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

too George Street, not even the students walk through there at
night, drunk or not. She told us that she returned home early the
next morning to find the Police at the Circus enclosure, which was
when she heard about Mr Wilson.”
    “ Good Becky.”
Bridger looked over at Jo but she did not hold his gaze “Jo did you
manage to nail down the timings for when Maria or Wilson left the
hospital?”
    Jo made a show of
consulting her notebook. “It was twenty two thirty hours Sergeant,
she came out the door on her own, still wearing her costume, looked
around, and then walked out of view.”
    “ You said
‘She’? Jo, what about Wilson.”
    “ No sign of
Wilson entering or leaving the Hospital while Maria was there, but
you can check, in case I missed him.” Jo clicked a button on her
computer and sent the file up to the projector. The file started
playing on the white screen to the side of the room.
    Everyone’s eyes were on
the screen as Maria walked out of the front door, on her own, and
dressed in her crisp white spandex circus outfit. There were
sparkly bits all over it and the tightness accentuated her shapely
figure. She paused, threw something in the bin and then looked up
at the camera briefly, before walking from view. There was no sign
of Wilson.
    The sight of her circus
costume brought back the memory of Wilson’s corpse, lying in the
alleyway, dressed in an equally flamboyant way. Bridger shuddered
with the memory. Maria showed no embarrassment about wearing her
revealing costume in public; Wilson had been equally as comfortable
in his costume, not taking it off before ending up in the alleyway,
a long way from the big top.
    “ Thanks
Jo…So, Wilson didn’t make it to the Hospital after all.” Bridger
filed the small fact in his mind and carried on “Grant and I spoke
with Anthony Gonzales. He is part owner of the Circus and last saw
Wilson when he went into town, apparently going to see Maria… from
what we have just seen, we can infer that he never made it to the
hospital. Wilson and Gonzales had argued, but it was over a trivial
matter… not enough to kill over.” As Bridger spoke the words, he
thought about all the trivial matters that people actually did kill
over; he decided to defer his own judgment on that point. He looked
at Brian who took his cue.
    “ The Clowns
were a pretty strange bunch; it was almost as if they had forgotten
how to be anything but Clowns. They kept finishing each other’s
sentences, slapping each other on the backs, slapping themselves,
that sort of thing. They did not seem too upset about Wilson’s
death though, but I guess that even in a place as close knit as a
Circus, you would not be close to everyone. They did let on that
they had a heavy drinking session after they cancelled the show.
The night was a blur too them after that. They do not remember
seeing Wilson after the show, but they did say they had a visit
from Gonzales. Apparently, he tried to blame them for the accident.
One of them pointed to his purple size fifteens and made a kicking
motion before laughing silently. I took that too mean they did not
receive the allegation well.” Brian shook his head and sucked in a
breath. “They may be drinkers, and a bit violent too boot, but I
can’t see them as our killer or killers. They all had copies of the
Holy Bible placed beside their camp beds. Besides, they don’t go
anywhere without each other, so for them it would have to be all of
them…, or none.”
    Bridger looked around the
room; he saw that all eyes were on him. “Reece Coster is the only
other name that comes close to a motive, stretched as it would be.
He has an implied angst against the Circus, in that it keeps
animals in captivity. For those that do not know, Reece Coster is a
member of P.A.A.I.N, a university action group. People against
animals in captivity network. P.A.A.I.N, or Coster working on his
own, will be behind that little incident this morning at the
Circus, no one else has