by CeeCee James
So many thoughts were spinning through my mind, not to mention a horrible blow to my pride. People had seen me! Here I thought I was such a good spy, hiding in the shadows, yet people knew where I went and how I got apples from the basket every day.
“That makes it an attempted murder. Two murders in a few days, that’s not good,” he concluded.
The words “attempted murder” slammed home the fact that the apples had been poisoned. It wouldn’t take much for a person my size. I was lucky to be alive.
But who would want to kill me?
He seemed to be thinking the same thing. “Do you know anyone who would want to harm you, Trixie?”
I shook my head.
“Very well,” he answered. “If you think of someone, come to me. In the meantime, take tonight off. I want you well-rested before you return to the ring.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir,” I murmured.
He strode away, leaving behind a cloud of expensive cologne.
He left me deep in thought. Someone had tried to hurt me. Maybe even get me killed. I didn’t have any more time to lose. I needed to get my questions answered, tonight.
16
That evening, while everyone gathered at the Big Top, I was up in my hideout in the hay maze. I needed to figure out what was going on once and for all.
Before I climbed up here, I visited the abandoned changing room of the Big Top, the place where I’d found Claudette. Let me tell you, I was shaking like a leaf as I walked back there, hardly certain at all of what I might find.
But it was empty, like it normally was. Most people changed in the wardrobe tent. This small cubby was out-dated and no longer in use.
So, why had Claudette been in here?
I had a flashlight, just a tiny one I kept for emergencies, and I shone the beam around. The cubby was as dark as it had been the first time I’d been there, with thin streams of light escaping through the eyelets in the canvas from the Big Top arena. I pointed my flashlight up at the ceiling and gasped.
There was a pulley up there. It looked to be ancient, possibly a relic from when the wardrobes hung in a long line on a rope system.
A rope dangled from it now. I followed it with the flashlight to the other end which was tied to a foot-long metal anchor built into the side of the tent pole.
The pulley was quite high. There was no way to see it unless you were looking with a flashlight pointed straight up. It was a perfect place to hide something.
Like a bag of money.
I spun around the room and searched the walls and the floor with my light beam. There were many footprints here from the day that Claudette’s body had been recovered.
But I saw something else I needed to see. Two sets of high-heel tracks. Both different sizes. And both sets led straight to the metal anchor on the pole. I could be wrong, but it meant one thing to me.
Claudette and Tiffany had both been here, and they both knew the garment bag had money in it.
I shone the light on the metal anchor and saw something that made me swallow hard.
Hair. Long hair.
Quickly, I flipped the light off and left the room as fast as I could.
Back in my hiding hole in the maze, I tried to make sense of what I’d seen. So, both women had been there, the footprints proved that. They were the only two known to wear high heels. Now, why had they been meeting?
I picked at my cuticle and tried to think.
Claudette had started skimming off the top of the circus’s profits. She collected the money in a box. It seemed she bought some items for herself, her shoes and necklace, without repaying Vincent back.
Vincent became angry with her and justifiably so, especially since he had the brothers breathing down his neck looking for their own repayment. But Vincent hadn’t been the one to poison the apple. If he’d wanted to hurt me, he wouldn’t have caught me before I even landed on the ground. And the fact that Sally said she trusted him meant a lot to me.
I couldn’t completely rule him out, but I shuffled him down on my list of suspects.
The Ringmaster had asked who was mad at me. I didn’t have a lot of friends, but I also didn’t have many true enemies.
I had one now. My cheek still remembered the imprint of her hand across it.
Tiffany.
And why was she so angry with me? Because she thought I knew secrets about her. She knew that I’d seen her get thrown out of the Ringmaster’s cabin. And I’d heard what the Ringmaster had said that day. He’d said that she’d been there before and told him something and it didn’t work then, and it wasn’t going to work now.
Sally had told me it was circus gossip that Claudette had been skimming off the top. She also said that the Ringmaster wouldn’t hear a bad word about Claudette.
I thought some more as the pieces tumbled into place. It seemed to me that Tiffany had told the Ringmaster what Claudette was doing. And when he’d tossed Tiffany out in response to her first accusation, she determined she’d scour up some proof.
As for Claudette, where was she supposed to hide a bucketful of money in a place where everything was touched, cleaned or examined? She couldn’t very well keep it in her cabin since the Ringmaster himself often stayed there. She must have thought about the abandoned changing room. She dragged a wardrobe bag to the top of the roof where she knew it would be safe until it was time for the circus to move.
Somehow Tiffany must have come upon Claudette when she was in the secret spot. Maybe Claudette was trying to enlist her friend’s help. Maybe it was just by chance that Tiffany had seen Claudette go in the cubby. I wasn’t sure.
And I’d probably never know what exactly happened in the changing room, other than the fact that Claudette had died. My guess was that Claudette had showed Tiffany the money. Tiffany confronted her and there was a scuffle. A struggle violent enough to rip a bow off of Tiffany’s dress. I highly doubted that Tiffany went in there with the intentions of killing someone while she was dressed in her performance ballgown.
