A Fear of Clowns (The Greasepaint Chronicals) (12 page)

Jay tilted his head, it was
either a really good deflection, and the man was part of the whole thing, or he
was actually a creep that abused young women. Ones that looked a lot like Alex.
Without thinking, he punched the man, right in the stomach, anger welling up
inside of him. As the fat man doubled over, Jay winced, and shook his head.
There went that job. He hadn't even kept it for a whole week. There wouldn't be
a good recommendation either, he supposed.

So he was surprised when the man
just gasped a bit, and stood up as Felicity came through the door, her eyes
wide. Carlos moved in and punched the man too, an odd looking overhand thing
that still landed in nearly the same spot as what Jay had done. Greg didn't do
it, but he growled at the man.

"
Moron
. I get the
draw, but you
have
to keep it in your pants with the help. I hear about
this happening again, and I'll take it to Mr. Moretti directly. I mean, Jesus
Max! This isn't the sixties anymore. One or two lawsuits and..." He
stopped talking and stood up straight, his face going hard.

Then he turned to Felicity.

"Miss Maine? Max just told
us that he blackmailed you into giving him sexual favors, is that right?"
It was blunt and the girl blushed, her face going beet red. She looked away, in
a move that was so obvious that she might have just as well said yes, flat out.

Slowly she started to shake her
head, which got Carlos to step forward, looking up at her. She was in a light
blue shirt, and white slacks, which left her seeming far too young in the
moment. Soft and vulnerable.

"No... I..." She
started to deny it, but the small man shook his head.

"He admitted it already,
Felicity. The question now is what do we do with him? That kind of
crap..." It was clear that he was taking it personally. Jay could put that
one together too. Carlos was a bit strange looking and probably hadn't ever
been blackmailed or coerced into having sex for a job. Wendy however was
pretty, and attached to a fellow that a lot of people would think was weak, or
a burden. It meant that she'd probably been targeted that way more than once.

Jay shrugged, not thinking he had
a job anymore, in particular, anyway.

"Well, we already took turns
hitting him. Do you want a go, Miss Maine? It would be preferable to a lawsuit,
though you
could
make some cash that way. Probably not enough to be
worth the damage to your career, but if you stay on, and stick to that contract
you signed yesterday, I can assure you that no one else here will bother you
that way. If they try, Greg here will ram his shoe up their-" He just
stopped, as Max winced, and looked miserable.

That might have been due to the
fact that Mr. Michelson was nodding about what had been said. The man might not
be a pit fighter, or in perfect shape, but he made Max look like the chubby kid
that was about to have his lunch stolen in school.

The girl, the young woman, just
shrugged.

"It wasn't the first cock I
had to take in order to get work, and probably won't be the last. That false
accusation really set me back. I can't afford to let this get out. Can we...
You know, I need to work. Would it be all right if we just... forgot about all
this?" She looked away again, like she didn't want to be there.

Max glared at him, still
breathing hard, but smoothed his hair with his right hand and grunted.

"Yeah, that sounds good,
babe. I didn't mean to do it that way. I guess I was just letting the little
guy in my pants think for me. So, forgiven? I won't do it again. If I do then
Joey the Clown here will kick my ass." He smiled, a tiny bit, and rubbed
at his gut. Then he looked at the men standing around, his face hopeful.
"What do ya say? Truce? Chalk this one up to a minor indiscretion?"

It dawned on him that the man
wasn't going to fire him. Not for that, on that day. A sense of relief poured
through him then. He didn't speak though. Assaulting a man like that, well, it
was probably more than enough to be worth tossing his butt out over. If he'd
been the one in charge, and some jerk had hit him... Well, he might be more
understanding if the man had done it because of something like that. Really,
Jay wasn't sure what he'd do. Or what they
should
do. The man doing that,
coercing Felicity like he had, might, or might not, have committed a real
crime. It was definitely immoral though, without a doubt.

Luckily Greg was a lot more
certain about things.

