Dangerous Relations (2 page)

Natalia tossed the towel down. “There was something slick on the bar. My hands slipped.”

“Oh, please!”

Nancy heard controlled anger in Hayden's voice as he said, “Katrina, let's take a break.”

Katrina made a graceful free-fall into the net. “See, Natalia? That's the way it's
supposed
to be done.”

Trying to ignore Katrina's rudeness, Nancy looked up. “Are the trapezes fastened to the rigging with something oily?”

Hayden pointed to what looked like a steel pipe. “Two collars are bolted to that crane bar. Rigging hooks connect the ropes to the collars.”

“Could oil have dripped from the connections?” Nancy asked.

“It was carelessness,” Katrina cut in.

“Or somebody oiled the bar!” Natalia retorted.

Nancy looked at her in alarm. Did she really believe that? And why was she breathing so hard?

Hayden noticed, too. “You don't sound so good, Nat.”

“Oh, great! Now she's going to have an asthma attack!” Katrina rolled her green eyes. “Well, call me when it's over. I'm going to the cookhouse for coffee.”

Stunned by her behavior, Nancy watched the
redhead walk away. She disappeared out into the hallway.

“Stress sometimes causes these attacks,” Hayden explained, as he reached for Natalia's large canvas tote bag. “Nat, your inhaler's empty.”

“I'll have to go back to my trailer,” Natalia said in a choked voice. “I have another one there.”

She sounded to Nancy like someone who'd run a long, hard race and was trying to catch her breath. Alarmed, she asked, “Is there anything we can do?”

“I'm so so-sorry. You—came—all this way.” Natalia tried to apologize between gasps.

“You can't help it,” Nancy said, following them to the hallway. “We can talk when you're feeling better.”

“Can you come by Nat's trailer in an hour or so?” Hayden asked as they started down the hallway. “It's the pink one straight across the lot. There's a big steel globe parked between it and the next trailer—you can't miss it.”

“I know where you mean,” Nancy said.

“I sure wouldn't want to work with someone who hated me like that,” Bess said when they were alone in the corridor.

“Me, either.” George's gaze was troubled. “In trapeze work, your life is in your teammates' hands. That sort of tension is dangerous.”

Nancy was disturbed, too. Especially considering Natalia's comment about someone oiling the bar. Frowning, she said, “Let's check that towel Natalia wiped her hands on.”

At first glance the towel looked snowy white. But as Nancy turned it over, she spotted a dull, nearly colorless smudge.

“She got something on her hands, all right,” Nancy said. She held the towel up to her nose, but all she could smell was fabric softener. She folded the towel, put it into her shoulder bag, then looked up at the trapeze riggings, remembering Katrina holding the bar while Natalia was climbing up. Had she put something on it? “I'm going to climb up and check that bar.”

“Be careful!” Bess cautioned.

Nancy hoisted herself up to the first rung of the rope ladder. It creaked and swayed beneath her weight, but she held on and kept climbing until she reached the platform.

The trapeze, hanging down from the ceiling, was just out of reach. But fastened to one rail of the platform was a rod with a hook on the end of it. As Katrina had done, Nancy used it to pull the trapeze toward her. She took a tissue from the pocket of her jeans and started wiping the bar. There was nothing on the edges, but when she wiped near the center, she found oily smudges.

“Here, George. Catch.” Nancy let the tissue drift down. She descended the ladder.

“Do you think it's oil off the rigging?” George asked, passing the tissue back to Nancy once she was on the ground.

“I can't tell,” Nancy said. She put the tissue in her shoulder bag next to the towel. Her father had a friend on the Sarasota police force, Phillip Green. Maybe he would ask the police crime lab to analyze the smudges for her.

“Do you think someone oiled the bar on purpose?” Bess asked.

That was precisely what Nancy was wondering. Katrina? Or someone else? And why? Could the accident in any way be linked to Natalia's plan to search for her father?

There was only one place to start. “Let's find Katrina,” Nancy said.

