The Ringmaster Murder: A Paranormal Mystery (Alistar Circus Mysteries Book 1) by Renee Brume

Author:Renee Brume [Brume, Renee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hot Mess Express Publishing
Published: 2025-02-20T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 13

HUMP DAY

It was Wednesday, and I didn’t feel any closer to figuring out who had killed Reginald than the day before. Time was running out.

Jet was lying on the kitchen floor with a big bone between his paws. I had to step over him to get to the kitchen. The sound of the bone crushing in his teeth reminded me he was, at heart, a predator. A predator who loved me, but he had those big teeth for a reason.

After he was finished with his bone, he padded over to the door and looked at me. “One second, Jet,” I said, realizing he wanted to go for a walk.

“Aaron, I’m going out!” I called back to the bedroom, where he was still lazing around in bed.

“Okay! Be good. Stay away from Robert Blake,” he ordered, and I giggled behind my hand and grabbed my keys.

The morning sun was rising, and a few other people were out and about, drinking coffee, smoking a cig, or walking little dogs.

Jet padded around the dirt in the road, sniffing here and there, finally crouching near a stock car and unleashing his torrent of big cat pee. Then, still sniffing the ground, he jumped up into the box car, where Reginald had died in one leap, his muscles bunching and then sailing effortlessly into the space.

I clambered up behind him, noticing that the chalk mark was fading. Jet looked around, sitting on his back haunches, and then his nose went down again.

“What’s the matter, boy? Sniffing out clues?” I joked. Big cats are naturally inquisitive and have a superb sense of smell. I watched as Jet walked the perimeter of the box car, sniffing just like a dog. Then, he stopped at the far-left corner, sat on his haunches, and looked at me.

“What?” I asked, hurrying over to the corner. I looked down and saw an empty syringe. “Ugh. Drug users.”

Jet blinked at me but didn’t get up. I leaned down, using the sleeve of my T-shirt, and picked it up. Strangely, the needle had been capped. Not typical drug-user-in-the-wild behavior. I smelled it and noticed it DID not smell like I expected. It smelled strongly of the hospital, and a bit of clear liquid was left inside. “This is curious,” I muttered, slipping it into my pocket.

Jet was now bored, and had jumped back down out of the car. I followed him, wondering where he was going. I was a little surprised he wandered all the way down the train, past the pie car, and to the animal cars.

Dan was scooping out the dirty hay, and the elephants were just chilling in the train yard. He was holding a pitchfork full of elephant dung when he stopped and looked at me. “Hey, Carmen. How’s Jet doing?”

“He’s great!” I said cheerily. “Sorry he doesn’t want to hang out with you guys.”

“He’s quite the escape artist.” Dan laughed. “I saw him on the bus last night, riding it like he owned the place. Smartest dang big cat I’ve ever seen.

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