"That works. We'll be
watching you though Max. Miss Maine..." He hefted the camera a bit, as if
not knowing what to say. Accusing her of anything just then would look
horrible, and probably have her screaming lawsuit faster than anything else
could ever manage. Who could blame her?

Jay shrugged, his thin shoulders
going high, using clown body language without thinking about it.

"Hey, do you know Ginger the
waitress here? She works the main floor. Nice lady..."

The girl looked at him and
nodded, looking ashamed again, which was telling, but fit what she said next a
bit too well.

"She's my cousin. Grandpa...
Look, you guys can't tell him what I did. Ginger
might
understand, but
he won't."

Jay nodded, putting things
together. "Sidney Hammer?"

The others looked wide eyed and
confused, but Felicity just stared at him, not breaking eye contact.

"He won't understand. I...
Look, this business isn't always easy on women. Or men, to be honest. I'm not
the only one to ever be on the casting couch. It's what you do to make it,
sometimes. But... Grandpa won't understand. He'd think it meant I was a whore.
He already half thinks that I took that money, and I didn't, if this got out
too..."

Waving his right hand, Jay looked
around, noting the camera that was watching them. Recording everything they
said, too.

"Don't worry, no one here
will mention it again, ever. We're just worried because it looks like you and
Ginger might have been in on some kind of scam here. Sidney too. If so, we need
you to drop out of that and tell us all about it, right now, so we can protect
them from prosecution. Big casinos will pay money to keep things like that from
happening. We can claim it was just for show, if you help us out now. Being
that we're friends and willing to keep things here quiet." There was no
threat in the words, but the woman went wide eyed, the whites showing in fear.

"You... know?"

Next to him, looking up with a
bit of neck craning, Carlos rolled his eyes.

"Of course we know. It
wasn't all that subtle, was it? Ginger being who she is. Sidney always did love
that aspect of his act. Misdirection and subterfuge. We're not going to make
trouble for him, or even your cousin. We just want to make sure they don't
steal any money from anyone. It's like with Max here. If we handle it
ourselves, we don't have to send anyone off to prison, or worse places."
He glared at his chubby friend, and it wasn't certain if that was about
influencing the young woman, or real anger.

Given who he was, a professional
performer used to tricking people, it really could all be an act.

The girl folded, and told them
everything she knew. It was enough that, if they were the police, a few people
would be going away for a long time.

Including an old man and a woman
that had been close enough to a scam before that she wouldn't see a lot of
leniency from the court. That wouldn't serve justice however. Greg looked at
him, his face set and hard, but he didn't suggest getting the authorities
involved again.

He just spoke, warily.

"So, anyone have a plan
here?"

It was, oddly enough, Max that
spoke, his words measured and sounding calm about the whole thing.

"Yeah, let's call them in
for a chat. Felicity, you'll do that for us, won't you babe? Just invite them
to a meal, being family of yours. My treat. We'll all be there. For now, we
need to set up your act for tonight. You can have half an hour of Joey's time,
since he hit me." There was a sour grin that went with that, but no glare.

Jay nodded, "that sounds
like a plan. I need new material anyway, so it will give me some space to come
up with something. Why don't you make those calls and I'll get the
schedule?"

Then, as if they weren't looking
at discussions about covering up felonies, they all just did it. Felicity sat
and went over the schedule with him, after setting up a dinner meeting, and Max
sat in, looking a little less sheepish than Jay really liked. He didn't leer at
the girl, but he didn't seem filled with shame about what he'd done either.

Carlos left, to talk with Wendy,
who was off doing something or other, and Michelson had duties to see about, or
so he said. It made sense, given that his real job probably required other
things, most days. Not that the occasional cover up wasn't part of it. That was
clear. After all, those performers had been given a pass, by and large, legally
speaking. Not that they'd be working anymore. Not in Vegas. The word had
already been spread as far as that went.

