Chapter Thirty-Three

The police were getting nowhere questioning the Carney spokesman. Craig slipped under the tape and went to Ariel’s motor home. Somebody had opened the crow’s cage. It sat on the table and said, “Hell’o,” as Craig walked up. Peeking in the window, he saw the dishes were still in the sink, and the goldfish was on the table. She wasn’t there.

An older man wearing khakis and a polo shirt caught up with him as he headed back to the crime scene. “Did you come back and pick up Airy this morning?” the man asked without preamble.

“Uh…no…I’m looking for her. Do you know where she is?” Craig asked. He felt a weight in his stomach.

“No one has seen her since you left this morning. She said you thought some guy might be looking for her.” The crease in the man’s brow spoke volumes.

“Shit, did anyone see a tall white man with a large mole on his face, hanging around?”

“I’ll ask,” the man replied and hurried off.

Back at the murder scene, he approached Detective Madison. “We have a missing girl. She’s one of the Carnies. Her disappearance may be linked to my person of interest in a possible serial case.” Craig knew he was out on a limb here, but if Parris had Ariel, she didn’t have a lot of time.

“Could she be my suspect?” Madison asked.

Craig thought for a minute. How much did he really know about Ariel, other than the hallucination he had when he looked in her eyes. He knew she wasn’t a murderer, but he had no concrete evidence she shouldn’t be a suspect. “I doubt it, but I know if you treat her like a suspect, you’ll get no cooperation from the Carnies. I have a tenuous lead on some loosely related murders. It’s possible the missing woman may be a victim, and this guy was collateral damage. I have someone asking questions among the Carnies. I’ll know more when he reports back.”

Madison nodded, his expression blank. Craig could almost see the wheels turning in his head. “We have some blood and a piece of a shirt on the fence, which could be someone getting dragged over. Let’s run it like there was an abduction for now.”

Craig felt the tension in his shoulders ease a tiny bit.

The Coroner’s van carrying the body moved out, and the crowd of Carnies dispersed.

The handsome carnival spokesman came up to Craig and Madison. “No one has seen Ariel since this morning.” He gave Craig a significant look. “No one saw the guy you were looking for, but someone saw an old blue car with a bad muffler leaving the lot, just before we found Mike. It wasn’t a car we recognized.”

Craig caught Madison’s eye. Madison said, “Are you sure we can’t interview the witnesses personally? It would really help find the person who did this.”

The man shook his head. “Our experience with police is to be treated like scum. My people are understandably reticent about talking. They would be too nervous to give you anything useful. What I’ve told you is everything we know. If anyone remembers anything else, I’ll call you immediately. We want this solved as much as you do. Mike was a good guy, and Airy is one of us. We want her back.”

Madison sighed and said, “Thank you for your input, Mister Jones. Let me know if anyone thinks of anything else. You have my card. We will do everything we can to find the young lady and Mister Murphy’s murderer.”

When they were alone again Craig said, “My person of interest drives a ’94 blue Dodge Colt, four-door sedan.”

“A little too much coincidence,” agreed Madison without prompting. Let me get a BOLO out on the car. Then you can tell me about your person of interest.”