Don't Sweat the Small Stuff (22 page)

“But we don’t even know what we’re looking for.”

“That’s true, Skip, but you’ll find it. It’s here.”

I found that to be a very strange statement.

“Trust me, man. Something will jump out if this guy has anything to hide.”

As he opened the next file there was a knock at the door.

“James?”

“Shit.” James jumped up from his chair. “Jody, quick, shut it down. Close it up. It’s Angie.”

Jody closed the screen as James opened the door.

“Hey, it’s a party and I wasn’t invited.” She stood on our landing, her blonde hair in ringlets. She was dressed in a simple blue and white checkered top and jeans that might have been just a little too tight. And wearing that soft scent.

“No,” James shook his head. “No party. No. We’re just having a conversation. Just old high school classmates.” James introduced Angie to Jody.

“And Jody, what do you do?” She stepped into the room. “You’re not involved in the carnival business are you?”

“No, no.” He glanced at me. “I’m, uh, in the audio/visual business.”

“Producer? Do you make movies?”

He laughed. “No, nothing as glamorous as that. I sell equipment. Cameras, sound systems. But,” he gave her that dazzling smile, “if I was making movies, you would be someone I’d cast.”

“And how many times have you used that line?”

James put his arm around Angie’s waist. “Actually, I was talking to Jody about maybe making a short video for the Show. Sort of a marketing tool. We could send it out to prospective county fairs and other sites.”

He was winging it as only James can do.

“I was just checking on the cost of an inexpensive camera.” He squeezed her and steered her toward the door.

“Hold on, sailor.” Angie pulled free. “Moe is looking for you two. Says he wants you to be on the grounds, seeing the Show firsthand for the last day. He was pretty insistent that you be out there.”

Moe wanted us in plain view? So we couldn’t do any sleuthing? Or maybe it was a legitimate request.

“Any place special?”

“He mentioned the Dragon Tail. Apparently there’s a problem with the landing mechanism and we’ve got a technician working on it. He just wanted you to see the inner workings of the machinery.”

“No more rides?” I didn’t want to sound too disappointed.

Angie beamed a smile at me. “No, Skip. I don’t think you have to ride it again. Although, I’d love to have you take me for a spin.”

She and James headed out and I turned to the table, realizing I was about to leave macho Jody and Em together. Alone.

“You two will be all right?”

Em rolled her eyes.

Jody gave me a sly smile, reached out, and patted Em’s hand. “We’ll be just fine, Skip.”

“You know, I can come back and go over that computer site as soon as—”

“Skip, go.” Em pointed toward the door.

I went. I wasn’t happy about it, but I went.

Bo and Charlie were standing by the housing unit where the bottom half of a bent over technician was sticking out. His ass and legs were outside the metal casing, the rest of him was buried in the gears and motor that drove the Tail. And just like the stereotypical repairman, his pants were down below the crack of his ass. I quickly averted my eyes.

Charlie’s half-burned cigarette dangled from his fingers as he watched James and me approach.

“It appears maybe you guys gummed up the works yesterday. Amateurs shouldn’t be runnin’ the equipment.”

“Screw you, Charlie.” James glared at him.

A muffled voice came from inside the metal house. “This happens from time to time.”

“Still think it was something you did.” Charlie frowned and took a drag off his smoke.

About twenty would-be riders lined up by the gate, but no one was taking their money. If I’d seen a repairman working on the ride, I think I’d have second thoughts about riding it. Of course, I had second thoughts anyway.

James looked at me and asked, “What is it we’re supposed to learn from this experience?”

I shrugged. “James, this is your baby. I have no idea what we’re doing here. None. I decided about an hour ago that this is the dumbest thing I’ve ever done. If I had it to do over again, I wouldn’t. This is by far the dumbest thing I’ve ever gotten myself involved with.”

“And you’ve done some pretty dumb things, pard.” I could always count on James to give me support.

Bo walked over, standing close enough that I could smell his sour breath. “Got a bruised jaw there, guy.”

I studied him for a moment, finally dropping my gaze to his right hand. His knuckles appeared to be raw and bruised as well. It didn’t surprise me.

“Listen, you turd. I heard you’ve been mouthing off about Charlie and me. If you think you’re gonna pin any of those accidents on me,” he motioned to Charlie, “or my partner, you’re dumber than you appear. And you appear to be pretty dumb.”

