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A surprisingly tender expression crossed Laurent’s face. He put a gentle hand on my shoulder and said, “I know this situation is less than ideal for you. Had I my druthers, I would have welcomed the old routine without any changes.”
I lifted an eyebrow at him. “Are you saying the change wasn’t your idea in the first place?”
Laurent looked nervously around, as if to ascertain whether there were any possible eavesdroppers. I had a feeling he was looking for one, in particular—Ned. When his eyes lingered over his right shoulder, I followed his gaze to find a glowering Rex looking back at him. Rex’s bare chest exposed his countless scars for all to see, so I knew he, too, was rehearsing his own routine this evening. But there was nothing to explain the coiled anger that blistered from the look he gave his brother.
Finally, Laurent tore his nervous eyes away from Rex and answered me. “I admit Rex had some suggestions on how to spice up your act. You must recall what I said about Grand Forks often rescuing us from plummeting profits.”
I remembered him saying as much. “So, you’re pulling out all the stops to ensure we get our biggest crowds,” I said aloud.
“Precisely,” Laurent said with a relieved sigh. “I do apologize for the abrupt change in your act, but it really is for the best.” He gestured back at the birdcage. “Now, be a dear and go through the routine one more time...?”
While I slowly poured my body once more into the tiny cage, I reflected on our conversation. To my surprise, it felt normal, like nothing had changed between us. Interestingly enough, Laurent hadn’t had one negative thing to say about my escaping. Instead, he’d simply acted as if it had never happened. As if I were still the wide-eyed innocent who was living her dream of joining the circus and Laurent was my charming, if duplicitous, patron. Before I could allow myself to start thinking good thoughts about Laurent, I had to remind myself of his duplicity—of all the lies he’d told me about The Dark Room. No matter what, Laurent couldn’t be trusted. And neither could Rex, for that matter. They were both hiding secrets—and I fully intended to weed those secrets out.
As I finished putting myself inside the cage, I had to imagine why he and Rex were so intimidated by Mr. Grey. Their opinion of the old man was one of the few points of agreement I’d observed between the siblings. It made me wonder what Mr. Grey held over both of them? Why did they both appear to kowtow to him?
The closing of my cage door ended my thought, and I looked once more at Laurent.
“Now, Bindi,” he said with optimal encouragement. “The right way this time.”
With the same careful contortions I used to enter the cage, I gradually turned myself around. Placing my feet on the cage top, I used my hands to take the place of my feet at the bottom. Soon enough, I was completely upside down, my cramped feet at the top while grasping the bars with my hands. After some shifts and twists, I turned myself around when I once more upended myself, pointing my head towards the ground. I carefully righted myself until I was gazing through the bars.
“Better,” Laurent exclaimed, opening up the cage door in the same breath. Something in his tone of voice seemed odd, so I looked at him more closely and found he was staring at the big tent’s roof and tapping his chin in deep thought. His expression seemed displeased but I couldn’t for the life of me see what was upsetting him.
When I finished my slow egress, I asked him, “Did I do anything wrong?”
“Huh?” Laurent replied as if he forgot I was right in front of him. “Oh, no! Hardly. You did precisely and exactly what was expected from you.” His chin-tapping got harder. “Still, even without a single flaw, something just feels wrong... something is missing. The stew needs some extra spice, but I can’t quite figure out which one to add.”
While Laurent tried to explain his thoughts to me, I became aware of another voice from the far end of the big top. Having heard it often from much shorter distances, I knew to whom it belonged at once.
Chapter Five
Strolling through the big top, wearing nothing but panties and a modest brassiere, Lady Liberty naturally caused a stir among everyone around her.
Her ensemble wasn’t the only shocking thing about her. Actually, much more shocking was her skin which was tattooed with a detailed map of the United States, which had earned her the title, ‘The Human Atlas’. Her gift for gab was easily equal to Laurent’s, allowing her to project her voice around the entire tent.
“Dagnabbit, where is it?!” she shouted. “This was the last place I saw it! I know it has to be here!”
Rex rolled his eyes before strolling over to see what all the fuss was about. Laurent merely seemed annoyed by the interruption. “She must realize this does nothing to improve or streamline tonight’s performance, I assume?” he said, stopping to see what the problem was.
Rex talked to Lady Liberty in a low tone, to which she responded, “No, Iwon’tforget about it! That Waterman pen cost me nearly all of last week’s pay! I’ll be damned if I’m just gonna lose it like that!”
Laurent shook his head in dismay as he drifted over to the distraught tattooed woman. “Dear lady, I do sympathize with your frustration,” he announced in his ringmaster voice as he drew closer to her. “But haven’t you forgotten that we have a show to prepare for?”
“Now, look here, Laurent,” Liberty said, matching his gaze with hers. “I’m not asking for the moon, just my darn pen. You gotta figure somebody saw it, right?” Her voice echoed in the big top, every bit as loudly as Laurent’s.
Everyone’s attention was centered on her, so without any difficulty, I pulled out the pen from where I’d hidden it inside my thigh, under my leotard. “Is this it, Liberty?” I asked while walking towards her.
Her eyes lit up with eager recognition right before Laurent intercepted me. I barely got a quarter of the way there.
“I’ll hand it to her,” he declared as he snatched the pen from me. “In the meantime, get back to practicing your new routine.”
My heart sank as I watched him strolling away, brandishing the pen. But Liberty seemed anything but dismayed. She demanded he bring it closer, briefly accusing him of trying to pass a fake one to get her to shut up. Everyone’s eyes, including mine, were riveted by the spectacle.
That’s why I jumped when someone nudged my arm from behind. Seeing the long, Lady Godiva locks as I turned around, I started to smile.
“Looks as though I owe Jiang two bucks,” Vernice said, pulling out a small package from her thick hair. “That distraction she provided was absolutely brilliant.”
After palming the new package in my hand, she slipped away discreetly. I unwrapped the paper to find a small vial with a brown stopper. The liquid inside was clear as water but I suspected it was anything but. The writing inside the wrapper made that plain enough: ‘Slip this into the guards’ drink’.
