The Secret of the Phantom Clown

By Richard Pinkerton

The RCI go undercover to investigate murders inside Harvey's Circus, committed by the ghost of a popular clown.

What does the killer have against Terry Harvey and his circus and who is the mysterious ringmaster who never shows his face?

Creepiness comes in caravan loads as Rex and Vanessa become targets.

The RCI Series = Kid's detective novels for adults!

Book 6 in the series

• Language: English
• Publisher: Richard Pinkerton
• Release date: Oct 27, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370796588

Richard Pinkerton

I am in my early 50s and have been writing now since I was 12. I prefer to write light-hearted drama but have written a little fantasy horror and science fiction too.I have an entire series of high school novels (19 of them so far) set in New Zealand (The Mob from TAC series), which I will gradually publish if there is a demand.I prefer to use a mix of quirky and outrageous characters you would never come across in reality and also your every day Joes.My writings are aimed at teenagers mainly, but also young adults.I have also written a series of detective novelettes, most of which can be found on my website. The majority require work, to be able to be published here, mainly due to copyright issues.Please do leave feedback or contact me if you want to know more about my books.

Book preview

The Secret of the Phantom Clown

(Book 6 in the Rex Cassidy Investigators series)

Published by Richard Pinkerton at Smashwords

Copyright 2021 Richard Pinkerton

CHAPTER 1:

Harvey's Circus

Rex Cassidy, leader of the Rex Cassidy Investigators arrived at Harvey's Circus ready to report for his first day of work. He'd scored himself a dangerous job, but a glamorous one. He'd be working on the trapeze. He wouldn't be doing any really spectacular stuff but he'd be there to hang and swing and catch the other performers as they did their job. It required precision timing, but Rex had proven himself when they put him up there to test him out.

‘Good,' said the leader of the high fliers, a Romanian guy named Fredericko. A short muscular guy with a soul patch and bald head. 'With a little practice, I think you're just the man. You're strong, fit and you have good coordination.'

The two of them stood inside the big top. It was deserted apart from the small group of fellow trapeze artists and a workman who busied himself at the performer’s entrance, fixing a loose hinge on the large wooden doorway.

'He also looks fantastic in tights,' said one of the females, a brown-eyed brunette in leotards. Her name was Nadia and she smiled at Rex, a twinkle in her eye. She was very nice and Rex just knew he was going to enjoy hanging out with these people. Both the women on the team were amazingly hot.

‘Normally we would not have a big guy like you on the traps,’ said one of the others, another muscular fellow. ‘How tall are you?’

‘Six foot four.’

‘At least he has a long reach,’ said Jona, another of Rex’s fellow performers.

Rex had himself a caravan. It belonged to a previous performer who had handed in his resignation a week earlier. His clown costumes were still hung up in the closet. His make-up boxes still sat at the dressing table and various pairs of ridiculously large boots remained in a pile in the corner. Terry Harvey had assured Rex they would be cleared out by some of the hired help.

He was unpacking his things when a knock came at the door.

It was Nadia and she greeted him with a dazzling smile. 'Hello! I heard you were here. I thought I might come and see if you'd like me to give you a tour, to help you get settled in.' She was dressed in a blue skirt which was very short and she looked good in it. Petite, but shapely with nicely toned legs.

'Sure.' Rex grinned. 'I'd like that.'

'Great!' Her big brown eyes glistened and she delivered him a sexy smile. She took his hand and led him out of the caravan. 'I am so happy that you got picked for the job. You are in such great shape.'

'I work out a lot.'

'Mmmmmm. That is good. In our troop you need to be ready for anything.'

She led him out and through a group of caravans to some of the animal cages. It was one of the few circus’s around that still had a lot of animal acts. There were chimps, lions, horses and a couple of elephants.

'We have had a lot of people leave recently, so it is wonderful that Mr Harvey has managed to find some replacements. It's the acts that are the hardest to fill. We have had to cancel the juggling act. Ferdinando was magnificent, but he moved on.'

'Why?'

Nadia hesitated. She turned and faced him. 'Mr Harvey did not tell you?'

'You mean about the murders?'

'Ya.'

'He told me a couple of the performers were murdered, yes. Is that why Ferdinando left? Was he afraid he might be next?'

Nadia sighed. 'Everybody is afraid. You must be very brave coming here to work when all this drama is happening.'

'Well... I figure I'm not in any real danger at the moment. I haven't pissed anyone off yet.'

One of the chimps started to thump his cage and holler, jumping up and down, causing a real ruckus, but a few seconds later it quietened down.

'It's strange...’ Nadia said. ‘One of the men, he was not popular, but the other, he was very popular. Nobody hated him.'

'He must have made at least one enemy. Unless he just got in the way or something like that.’

They moved along. They approached a large gazebo. There was a kitchen caravan beside it, quite a large one and an outdoor cooking area with gas cookers. A greasy-looking cook was frying up what looked like some kind of stirfry in woks. Rex could smell the aroma of spices and meats and it made him feel hungry.

