Carni by R. Saint Claire

Author:R. Saint Claire [Claire, R. Saint]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-12-02T00:00:00+00:00

15

Strong Man

The first person Dag spotted at Curtin's was Buster sitting at the end of the bar. He had to endure the old salt's glare until Aurora stepped in and sweet-talked him for few minutes. Once Aurora and Dag were tucked into their waterside booth, Dag had the waitress take a pint over to Buster.

That tension settled, they shut out the rest of the bar patrons and chatted easily. Dag was starving, so he ordered two fried shrimp platters and onion rings to share. Aurora sipped her margarita and picked at her food while Dag dug in voraciously.

"I actually feel better now that I got that out," Aurora said with a smile. She had applied a bit of make-up, black eyeliner and mascara, and dark red lipstick. She wore the same floral dress but had added a short denim jacket and heeled sandals. Except for her hair color, they looked like an average middle class couple on a mid-week date night.

"I'm glad," said Dag. He took a swig of his beer, thinking about how he might broach the topic gnawing at him all night.

For chrissakes, just say it.

He cleared his throat. "Listen, Aurora. I appreciate you telling me what happened."

She stopped sipping through her straw and said, "You're not going to tell that detective, are you?"

Dag shrugged. Glad he still had her on the hook, he began to slowly reel her in. "Most likely, no," he said.

Her eyes widened.

"But." He leaned forward, and gently picked up her hand, warming it in his. "I just got this big assignment for Rolling Stone." He paused, waiting for her to register a look of awe. When none materialized, Dag continued, "I'd like you to help me with the article."

Her hand felt limp in his. "Help you how?"

"Just be my source, that's all. I'm writing about the island."

"And about Carni?"

"Yeah, of course. Carni will be a big part of the story. But we need to go back there with your friends, just like we did the other night, except no one gets hurt this time. OK?"

Her head bobbed limply.

"I'll be there as a reporter, and I'll have a photographer with me."

Aurora slowly slipped her hand from his grasp. Her fingers curled on the edge of the polished wood table. "A story like that will bring a lot of attention to the island and to Carni," she said. Her glance floated across the river to the dark island mound in the near distance. She bit her lip.

"Sure," Dag said, "but that could be a good thing. Carni probably loves crowds, being a clown and all." He hoped she didn't pick up the ring of sarcasm in his voice. He didn't believe in the reconstituted Carni, not by a long shot. But his own dreams and weird hallucinations had shown him the Carni character was compelling, so compelling that an article about a creepy clown haunting an old circus ground could garner a lot of attention, possibly go viral, but he didn't want to get ahead of himself.

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