A Fear of Clowns (The Greasepaint Chronicals) (18 page)

Jay laughed a little, his face
sad looking, but earnest. Hobo clowns were. It was a job requirement.

"Here I go!" It was an
exhausting ten minutes, but Jay ran through it all, and called a brief
intermission, wondering if the power was going to go out a second time. There
was no weather to speak of outside, so he didn't know what had taken it out in
the first place. His guess was something a drunk had done, but he couldn't
prove it. No doubt they'd find out later, when it didn't matter anymore. They lost
some of their crowd, people wandering away in the dark, but Rhonda and the
Rhondettes were back and singing their next song minutes later, and going on as
if nothing much had happened.

The rest of the night was fine,
and no one mentioned the blackout. It was, apparently, local to their building,
and just a switch having been thrown by mistake, or a button pushed. No one
knew much, or explained anything to him. So when they wrapped up for the night,
he and Gloria went around and unplugged all the lights, and then the computer,
leaving it off.

"Just in case we get a power
surge later." The large boned and powerful looking woman said, her
slightly mannish face concerned, the lines around her mouth deeper than they
normally were. "Things happen. Good cover, earlier. You won't hear it from
anyone else, but it was. Nine times out of ten, if something like that
happened, people would have taken twenty minutes just to decide who went next
and if they should close the doors for the night. You just took care of business."

"That's the plan, day to
day. Decisive clown work. What do we need, to protect the equipment?" It
was sort of part of his job too, seeing to that, since most of their work
wasn't going to happen without Gloria and what she did each day.

"Just this. You can help me
plug it all back in, tomorrow? That's going to be a pain. I'll have to do a
light and sound check before we start, running everything, just to make sure we
got it all." That didn't seem to be a happy thing in her world, but he
nodded and agreed to meet her, an hour early. It was better to do extra than
not have what they needed working at the right time.

Besides, what else was he doing
at that time of day?

As he walked out of the stage
area Felicity separated from the wall on the right hand side, like a stalker.
Jason looked over at her, and wondered what it was she wanted. It would
probably have to do with a better time slot, but she really had no need to
complain about that. Not that day. She'd gotten more stage time than she had
material for, and had to repeat a few things.

She grinned at him, having
changed into a light blouse that was see through enough that her bra showed.
Not that he cared. It wasn't his job to dress her, and it was late enough that
how she went home, or
if
she did, was up to her.

"Say, Joey, I was going to
go and get something to drink. Want to come?" She sounded casual, and
probably wanted to ask him for that top billing, but it was the worst thing to
say, since he actually felt pretty tempted at the moment to get something a bit
more adult than water.

"No, thanks. Drinking
problems, so I can't let myself go there. Coffee work for you?" That was
polite enough. If she just wanted a bar buddy, well, she probably didn't. Girls
that looked like her didn't go to the same bars that people like him showed up
in. Not that many hobo clowns showed up anywhere. He hadn't thought about it,
but he'd said everything in character, since he was still dressed for it. That,
not losing who he was, had just become habit now.

"Works for me. I just wanted
to run some things past you."

"All righty then, missy!
Let's get there directly!" Not that he needed coffee at that time of
night, since it was just turning two, but he could get a soda, or even just sip
some water.

The girl actually shocked him,
after they sat down in one of the little nook sitting areas along the main
corridor. There were ten of them, each big enough for five to ten people. There
were tables and chairs in each, and a waitress came around after a while and
took their orders. They both got clear soda's, and smiled at each other when
they came.

"Cheers!" The girl said
it brightly, and her eyes warmed as she lifted her glass, for a toast. They
clinked them gently, but he sipped his slowly and didn't respond other than
that. This was pretty clearly a set up. So he waited for the hook. For her to
make her proposal.

That, when it came out, was the
big shock. A thing that Joey the Clown hadn't even considered as being
possible.

