by Trudi Jaye
A blinking light just down from where Rilla stood turned out to be a cameraman with the logo of the local news station on his shirt. She watched as he filmed the action, capturing the whole event, the people, the building, and the interaction.
She bit her lip, her mind struggling with the idea. Her instinctive reaction, born of years of Carnival life, was to tell them to stop filming and usher them out. It was something they would never have allowed in the past. In fact, she saw Viktor and Davos casting doubtful glances at the cameraman and the reporter.
The female reporter had her silk sleeves rolled up and her hands on a broom, but she was more involved in chatting than actually doing any work. As Rilla watched, she lifted her arm and waved at the cameraman, and he headed over. Moments later, she was on camera, filming interviews with Tami and a couple of the other hands.
The massive cleanup effort was evidence that the way she’d been raised was no longer relevant. Her friendship with Kara only emphasized that. Her gaze flicked to Jack again. His influence was helping them all move forward, to become something better. Despite the absorbing, he was doing so much more than she could have done in the same circumstances.
She rubbed her arm absently and looked at her watch. It was too late to set up for tonight’s performance, despite the extra help. But perhaps their performance tonight wouldn’t be in the flesh. She watched the cameraman checking his gear and then gesture toward the exit. The woman nodded and smiled at the small crowd that had gathered during the interview. She waved one elegant hand then followed the cameraman out.
Jack moved away from his task and caught up with them just before the exit. Rilla frowned when she saw him smile down at the woman. She could see his eyes twinkling and flirting, even from this distance.
Who did he think he was? Casanova?
The woman smiled up at him and laid her hand on his arm, reacting to his charm.
Rilla clenched her fists.
Then they were gone. Jack’s smile faded. Then he gave himself a small shake and walked back to where he’d been working.
Rilla unclenched her hands and let out a breath.
When Viktor came up to talk to him a while later, Rilla was still watching Jack out of the corner of her eye. He frowned and shook his head at the older man. Viktor continued to talk, his serious face matching the tone of what he was saying.
Rilla knew, without even being able to hear, that the old Thrillmaster was telling him off for allowing a news crew in.
***
It had been a long day.
Jack sat on the bleachers with the rest of the workers, enjoying the beer and snacks that Tami’s crew had produced. People around him were talking and laughing. Viktor had even unwound enough to talk shop with one of the engineers about the big top rigging.
He took a swig of beer and a bite of sausage. The warmth flowed down into his belly, and it rumbled in response. It had been a long time since breakfast. He grabbed another sausage.
If someone had asked him three weeks ago what he’d be doing today, this would have been the last possible answer he would ever have given. His life had taken a one-eighty-degree turn. More, if that were possible.
He had made more friends in the short time since he’d arrived here than he’d ever had in his life. But he’d also been stomped on more often. His eyes flicked involuntarily to where Rilla sat quietly talking to Alfie. He wanted to run over there, wrap her up in his arms and make her promise not to leave her caravan ever again.
Of course, she’d just scowl at him and tell him not to be so stupid. She didn’t have any sense when it came to her own safety. Especially when her family, the Carnival, was in question. He sighed.
His father had arrived half an hour before with news that Garth was sitting up and had eaten some food. The Giftmaster was feeling much better. It had been a relief to hear, although, since the accident, it had almost slipped his mind.
He hadn’t seen Barb since Missy had led her back to her caravan, the younger woman’s arms carefully holding up her mother’s shaking body as they walked slowly away. Barb had been distraught once the shock had set in and had been unable to stop the tremors. It was unsurprising, really. Added to Christoph’s disappearance, the fall had been too much. He didn’t know Barb well, but she’d always been friendly to him. He hoped she was okay.
Jack glanced around, looking for Joey. I should really send him to check on Barb. He took another bite of sausage and shrugged. He’d ask him next time he saw the young runner.
