Dark Carnival Murders (6 page)

"It’s been over
twenty-four hours since the boys disappeared. I hope Dark hasn’t
had enough time to take them anywhere. I also hope Buck and Mac can
find something. Time will tell," I said as my cell phone buzzed.
Caller ID said unknown, I answered, it was Mr. Walker. I told
Penny, then I went off the side of the midway where I had a little
privacy.

"Mr. Richards, have you
found them yet?" he asked sounding a wreck.

"Mr. Walker, I’m at the
carnival right now with a police detective friend of mine, I have
two men working undercover to find them, please be patient. We are
doing the best we can right now, but this is real life and crimes
don’t get solved in an hour like on TV." I was a bit harsh on him
but he needed the reality check.

He was quiet for a beat
then said, "I’ll have to trust you, but we are both going crazy
here. I don’t know how to calm my wife; she’s been pacing and
driving me crazy also. I’m sorry I bothered you."

"You didn’t bother me, if
you hadn’t called I might have thought you didn’t care."

"Nonsense! We care deeply,
we care so much it hurts to have to wait."

"I fully understand, I
have a son also and I know how I’d feel if he
disappeared."

"Do you have any idea what
may have happened?"

I had an idea but didn’t
want to panic him, "We believe the boys are still alive, from what
we have found out so far, but we just need to find their location.
Now try and relax, I know it’s a dumb thing to say, but I don’t
have any better words."

"Thank you Mr. Richards,
we’ll trust you, call as soon as you have something."

"I’ll call even if we
don’t, just hang in, we’ll talk later." I hung up and felt really
bad, damn Dark and his people.

I went back to Penny and
she asked if everything was all right, I said no, but stable for
now.

We went one more time
around the midway and then over to the tent where they had the
sideshow. We paid the admission, went in and followed the narrow
aisle to walk along the row of stages with all the geeks performing
their talents.

We saw the rubber man who
could twist himself into any small box or suitcase, which was handy
if you wanted to be carry-on luggage on a plane. Then we watched
the man who Earl and I watched sticking needles in his skin. I
looked back for the giant but he wasn’t there. We saw a good number
of acts, the bearded lady, the man who could eat glass or any other
horrible thing. My stomach was turning by the time we reached the
exit.

Lynn said, "I’ve seen
worse in my career as a cop."

"Including the wolf boy?"
I asked.

"Every full moon," she
said with a laugh.

Lynn’s cell phone rang and
she answered it, listened and then hung up. "Seems the permits to
set up this festival were signed by a Lucius Cole, representing the
carnival. Ever heard of him?"

"No, did Warren dig a
little deeper?" I asked.

"He said he’s going to
check on him shortly and let me know."

"While we wait, I’m
getting hungry. What say we go eat," I said.

"Sure, but no fast food, I
want real food." Penny said.

"Bistros?" I
said.

Everyone agreed and we
headed back towards the van. As we got close to the trailer that
housed the carnival office, I said to hold on.

"What’s on your devious
little mind, and I do mean little?" Lynn asked.

"Wait here, Deacon come
with me," I said as I went to the trailer, Deacon in tow. I went up
the stairs and into the lobby of the office. A grouchy looking
woman was sitting behind the grillwork.

"Can I help you two," she
growled.

"May I speak to Lucius
Cole," I said simply.

The woman just stared, not
speaking. "Where do you know this Mr. Cole from?"

"I don’t, but his name is
on the city permits he signed for the carnival. We’re just checking
his validity."

"What authority do you
have?"

Deacon pulled his badge
and flashed it. "Now can we see Mr. Cole?"

"He’s not in Las Vegas,
his office is in Florida. He came into town and took care of the
paperwork and went back home. Sorry, but if you’ll leave your card
I’ll have him get in touch with you."

"I was under the
impression that Mr. Dark owned the carnival."

"He does, but he has
investors and Mr. Cole holds the position of CEO. Now if you can
leave your card."

I said, "That won’t be
necessary, we just wanted to verify he existed. Thank you," I said
and we left.

Back with the women I
said, "The mysterious Mr. Cole isn’t in the state, he’s supposedly
in Florida. And he is the CEO of Dark carnival. This is far
reaching."

"Well hopefully Warren can
find something about Cole. Now let’s go eat."

We got back to the van and
drove out to go to Bistros where we dined. It was now almost five
and not much had been accomplished. I felt bad that I didn’t have
any good news to tell the Walkers.

As we sat at the table,
Lynn got a call and after she took it she said to us, "Trouble, we
have two more parents reporting that their children didn’t come
home from the carnival when they said they would. Dark is either
taking more than he needs or something more sinister is going on.
Warren has one set of the parents at the precinct. Maybe we should
go talk to them?"

We paid the bill and I
drove them to their truck, waited for them to head out and
followed. We arrived at LVMPD a few minutes later and parked.
Warren had a man and woman in Lynn’s office at her request and
Penny, Deacon and I stood just inside the doorway as Lynn sat at
her desk.

"Hello, I’m Lieutenant
Lynn Carter, and you are?"

The man spoke, "We’re Joan
and Harry Felton, our son Jeff told us he was going to the carnival
this morning with some friends, he said he’d be home by two because
we had family coming over. He never came back. I called his friend
Steve and he said Jeff split off from them at the carnival and then
they couldn’t find him. I’ve called his cell but he’s not
answering, this is not like him, he’s a good kid."

"Do you have a picture of
him?"

"Yes, the other detective
asked us to bring one," he said as he pulled out a wallet size
photo and handed it to Lynn.