The girl smiled at him, her heart
shaped face having dimples. Two on her cheeks and one on her chin. It was
darling, but she kept staring at him, flirting with her eyes. That was just
creepy. He ignored it, and simply worked, pointing out what would be needed and
when, going over it all and having her walk through it, so that he knew she
wouldn't mess up later. That, he thought, was a big part of his job. Making
sure no one was messing anything up too much.

The show that night went well,
and after Felicity's set, while Rhonda and her crew were up, with Billy
following, they all met for a meal in a closed off dining room. It wasn't tiny,
but it also wasn't huge. To his surprise, everyone came. Honestly he'd half
thought that Sidney the old man, and Ginger the suspicious but friendly
waitress would have bolted, working out what had to be going on. They just came
in, smiling and acting as if they didn't have a care in the world. Even after
having tried to rip off the casino they were standing in.

The really strange part was that
there was an older man that Jay hadn't met before there as well. He had steel
gray hair, and a thick, almost square face. Also a suit of clothes that looked
expensive. Jay was dressed like a hobo, himself, since he'd be needed to run
out onto the stage in forty minutes and introduce the next act. Greg was
dressed in his normal work clothing, but Carlos and Wendy both had on their
stage gear too, so it livened up the table a bit. Everyone else just looked
right for a meal at a casino.

When the new man walked in, the
room went silent.

Sid made a soft noise that could
have been a snort, or might have been a soft choking sound. It was hard to
tell. He clearly knew who the man was. It turned out to be helpful, after a
fashion.

"Mr. Moretti. To what do we
owe the pleasure?" It was nearly diffident, without really being servile.

The other man, who was still
standing, moved to the chair next to Jay's, his face not giving anything away.
He looked at him before pulling the seat out, clearly asking if it was taken or
not. Jay made a gesture, which was too big, being that he was in character.

"Please, be seated! The more
the merrier, I always say. The more the merrier, the more the merrier..."
That got the man to grin, but it seemed dismal and unhappy.

"Freaking clowns. I get it,
you don't have to say that for the whole night. Okay, Sid, Ginger, we caught
you dead to rights, stealing from us. My head of security is going out on a
limb for you, and asked if we could meet and work something out. You have a
reputation here Sid, in the city. With us
here
too. It would be a shame
to see that spoiled, by a single... Indiscretion."

The man stopped talking, as a
server came in, his eyes scanning the room, and stopping on Ginger, who looked
terrified. Her grandfather was a lot less so. Sidney Hammer just looked at the
casino owner and chuckled a little, then ordered the pasta with alfredo sauce.

It sounded good, but Jay couldn't
eat something that sloppy in makeup. He asked for a broiled chicken breast, and
a small plain salad.

One by one they all ordered, the
whole room tense, and edgy.

After the waiter left, Moretti
went on.

"I won't mince words. Here's
the deal, you pay back what you took, you go over exactly how the scam worked,
and neither you or any of your family work for any of my places, ever again. In
return, I won't call in the authorities or smear your name, in public or
private." He stared across the table at the old man, as Ginger sighed.

She didn't speak, but did look at
Felicity, who seemed close to being in tears. Jay got that. She really needed
the job, and her career would probably be over without it. She also wouldn't
want her family to go to prison just so she could keep a job for a few months.

He cleared his throat, dropping
his act for once. There were some things you didn't say in character,
especially to the owner of the business that you worked for.

"Except Felicity. We have a
deal with her. She signed a contract. One of good will, not business. She
promised to not commit any crimes, and to be honest with us, and has kept her
word." He sounded so certain that he expected to be told to get out, right
then. Moretti didn't know him from Adam, after all.

The old man looked at Greg, who
tilted his head, turning his smashed nose a bit in the process. That was all.

The older man nodded.

"Fine, except for the girl.
If we have any problems though, ever, it won't go well. You get that?" He
was looking at Sid, ignoring the women as if they didn't matter at all. An old
school thing that had to do with man's business. "This won't go away just
because. You have five years before the statute of limitations is up, where
just saying the word will have you all picked up. Think of it like a probation.
You can live with that?"