Big Top Treachery by CeeCee James

Author:CeeCee James [James, CeeCee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-11-24T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

It was in the safety of the darkness that I thought I could broach a few more questions to Sally. “So who would have wanted to kill Bernie?” I asked. “What enemies did he have?”

“I don’t know. He was a good guy. You know him.”

I thought he was gruff and kind of crabby but I accepted her assessment of him since they’d been friends for all of those years.

“But,” she continued. “Here we are back in Florida in the same town where Holly died. It must have triggered him.”

“You said he had a gambling problem. I didn’t know that.”

Sally glanced at me with pity. “Honey, we don’t always let our secrets hang out to the new folks.”

Well, I’d been a part of the circus for several years now, and it kind of stung to still be considered “new folk.”

I stared up at the ceiling and thought about Sally’s son. Kenny knew about the sword. He loved the jewel. His dad came and got him a few days after Holly died. Was it possible that Sally’s son went back to the pawn shop to get the sword? Would the sword have still been there all these years later?

I rolled over and sighed.

“What do you think of Kenny coming back to the circus right now?” I asked.

The silence between us was prickly. Finally, she said, “I guess it makes sense since he got out of jail. He wanted to see family.”

“How well did he know Bernie? I mean, is there a reason he’d want to see him?”

Sally roughly plumped up a pillow and flung it next to her. “Trixie, you’re just going in for the kill, aren’t you?”

“I’m sorry,” I said and covered my face with my blanket. Why did I ask her that? What did I expect her to say? After all, she was his mom.

“Kenny did have a friendship with both Bernie and Holly. Remember when I said that my son was fascinated with the ruby in Holly’s sword? Bernie used to babysit him too, at times. In fact, Bernie sometimes had Kenny sit next to him on the bench while he played the calliope, while Holly and I were doing our act. Kenny was devastated when Holly died.”

“Was he mad at Bernie?” I asked.

The covers rustled on Sally’s bed. It sounded like she was stuck in twisted blankets. I heard thumping as her feet kicked them free. She gave a heavy sigh.

Finally, she answered. “Yeah, Kenny was mad. He’d heard the rumor of what Bernie had done. Only five years old, but I caught him pounding on Bernie’s door, trying to get in. It was that day that Kenny’s dad came and got him.”

I suddenly understood. “You didn’t fight to get Kenny back?”

“There wasn’t a lot I could do. I mean, what court is going to award custody to a mom who’s always on the move? At the same time, I thought a stable home would help Kenny. Just get out of the circus scene.”

“And get away from Bernie.

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