Chapter 18

A Growing Danger

The day the circus was scheduled to pack its bags was met with cloudy skies, cold winds, and the harsh scent of rain in the air. Folks on the streets were bundled up against the chill in thick insulated lumberjack jackets that kept water, wind and snow off the wearer. People kept their hands jammed in the pockets or covered them in mittens to ward off the chill.

Around the park, the sounds of men shouting, animals growling, and the clatter of poles could be heard. Ben kept his fur hat on tight with the ear flaps down as he watched the handlers take down the big top. Orders for more tautness in the line here, more slack there washed over him as he observed every step. Already, the roller coaster had been disassembled and placed in a series of semi-trailers. Dozens of smaller tents were already stowed, and the performers were busy loading their things into their garishly painted vehicles. . All and all, it was sweet music to Ben's ears. Now, he could finally relax and concentrate on finding the missing Roland of the Magic Threads.

The soft crunch of boots on gravel reached his ears, alerting him to an unwelcome presence. Nightshade stood beside him, watching the hustle and bustle of his men as they rushed to tear down the circus.

"It's an awesome sight, isn't it chief?" Nightshade asked politely, staring at the scene in front of him.

Ben eyed him askance. What was he talking about? He glanced back at the crews as they rushed the big top into a waiting trailer. The poles that supported the tent were being removed from the ground and were being carefully loaded into the waiting truck. I suppose that's what he's talking about. Ben guessed. Ben had to admit, if only to himself, that it was rather impressive. The speed with which the handlers were working told him that they had done this many times. Assuming they had started when the sun was just coming over the horizon, they had somehow managed to pack and stow half the camp in just a couple of hours.

Nightshade gestured grandly at the spectacle, pulling Ben back from his musings. "This is nothing of course. Once, we had had to put up the show and be on the road after the last performance in the evening, because a second show was coming in and the townsfolk wanted to have enough room for them. That proved to be a challenge. However, my men and I were certainly up to it! No finer crew on the road!"

Ben tuned out the babbling as he resumed his study of the activity. He turned away too fast to be sure, but he though he saw a flash of annoyance in Nightshade's face before he resumed speaking. Ben felt a thrill of victory. Cut you off cold didn't I? Well, now it's your turn to squirm a little. Ben thought savagely. Who did the guy think he was fooling anyway? It was painfully obvious that the man had come up to watch him to make sure he wasn't poking his nose into Nightshade's business. Not that he ever had been able to in the first place. It grated on him how tight Nightshade's security was. No matter what approach Ben had tried, he had been unable to secure even the tiniest bit of evidence against him. All he had was heresy and speculation. That's all he ever had! He felt an insane urge to turn around and throttle the still babbling Nightshade, demanding the truth out of the little weasel. Stubbornly, he forced that thought down and shoved his hands into his pockets. He was simply cold, dammit. He never lost control of his temper.

"Well, I have to admit, it certainly looks impressive." Ben suddenly rumbled. Nightshade ceased speaking in mid-babble about the time he and his handlers had stopped an elephant that had gotten out of his show. Nightshade's jaws shut with an audible click and he looked questioningly at Ben. Ben continued, "I doubt that even my men could get such a show under way this fast. What time did you say you'd be out of here again?"

Nightshade offered a thin-lipped smile. "About ten, I'd say." He squinted critically at a group of handlers that were dismantling the picket fence that had been set up around some of the larger attractions. "Assuming no rain and the breeze doesn't get any stronger. If it does, then all bets are off."

Ben nodded slowly. The wind had been staying a steady ten knots or so, with an occasional gust. It was slowing the work it seemed, but not by much. That was very good. He wanted these yahoos out of his county with no further delay. "Excellent. I'll start my men on clearing a path for you out of here. Wouldn't want you to get lost on your way out of my county."

The smile that Nightshade gave now was practically a vertical slash in his face, it was so thin. "Of course, Chief. That is remarkably generous of you. I will speak to my drivers and let them know about the…accommodations you are providing." Executing a very small bow, Nightshade strode towards the waiting trucks, all elegance. Like a Bengal tiger sliding through his domain, offering no quarter to anyone foolish enough to get in his way.

Ben watched him go and then turned back to watching the workers. He pushed down a wave of pleasure at being able to put out Nightshade. This wasn't a true victory, he reminded himself. A true victory would have Nightshade in lockup, and the rest of his damned circus in there with him. Again, he fumed at the lack of evidence that he had been able to find. There wasn't a damn thing he could do about it either, because of the man had the entire city council over a barrel. There had even been talk of letting the circus stay longer! Thank God the man had not wanted to stay.