Deputy Fordham had come by for about an hour, once Kara was safely in a hospital bed and being tested by the doctors he’d harassed into doing a checkup. The deputy had spoken to a few key people about the rigging collapse, including the engineers who’d volunteered their time, and then disappeared again.
His eyes had been hard when he listened to precisely how the damage had been done. Someone had been taking aim at Kara and Barb, and it was pure luck they hadn’t succeeded.
Jack took a long breath. His anger at Rilla now seemed ridiculous; his shock had made him react badly. But all he had been able to see in his head was her body falling to the ground with a resounding thump.
He would apologize to her as soon as he could catch her alone.
Rubbing the back of his neck, he tried to ease some of the tension. He felt drained, exhausted. He should be happy that he’d had two saves in one day. First, figuring out how to connect with his absorbing ability, even in a limited way, and second, managing to bring Garth back from his coma, even if it was a coma he’d put him into in the first place. He’d kept practicing with Frankie and found that he could stop and start just by letting the writing flow onto the paper. He didn’t concentrate on what he was writing, and the words on the page were confused and nonsensical. It didn’t matter. Garth was awake, and Jack wasn’t soaking up everyone’s power quite so much anymore.
He glanced up. The gash overhead was almost all repaired. The afternoon sun was blocked, and they were relying on light from the sides of the tent and a few generator-powered spotlights.
He thought perhaps in a few years’ time, once this was all over, he might laugh about this day. The ups and downs seemed monumental, almost comical. But at this moment, all he could think was that they’d spent most of the afternoon fixing a problem that shouldn’t have happened.
He’d known—they’d all told him—that the sabotage had been escalating, but he’d not really believed it would go this far. It hadn’t seemed possible that Abacus’s death had been part of it. He’d even dared to think it was finished when he became acting Ringmaster, and even more so after Christoph left.
As he rubbed his aching shoulder, the fear he’d been pushing aside all day managed to sneak into his thoughts. Had his absorbing allowed this to happen? Had he opened the Carnival up to more sabotage, just by being here? He resolutely suppressed the thought—he couldn’t deal with it now.
He saw Viktor in the distance. He was pretty sure the Thrillmaster was having second thoughts about Jack’s claim to the Ringmaster title. First the blocking and now this. When the time came to announce the official Ringmaster, maybe they’d all change their minds and pick Rilla. At least she knew how to work the ring properly.
The thought of losing his place, of having to leave, made his body tense and an ache rise up the back of his neck. How could he go back to his old life, knowing the Carnival was out there? The friends he’d made, the things he’d learned. It would be like returning to black and white after experiencing the wonders of full high-definition color.
His old life would be tedious in comparison.
Sighing, he wiped one hand over his eyes. It was no use whining. They’d survived the day and had another one lined up for tomorrow. The tent was fixed. Garth was awake. It was all he could hope for.
A glass dropped to the ground, smashing over the hard-packed floor.
Jack looked up and frowned. Rilla was standing, her face pale, staring at the main entrance. Jack followed her gaze and hi
s eyes widened.
Christoph and Barbarina were walking toward them across the huge tent, hand in hand.
He just stared, stunned.
A glance up at the rip reminded him that Christoph couldn’t possibly have been the one to do this latest act of sabotage. It meant there was a small chance he wasn’t involved after all, and he’d gone missing for another reason. His mind attempted but struggled to give Christoph an appropriate alibi. But perhaps he didn’t need to. He just had to wait to see what the strongman had to say.
When they stopped in front of Rilla, Jack had his answer. Christoph’s eyes were water-filled, fear and anxiety swamping his face.
Christoph was involved.
Jack’s heart plummeted, and he waited to see Rilla’s reaction. She was searching Christoph’s eyes, trying to find her own conclusions. Without thinking, he got up and walked over to stand behind her, trying to lend her strength. She didn’t acknowledge his presence, but her body leaned back toward him, almost touching his chest.
“I had to come back,” Christoph said. “She went too far.”
“Who?” whispered Rilla, her brows a black swipe across her forehead.
