Free Send in the Clowns, a Detective Mike Bridger novel by Mark Bredenbeck

him…” A pride was evident in his voice. “The
crowds grew bigger and bigger, my great grandfather’s performance
got better with each show. Soon he was a household name; no one
came to see the Clowns anymore. They wanted thrills and that is
what he gave them, it is what we Gonzales’s have been giving them
ever since.”
    Bridger saw Grant shuffle
in his chair impatiently as did Anthony who stopped talking and
looked at his lap. They probably did not need any of the back-story
Anthony was providing, but he knew by letting him talk he would
relax, and then they were more likely to get the information they
needed. “Go on Mr Gonzales, any bit of information you can provide
may be helpful.
    Anthony looked up again;
his expression had changed slightly, taken on a harder edge. “After
one of the performances here in Dunedin, an errant newspaper
article surfaced. I forget who wrote it, but in essence, it laid
waste to everything about the circus, calling it an ‘average
circus’ going on to say it contained ‘nothing striking’. In
particular, it portrayed the Clowns in a poor light. My great
grandfather got a glowing mention for his skills though, which
incensed the Clowns no end. It caused a real shit-storm within the
Circus, the Clowns rallied against him. They had been part of the
troupe longer than he had, so they made up stories about him and
went too Cyril. He had to side with the Clowns out of a misplaced
loyalty and so my great grandfather left the troupe after that…
Listen to me… I should not be going on about that, it is all
ancient history now. You want to know about last night, not any
ancient grievance…”
    Grant looked up from his
notebook, which Bridger noticed had not seen a single entry. “That
would be good Mr Gonzales; you were telling us about what you were
doing before the show last night?”
    Anthony looked at the now
empty tumbler in his hands and Bridger took the unspoken cue.
Pouring another two fingers into the glass, he watched as Anthony
added a splash of water from a decanter sitting on the table. His
taste buds tingled slightly, and he swallowed an imaginary dram. It
was the closest he wanted to come to the nectar he had been so fond
of, but he still missed the burn. Anthony continued
speaking.
    “ The show
went as it always did, starting with those dreary Clowns, followed
by Maria and I. We always do a couple of easy jump and catch
routines at the beginning, sort of a teaser for what was too come.
Get the audience in the mood. Except last night…, Maria fell, as
you already know, and that ended the show.
    I stayed with Maria until
the ambulance arrived, Michael looked after the audience, and the
handlers went back to the animals. After Maria went to the
hospital, I went and confronted the Clowns.” Anthony touched the
bruise on his eye “They were the ones who set up the ropes… they
were too short, I know it. We have done that jump hundreds of times
and never had an accident. It’s just like all those years ago… the
Clowns aren’t happy with their lot and they feel
threatened...”
    “ Why would
they feel threatened Mr Gonzales?” Grant butted in.
    “ Look, the
Circus is losing money… it’s a tough world out there now. We have
to compete for attention. It is hard to drag the kids away from
their computers and games. You can see all sorts of things on the
internet for free, why would you want to pay for the same
stuff.”
    “ I still
don’t see what that has to do with the Clowns feeling
threatened.”
    “ The Clowns
know that they would be the first to go… no one comes to the Circus
too see Clowns anymore. What is a Clown going to do in the real
world? Michael had already spoken too us about possible
redundancies and that has them scared. It makes sense they would
tamper with our act.”
    Bridger did not really
follow his logic. “We will look into what you have told us about
the Clowns when we speak with them, but for now we have to
concentrate on Michael