by Kat Cotton
Akira searched my face. “Was that...” He waved his hand at the garage. “Part of the investigation?”
I winced. Was it? I couldn’t answer that myself. Shit. It was personal. It was totally personal but I didn’t want to tell Akira that. All my feelings smished up so I didn’t know what was what.
“Forget you saw that, right.”
He shrugged and didn’t look at me.
“You’re living with a possible murderer. Remember that. Don’t be waylaid by that guy’s charms. He’s part of it.”
I nodded. “The sooner we can get this guy put away, the better.”
I really didn’t want to discuss that kiss with Akira any further. I didn’t want to discuss it with anyone. Kissing wasn’t good. It wasn’t professional. If Akira hadn’t turned up, who knew what that kiss might’ve led to. Kissing and body tingles and curling toes were totally, one hundred percent against undercover regulations. Well, kissing might be allowed in some circumstances but the body tinges and toe curling never. Personal involvement clouded your judgement.
Akira got in his car. “Call me if you need me. Don’t worry about protocol. Just call.”
“I’ll worry about protocol, believe me.”
But Akira drove off without listening.
I didn’t want to report this to Larry. For starters, it’d be super embarrassing, but if it happened again, I’d have to. I couldn’t work with Akira if he got too worried about me.
“Hey, what was that about?” asked Lilly when I went back to the garage. “Cute crew guy coming around to see you. Nice work.”
I’m pretty sure my blush covered my entire body. Of course Lilly had let Akira into the garage. Made sense. But the timing had been as bad as it could be.
I tried to look calm.
“He just came to drop off my phone. Except it wasn’t even my phone. Idiot.”
“You’re the idiot,” she said. “He made an excuse to see you. He likes you, Jayne.” Then she winked. “You should’ve asked him for a drink.”
“Jayne has work to do.” Duke gave the Wheel a weak spin to remind me what we were doing here.
“Screw you, Duke,” Lilly said. “If I had the choice between you or going for a drink with a cute guy, I’d be out of here so fast.”
“Jayne’s made her choice and this is it. She’s not you. She’s way less flighty.”
They glared at each other for moment, another reminder of the long history between them. Lilly pouted at being called flighty but then smiled.
“I’d rather be flighty, I think. It’s more fun.”
Earnest and Nuno came into the garage.
“Ready to go,” Earnest said. “I’ve got the first aid kit ready.”
He put his arm around Nuno when he said that, and chuckled. I groaned but noticed once again, Nuno had that look of fear.
Duke got his box of knives out again while Nuno strapped me to the Wheel. With my arms and legs bound, a horrible thought hit me.
This could be a trap. An evil trap.
Earnest knew that Duke was aching to perform again. No one had even seen that message inviting us to perform for the finale but Earnest. Maybe he made the whole thing up. He’d know that Duke would fight to be allowed to perform. He’d also know that Duke would win that argument because Earnest had intended that all along.
That just left Lilly. She’d blackmailed me into doing this despite betting against Duke. That could’ve all been an elaborate ruse too.
Why had this only occurred to me once I was strapped in. I pulled against the arm binding. No getting out of here without help.
If Earnest told Lilly to make sure I agreed to this, would she fall in with him? She didn’t want to upset him but how far did that go? Would she agree to me getting injured or worse to keep Earnest happy?
She stood beside Earnest smiling but that meant nothing. Lilly could smile and look pleasant through anything.
Even that thing she’d said to me, that she knew why I didn’t want to return to the circus, could’ve been a big pile of bull dust. Any idiot could’ve made an educated guess that I had secrets to hide when it came to that circus. Especially when I’d thrown up the entire contents of my stomach less than an hour before at the thought of returning there.
Then the kiss. Had that just been a distraction?
I’d been played like a sucker.
But it seemed a helluva lot of trouble to go to just to kill someone. There were much easier ways. An accident onstage or a disappearance.