"So... do you want to go
back to your room?" There was no coyness to the words, just an honest
question, as if she asked
all
the clowns home with her. Or invited
herself over, as the case might be.

He shook his head, not
considering her feelings first.

"Nope! You, my sweet young
thing, are both young enough to be my daughter,
and
remind me of her. So
that
one isn't happening. I
do
understand the allure. A dangerous
man of the world like me, with my snazzy new shoes, and manly stubble makeup.
How could a gal resist?" He played up the voice a little, making it high
and chipper, getting her to laugh at least.

She shrugged.

"I do like the bad boys.
It's a major failing. Ginger always says that, but she's one to talk. I just
kind of thought, you know, after you stood up for me, with Mr. Moretti, that I
should do something nice for you."

"Ever hear of a fruit
basket?" He let his face look hangdog, which worked with the get up really
well.

"Yeah. I guess that's a
point. So, no. All right, so I don't suppose we can change the topic to
something a bit less embarrassing? How about those Mets?"

They actually talked about other
things, which was mainly industry gossip. Some acts that needed work, as well
as a few that might be stolen from other casinos, if they could offer enough to
make a sudden change worth doing. The girl did try to flirt with him a few
times, but she really was too young for him. Not that it wasn't tempting, but
the thought was disturbing to him. She really was just a few years older than
Alex, and looked enough like her to be her sister. That probably shouldn't be
enough to stop him, but for some reason he just couldn't trust the whole thing
enough. She offered to walk him to his room, since she wasn't staying there,
but he shook his head, and answered in character.

"Not needed deary! I'll be
fine, I've only had the one drink, and the big guy took my keys at the door.
Besides that I don't want to mess up and invite you in. That would look bad, if
nothing else." He meant it, but she didn't seem all that happy to hear it.
She'd probably think he was gay, but he wasn't going to be sleeping with any of
the male acts either, so it didn't really matter.

"You have to let someone in,
sometime. Maybe Rhonda? She mentioned that you're kind of cute, the other
day."

He didn't know what to say to
that, so just looked away, and then shook his head slowly. Rhonda, was a peach,
but her career seemed to be pretty central to their relationship, and what Jay
could do for her had already been done. The truth was that he didn't have any
real power, outside of some schedules. Hopefully hiring too, because they
needed to get at least one replacement act the next day, if they could. Max
wasn't around, so it meant doing that himself, if it was going to happen.

Felicity let him go without too
much work, which was good of her. Eventually he'd have given in, if she really
tried, since it had been years since he'd touched a woman. His choice, after
Lynn and all that, but his body wasn't on the same page, totally. The girl was
cute. If she'd looked a little different, or been a blonde, even or a redhead,
he might have been tempted to a level that he couldn't beat, even with her age.
This was better. Doing nothing wouldn't cost him much. A lost opportunity, but
life was filled with those.

Some of them were the right
thing, and in the end he'd sleep better, knowing that he'd done that. She
really was too young to be mixed up with him, anyway.

That was what he was thinking as
he slid his key card in the door, noticing that there were scrapes near the
lock, but not really getting that it was new. Not until he was all the way into
the space, and the other clown stepped around the corner, hitting him so hard
that he went down. He woke up a moment later, with the masked and horribly creepy
white face hovering over him. His hands and feet had already been duct taped.
It felt like that at least.

Mills spoke, using his own voice.
The thought that it lacked something, doing that, came to Jay's mind, before
the rest of the situation sunk in. It just wasn't professional enough. If he
were going to be a killer clown, he needed to sell the whole act.

"Mr. Hadley. I thought I'd
stop in for a chat. You don't mind do you?"

Jason took a deep breath and answered,
his
voice in character. Because he was clearly as insane as the man with
him. More so, probably. Also a pro.

