Peggy Dulle - Liza Wilcox 01 - Death Is Clowning Around (12 page)

Chapter 14

The clowns carried me through the empty auditorium and into a back office.
They threw me into a chair.

“Stay put!” the taller clown shouted.

When they left, I got up and tried the door.
It was locked.
There had to be another way out.
The window was too small.
Even if I’d lost that ten pounds or so, I still would never have made it through.

I got a paperclip out of the desk and bent it straight.
How easy was it to pick a lock?
If I was going to do this kind of investigation I needed more skills.
I stuck the wire into the lock and turned it right and then left.
Nothing happened.
It always looked so easy in the movies.

I heard footsteps coming down the hall.
Quickly I removed the wire, bent it in half, and put it in my pocket.
I went over to the chair and sat back down.
A few seconds later, I heard the door unlock and Carl stepped in.

He raised his eyebrows and looked at me.
“Did you lock the door?”

I crossed my arms over my chest and pulled my jaw tight.
“No
, the goons you sent after me –
who
by the way carried me in here –
did.”

“Idiots.”
He shook his head.
“I’m sorry, Liza.
I just wanted to find you and ask you to come and see me.”

I squared my shoulders and tilted my head downward.
“That’s not the message they heard.”

He gave me a stern look.
“I’m surrounded by incompetent morons.”
Then his tone softened.
“I’ll talk to them, Liza.”

I thought about the philosophy of the Uptown Clowns, their websites and the child and adult pornography.
Carl is the King of the Morons.
On the table behind his desk he had a picture of Jessie.
It was the same one used in the missing child posters.
I needed to work that into our conversation.

I drew in a breath and blew it out slowly.
“What can I do for you, Carl?”

“First off, I know you’re a teacher and you’re on vacation.”

“Yes.”

He rubbed the back of his neck.
“We really need some help with the kids.”

“I spend all year with kids.
I try and avoid them when I’m on vacation,” I said, with genuine sarcasm.

He eyed me steadily, as if trying to figure out what incentive he could use to persuade me.
“How about I refund the entire cost of the camp?
You’d still be able to participate in all the sessions and of course the meditation and dinners.”

I sat silent for a moment, arguing with myself.
Was getting involved deeper with the Uptown Clowns really such a good idea?
Would it help me find Jessie or not?

“What would I have to do?”

He flashed me a smile, his tone triumphant.
“Just help Tony out.
The kids don’t get up until nine.
They have breakfast and then they go to two different fun activities with lunch in between.
They eat dinner and enjoy the evening festivities.
Then they go to bed around nine.
You’d only have to help bring them to breakfast and get them to their first activity.
We did okay getting them to lunch and on to their second activity.
Dinner went okay.
But we’d need you to walk them back to their dorms and get them settled into bed.”

I smiled fleetingly, a polite, mouth-only smile.
Then remembering what I’d seen the other clowns wearing, I said, “Don’t I need a special badge to do all that?”

“Absolutely.”
He reached into the top drawer of his desk and handed me an orange badge.
“Just keep it out of sight until you need it.
I don’t want any of the other participants to know we’re giving you any special privileges.”

It was a great opportunity for me to keep an eye on the kids, check out where the video cameras are, see if I could find out about the adult films being made, and get some information on Jessie.
I nodded toward the picture behind him.
“Is that your daughter?”

He glanced back, frowned and sighed.
“No, that’s my niece.”

“She looks really familiar.”

“She was kidnapped ten years ago.
It was in all the papers.”

“Jessie something, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, Jessie McGowan.”

“They never found her?”

“No.”
He leaned forward.

“Wait.
Wasn’t there something about clowns related to her abduction?”

“Yeah.
Somebody dressed up like one of us and took her.
I think that’s why she wasn’t afraid of the guy who grabbed her.
She’d seen me in my clown suit a hundred times.
The week before was the Spring Festival in Gainsville.
I’d spent the whole week there and Jessie had wandered around with me and helped pass out balloon animals.
She loved that I was a clown and was looking forward to coming to camp again.”

“She’d already been here a few times?”

“Oh yeah, it was her favorite summer vacation spot.
Sometimes she’d spend the entire summer here.
It was certainly better than staying at home,” he spat bitterly and with more anger then you’d expect from an uncle, then continued.
“I loved that little girl.
My wife did, too.
We never could have children, so when Jessie was here it was like we had a daughter.
After Jessie was taken we adopted a daughter of our own.”
He smiled broadly and pointed to the wall behind me.
It was filled with pictures of another girl.
“Her name is Lori.
But we all still miss Jessie.”

“I’m sorry.
Losing a child like that is terrible.
So many bad things happen to kids these days, don’t you think?”
I scowled.
I’m sure he thought it was because I saw so many abused and neglected children rather than because of what he did to them.

“Yeah.”
He nodded.
“That’s why I let a group of kids who’d never be able to afford it come to the camp each session.
It makes me feel like I’m giving something back.
I do it in memory of Jessie.”