Maybe Duke wasn’t involved. Maybe this was all to discredit Duke. Lilly and Nuno wouldn’t turn so easily on Duke but they could be played too.
“I’ve changed my mind,” I called out. “I don’t think this is a good idea.”
Duke frowned. “You don’t trust me.”
“I trust you,” I said. I wanted to add that I didn’t trust Earnest but that gleam in his eyes proved I’d played right into his hands. “I just don’t think it’s right to do this here. It’s not a proper work environment.”
“It’s just a test,” Duke said. “Remember, this will be a lot gentler than the real performance.”
As he said that, Nuno came closer, to blindfold me and spin the Wheel.
“Save me,” I whispered to him. “This is a setup.”
Nuno took a step back, putting his head on the side to consider.
I jutted my chin at him, trying to imply the urgency of the situation without saying actual words in front of Earnest. Then Nuno turned around, doing a cross sign with his arms to say this was no good.
“Stop messing around,” Earnest said. “It’s getting late and we need to get to bed.”
He took a few steps towards us.
Nuno bit his lip. His expression was full of apology, but apologies were no good to me. Action was. There was nothing left but I couldn’t just let myself be stabbed to death.
“Let’s go,” Earnest said.
Nuno spun the Wheel without putting on my blindfold. I shut my eyes. I couldn’t look. Even if I couldn’t actually focus on the knives while I spun, I didn’t want to even think about them. And I didn’t want to get too dizzy.
I couldn’t just do nothing. Even with my limbs restrained and my body spinning, I had to use any weapon at my command. My powers had been useless the last time I’d used them and I had no idea if they’d help now but I had to try.
I forced my eyes open, almost vomiting again from the motion but I doubted I had anything left in my stomach. Normally on the Wheel, a thin sheen of sweat covered my body. Now I had much more than a thin sheen. I sweated so much I’d leave stains on the wood behind me.
I bit into my bottom lip, willing the power to rise through me. At first, I thought stopping the Wheel would be the best move but that would throw off Duke’s rhythm. I couldn’t risk that. It might be more dangerous than doing nothing at all.
Instead I tried to watch Duke, gauging when he rose his arm to throw. Trying to focus like that as I spun had my head pounding. But as I got stronger, the Wheel seemed to slow. I could feel what Duke was doing.
As he flung the knife, I turned my thoughts to a laser beam precision. This was stupid. It’d never work. That knife headed straight to my body.
Then the Wheel seemed to go even slower. The trajectory of the knife slowed too. Everything turned to slow motion.
The tip of the knife came closer and closer. Almost to me.
Then the knife fell to the ground with a heavy thud.
I’d done it. I’d stopped the knife.
As I gasped in relief, Duke picked up another knife from the case.
Shit. I’d never thought of that. He’d keep going until all those knives had been thrown, no matter what I did. I just had to hope my powers held out.
Chapter 21
“WHY DID YOU DO THAT?” Duke demanded as Nuno unleashed me from the Wheel.
Even with Nuno supporting me, I slumped to the floor. I’d exhausted myself stopping all those knives but I’d survived. And my powers w
orked. They’d totally worked. And that made me happy.
Judging from Duke’s angry face, he didn’t share my happiness. Earnest didn’t look too happy either.
“She doesn’t trust you,” Earnest said.
“It’s not that I don’t trust you,” I argued. I really hoped that Duke picked up on the “you” part of that sentence without me having to stress it in front of Earnest. “But I don’t think you’ve recovered enough.”
Duke huffed and walked back into the town house. I tried to follow him but Earnest grabbed hold of me.
“Not so fast,” he said.
Then he walked back in with me, like he purposely didn’t want me talking to Duke. Of course he didn’t. And I didn’t want Earnest to know I suspected him.
“I’m bushed,” I said. “I need to sleep.”
“Jeepers, don’t throw up again,” Lilly said. “Do you need a bucket? You sure look green in the face.”
I was going to say I was okay but then nodded.
