Catch a Crooked Clown (3 page)

Dan had been watching for Brian and Sean, and he ran to meet them.

As he was introduced to the Quinns, Mr. Quinn said, “You have a large audience tonight, Dan.”

“We almost always get large audiences,” Dan said. “Lots of times the seats are sold out for every performance. People love circuses.”

Sean groaned as he saw Debbie Jean Parker with her parents, and he ducked behind Brian before she spotted him.

“Could I take Brian and Sean backstage for a few minutes?” Dan asked.

“Of course,” Mrs. Quinn said. She handed Brian two tickets. “These will get you inside. We’ll meet you at our seats.”

“Hey, Sean!” Debbie Jean yelled. She jumped up and down and waved at Sean.

“Let’s go!” Sean said. “Quick!”

“Who was that?” Dan asked as they hurried back to the costume tent.

“A girl in Sean’s fourth-grade class,” Brian answered. “I think she kinda likes him.”

Sean groaned and made a face. “Debbie Jean drives me crazy!” he said.

Dan looked sympathetic. “Well forget her. Come and meet my dad. I want you to see what a nice guy he is. And I’d like him to meet
you
.”

He led Brian and Sean into the costume tent, which was filled with performers who were giving last-minute touches to their costumes and makeup. Marco Moroney was seated before one of the mirrors, putting on his clown wig.

“Dad,” Dan said, “I want you to meet Brian and Sean Quinn.”

Mr. Moroney’s eyes twinkled, and he grinned inside his broad, red clown grin. “Hello, hello, hello,” he said. As Mr. Moroney shook Sean’s hand, his fat clown fingers seemed to wiggle in every direction.

Sean laughed. Mr. Moroney seemed like a friendly guy, and Sean liked him immediately.

“You’re two fine-looking young men,” Mr. Moroney said to Brian and Sean. “Have you ever thought of working some day with a circus?”

“It sounds like fun,” Brian said politely and smiled.

“Bri can’t be a circus performer,” Sean said. “He’s already got a job. He’s a private investigator.”

Brian gave Sean a warning look. “Sean,” he said.

In his excitement, Dan blurted out, “Sean’s an investigator, too. Brian and Sean are the Casebusters, and they’ve solved lots of crimes. That’s why I hired them to investigate and find out who the fake clown is—the one who’s pretending to be you!”

For a moment there was silence in the tent. Brian glanced around to see Dale Erhard and Laura Lee and Ray Spangler staring at him.

Then everyone looked away and began talking at once.

Mr. Moroney’s forehead puckered as he thought. “Isn’t that a little risky, being investigators at your ages?” he asked.

“Our dad’s a private investigator,” Sean answered. “He’s taught us to be careful.”

“And are you?”

Sean looked at Brian. “Ummm, most of the time,” Sean said.

“We’d better find our seats,” Brian said quickly. “We’re glad to meet you, Mr. Moroney. See you later, Dan.”

As he pushed Sean out of the costume tent, Brian complained, “You and Dan blew our cover. Now all the suspects know what we’re doing.”

“Does it make any difference?” Sean asked. “Eric already found out. He probably told them.”

Brian remembered the surprised looks on the faces of the Spanglers, the wary glance of Dale Erhard. “I don’t think so,” he said.

As they joined the line to enter the main tent, Brian pulled out the tickets Mrs. Quinn had given them. “Sean,” he said, “while we’re on the circus lot, we’ll have to be extra watchful and careful.”

But Sean was already scrambling over the seats to reach their parents.

A trumpet sounded just outside the main entrance to the tent, and a band began marching in, leading the performers’ parade. Brian hurried to join the rest of his family.

The show was terrific. The clowns made everyone laugh. The Spanglers swung and somersaulted in the light of the spotlights that swept back and forth across the top of the tent. Their trapeze act was so exciting that at times people gasped and shrieked. The horses and elephants performed their tricks perfectly, and the act with the trained lions brought the audience to its feet. Mr. Erhard stood in the spotlight and bowed again and again.

Intermission was announced, and Sean plopped down onto his seat in the bleachers, almost landing on Debbie Jean.

“I couldn’t stand it when the trainer put his head in the lion’s mouth!” she shouted.

Sean rubbed his ear. “Your mother’s calling you,” he said.

“No, she’s not,” Debbie Jean said. “Our seats are just two rows behind yours, and Mom told me I could climb down here and say hello to you.”

“You better climb back, because I can’t talk to you. I’m on a case,” Sean said.

Debbie Jean rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on. You’re on a case in the circus? I don’t believe that.”

She started to say something else, then stopped, her mouth still open. She recovered and said, “Wait a minute. That clown who stole things…That’s your case, isn’t it?”

“Shhhh!” Sean said. “We don’t want everybody here to know about it.”

“Are you looking for clues?” Debbie Jean asked. “I can do that. I want to help. I bet I can solve the case before you do.”

One of the circus employees reached up and handed Brian a folded note. The man disappeared under the bleachers before either Brian or Sean was able to get a good look at him.

“What’s that?” Sean asked as Brian read the note.

“It’s from Dan,” Brian said. “He wants to meet with us right away. He has some new information.”

Debbie Jean was leaning over Sean’s shoulder to listen.

“Let’s go,” Sean whispered to Brian. Sean turned to Mrs. Quinn and said, “We’ll be right back, Mom.” Before she could answer, he squeezed through the people on the bleachers until he reached the ground.

Brian hurried down behind him, and they left the tent through the main opening.

“Where does Dan want us to meet him?” Sean asked.

“Behind the lion cages, where no one will hear us,” Brian answered.

They passed the elephants and a group of horses decorated with plumes and spangles. There were plenty of people getting these animals ready to perform again. But back behind the lion cages, it was dark and quiet.

