The Cowboy's Crime by Evelyn James

Author:Evelyn James [James, Evelyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Red Raven Publications
Published: 2020-01-28T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

Maven was sceptical about mesmerism. He had had a mesmerist working in the funfair for a while, a man who was a better confidence artist than he was anything useful. He had all sorts of tricks for supposedly reading peoples’ minds and he could convince people that they would leave the funfair feeling happier, more confident, more assertive, or whatever it was they felt they were lacking in their lives. It was all going wonderfully, and he was very popular, until the police arrested him one day for tricking a wealthy gentleman into handing over a large sum of money with the promise he could make him lose weight just by the power of his thoughts. Naturally, the gentleman had not lost weight, if anything he had gained some as he had stopped worrying about what he was eating, assuming the mesmerist’s mental powers would overcome his gluttony.

Arrested for fraud, Maven never saw the mesmerist again and was rather glad. He was not keen on another mesmerist, albeit one with a medical degree in psychiatry, coming to mess with Clark’s head.

“It’s all word games and suggestion,” he told Clara firmly.

They were stood to one side as O’Harris introduced the doctor to Clark inside his caravan. It was the day after the attack on Polly, relatively early in the morning so the interview would not disrupt the funfair. Maven had pulled Clara away, bristling with outrage as he learned of the plan.

“No one asked my permission!”

“Why would we need it?” Clara asked him innocently.

“This is my funfair!”

“Then, if it will make you feel better, we shall ask Clark to come with us back to O’Harris’ convalescence home for treatment.”

“No, it would not make me feel better!” Maven huffed and puffed. “Look, Clark put on an excellent show last night, a bit different from usual, a bit more… real, but no harm in that. People loved it. So really, if he is good to carry on, why does he need to be mesmerised?”

Clara stared at him, not believing her ears.

“Are you blind, Mr Maven? Someone is threatening Clark, two attacks have occurred that are aimed at upsetting him. I have no doubt there are more to come, and perhaps this person is building up to murder, I can’t say for sure, but I know we have to find out who they are and stop them. Polly was nearly throttled yesterday.”

“Yes, yes, I appreciate that, but I have Gunther and Duncan working hard to keep an eye on things. I shall hire some extra men just to be safe…”

“How will they keep anyone safe when they have no idea who is behind all this? Or what this person might do next?” Clara said to him, frustrated by his attitude. “You know as well as I do that this is not just about Clark being in danger. Anyone who has associated with him could be a target.”

Maven was duly rebuked, he cast another surly glance at the caravan.

“What if that mesmerist tricks him

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