“You threw up?” Earnest said. “When?”
He stared at the two of us. Why was it any of his concern?
“When we went out earlier,” Lilly said. “Must’ve been something she ate.”
“That fish burger I had earlier did seem a little off,” I replied, glad that Lilly didn’t mention the circus.
“Really?” Earnest tried to look all concerned but it didn’t seem one bit sincere. “No wonder you look so ill. I’ll make you a nice cup of tea to settle you for bed.”
“Actually, I’m fine.”
The tea? I thought Earnest had one nice trait, making me so many cups of tea but that’d been it. He’d been lacing it with the potion. And the potion had left my system when I’d thrown up. The pieces fit.
“A hot chocolate then?” he asked.
“I’m fine, really. I just need sleep.”
I wanted to talk to Duke too but if I went into his room, I’d have to get past Earnest. One of the dogs growled. So, I’d have to get past Earnest and his dogs.
Instead, I went to my room and got ready for bed, then I messaged Buzz. I wanted to see if he had any updates on that potion. He didn’t reply. Sometimes I forgot he’d stopped working the night beat and now had a regular day job doing outreach with kids. He’d get back to me in the morning though.
I couldn’t sleep so I ran through the details of this case in my head.
Earnest was on some mission to get properly dead not just be a zombie or whatever he was. He thought I’d interfere with that plan. Since Earnest didn’t know I was a cop, I wasn’t sure how he thought I’d interfere.
What did he want? To let demons attack? He was in league with them? But that’d mean the rest of the troupe were as well and they’d helped me fight the demon before.
Earnest obviously had no qualms about me getting injured in the process. That’s what Duke at said and that’d proved true tonight.
I’d have to be extra careful about taking drinks or food from Earnest in future. I’d prepare my own food and no more cups of tea. Maybe I could say I was quitting caffeine. The less Earnest knew about my suspicions, the better.
I still couldn’t determine how much Nuno and Lilly were involved in his schemes.
Then there was the whole other matter of Duke’s disappearance. That’d been connected to the circus. No doubts about that. But why would they want Duke. What was his value to them?
There were too many questions. I wanted to get answers but I wouldn’t go to the circus. Obviously, I couldn’t. Not after today’s reaction.
I could get Akira to check things out, though. He was the only person I trusted and I didn’t need to tell him any more than I needed to, just let him know the circus was connected to Duke’s disappearance.
The next morning, when Lilly woke up, I asked if she still wanted to learn lock picking. I wanted to find out where the lock she wanted picked was so I could give Akira a location.
“Sure thing,” she said. “I’m always one for learning, especially skills of the more dubious kind.”
“Huh, what’s this?” Earnest asked. He always seemed to turn up mid-conversation wanting to know what was going on.
“Jayne’s going to teach me lock picking. It’s an important skill.”
Earnest chuckled.
“Cup of tea anyone?” he asked.
Even though I didn’t intend to drink it, I said I’d have one. I wanted to see how he got the potion into the tea.
Lilly and I chatted while he boiled the kettle. I pretended to be interested in Lilly’s story while watching every move Earnest made. He filled the kettle up from the tap, so that checked out. Unless the potion was in the kettle already. But then everyone, including himself, would be hit by it. I wasn’t sure if it’d have any effect on him but I bet he wasn’t willing to test that.
He got out the cups and put tea bags in them.
He did it so fast I almost missed it but the tea bag he’d used for me was different to the ones he used for himself and Lilly. The tea bags were soaked in the potion. I’d check that cupboard lately and get the tea bags tested.
I ran upstairs and grabbed a couple of hair pins for Lilly along with a padlock. Earnest left while I was gone. I put the tea cup aside. I’d throw it out later but I needed a sample.
“We’ll start with this,” I said, giving Lilly the lock. “It’s pretty easy stuff.”
I gave her a run through on how to work the lock.
“What sort of lock are you going to be dealing with anyway?”