One of the lions snuffled, and Sean shuddered. As his eyes grew used to the darkness he could see the lion prowling up and down in his cage. He seemed to be staring right at Sean.

“Where is Dan, anyway?” Sean asked. “How long do we have to wait for him?”

The lion snuffled again. This time Brian jumped. “Maybe we should look for Dan,” he said.

As Brian took a step forward, so did the lion, pressing his nose against the bars of his cage.

To Brian’s and Sean’s horror, the door of the cage swung open, and the lion leaped out. It stood motionless, staring at them eye to eye.

S
EAN AND BRIAN FRANTICALLY
yelled for help and made a dash for the top of the nearest cage. The lion under them snarled and scratched at its bars, but Sean and Brian kept their eyes on the lion that was loose. Lions could jump. They’d seen this one do it during the lion show. What if he decided to jump on top of the cage to get them? “Help!” Sean shouted again. “Quiet!” a firm voice below them said. Brian, and Sean looked down to see Dale Erhard, the ringmaster. He cracked a whip, making loud snapping noises as he slowly walked toward the lion.

The lion began to back up, whirled around, and jumped into his cage. Mr. Erhard snapped the padlock shut, then tuned to look up at Brian and Sean. His face was red with anger.

“Get down from there!” he ordered. He distracted the lion inside the cage while Brian and Sean scrambled to the ground, moving well out of reach of any of the caged animals.

Other circus employees had gathered; among them were Dan, Mr. Moroney, and Eric. Dan looked frightened and Mr. Moroney, worried, but Eric just scowled at his shoes.

“Now, tell me,” Mr. Erhard ordered. “Who opened the cage?”

“We don’t know,” Brian said. “We didn’t.”

“I put the lions in their cages myself and carefully locked them. None of our employees, not even Eric, would be stupid enough to unlock a cage and allow a dangerous animal to escape.”

“Hey, I didn’t do it,” Eric said.

“You were here when I left.”

“Just to do my job. It had to be one of those snoopy kids.”

“Honest, we didn’t touch the cage,” Sean insisted. “The only reason we came here was because of Dan’s note.”

“What note?” Dan asked.

Brian held out the folded paper. Dan took it and read it. “I didn’t write this,” he said. “It’s not even my handwriting.”

Mr. Erhard grabbed the note and read it. Then Mr. Moroney took it. His voice shook as he said, “Boys, you must stay out of this area. It isn’t safe.”

Sean nodded. “I was afraid the lion was going to eat us.”

“He probably wouldn’t have eaten you, because he wasn’t hungry,” Dan said. “The lions were fed right after their performance. That’s why Eric was here. Feeding the animals is part of his job.”

Brian took a good look at Eric. He hadn’t seemed either surprised or frightened when the lion was loose. And what had he told them? “Your snooping is going to get you in real trouble.” Was trapping them with a lion Eric’s idea of trouble?

Brian and Sean walked back to the main tent. Both of them had been so scared they still felt shaky.

“What happened with the lion was a warning to us,” Brian said. “Someone was telling us to stay out of the case.” He shook his head. “We didn’t think. We got the note and ran off without stopping to figure things out.”

“It’s my fault,” Sean said. “All I wanted to do was get away from Debbie Jean.”

“Don’t blame yourself, and don’t blame Debbie Jean.” Brian told him. “From now on we’ll just be more careful and more sure of checking things out.”

Sean looked up at Brian. “Then we’re not going to give up?”

“No way,” Brian said. “Dan’s counting on us. This is a case we’ve got to solve.”

When they returned to their seats, Sean was relieved to see that Debbie Jean had gone back to sit with her parents.

But she cupped her hands together and yelled down at Sean, “While you were gone, one of the clowns brought the monkey out. I got to shake his hand and you didn’t.”

Sean hunched his shoulders and pretended he didn’t hear Debbie Jean. That didn’t stop her. She yelled again, “The monkey jumped on a little bicycle and tried to escape, but the clown caught him, and you missed all the excitement! Ha, ha!”

Mrs. Quinn smiled at Sean. “Don’t let Debbie Jean make you feel disappointed. There are even more exciting acts to come.”

“Not too exciting, I hope,” Sean said. His heart was just now beginning to settle down. “I’ve had about as much excitement as I can stand.”

He leaned forward ready to watch the acts begin again, but Brian elbowed him in the ribs. “Don’t count on it,” he said. “Eric’s over by the ropes, keeping an eye on us. For the rest of the evening I think we’d better stick close to Mom and Dad.”

T
HE NEXT MORNING BRIAN
and Sean rode their bikes to the circus ground. They found Dan in the lot picking up soft-drink cans in one bag, trash in another. “Let’s go back to the costume tent,” Brian said. “There’s something we’ve got to do.”

They stopped, halfway across the lot. In the distance they saw Crackers in full costume. As they watched, the clown ran, stumbling into the tent.

“Dad?” Dan cried. Dan, Brian, and Sean ran after the clown.

But the costume tent was empty.

“Main tent!” Sean shouted. “He had to go in there!”

They stood just inside the entrance to the main tent, scanning the area. Without the bright lights it was dim and gloomy. A dusty, musty smell drifted from the sawdust-covered ground in the center ring.

Nothing moved, and no sound could be heard.

“That couldn’t have been Dad,” Dan said. “He was still asleep when I left the trailer, and that was only about fifteen minutes ago.”

Brian and Sean followed Dan to the trailer he shared with his father. As they came in the door, Mr. Moroney turned from the small sink in the back of the trailer. He unplugged his electric razor and said, “Good morning, boys! You got an earlier start on the day than I did.”