"You know we don’t usually
investigate missing persons for at least 48 hours, but sometimes
the circumstances warrant a look." She didn’t want to mention the
two missing boys yet. "If he should return, call me." She handed
him her business card and he put it in his shirt pocket. "Sometimes
things just get screwed up and he may be off doing something boys
don’t tell their parents about. Does he have a
girlfriend?"

The wife spoke now, "He’s
popular, he has a few that follow him around, maybe he’s off with
one of them, but he wouldn’t miss our family get-together. He said
he’d be back."

"Okay, it’s no good
sitting here guessing, but we’ll do what we can. Now just go home
in case he returns and call if he does." Lynn stood and the Feltons
followed her out as we stood aside from the door. Lynn took them to
the entrance and then came back.

"Could be nothing, or
could be Dark is getting careless and grabbing more," she said as
she came into the office.

Warren appeared at the
door and said, "Lynn, the other parents just called and their
daughter has returned home, so she’s safe."

"Good, one less to worry
about. Thanks Greg." Warren left and we all sat. "I think I’ll use
this to send a few uniforms into the carnival with copies of the
boy’s picture and ask around. It may stir up something and Dark may
make a move, so Buck can observe what’s going on. Buck said Dark
wanted to talk to him and Mac later tonight about the deal he has
going. We need to find the location of the boys and get them
out."

Warren was back at the
door with a folder, "Lynn, here’s all I could find on Lucius Cole,
he’s out of Gibsonton, Florida and has no priors, but he is being
watched by the Feds for possible drug trafficking and gun running.
When I made my inquiry, it brought a flag up in the FBI database
and I got a call from some agent out of Florida and he asked why we
wanted to know. His contact number is in the folder."

"Thanks again Greg." Lynn
dialed the number in the folder and got an agent Bill Kestor. She
explained who she was and why we were inquiring about Lucius Cole.
She listened for a couple minutes and then told him all we had so
far. She finished and hung up.

"He doesn’t know anything
about human trafficking, so he asked us to keep on top of it. He
also told me Dark is dangerous and to be careful."

*

Chapter 8

Lynn yelled for Warren and
he came running, "Can you somehow get an itinerary of where Dark’s
carnival has been and see what you can find about missing persons
in the areas."

"You got it," he said and
went off.

"So he’s traveling the
country and kidnapping people for what? Human trafficking? Where
are they sending the people?" I asked.

"Most of the trafficking
involves foreign countries, Arab countries, Russian, even England.
The rich don’t care, they just want slaves or playthings to rape
when they feel the need. It’s nothing new and hard to
stop."

I said, "I remember back
when Buck, Earl and I traveled to New York to find the girl taken
by human traffickers. The girl was Angelo’s cousin’s girlfriend.
Luckily, we found her before they totally ruined her, holding her
as a prostitute in a club out there. But what do they want with
young boys?"

"You really need to ask?
There are so many perverts out there, it’s doesn’t surprise me at
all. All ages including men, young and old, are taken each year. If
this carnival is behind this, I want them to be taken down," Lynn
said with a definite hatred in her voice.

~~*~~

Buck and Mac were going on
a break to chow down in the carnies’ tent behind the office
trailer. The men were all sitting around chattering about the day
and then Buck and Mac came in and sat at a long table with a couple
of them.

"So where is the show
going to after here?" Buck asked to start a
conversation.

The men went silent and
gave Buck a hard stare.

One man finally spoke, "I
hear Dark is looking for a new Chester."

Buck’s jaw tightened, he
knew the term, "Why, did you lose the job as child
molester?"

The man straightened up
and started to stand, Skeeter Lynn stood from another table and
told the man to chill, the man looked to Skeeter and sat back
down.

Skeeter came to the middle
of the tent and shouted to everyone, "Listen up, these two ride
jockeys are in good standing with Dark, and you know you don’t want
his grief. They aren’t forty milers, they have background. Buck
here is a friend of Piper’s and you know what that means. So show
some respect."

The rest of the men
loosened up and greeted Buck and Mac. "You really rode with the
Vigilantes?" one man asked.

Buck grinned and said, "I
was acquainted with them, I was a loaner, had a Harley 94 Ultra
Classic, Shriner Edition. We just need the work and Mac and I are
both carnies at heart, so
MISTER
Dark took us on." Buck gave a heavy emphasis on
the mister.

Skeeter spoke, "You two
are to meet with
MISTER
Dark at midnight in the office, after we drop the
awnings. He wants to set you up with his pet project. Now enjoy
your meal and get back to the dog house, the clems
await."

Buck and Mac finished
their meals in relative silence then went back to the
round-up.

~~*~~

Lynn was briefing the four
uniforms who she was sending to the carnival to search for the
missing teen. "Just go around, being obvious and ask questions,
show the pictures and see what you can stir up."

I was standing nearby and
said, "Lynn, why don’t you have them take the picture of the other
two boys and have them shown? It may stir up more than showing one
boy."

"Good idea, give me the
picture and I’ll make copies." She turned back to the men, "Now be
careful, Jim has two men working undercover, and we don’t want to
queer their job." She looked to Tim and said, "You know Buck and
Mac, they’re both working a ride called the round-up, so point them
out to your men, but don’t give away their cover." Tim
agreed.

One of the officers asked,
"Lieutenant, if there are two men undercover, why are we going
in?"

"I can tell you’re new,
right?" The officer nodded. "Well, we want the bad guys to get
nervous and maybe screw up. Buck and Mac are watching and will let
us know what they are doing. Understand?"

He nodded again, and Lynn
went to make copies of the photo. Shortly after the officers went
off to do their search; Lynn and I went back to her office where
Penny and Deacon were relaxing at Lynn’s desk, we sat.