"Righty-o!" He felt
sick from being hit, but didn't sound it. "Decided to turn yourself in to
the proper clown authorities. Good work, great idea... now just get me out of
these things and I can call the judge. We may end up married, because you can
never trust those clowns." So... He sounded insane, but got a dark chuckle
from the evil mask in front of him. It didn't move, which was eerie. Or, rather
it did, but only a little, the mouth just giant teeth, human and not pointed,
but too large. Like a horse. The smile was huge and the corners of the mouth
over exaggerated. The brown eyes showed through, shadowed and sunken behind the
plastic. Mills words were relaxed. Not panicked, or sounding like a man that
felt cornered and forced to take drastic action.

"That takes balls, playing
the clown like that with a killer in your face. You're a smart man, tell me,
why do you think I'm here today?" The lifeless mask stared right at his
face, and kept not moving.

The red hair was part of it at
the top, but the whole thing was clearly meant to be taken on and off quickly.
A disguise, more than a lifestyle choice. He didn't have a knife out, or a gun.
Not even a cord, to choke Jay with. So it probably wasn't that he wanted to
torture or kill him. Not first thing, at least.

"
Why
." It wasn't
a question, but the man stepped back. It was impossible to tell what he was
thinking, which made him even worse than a regular clown. It really was
disconcerting, when someone else was doing it.

"What? I didn't think that
I'd have to explain a question like that. Normally people just beg and plead
about this point. I ask them what they think is going on, and they cry. I guess
you aren't planning to do that?"

"Nope-a-roonie, buckaroo!
That was my guess! You came here to explain
why
you do what you do. My
guess is that you fell into a pit of clowns as a child, and then decided that
criminals were afraid of them, so started your masked crime fighting career
with that in mind. Or I would guess that, if you fought crime and didn't... You
know, kill innocent and harmless women." There was no condemnation in the
words, just sadness as thoughts of Maggie came to him.

Mills the Creepy Clown shook his
head.

"Closer than you might
think. That isn't my point here. I just need you out of the way for a while, so
that I can finish things up. Margaret Winthrop, well, you'll see why that had
to be done. I agree, it was sad. Not the first person that I've killed, but the
one with the poorest reason. Still, why... Yes. That's not too far off.
I
know why, but no one else does yet. What's going to happen is that I'm going to
give you a really strong drug. Rohypnol? It's normally used for date rape, but
it also works pretty well to keep people out of the way for a while. The others
haven't figured out who did it, if you can believe that? You practically held
the FBI's hand. Really, you need to check for bugs more often. I've been
listening to everything you've been saying for weeks. At least when you were in
town. Now, I need you to drink something for me. Trust me, you won't wake up
with a sore behind."

Jay managed to dribble most of it
down his front, the plastic cup tipped in front of his mouth, as his nose was
held shut. Eventually he gasped, and then choked on a mouthful of the beverage.
When the choice became swallow or drown, his body betrayed him. It had booze in
it, to cover the taste of whatever else it had going. Worse, it would smell like
he was on a bender as soon as he got free. If he ever woke up. It wasn't
instant, but he felt it starting to work, and went out, with the creepy clown
just standing there. Speaking to him, knowing that he wouldn't remember it.

When he woke up, he was still
duct taped, with his hands behind his back, feet and legs secured with what seemed
like the whole roll of the silver stuff. There was no wiggle room, and it was
pretty clear that he wasn't calling out for help, since his mouth was covered
too. For a long time he just sat, trying to think about what had happened.

Mills was the killer. That was
sad. Jason had really hoped it would turn out to be Richmond, so the man could
be taken out of action. He was a small and petty man, but probably not bright
enough to pull off a complicated plot. Why the guilty deputy had bothered to
leave him alive, Jay didn't know at all. Why?

That was the key, he was willing
to bet. It was the question that was always left, when you looked too hard at
history. Mysteries too. In real life you could sometimes work out what
happened, putting the pieces together, and making it all roughly fit, if you
pushed hard enough and guessed at the missing bits based on the shape that was
left. It almost never explained why things really happened. You had guesses,
but most of the time people were wrong when they tried.