I’d just told James how dumb I was. And now Bo was in my face. This was a case of dumb and dumber.

The technician pulled the upper portion of his torso out of the housing unit and, looking away from us, pulled on his blue cap. Yanking a handkerchief from his pocket, he wiped perspiration from his forehead.

“Okay. It was a sticking valve. I lubed it, reset it, and the ride should run smooth from this point on.”

Charlie and Bo walked away, both of them flipping us the middle finger as they strode back to the control panel. The tech slammed shut the door to the metal housing unit and tugged his cap down low over his eyes. Without looking at us, he walked away, head down.

“What an ass.” James shook his head, his eyes trained on Charlie. “So what do you think, compadre?”

“What do I think?”

“Hey, he noticed your bruise. And I think you noticed his.” James pushed back the hair from his eyes. “I’m under the impression that Bo’s the one who broke into the Airstream. Agree?”

“It appears.”

“He might have taken the bug.” James stared after him. “Hell, he might have been the one who planted a bug. I think these guys were feeding Moe all the information. Moe got the bug, downloaded it, and knew who we suspected.”

I hadn’t considered that. Bo would have been the perfect plant.

“He’s the one who busted you in the chops?”

I pictured Bo’s red bruised knuckles. “I don’t think there’s much question about it, James.”

“Damn. If I pop him, I’ll lose the job. But I’m tempted.”

“Don’t, James. The guys are pond scum, just not as bright. Leave them alone.”

“Think they’re the ones who jammed up the rides?”

I would have loved for Bo and Charlie to be the bad guys. That would have made my day.

“I don’t think they’ve got the brain power to pull it off.”

In the distance I saw Em running toward us in her jean shorts and yellow halter top. Bo and Charlie watched her as well, with leers on their faces.

She got close and started shouting. “Skip, you’ve got to come quick.” Her breath was coming in short spurts. “James. You come too. There’s something you’ve got to see.” She spun around and started jogging toward the trailer. Over her shoulder she shouted, “We’ve got a problem.”

I looked around. Moe was nowhere to be seen, and we’d done what he’d asked. We watched some uniformed technician fumble around in the guts of the Dragon Tail. Why, I hadn’t a clue.

But as a bonus, we’d figured out who broke into our trailer. And now, according to Em, we had a problem. My God, that’s all we had were problems. And more problems on top of those.

Both of us jogged toward the Airstream, gasping by the time we got halfway back. I swallowed mouthfuls of Florida show dust as I finally slowed down, ending up just walking fast the last one hundred steps. James was behind me as I entered the trailer.

“Boys, I told you this thing would spill the beans.”

Jody was grinning, cock-of-the-walk style.

“Look at this. Just look at this.” He spun the computer screen around.

I leaned in to read the fine print. It was an e-mail.

James joined me and together we read the printed screen.

Dad, James said that he and Skip were leaning toward Winston Pugh as the guilty party. They thought that Charlie and Bo were “persons of interest,” but they felt Winston had the best motive. I’ll keep you informed.

A.

I read it a second time. Someone had played back a bug? So there was a real spy planting a bug in one of the trailers. This
A
seemed to know exactly what we’d said. A? I glanced at James and his face was white. And then it hit me.

“I am so sorry, guys.”

“Hey, James, you had no—” What was I going to do? Rub it in? Granted, his indiscretion could not only jeopardize our investigation but jeopardize our lives, but still—

“Skip, you told me to do some background on her. I just never thought that—what an ass I am.”

“Hey, you had no—”

“Yes, you are.” Em was firm. “You are an ass. You leave your friends hanging out there, James. You always believe that only
you have the right answer.” She threw her hands in the air. “Well this time, you were wrong. We begged you to do more homework on this girl, but you had all the answers.” Spitting out the words as she spoke, “Remember how you told us, ‘No. This is personal. Angie couldn’t be a suspect?’ You’re never wrong are you, James? And you’re taking everyone else down while you’re trying to defend yourself.”

“I’m an ass, Em.”

“Never wrong.”

“Hey, I was wrong this time. Okay?”

“No doubt about it. However, we found the information we needed. Angie Clark is Moe’s daughter. And she’s been feeding Moe all the information you’ve been gathering.”