Claudette must have fallen or been pushed and knocked her head on the anchor. She died.
At that point, Tiffany must have panicked. She quietly pulled the bag back up to the ceiling, not knowing there was a mouse in the room watching.
Me.
Later, Tiffany went back to the Ringmaster a second time, hoping to win his good graces because of her finding proof against Claudette. But without the money, she had no evidence.
I knew Tiffany didn’t have the money. Why else was she going from garment bag to garment bag looking?
Which begged the question, who found it?
It would have to be someone whom no one saw. Someone no one would suspect.
Another mouse.
I jumped up, knowing exactly where to go.
17
The moon was full and bright in the sky and outlined the peaks of the tents in a glow. I walked into the dog kennels which was quiet at this time of night. The dogs were all performing in the big tent. But that’s okay, I could afford to wait.
I bided my time by sitting on the trash can, drumming my feet against its plastic side. It wasn’t long before I heard the yapping of the dogs coming this way, their act having finished.
The dogs barreled through the open door in a barking tornado, knowing it was time for their treat. Behind them was Jerry. He looked surprised to see me sitting there, and his cheeks flushed.
The mouse. I knew it had to be Jerry. He was the only person in the world who’d ever out-moused me.
“Did you have a good night?” I asked, hopping down. He scooped dog biscuits out of a container and fed the dogs.
“Yeah.” He eyed me warily. “You feeling okay? You took quite a spill last night.”
“When did you do it?” I asked, hitting him with a hard question before he could get his defenses up. I wanted his answer before he had time to think.
“Do what?” he asked.
“You know, Jerry. When did you move the garment bag? And are you th
e one who put the money in the shoe box?”
His face paled to the color of new milk. He staggered back as his hand reached for the kennel pole. He didn’t seem to breathe, just stared at me with eyes the size of saucers.
“Jerry, I know it was you. Did you see the whole thing?”
He swallowed and sat down on a crate. I winced because he landed hard like his legs didn’t have the strength to hold him anymore.
I walked over and squatted in front of him. Moving slowly, I reached for his arm. “I know. I was there.”
He swallowed, and his Adam’s apple bobbed hard. “I know you were,” he croaked.
This made me pull back. He saw me there? Never mind. Get answers. “Tell me what happened,” I whispered.
He darted a glance at the doorway and started, his voice loud and croaky. “The two women were there—”
“Shh!” I said to warn him to talk quieter.
He started again. “Claudette was putting more money in the bag when Tiffany showed up. They started to argue. It turned into a fight. They were yanking hair and shoving each other when Claudette twisted her ankle in her new shoes. Tiffany pounced on her and pushed her down. I had no idea that would have happened, or I would have stopped them.” His eyes welled with tears. He sniffed a few times.
“It’s not your fault,” I said. “You couldn’t have known.”
He nodded and shoved his thick hair back from his face. “Tiffany started cussing when she realized Claudette was dead. Then, uh, Tiffany went over to the rope and hauled the wardrobe bag up in the rafters. That’s when you came in.” He eyed me guiltily. “I knew you were scared, but there was nothing I could do. You ended up running out, then Tiffany ran out. I lowered the bag and brought it down to the kennel. I hid it in the hay for a while. Then I found Claudette’s shoe box in her wardrobe bag and loaded it with the money. I tied it shut. I swear I didn’t take none.”
“I believe you,” I whispered and patted his arm.
“I’ve been trying to keep an eye out for you. I knew Tiffany had it in for you. I just didn’t think she’d go as far as she did.”
“You mean…”
“Yeah, the apples.”
I exhaled deeply. “Now what do we do?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess we can go to the Ringmaster.”
“Wait,” I said. “Let’s go to my roommate instead. Sally will know how to handle this.”
So, that’s what we ended up doing. In the course of telling Sally the story, I brought out the red wallet, the one I’d hidden in my pillowcase because I had no idea what else to do with it.
I handed it to Sally. “Are you sure Vincent is innocent?”
She took it and turned it over in her hands. “Oh, Vincent.” She sighed. “I’m so mad at him!”
“You knew about this?” I asked.
“Yes. When he loaned Claudette the money, he took this as collateral. After she died, he didn’t know what to do with it. I told him to get rid of it. Later, he told me he panicked and hid it in Prancer’s stable. I could have killed him.” She rolled her eyes. “He thought Jerry would dispose of it for you. He knows how Jerry feels about you.”
Jerry cleared his throat and stared at the ground. Sally watched and choked back a smile. “Anyway, I suppose a visit to the Ringmaster is in order? Or we could just keep the money.” Her face swiveled back and forth to see the two of us. “No? I’m only kidding. Don’t get so serious.” She reached into her basket and pulled out a bottle of vodka. Quickly, she uncapped it and took a swig. “Okay, Fortified enough to go visit the dragon in his den. Let’s go, kids.”
Jerry carried the shoe box, Sally had Claudette’s wallet, and I had Tiffany’s ribbon. Together, we walked up to the Ringmaster’s cabin and knocked.
He only allowed us an audience for ten minutes. We talked fast and left him the money and other items. Then, we skedaddled. None of us were sure of what he was going to do.
