘I am really sorry, you know.’

  ‘I know you are,’ Kelly said, sighing. ‘I know you mean well but I think it’s probably best if we don’t see each other.’ Jack remained quiet. ‘I want to leave the relationship, Jack. It’s not good for me and Ellie right now.’

  ‘I understand,’ Jack said. She felt relieved.

  ‘Good. It’s for the best, especially now this has happened.’

  ‘You need a break. Take as long as you want, Kelly,’ Jack said. ‘A few weeks or so and you’ll think differently. This has been a massive shock for both of us. Take a bit of time off and I’ll be here waiting for you.’

  ‘Take a bit of time off?’ Kelly said, sighing. ‘I’m not calling in sick at work, Jack. I don’t want to take a bit of time off. I’m trying to tell you that we’re finished. I don’t want to be in a relationship with you anymore.’

  ‘You feel like that now but give it a few weeks and you’ll feel better.’

  ‘I haven’t got fucking measles,’ Kelly said. She could feel her heart sinking. She didn’t want to hurt him anymore than necessary but he wasn’t getting the message. ‘I don’t want to fall out with you. Please remove all those pictures of me.’

  ‘I will,’ Jack said. ‘I’ll do it right now. Whatever you need to get over this.’

  ‘Get over what?’ Kelly asked. She was confused and felt her anger rising again. ‘Look. Take the photos down. I’m going to block you because I don’t want them to be able to find me through your profile and then I’m going to deactivate my account. Don’t take it personally.’

  ‘I’m not sure how else to take it,’ Jack said. ‘I don’t see why you need to block me. That’s way over the top. Everyone will think we’re finished.’

  ‘Oh my god,’ Kelly mumbled. ‘You’re not listening to me.’ She took a deep breath. ‘I might have to go away for a while.’

  ‘Where to?’

  ‘It’s best you don’t know,’ Kelly said. ‘Bye, Jack. You take care of yourself.’ Kelly hung up and cried as she blocked his number. He was sweet but just not the one. She shed a tear as she deleted the number that had messaged her the night before. Then she deactivated her Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts. To anyone searching for her online, she was invisible. That was a good start. She had to be proactive. Elle would need to do the same with her social media and that would cause eruptions and tantrums but they needed to vanish for a while. The newshounds wouldn’t leave the Rhosneiger murders alone until they’d squeezed every last drop from it and that meant it would be in the spotlight for weeks. Killers in the spotlight are ten times more dangerous. A hundred times, probably a thousand times. The more focus there was, the more the public’s expectations would grow for a result from the police investigation. The closer the police got to the truth, the more edgy the criminals would get. They would have to tie up all loose ends and Kelly was a loose end. She was an eyewitness and witnesses get criminals sent down. They wouldn’t let her live. They couldn’t let her live. Not if they wanted to remain at liberty. Threatening her into silence was one thing but could they be sure she wouldn’t recant and tell the police what she’d seen? No. They could never be sure she wouldn’t talk which meant they could never rest easy. Killing her would be simple and disposing of her a simple task. She didn’t want to be thrown into the sea, weighted and bound, alive or dead. It was a horrible thought but her mind was racing at a million miles an hour. Her daughter, mother and father were her weak points. She would have to explain to them as a family what she’d seen and get them all somewhere safe. It was the only way to be sure. They could hide and wait it out until the police caught them and locked them up without her evidence, then things could go back to normal. That was the plan and it was the best she could hope for.

  Chapter 25

  Lottie and Liz waited in an interview room. They were numbed by the death of their friend, Mary. It had come as a massive shock. Mary had been like a sister to Lottie and the twins since the day they met. The twins had saved them from a life of sexual slavery. For Lottie and Mary, the traumatic nature of their meeting had bonded them to each other. Their whispered conversations through bamboo and rattan walls kept them going when desperation saturated their souls. Lottie couldn’t imagine a time when Mary wouldn’t be there.

  Hearing the news of her demise on the breakfast news had been a devastating shock. The circumstances of her death were baffling. She could only imagine what had happened and the more she thought about it, the more distressing the situation became. Her relationship with Benaim had been taboo and nobody spoke about it. His presence had haunted the circus for years. It was only her loyalty to her father that stopped her finding another supplier. That and the prices he charged. If the truth be told, she knew he couldn’t sell them diesel at those prices if it was sourced legitimately. The twins were certain he was buying red diesel
tax free and filtering the colour dye from it chemically. Either that or he was stealing it by the tanker load. She knew he was trading on the wrong side of the tracks but ignored it, especially after she realised Mary had fallen in love with him. She couldn’t do anything to hurt Mary.