“She was trying to get back at me for leaving.”
Christoph put out his hand to Rilla, but she stepped backward, right into Jack. He put his hands on her shoulders and held her steady. She was shaking, and Jack desperately wished he could wrap his arms around her and protect her from this conversation. He didn’t think Christoph was going to have anything good to say.
“Who?” Rilla repeated. Her voice was soft, floating away amongst the chatter beside them. Most of the volunteers didn’t even realize something important was happening. Jack concentrated on Christoph’s face, trying to catch the nuances of what he was saying, what he was feeling. Guilt was there, certainly, but also determination. A kind of defiant acceptance of the situation.
Christoph glanced down at Barbarina, who nodded at him.
“Tell them, Chris. It’s why you came back,” she said.
Christoph took a breath. “It was Lucietta. She did all this.” His gaze encompassed the roof of the tent, the newly replaced rigging and poles.
Jack let out a breath. It was one thing to suspect his aunt. It was another to learn she really had done these terrible things. What would his father say?
“She did it all? You weren’t the saboteur?” Rilla’s body tensed as she waited for Christoph’s answer. Jack rubbed his thumb on her arm. She knew the answer, deep down, but she’d spent too much time as a child with this man to not give him the chance to clear his name.
Christoph’s face crumbled in despair, and his bushy brows pushed over his eyes as they filled with tears. He shook his head and put his hand up to rub at his eyes. “I didn’t want to hurt anybody,” he said, his voice wavering.
“You didn’t… So, you were part of it? The food poisoning? The glowing words?”
Rilla’s voice rose and her body tightened, as if she were about to strike out at Christoph. Jack shushed her, his glance flicking to the local people seated near them. They needed all these people to believe in the magic of the Carnival, just for today. “Perhaps we should move away from the crowd,” he said, gesturing for Christoph and Barb to move toward the closest exit. He put his arm around Rilla’s shoulders, and it showed just how upset she was when she didn’t resist as he led her away. Her blue eyes were glued to Christoph’s back as if she couldn’t really believe he was there.
Barb stopped just outside the tent and put her arm around Christoph’s waist. “He rang to check on me and I told him what happened,” she said, watching Jack and Rilla closely, begging them to understand with her eyes. “As soon as he heard what she’d done, he insisted on returning. He drove here straightaway.”
“But all those things, those terrible things you did,” said Rilla, her voice breaking. “Martha? You poisoned Martha?”
Christoph shook his head. “I didn’t hurt Martha. I wouldn’t do that. That was when I first figured out Lucietta was here again. It had to have been her. Then the food poisoning… She told me it was a mild laxative, that it would be more like a prank. She threatened to tell everyone what I’d already done, all the other sabotage she convinced me to help with. I couldn’t bear the thought of everyone knowing, of having to leave.”
“And the glow-in-the-dark spray paint on Viktor’s ride? How could you say those things?” Rilla’s voice dropped to a whisper.
Christoph showed genuine confusion for the first time. “Spray paint? No, no. That wasn’t me.” He put up his hands as if to clear them of any evidence. “It must have been Lucietta.”
“Why? Why would you do any of this to us?”
“She came to me, told me how hard it had been for all these years. She’d been left destitute, and it was my fault.” He glanced down at Barb. “It was like we were teenagers again. She…does something to my head. I stop thinking straight.” He shook his head. “I agreed to do a few small things to help her. I didn’t understand what she was doing at first. I’d leave a gate open and she’d sneak in, and the next day we’d discover a ripped tent or a blocked drain. I’d let her borrow an outfit from the store, and it would come back dirty and unusable. Then she threatened to tell Abba what I’d been doing if I didn’t do more.” He bowed his head, tears leaking down his face. He wiped at them angrily. “Like a stupid fool, I was trapped, and I didn’t know how to get out. Her web just kept closing around me, tighter and tighter.”
“Why didn’t you just tell someone?” asked Jack.