“That’s a great thing to do.”
I stood up.
“Is your wife involved with the camp?”

“Yeah, she does all the administrative stuff and I run the program.”
Carl put his hand on my arm.
A faint crease of concern marred his brow.
“We really need you, Liza.”

“Okay, I’ll help you with the kids.”

“Thanks, Liza.

I turned and left his office.
What the hell?
Frustration boiled in my veins.
How could he talk about Jessie, his daughter, and other kids with such concern, and also be responsible for the pornography?
It didn’t make sense.
He knew about the clown costume being the same as his own organization but he never shared that with the police.
Wouldn’t that have helped in the investigation?
Carl certainly was the spokesman for the Uptown Clowns but did he know about everything else?
I seem to be accumulating lots of questions and very few answers.

I was only a few minutes late to my balloon class.
It was great fun.
I learned how to make a poodle, cat, butterfly, giraffe, two different kinds of hats and even swords.
Of course I’d never make the swords for the kids in my class.
I have a rule about no “weapons of destruction” in my classroom.
It kept the kids from making guns, bombs and swords out of all my Legos and building blocks.

After the balloon session we had a few hours to rest until dinner.
I checked on the kids.
They were all strapped up into safety straps and were having fun trying to walk on the tightrope and swing on the trapeze.
Screams of delight and laughter filled the auditorium.
The kids were okay.
A few saw me and waved.
I waved back and smiled.

Tony came over as I was walking out the door.
“Liza.”

I turned.
“Yeah.”

“I really appreciate you helping out,” he said with a faint smile.

“It’s okay, Tony.
I don’t mind and I get to go to clown camp free.
It’s a win-win situation for both of us.”

“I really do appreciate it.
If there’s anything you need, let me know.”
He pointed to himself, emphasizing his words.

“Okay, where does someone get a diet Coke around here?”

He smiled.
“Follow me.”

He led me through a set of double doors to another door that read, “Staff Only”.
Inside were several refrigerators.
Tony opened one that was packed with soda.
He stepped aside and pointed.
“Help yourself, any time.”

I snatched a diet Coke, opened it, and took a big drink.
“Thanks, Tony.”

“No, thank you Liza.”
Tony waved and left the room.

I opened the other refrigerators.
One was filled with fruits and vegetables, another with meats and breads, and the last had all types of desserts in it.
I bet this food doesn’t have any drugs in it, I thought.
I took a piece of cheesecake, sat down, and ate it with my diet Coke.
Life didn’t get any better than this.

A few clowns came in and started to say something to me until, I flashed them my employee badge.
They backed off.
Power was good.

When I finished my snack, I took another diet Coke and left the building.
When I got back to my room, Tina was asleep with her headphones on.
There was also a set of headphones lying on my bed.
I pushed the play button on the tape recorder and put in one of the earphones.
Along with rhythmic pounding music was Carl’s voice.
He was spouting the same crap I
had
been hearing for the last two days.

Tina looked up when I sat down on my bed.
She pulled off her headphones.
“Hey, Roomy.”

“How are you, Tina?”
I asked.

“Great!”
She pointed to my bed.
“They delivered your headphones.”

I held them up.
“I see that.”

“You’re supposed to listen when you’re napping or resting.
It enhances the camp experience.”

“I’m sure it does.”
I set them back on my bed.
“I need to use the restroom first.”

Tina nodded, put her headphones back on, and fell fast asleep.

I went into the bathroom, got my nail clippers and slid them into my pocket.
When I lay down in bed, I clipped the wire in two different places so they’d stay together but I wouldn’t be able to hear the stuff on the tape.
It was easy to counter with a saying when I was awake, but it would be impossible while asleep.
I pushed play and put on the headphones.
The tape moved but there was no sound.
Perfect.
I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

Tina jerked me awake, grabbing and pushing on my shoulder.
“Liza!
I know the tape is great but we’re going to be late for dinner.”
She handed me a clown outfit.
“Besides, tonight we get to dress up.”

“Oh great.”

Tina went into the bathroom and I examined my costume.
It looked like all the others.
How could the members tell the difference between the participants and themselves?
The mask was missing.
The members all had face gear to protect them from the drugged gas.
We didn’t.

Tina came out of the bathroom dressed in her costume.
“Hurry up.
I’ll wait for you and we can walk over together.”

“Okay.”
I went into the bathroom and changed.
I checked my reflection in the mirror.
I looked ridiculous.
I didn’t even get this dressed up on Halloween.

When I came out of the bathroom Tina screamed with glee, grabbed my arm, and dragged me to the auditorium.
The evening was fairly similar to the last one, except people danced and acted crazier, sooner.
I slipped away and ate some food from the staff lounge.
I made sure I drank plenty of water, but I was still feeling the effects of the drugs in the air.
I saw Tony standing by the door and went over to him.