‘So what about your trapeze guy?’ Rex asked. ‘What happened to him?'

'He left. He was afraid too.'

'Lots of people have left. Fear?'

'Ya. I believe so.'

'Why don't you leave?'

She shrugged. 'Because this is my life. I have been doing this since I was a small girl. I cannot leave. These are my family after all. My father, my brothers... my sister.'

Rex nodded. They called themselves the Markos family. Fredericko was the father. Nina was her sister and Stefan and Jona were her two brothers. The only one that wasn't part of their family was the one who Rex was replacing.

A few burly men in shorts and singlets passed by heading for the gazebo where a crowd was assembling at tables.

'So I take it you know nothing about the murders?' Rex asked. 'No clues at all?'

'Nothing. It makes us all nervous, but most of us have no choice but to stay. There is nothing else for us out there.'

She faced Rex and touched his arm. 'I sometimes think it would be wonderful if some handsome prince came and swept me off my feet and took me away. My family would miss me, but I think they would be happy.'

Rex grinned. 'Well you never know, it might still happen, right?'

'I hope so.' She grinned and continued to gaze at him.

It was then that Rex noticed another vision of loveliness appear at the drinks station beside the gazebo. She was a stunning brunette with sapphire-blue eyes and when she saw Rex, she grinned from ear to ear.

'Wow!' Rex said.

Nadia peered over at the brunette and frowned. 'Oh her... She is the new assistant to the magician. The last one left.'

'What's her name?'

'Her name is Vanessa. She is nothing. Don't concern yourself with her.'

'I'd love to meet her.' Before Nadia could say anything Rex walked over to the brunette. She had the most stunningly gorgeous figure, very shapely and her skin was flawless. Nadia walked up behind him as he met the goddess before him. 'Hi! My name's Rex Carter.'

The brunette smiled again and offered him her hand. 'And I'm Vanessa Daniels. So very nice to meet you.'

'The pleasure's all mine.' Rex kissed her hand.

'Oooooh,' Vanessa said. 'So charming.'

Rex grinned. ‘I hear you’re the magician’s assistant.’

‘Yeah huh. The guy’s a bit of a jerk though. Thinks he’s God’s gift.’

‘One of them, huh?’

‘Unfortunately… speaking of God’s gift. You might just be one.’

Rex grinned. He was about to speak again, but Nadia brushed up next to him. ‘Rex! I’d like you to meet some of the guys.’ She glanced at Vanessa with a cold expression and then smiled at him. ‘Come and say hi.’

Rex could see right away that Nadia wanted to get him away from Vanessa, but he realised that work came before pleasure.

‘Hey,’ Rex said to the brunette. ‘I’d like to get to know you better. Want to meet up for a drink later?’

‘I’d love to.’ Vanessa delivered him a glorious smile.

‘I’ll track you down.’

‘I’m counting on it.’

Rex reluctantly joined Nadia and a group of circus performers under the gazebo. One of them had an abnormally large nose.

Rex wasn’t surprised when Nadia revealed his role. ‘This is Neville Steiner. He’s one of the clowns here. You should see him when he’s dressed up. He looks like Frankenstein, thus his stage name, Frankensteiner.’

‘I like it.’ Rex shook his hand. ‘How long have you been here, Neville?’

‘Call me Frankensteiner,’ he replied. ‘I prefer to stay in character. As for my time here? I’ve been here six years now.’

‘You must be hooked.’

‘Well, the pay is pretty crappy, but it’s a good life.’

‘What do you think of the boss?’

For a second Frankensteiner sneered, but then he grinned. ‘He’s the boss. He pays our wages.’

Rex took note of the brief scowl. Perhaps he didn’t want to badmouth his boss in front of the new guy.

The man next to Frankensteiner also looked rather bizarre. He had bucked teeth and a rather demented looking face, with eyebrows that curved up a little like a Vulcans. His ears weren’t pointed but they were quite large.

‘This is Bucko,’ Nadia said. ‘He’s the main star of the clown show.’

‘Yes,’ Rex said. ‘I’ve heard about him. He shook his hand. ‘Nice to meet you.’

‘So you are the new acrobat?’ Bucko said in a rather high tone of voice. ‘I hope you manage to hang around. Ha ha ha ha ha!’

The others laughed. Rex grinned. ‘I’ll do my best.’

Nadia introduced him to a couple of the other guys who were also clowns.

A big burly guy stepped up. The wasn’t as tall as Rex but had a similarly large physique.

‘This must be the circus strong man,’ Rex said.

‘No,’ Nadia said. ‘Actually, I don’t even know you.’

The burly guy did a mock salute. ‘Wal Atkinson is the name. I’m on the work crew. Started a few days ago.’

Rex smiled and shook his hand. ‘So you’re not a clown then?’

‘No.’

‘We do have a new one though,’ Nadia said. ‘He started last night.’

Frankesteiner picked up a metal mug