  After speaking to Liz about it, Lottie had called the police helpline and asked to speak to Alan Williams about the appeal for information. The telephone operator had put her on hold for a few minutes and then asked her to make her way to the station at Holyhead as soon as possible. It was simpler for her to talk directly to him, face to face. Lottie had told the twins where she was going and they reluctantly agreed it was for the best. Hugo was adamant he wanted to break into the Vincentia trailer and search it to see what they were doing but Lottie persuaded him to leave well alone as the men were being investigated by the police. If he broke into it, he would compromise any evidence they recovered. Whatever the Vincentia brothers were up to was nothing to do with the circus. She wanted them gone whether the police charged them or not. For Lottie, there was no smoke without fire and the police had one of them in custody. Enough said.

  Alan walked into the room with three cups of coffee and a handful of sugar sachets, which he dropped on the table. He smiled and handed the drinks to them, keeping his, he put two sugars in it. The women didn’t appear to be nervous, which was odd. Everyone is nervous when they first go into a police station. Even innocent people. Perhaps it was working in the performance industry, he thought. They spent their lives not looking nervous, no matter how big the crowd. He’d seen Lottie’s performance as the ringmaster when the boys had watched the circus online. She was impressive. Stunningly attractive and impressive. She directed the show he’d watched with an intensity that was magnetising to the viewer but then that was all part of the show. While all eyes were focused on her when she spoke, something was happening out of sight behind the scenes. She was part of the illusions and they were jaw-dropping. The woman sitting opposite him now, appeared to be very ordinary in comparison to the domineering presence she portrayed in the circus.

  ‘So, how did your first day in Holyhead go?’ he asked. Stupid question, he thought as soon as he’d said it. He sipped his coffee and burnt his top lip, dribbling it back into the cup. ‘Excuse me,’ he said. ‘That’s way too hot.’ The women laughed and Alan blushed. ‘I’m clumsy, sorry.’

  ‘We didn’t get off the best start to be honest,’ Lottie said. ‘All that fuss with the local councillor was blown out of all proportion but obviously, you have to investigate these things if someone is in hospital,’ Lottie added. ‘How is councillor Orange?’

  ‘He’s out of the woods, I believe,’ Alan said, cautiously. He didn’t want to be distracted from the topic he was there to talk about. One incident couldn’t become a smoke screen for another. ‘I’m not aware of all the details about what happened. It will be a case of he said, she said but it does appear some of your entourage have been misbehaving elsewhere,’ he added.

  ‘They’re nothing to do with me or the circus. The fact they travel alongside us is embarrassing. I’m so ashamed,’ Lottie said. ‘I’m so sorry to hear about that young woman. It’s dreadful news. I am aware of the link to the fairground and obviously, I don’t want the entire operation tarred with the same brush.’ She paused for thought. ‘To think anyone linked to our community could do anything like this is beyond belief. You’re sure the Vincentia men were involved in drugging those poor women?’

  ‘Positive,’ Alan said, nodding.

  ‘Obviously, we want to help you with your enquiries as much as we possibly can. If there’s anything we can do, just ask.’

  ‘Okay, thank you,’ Alan said. ‘First things first. Do you have any idea where David Prost has gone?’

  ‘No,’ Lottie said. ‘He doesn’t work for me directly. He wouldn’t feel the need to let me know if he was leaving for a few days. As long as there is a mechanic available, they pretty much do as they please.’ She shrugged.

  ‘He hasn’t gone on business for your vehicles?’

  ‘No. Like I said, they don’t report to us,’ Lottie said. ‘If they need a part or take a vehicle into a local town, they do it. They are nothing to do with our business.’ Lottie felt she’d probably laboured the point. ‘Have you found Carlos Vincentia?’

  ‘No,’ Alan said. ‘Have you heard from him?’

  ‘No,’ Lottie said. She looked at Liz. ‘I would be surprised if he even has my number. He’s in charge of the workshop but I don’t deal with him directly. The vehicle owners deal with them on an individual basis. They’re an independent business.’

  ‘Okay. I understand,’ Alan said, blowing his coffee. ‘Let’s talk about what you came here for. Tell me how you know Mary Adams.’