What ended up happening was something none of us could have expected. The Ringmaster actually involved the police. We heard the rumors the next morning. Somehow, the Ringmaster roped in the brothers, and they painted Tiffany as the suspect in another murder that had happened in town. I mean, it only made sense. They couldn’t very well get Tiffany arrested for Claudette’s murder when there was no body. And no one was about to point out where the bearded woman had been buried.
The police showed up and arrested Tiffany. I wasn’t sure if she was going to go free or not for the murder she’d been charged with. I suppose if she found a good enough lawyer, she’d probably get off. But in the meantime, she was away from me, and that’s all I cared about. Concello Circus would be packing up and leaving in a few days.
The show must go on.
18
“You going out?” Sally asked. She whistled and winked an eye.
I blushed. She’d caught me at her table attempting to use her mascara.
“No, go on, finish up,” she waved when I went to set down the tube.
I glanced at her and then back at the mirror. Carefully, I tried again. My hand shook under her scrutiny of my technique.
“That’s right, nice and smooth. Sweep straight to the edge.” She inspected me and nodded, then passed me the lipstick.
I looked at it like it was a centipede.
“Go on! You can’t go out without your pucker on.”
I prayed it wasn’t red, which seemed to be Sally’s favorite color. I undid the cap and twisted up the lipstick. Sandy pink. Okay, I might be able to work with that. Slowly, I applied it, with Sally behind me, her mouth open wide as she subconsciously mimed mine.
When I finished, she smiled and squeezed my shoulders. “It’s like my little girl’s all grown up!”
I grinned back. I stood up and brushed my hair. Under her watchful eye, I clipped the blue barrette in.
“So, where you going? You going to tell me?” she asked. She poked me in the rib.
“I never thanked Jerry for his help when I fell. You know, he raced out into the ring to get Prancer. My poor horse was probably so freaked out, and he took good care of him.”
“Ohh. You need to thank him. Got it.” She winked again. I was getting tired of blushing.
I did have to thank him. It was only proper after all. I stood and examined myself in the mirror. I was wearing my long skirt, the one I saved for special occasions. And for times I needed to do laundry, I reminded myself. I do need to do laundry.
A few minutes later, I was already down the path and walking into the animal tent. The air was warm and smelled like cedar shavings. I glanced around for Jerry.
There he was, down toward the middle of the room. He was leading the dogs through the hoops, and they yipped and danced on their hind feet.
“Hi, Jerry,” I said. I smothered a smile when I saw that, this time, I was the one who scared him.
“Oh, I didn’t hear you come in.” He cleared his throat as though he were trying to recover. The dogs saw me and barked. He snapped his fingers to get the dogs to heel. They ran to his feet and sat down, watching him expectantly.
“I’m quiet. Like a mouse,” I said.
He eyed me and slowly shook his head. “Nah. You’re like no mouse I’ve ever seen.”
“Oh, yeah?” I started to climb on the garbage can when I realized I couldn’t do it very well in a dress. Instead, I stood awkwardly and leaned against it like that’s what I’d planned to do all along.
“Yeah.” He watched me for a second. Clicking his tongue, he chucked the ball into the kennel, and the dogs raced over the backs of each other to get it. He followed behind and latched the gate closed.
Then he turned toward me. His head dipped down for a second like he was thinking. And then he looked up. He brushed his hair back off his face and smiled.
He had such a nice smile.
“You see,” he continued and walked closer to me. I guess he was short by normal standards, but just the right height for me. The perfect height, really.
I couldn’t believe I was thinking this. A flush grew in my face. My cheeks grew hotter and hotter until I was certain I glowed like a tiny stop sign.
“You see,” he said again, stopping right in front of me. I held my breath. His finger reached out and tucked a wisp of hair behind my ear. I swear, I almost fainted at his touch. “A mouse is something that no one sees.” His voice deepened. “But I see you.”
With that, he leaned down and stared me straight into my eyes. His were warm, chocolatey brown. “I see you, Trixie. And I have to tell you, I like the makeup on you, but I noticed you just the way you are naturally. You definitely don’t need makeup.”
My heart thumped so hard I swore he could hear it. I felt his breath against my cheek. His eyes jumped to my lips, and he licked his bottom one.
He straightened up and smiled. “What’s your real name, anyway?”
I smiled and whispered, “Susanna.”
Thank you for reading Cirque de Slay. I hope you enjoyed Trixie’s mystery! Here are a few more series to whet your appetite.
Baker Street Mysteries— join Georgie, amateur sleuth and historical tour guide on her spooky, crazy adventures. As a fun bonus there’s free recipes included!
Cherry Pie or Die
Cookies and Scream
Crème Brûlée or Slay
Drizzle of Death
Slash in the Pan
Oceanside Hotel Cozy Mysteries—Maisie runs a 5 star hotel and thought she’d seen everything. Little did she know. From haunted pirate tales to Hollywood red carpet events, she has a lot to keep her busy.
Booked For Murder
Deadly Reservation
Final Check Out
Fatal Vacancy
Suite Casualty