Ben felt his brow furrow at the thought. While he certainly didn't want the circus to stay any longer than it had too, he found it…peculiar that the show was packing up after only a couple of weeks. Business was just starting to hit its stride as word of the show spread to the other counties. He didn't expect it to peak for another couple of weeks. By then, the circus, and the town, would be raking in the dough. So why was he insistent that his show leave early. He had mentioned something about an appointment in another town or city when he was talking to the mayor. Perhaps he was going to meet one of his sources…? That might be it, although Ben wasn't sure. Perhaps, it would be best to call ahead to that town Nightshade was headed to, what was its name again? Oh, yeah. Moose Cove, he thought, up near the Canadian border. He nodded. As soon as Nightshade and the others were gone, he'd call the Sherriff of Moose Cove and warn him about the circus.

Nightshade was as good as his word, and the entire convoy of trucks, vans, and circus wagons was on their way out of town. Chief Ben had his deputies clear the main highway out. Of course, pedestrians stood on the sidewalks despite the cold wind to bid the circus farewell. After all, they didn't know about the shady side, and many expressed disappointment that the circus was leaving. Business had picked up considerably since their arrival, and many business owners wanted more of the money they would need to survive during Red Leaf's notoriously harsh winter.

Ben had his hands full all morning with keeping the roads clear and the convoy progressing smoothly out of town. He had to lay on his horn more than a few times to keep farmers from blocking the roads with their tractors, and a few loggers were already out, their semi's with the loads of logs already clogging some of the smaller roads headed to the highway. Once they reached the Interstate, the convoy turned right towards Canada, and Ben turned his patrols back towards Red Leaf. He was eager to get back and see what kind of progress had been made in finding the elusive Magic Threads.

Suddenly, his radio crackled. "Chief, this is Officer Michael. You there? Over."

Ben sighed and picked up his receiver. "Yes Mike?"

There was a second of static, then, "We've gotten another query on the missing girl case. The State cops is asking if we've seen any sign of her here. Over."

Ben frowned. What missing girl case? He hadn't heard anything about that. "What missing girl?" he asked slowly.

There was another pause. "Ummm, the one that disappeared about Halloween. Name of Megan Laslow. 24, according to the report. Um, says she disappeared while on her way to Red Leaf to visit her family. Friend called it in. Apparently she was on her way to a costume shop to pick up a costume for the office costume party. She never showed, and the friend was unable to get a hold of her."

Ben gripped the CB with suddenly sweaty palms. "What kind of costume shop did she say she was stopping at?" he asked hoarsely. Surely it couldn't be?

"No idea chief. State troopers found her car in near a deserted shack at Luna Lake. You know, where the old bait and rental shop used to be? There was no sign of her, but they found her clothes." Mike sounded very grim, with a note of anger through it. To him, it had all the hallmarks of a rape and a dump, but Ben wasn't so sure. If she had gotten a costume at Enchanted Threads, could she have become something else? Ben had to find out.

"I'll swing up to Luna Lake and take a look at the shop. Maybe poke around a little. In the meantime, have all units keep an eye out for her, and double check with the family, see if she's shown up. Go through and check her financials. Especially her credit cards. I need to know if she bought a costume that day." Ben ordered.

"Will do Chief. Good luck." Mike signed out.

Ben's patrol car rolled over the dense carpet of leaves that littered the ground. He had to drive carefully, as the leaves hid massive potholes that would swallow his car whole if he wasn't careful. It had taken him more than an hour to drive up here. Even from the interstate, Luna Lake was isolated. Few roads here meant that there were few people ever up here, except for some diehard fishermen and such.

Coming to a sudden widening in the road, he stopped the car and put on the brakes. Stepping out, he stretched the kinks in his back. He turned back to the inside of his car wear a mounted computer sat, spilling out data in the green glowing words. There was very little to go on. The State Patrol had searched for a week before finding the car through a tip on their hotline. The woman's personal items, purse and cell phone was there, as well as her clothes. None of the articles showed damage, indicating the girl had not been attacked while wearing them, and had simply taken them off. There were no other fingerprints in the shack, and no sign as to why she had stopped in the first place.

Ben eyed the decrepit shack built on a dilapidated pier. Unless whatever had pulled her in had vanished without a trace. Ben was not a man to give into superstitions and magic, but the encounter the girls had described sounded eerily similar to the evidence here. A purchase of costumes, followed by the fitting in the fitting room, where the girls were transformed, and when they came out to challenge Roland, he and his shop were already gone, with no sign that they were ever there in the first place. It was pretty incredible, and if he had not seen the evidence of magic with his own two eyes, he would have disregarded it as impossible.