  ‘I met her abroad. She’s worked for the circus since she was a teenager,’ Lottie said. ‘She’s only a few years older than me. We met when we were backpacking in Sri Lanka twelve-years ago.’ Lottie put sugar into her coffee. It was black as there was no oat milk available at the station. ‘It’s a long story but we were thrown together by chance. Do you need to know the story? Is that relevant?’

  ‘I don’t know yet but I’m listening,’ Alan said. ‘Tell me all about it. I need to know who she was to understand what happened to her.’

  ‘Okay. I’ll give you the short version. I was in Sri Lanka for two months, travelling around the coast alone and I rented a room at a beach bar in the south near Yala. It’s very isolated, about as remote as it could be, which was part of the attraction,’ Lottie explained. ‘I was there for a week before I realised, I was in trouble. My passport went missing and then my wallet, cards and cash were stolen. I was stranded. It turned out the owner was a bad man called Nok. As well as running his bar, renting rooms and a small restaurant, he had another business. He was identifying vulnerable tourists who could go missing without any fuss. Lots of backpackers travel alone and some disappear without a trace. Of course, you will understand that some of those people wanted to disappear. They don’t want to go back to their lives, so no one knows if they’ve fallen foul of men like Nok,’ Lottie explained.

  ‘I get that,’ Alan said.

  ‘Nok identified people who had been travelling a while and were not expected to be anywhere else anytime soon. People with no schedule or flights booked. If they went missing, no one would know. People trafficking in the south is rife, especially women,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘I was an experienced traveller but I didn’t see that coming. He was so polite and friendly. Anyway, he locked me in my room and threatened to have me taken away by the traffickers unless I paid him the equivalent of twenty-thousand pounds. He was so blasé about it as if it was nothing. I didn’t have twenty-thousand pounds and I had no idea what to do. As it turned out, Mary was in the next room being held against her will. He was planning to sell us both. We began talking through the wall and devised a plan. He let me contact my father on the internet, which took a while because they were travelling. I convinced him my father was wealthy but was a circus owner and only dealt in cash. The circus was near Amsterdam at the time. I promised Nok that the money for both of us would be brought to Sri Lanka by my family and transferred into an account of his choice at the end of the week, as long as we were unharmed.’ She shook her head and sighed at the memory. ‘Can I smoke?’

  ‘No. I’m afraid not,’ Alan said.

  ‘Just thinking about it frightens the life out of me. We didn’t believe he would let us go even if he got the money and we both knew the local police drank there for free. They weren’t to be trusted. To cut a long story short, I made the call on the Tuesday and my brothers were there on the Thursday and we were released Thursday evening. Mary came back to the UK with us and she stayed. She’s worked for us ever since. We’ve been like sisters since that ordeal.’

  ‘I can imagine,’ Alan said.

  ‘Losing her like this is devastating.’

  ‘That’s a scary story,’ Alan said. ‘It’s hard to imagine it go
es on in this country too, isn’t it?’

  ‘It goes on everywhere,’ Lottie said. ‘At least six of our performers are waifs and strays we picked up along the way.’

  ‘Picked up how?’ Alan asked frowning.

  ‘Girls in trouble,’ Lottie said. ‘Greta and Judy for instance. The two girls who work at the lost children’s station were on the run from gangsters in Prague. They’d been tricked into prostitution by traffickers. They came to the fairground begging for a job and somewhere to hide. Mary used to do all the interviews for casual workers, wherever we arrived at. We took them in and hid them. They’ve been with us for two years now,’ Lottie said. She sipped her coffee. ‘Helga, our trapeze artist was given to a cattle trader in Bulgaria to settle a debt. She was six. My parents took her in and kept her safe.’

  ‘Six years old?’ Alan asked, shaking his head.

  ‘Hard to believe someone could give their child away to pay for a cow but life is cheap there,’ Lottie said. ‘Mary was instrumental in picking up waifs and strays and our experience in Sri Lanka made it impossible not to help and take them in. I’ve lost count of the number of people the circus has saved. It’s a good feeling to be able to help them.’

  ‘I should imagine it is,’ Alan said, impressed. A traveling community would be virtually invisible to normal society. Forever just passing through town after town unseen by most people. ‘You say Mary has been with the circus for years.’

  ‘Yes. Ever since we returned from Sri Lanka.’

  ‘We have her passport at an address near Cork?’ Alan said. ‘She had it on her.’