Just outside the arena, two dark-haired young men were polishing the chrome on their motorcycles.

“Excuse me,” Bess said. “We're looking for someone.”

The taller of the two eyed her with a bold smile. “I hope it's me.”

Bess smiled. “I'm Bess Marvin. These are my friends George Fayne and Nancy Drew.”

“So you're the detective. We heard you were coming,” the boy said to Nancy.

“You did? Who told you?” Nancy asked.

“Natalia. She's pretty excited about looking for her dad.” He grinned and extended his hand.
“I'm Eduardo Pomatto. This is my brother Joseph.”

“Hello,” Joseph said shyly.

“Nice to meet you,” Nancy said. She looked around. “Could you tell us where the cookhouse is?”

“We'll show you,” Eduardo offered. He dropped his polishing rag and wiped off his hands.

“Are you performers?” Bess asked.

Eduardo nodded. “We do a motorcycle act called Sphere of Death. Heard of it?”

Remembering the steel globe, Nancy exclaimed, “That big mesh globe! You ride inside it?”

Joseph smiled. “That's right.”

George said, “One time on a stunt show, I saw a couple of brothers riding motorcycles inside a round cage like that. Their mother was inside it, too. They rode loops around her—upside down and everything. It was wild!”

“Was it you two?” Bess asked, her eyes wide.

Eduardo shook his head. “No way. Our mother is too smart for that!”

Everyone laughed. Still chatting, Eduardo led them into the eatery they'd passed earlier. Nancy glanced down the tables that lined two walls. The place was crowded, but she didn't see Katrina.

The girls poured themselves glasses of juice at the buffet, then followed Joseph and Eduardo to
a long table at which six men were sitting. Eduardo introduced the girls to the men. “These guys are clowns. That's Slowpoke there at the end. The skinny one beside him is Jiffy. This is Dillard and Winky and Packrat and Tim.”

Tim had pale blond hair. He reached across the table and bowed over each of the girls' hands. But instead of releasing Nancy's hand, he brought it to his lips and kissed it, then pretended his lips were stuck.

“Tim had peanut butter for breakfast,” Slowpoke said.

“Oldest trick in the book,” Jiffy muttered.

Nancy, Bess, and George joined in the laughter. Several of the clowns jumped up and went to get folding chairs for the girls. Then everyone moved, to make room for them and the Pomatto brothers. Just as everyone settled into their chairs, Packrat poked Tim and said in a stage whisper, “Here comes Red.”

The blond clown's face lit up. He waved and called, “There's room over here, Katrina.”

Nancy was pleased when Katrina brought over a chair and a cup of tea and squeezed in between Tim and Packrat. Anxious to see what she could learn, Nancy smiled across the table and said, “I was sorry practice ended so abruptly. I was looking forward to seeing you perform.”

“Oh?” Katrina said guardedly, then took a sip of her tea.

Nancy nodded. “It must take a lot of hard work to be a good flyer. How'd you get started?”

When Katrina seemed reluctant to answer, Tim said, “Kat was a great platform diver in high school. Go on, tell her, Katrina.”

Nancy could see by the look in his eye that Tim had a crush on Katrina. “You two knew each other in high school?”

Tim nodded. “We both grew up in Sarasota. It's a circus town. It's easy to get bitten by the circus bug.”

Now Katrina was looking less sullen. Apparently, she enjoyed Tim's attention.

Bess asked her, “How'd you go from diving to flying?”

“The circus bug, as Tim said,” Katrina replied. “I asked a retired trapeze artist to give me lessons. Tim and I joined different circuses, but we've both been with the Grand Royal for about three years now.”

“Isn't it scary to fall? What causes that, anyway?” Nancy asked innocently.

“Mostly, it's a poorly timed trick,” Katrina said. “Hayden decides whether or not to catch a trick. If it isn't coming at him right, he'll let it go rather than risk not being able to hang on to it throughout the swing.”

“So even pros fall?” Nancy asked.