Steam was still rolling out of Em’s ears. I put my hand on her shoulder, trying to calm her down, but she was pissed. I think part of the problem was that a girl was at the heart of the problem. A girl James was seeing.

“I told her a couple of things. I mean I didn’t really tell her much, but—”

“Enough to totally screw up this investigation.” Jody piled it on, and it wasn’t even his case.

“I admit it.” I’d never seen James as contrite. “I told her that we suspected Winston Pugh.”

“No great revelation, James.” Em kept nailing him.

“I may have told her that Bo and Charlie were persons—”

“Of interest?” Em finished his sentence.

James took a deep breath. “But she doesn’t know.”

“Know what?”

“That we know.”

I wasn’t quite sure where he was going. I knew James would eventually defend himself, but I was trying to decipher his defense. “That we know what?” I asked.

He took a deep breath. “Angie doesn’t know that we’ve figured out that she’s feeding information to Moe.”

“So?” Em wasn’t willing to quit.

“So I can feed her anything and she’ll take it to Moe.”

“Maybe.”

“Well, let’s think about what we might tell her.”

He was squirming, trying to put a positive face on his screw up.

Jody, the pro, nodded. “Not a bad idea. Let’s revisit that one a little later.”

“So, what are you going to tell her?” Em wasn’t done chastising my roommate. “Can you be trusted to quit feeding her every thought you have? Everything you know? James, you are a screw up. Truly, a screw up.”

We were all quiet for a moment. James’s silence simply meant he had no defense. There was nothing he could say.

“We still don’t know everything that’s on Moe’s computer. Maybe we should do a little more exploration,” I said. I’d been out watching some repair guy fixing the Tail while Jody and Em had found the e-mail. Maybe I was feeling left out.

“Good idea, Skip.”

Jody flipped on the screen and studied it for a moment.

“Let’s go back to the files. There’s a file called tech report. Don’t know what it contains, but it’s a good spot to start.” His fingers flew over the keys and he intently watched the screen.

“Nothing here.”

Again his fingers typed away, fifty times faster than I could do it, and finally he stopped, giving us a grim smile.

“Interesting. He’s got schematics of three of the rides. All the specs and a diagram of the inner working of each ride.”

“Which rides?” I needed to know.

“The Ferris wheel, The Sidewinder, and—”

Em, James and I all shouted out together. “The Dragon Tail.”

“You all get a gold star.”

“But he
should
have all that information stored somewhere, right?” Em asked. “The manager of a show needs to know that stuff. I’d expect him to have the information at his fingertips. I mean, no big deal.”

“He should,” Jody agreed. “However, each one of the rides has arrows pointing to what are described here as ‘vulnerable points’ on the ride. Handlebars, carts, and certain gears...” he studied the diagrams. “Here’s an example: a detailed description of how four bolts hold the Tail cars to the steel bar sections.”

“So what?” I didn’t see a problem with that.

“I don’t know what, but there’s an arrow to each of the bolts. They attach the roof of the cars to these steel sections. If something happened to those bolts—”

“Oh, come on.” Em threw her hands up.

“All right, here’s something on the valves that operate the Dragon Tail.”

“Valves?”

“Valves.” Jody was nose to screen, following the drawings.

“The tech today was talking about a sticking valve,” I said.

“Moe has written a note in here. He says, quote, “valves that stick can cause a ride to malfunction.”

“Again,” Em said, “he’s aware of potential problems and he wants to point out those problems.”

“Fair enough.” Jody smiled at her and I wished they’d quit flirting with each other.

“Show Skip and James the other e-mail.” Em leaned over and touched his shoulder, as if trying to get his attention.

“Oh, yeah.”

Jody switched modes and punched in some keys. “Here.” He flipped the screen back to James and me.

A,

Your aunts are bound and determined that they will win this war. I’ve made two offers and they’ve refused both of them. The longer this goes on, the less this Show is worth. They’ve always had a special place in their heart for you. Why not suggest to them that they sell now? Tell them I’m a jerk, a nonrelenting business freak who will never stop trying to win control. Inform them that, as their niece, you think it’s in their best interest to divest. I mean, come on. Your aunt Judy and aunt Virginia are in their 100s!