Christoph’s face fell even farther. “I couldn’t figure out a way to tell Abba what I’d done. And then… he was killed.”
“Did you…?” Jack almost couldn’t ask in front of Barb and Rilla. But he had to. “Did you have anything to do with Abacus’s death?”
Christoph’s face was ashen. “If I’d known what that woman was capable of, I would have gone straight to Abba, no matter the consequences. But by the time I realized, it was too late—she’d already killed Abba, and I didn’t know what to do.” Christoph put his arms around Barb and held on tight. “I’ve had a good life with the Carnival. I had Barb to look after me and love me. I thought Lucietta had been dealt a bad hand. I just wanted to make it up to her.”
Barb shook her head. “She was lying to you, Chris. She never had it hard. She was just using you so you’d do what she wanted.”
Jack nodded in agreement. He’d seen enough of Lucietta to know Barb was right. “Why did you leave?”
“I realized she’d killed Abacus. I told her information Abba had given me about his ongoing investigation; I thought it was harmless. But what I’d told her convinced Luci she had to get rid of Abba.” He stopped and swallowed hard. Staring down at Rilla, he spoke directly to her for the first time. “I will never be able to forgive myself, not as long as I live, Rilla. She killed my closest friend in the world because of what I told her. I’m so sorry.” Christoph’s shoulders slumped and he took a sobbing breath before turning to Jack. “I never meant for any of this to happen.” The tears flowed down his face, marking a trail along his lined features.
“How did the Carnival not know? How did you keep all of this a secret?” Rilla’s voice was raw.
“Luci was careful. She kept it from me at first, just had me doing a few inconspicuous tasks. By the time she told me what I was helping with, the Carnival was too weak. It had other things to worry about. The last year or so, it didn’t matter at all. The Carnival was so fragile, it would never have known.” Christoph swallowed, his large eyes staring imploringly at Rilla.
Jack looked around him. He saw Viktor and two of his sons standing nearby, listening to the confession. “Viktor, I think you should take your boys and go find Lucietta. She’s going to answer for this.”
“I’m so sorry. I don’t know how it came to this.” Christoph sobbed into his hand, and Barbarina held him tight. He leaned into her shoulder, large, rattling tears falling down his face.
“Get o
ut. Get your things and leave at once, or you will be forced to leave with nothing,” said Rilla, her voice deep and otherworldly. “You are not welcome here anymore.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Rilla wanted to cover her ears and run away.
The gaping hole in her heart from her father’s death was now even bigger, deeper, wider. Christoph, her father’s best friend, the one man he’d trusted with his life, had turned on him.
She watched Christoph walking away with Barb, unable to summon the anger she should have felt at his betrayal. Instead, she felt exhausted, too tired to be upset. Even the comforting presence of Jack’s arms around her shoulders couldn’t fill the emptiness threatening to eat her alive.
The words she had spoken hadn’t been her own. It had been the Carnival’s quick justice in action, and she’d felt the bone-deep anger emanating from the Carnival as it realized what Christoph had done.
“How about I take you back to your caravan?” said Jack, jerking her back to her surroundings.
She nodded. Her anger at Jack had disappeared as well; right now, it felt like he was all that was holding her together. She glanced up at his face, trying to read his expression. It seemed impossible to know what he was thinking.
Jack led her along the main strip, keeping his pace aligned to hers. She focused on putting one foot in front of the other. Eventually, he opened the door of her caravan and ushered her in. “Just sit down here. I’m going to make you some tea.” Jack put the kettle on and pulled cups from her cupboard.
Rilla watched him from her seat by the table, her eyes heavy.
“I need to ring Deputy Fordham, tell him about Lucietta,” said Jack, holding up his mobile phone. “Hopefully, Viktor found her before she got wind of anything.”
Rilla just watched as he dialed the number. Would Lucietta put up a fight? Perhaps she would talk her way out of it. Viktor might surrender to her charms, just like Christoph.