Armed with the idea that Roland might have dropped something, anything, Ben began searching the grounds around the shack. The leaf litter would make a very good hiding place; anything dropped there would vanish from sight. Bending over, or crouching, he used his gloved hands to knock over piles of leaf litter, looking for a glint of metal, or the white of paper, anything that might help locate this guy.  After a fruitless hour of searching, he then advanced on the shack.

Inside it was just as nasty as the outside. Damp mold grew in the corners and the one window was so caked with grime, it almost blended into the wall. Pulling out his flashlight, he flicked on the 180 lumen beam, and the shack was lit up bright as day. He searched the ground for any sign. There, a slight scuffing of the boards, visible only as a lighter shade of mold. He figured from the size, that they must belong to the girl. Now, if he was her, and he wanted to put a counter, where would he be? Near the front of the store, of course. Getting down on his knees, and ignoring the slimy conditions of the boards, he searched for a counter, or signs that one had even existed, for however short of time. He was rewarded with a thin line, running in a fairly large rectangle, near the wall. This is where the counter was, then. He eagerly looked for a sign of a shoe scuff there, but found nothing. This guy was good.

Okay, front of the store was a bust. The report had stated that the girl's clothing had been found in the rear. That must have been where the dressing room was. Moving towards the back, he was interrupted by his radio.

"Chief, can you hear me?" Said Mike.

Ben unclipped his radio from his belt and held it close to his mouth. "Just fine Mike. Did you get the information that I wanted?"

"Yep. The girl's financials just came back. According to her credit cards, a withdrawal was made from her account, totaling a hundred and twelve dollars. There is no name on the receipt, however."

Ben felt cold. He knew what that hundred and twelve dollars had been spent on. However, what kind of costume had the girl bought? "Mike, when the girl called her friend, did she say what kind of costume she had bought?"

There was a moment's pause as Mike checked his information. "Yeah, boss. She said she was going to buy a mermaid costume to match the friend's."

A mermaid costume! Ben's eyes shot to the floor in horror. It made perfect sense. Already knowing what he would find, he rechecked the floor in the back and found nothing. Frowning, he rechecked the area again. There had to be something. Finally, he found what he was looking for, a slight irregularity in one of the floorboards. Pulling at it, he popped open a secret trapdoor. No wonder the state cops had never known about it. They had assumed her body had been dumped somewhere, but a check of the shoreline had revealed nothing. Ben knew what had happened. Leaving the trapdoor opened, he walked out of the shack and stood looking out at the lake. Somewhere out there, he knew, was a young mermaid named Megan. How on earth was he going to explain that!

After radioing back that he had found nothing and was returning to the office, Ben sat in his car thinking. The chances of finding the girl after almost a month in the water was…unlikely. According to the report, the girl had disappeared on Halloween, and it was near the end of November now. A flash of guilt hit him. He had concentrated so hard on finding dope on Nightshade, he hadn't been aware of the missing girl until today. He pushed the guilt down and tried to reason out the problem. He couldn't let people know she was still alive and okay, they would demand proof, and he was sure as hell not going to produce Sylvia and Taryn. That left just him to search the expanse of Luna Lake for her. And, judging from the lack of reports about mermaid sightings, it was unlikely she was approaching other people for help. Idly he wondered if that was because of a human fear of being discovered, or instinct from her mermaid side. Still, what was he going to do?

Starting up the patrol car, he cast one last look at the lake and began the long, two hour drive back to Red Leaf. As his car bounced over hidden potholes, he continued thinking. Roland was targeting anyone who wanted costumes. That meant that he would probably not be around, now that costume season was over with. There was always the off chance that he would be selling Santa costumes around Christmas time. Ben made a mental note to check each loony that thought he really was Santa for some sort of evidence of Roland's involvement. To find Roland, he needed to find the key to his operation. In order to find that, he needed to have complete information into how the man operated. He needed to talk to Megan and find out what she knew. Ben made a decision. First, he would check with local fishermen and see what they knew of any unusual happenings on the lake. Surely, someone would have spotted her and simply not reported it for fear of being seen as a loony. Second, once he had enough information to know where to start looking, he would take the Red Leaf boat out on the lake and look for her. He'd take the mayor to help. With luck, he would be able to find her and get her the help she needed.

A jounce woke him from his reverie, and he realized he had best pay attention. He didn't want to end up a traffic statistic. Focusing on the road, he continued to head to the highway back into Red Leaf.