“There’s a paddock on the trailer and then the normal trailer door lock. I think the padlock will be the most difficult.”
“Where’s the trailer located?” I smiled, trying to look casual. “If it’s in a back corner, you’ll have a lot more time to play around than if it’s somewhere central.”
“It’s central,” she said. “And the door is well lit.”
“Well you’d better get lock picking then.” Damn, I wasn’t sure if Akira could pick locks, and more importantly, if he would. Technically, searching private property without a warrant was not a good thing to do. But all that admissible evidence stuff didn’t matter if we weren’t taking this to court.
That left the problem of how to ask him. If I asked him to do something dubious, he’d get suspicious. I should be the one saying no. I’d been by the book my entire work life. Now I wanted a work mate to commit a crime. Akira has never been a stickler for the rules like me but that didn’t mean he’d commit a blatant crime either.
I could just rely on Lilly to do the dirty work but I had no idea if she’d share her findings with me.
After a few tries, Lilly got the lock open. I locked it again and this time, I timed her with my phone. She needed to do this as fast as she could.
“Ten minutes,” I said when she was done. “That’s too long.”
“I thought ten minutes was pretty good.”
“Yeah, when we’re sitting here at the kitchen table it’s good. When you’re out in the open, with people around you, ten minutes could get you killed.”
She sighed and picked up the lock again.
“Okay, point taken.”
While she worked this time, I made some toast for my breakfast.
“Are we hanging around here until our next shows?” I asked her.
“Your guess is as good as mine. It’d have been good if we’d been doing the finale. That’d give us an excuse to linger.”
“I thought you wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.:”
She shrugged. “One place is as good as any, I guess.”
Then she sat the open lock on the table.
“Seven and a half minutes,” I said. “Better.”
“Still not good enough.”
“It just takes practice,” I told her.
“So how much house breaking did you do as a kid?”
I watched her fiddling with the lock. “If you turn it a little to the right, that’ll be easier,” I told her. “And I didn’t do a
lot of house breaking. I was homeless for a while, though. A nice, dry abandoned house with a flimsy lock was a godsend. And I figured it was better to break the lock then put it back in place the next day than break a window.”
Lilly gave a curt nod. “So, you were a thoughtful housebreaker.”
“Something like that.”
Earnest came back with Nuno. “We’ve got to go pack up the gear today and you should come with us,” he said.
“Me or Lilly?”
He chuckled. “You, of course.”
Of course. He and Nuno exchanged looks. I wasn’t sure I wanted to go with them. That look gave me visions of an unmarked shallow grave somewhere on the outskirts of town.
“I’ll just get my jacket,” I said. But when I went into the bedroom, I grabbed my burner phone and messaged Akira with my GPS tracker. It might not save me but at least someone would know where my body was buried.
The three of us got in the van with the two dogs. I wasn’t sure dogs would help with loading out equipment but they might with the shallow grave.
I inhaled. Today did not look good.
Once we were in the van, though, I realized Earnest had a far different ulterior motive.
“We have an appointment with the festival director and I want you to convince him that Duke isn’t fit to do this finale,” he said. “Tell him you’re too scared to work with Duke.”
I exhaled. That seemed way better than the alternative but still left a bad taste in my mouth.
Chapter 22
HALFWAY TO THE VENUE, Earnest got a message.
“Change of plans,” he said. “Emergency.”
“Huh?” I looked from him to Nuno.
“Pull over and let her out,” Earnest said.
Part of me was all for that. This could be something I didn’t want to get involved in, but the other part of me wanted to find out what the hell was going on here. Even if it meant getting mixed up in some nasty business, I needed to get evidence otherwise there was no point in me being undercover.
“I’m staying,” I said.
Earnest shook his head but Nuno touched his arm.
“Okay,” Earnest said then he turned back to me, “but you stay in the van. Nuno and I will deal with this then we’ll head over to our appointment. Hopefully, we won’t be long.”