“Oh, sure,” Katrina said. “Though during shows, Hayden sometimes catches tricks he
ought to let pass. Especially Natalia's. Guess he wants to make her look good,” she added.

Noticing that Tim's attention had strayed to his friends, Nancy reached into her bag and pulled out the towel Natalia had wiped her hands on.

“Natalia was telling the truth about the bar being oily. Look at this,” Nancy said, waiting for Katrina's reaction.

“Looks like Natalia had something on her hands when she left the platform,” Katrina said in a sharp voice.

“I don't think she'd be that careless,” Nancy said. Watching Katrina carefully, she added, “Natalia thought you had something to do with it.”

The redhead jumped to her feet, nearly spilling her tea. “You've got no right to accuse me! Take that back or you'll be sorry!”

The chatter at the table stopped dead. Nancy felt every face in the room turn her way. Tim the clown leapt out of his chair as Katrina stormed around the table and came straight at Nancy!

A
LARMED
, Nancy pushed her chair back and stood to defend herself. But Joseph Pomatto jumped up, too, and stepped in front of Nancy.

“Whoa, whoa, calm down, Katrina,” he said soothingly.

“Kat, take it easy.” Tim slipped his arm through Katrina's. “Come on, let's take a little walk.” He cast a glance at Nancy. “Don't mind Kat. She didn't mean anything. It's just been pretty tense around here lately, with the show coming up.”

“Of course,” Nancy said, though she didn't think much of Tim's excuse.

Katrina glowered at Nancy, then turned and stormed out of the cookhouse. Tim followed at her heels, and the door banged shut after them.

Eduardo blew out his breath. “What did you say to make Katrina so mad?” he asked.

Briefly Nancy described what had happened during practice. All the clowns listened in. Finishing, she said, “Maybe someone oiled the bar as a prank. Or do you think it was meant to do serious harm?”

When the men seemed reluctant to speak up, George said, “Well, I don't know much about trapeze artists, but it seems to me that either way, Natalia could have gotten hurt.”

“You're right,” Jiffy said. “A flyer needs to hit the net in a horizontal position. Otherwise, he or she could bounce right off it.”

“That's what causes injuries,” Packrat added. “A few flyers have died that way.” Packrat drained his coffee cup and rose to go. The other clowns said goodbye, then followed him out.

The clowns hadn't answered her, Nancy mused. Hoping to do better with the Pomatto brothers, she asked, “Would Katrina purposely hurt Natalia?”

Eduardo frowned. “Well, Katrina didn't exactly like getting her boyfriend stolen,” he said slowly.

“Natalia stole Katrina's boyfriend?” Nancy repeated, startled. “You mean Hayden?”

Eduardo nodded. “Hayden and Katrina came to Grand Royal together three years ago. They trained Natalia and put her in their act. Six months ago, Hayden and Natalia started dating.”

Nancy asked, “Would you say Natalia's as good a flyer or better than Katrina?”

“Katrina's a seasoned performer. Her tricks are clean and controlled,” Joseph said.

“But Natalia's younger and more exciting to watch,” Eduardo added. “She's gutsy. She's determined to do the triple in the show this year. She's already done it in practice.”

“That's three somersaults before the catch,” Eduardo put in. “It's a really tough trick.”

Joseph nudged his brother. “We'd better get back to polishing our bikes.”

When the Pomatto brothers had gone, Nancy said to her friends, “Sounds like Katrina's got a couple of reasons for wanting Natalia out of the way.”

“Nobody likes having her boyfriend stolen,” Bess said.

“Or losing her star status,” George added.

Nancy thought for a moment, then glanced at her watch. “We've got half an hour. Let's go see Lieutenant Green.”

• • •

Nancy and her friends found the police station with the help of a city map. At the mention of Carson Drew's name, Lieutenant Green was friendly and helpful. Nancy left the towel and the tissue. She gave him the number of the motel where they were staying, then drove back to the circus grounds.