Dark Carnival Murders Read Free Page B

turning out
to be a bust," I said and pulled my cell phone and the card that
Walker gave me. I dialed his home number and he came on after the
first ring. I could tell he was on edge.
    "Mr. Walker, it’s Jim
Richards, I don’t suppose the boys came home?"
    "No, have you found out
anything?"
    "We’re still at the
carnival and haven’t found anyone who recognized them. Could they
have gone somewhere else besides the carnival?"
    "I really don’t know, they
have never gone off on their own before. It’s not something they
would do. Oh God, I hope they weren’t kidnapped from their tent,"
he said with a shaky voice.
    "I would think by now that
kidnappers would have called you, so let’s rule that out for now.
All we have is that they wandered off from their tent and could
have come here. We aren’t finished searching so sit tight and I’ll
get back to you." He thanked me and I hung up.
    "I really hate not knowing
where someone or something is. Like trying to find your keys, you
thought they were on the table but now they aren’t," Earl said as I
put my cell phone away. "Well, where to now?"
    "I don’t know, maybe we
could look around all the trucks that brought the carnival here," I
said.
    "Works for me, I’d like to
meet that giant again without the public around."
    "You’re so macho aren’t
you?"
    "Hey, it’s been way too
long since I killed a man with my bare hands."
    "Or overthrew a
government, yeah, yeah," I laughed.
    We went to the area were
all the big rigs were parked and wandered around listening for any
sounds that might be boys locked in a truck. We heard no banging or
Morse code to give away their location and stopped at the end of
the row.
    "Short of breaking in a
few of the enclosed trucks, we got nothing. I don’t want to incur
the wrath of LVMPD by breaking and entering locked vehicles, if we
got caught. So now what?" Earl asked.
    "Maybe we should talk to
Lynn and see what LVMPD can do for us," I said.
    I pulled my cell phone and
called Penny, "Where are you?" I asked after she
answered.
    "We’re in the beer tent
having a few cold ones," she replied.
    "Save one for me, we’re on
the way." I hung up and we went back to the midway and over to the
beer tent. I saw Angelo first; he was easy to spot in a crowd
because most people just moved away from him. He just screamed
Mafia from his looks, kind of like the Sopranos on TV. Earl and I
got a couple beers at the counter and went to the picnic table
where they were seated.
    "No luck?" Penny
asked.
    "We got to meet the owner
of the place and a very huge giant that we wrestled to the ground,"
I said.
    Earl spoke up, "I wrestled
him to the ground, you just stood peeing your pants after he
grabbed your neck."
    "I did no such thing. I
had my gun on him while you were rolling around holding hands with
him, did he give you his phone number?."
    Penny and Paula both were
laughing and then Penny said, "Great, so you didn’t find the
boys?"
    "No, I think we may have
to call Lynn in on this, it may be too soon for missing persons,
but they are seriously gone and may need police intervention to get
into the inner sanctum of this place. I still believe they came
here," I said.
    "Mr. Dark seemed too cool
about the picture you showed him, he’s hiding something," Earl said
and took a big swig of his beer.
    "Yes he did, no concern or
sympathy from a man who entertains children of all ages," I
said.
    "And he’s spooky," Earl
added.
    "Problem is, Lynn would
need some facts before she can get a warrant in to investigate. I
think I may have an idea," I said and took a swig of my beer; it
was chilled and tasted good in the hot tent.
    "Okay, what is your idea?"
Penny asked after I said no more.
    I smiled and said, "I’ll
tell everyone after I talk to Buck."
    We enjoyed the festivities
and then stopped for the day. It was getting too hot to be out of
reach of an air conditioner.
    We all left the carnival,
I watched it in my rearview mirror, it started to look evil. I
drove