Page 27 of Monkey Business

“The husband is on his way to get the little girl, but he’s a mess right now. He said his wife would never have left their little girl. Not in a million years.” Mac turned toward the child, still eating her popcorn.

“Sylvie? What were you and Mommy doing when she left you?” he asked.

“We were watching the monkeys perform. They were dancing over there, and one of them came up to Mommy and held her hand.”

“The monkey held your mommy’s hand?” frowned Mac.

“Uh huh. He got her to dance with him. Then the crowd got big, and I got lost. I couldn’t see Mommy anymore. Then the crowd was gone, but so was Mommy.”

“Sylvie! Sylvie!” yelled the man, running toward them. “Oh, Sylvie! Sweetie, are you okay?”

“I’m good, Daddy. These men gave me popcorn and a soda. I might have forgotten to tell them I can’t have soda.” Her father laughed, the three men rolling their eyes.

“I think it’s okay this one time,” he smiled. “Honey, where is Mommy?”

“I don’t know,” she sniffed.

“Sir, we were just trying to figure that out,” said Mac. “We’re honestly not sure what happened here.”

“I can tell you this,” said the man, lifting his daughter into his arms. “Thea would have rather died than leave Sylvie. They were connected at the hip. Two peas in a pod. She is the best mother I know. Something is wrong here. Seriously, seriously wrong.” Whiskey nodded his head.

“We are definitely in agreement, sir. We’re going to figure this out.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

“Code, what do we have on the O’Noth circus?” asked Gaspar.

“Not much. It’s been around for about seventy years. Always been relatively profitable. They seem to pass all the safety inspections, as well as all the onsite animal inspections. No deaths, nothing that raises any red flags.”

“What about the owners being so dark?” asked Nine.

“O’Noth isn’t their name,” said Code. “It’s the name of the circus and the original owners’ names, but not the ones in the past few years. It took me a while to dig that up, which was strange. Usually, I can find things like that quickly.”

“But they introduced themselves as the O’Noths. Patrick and Sean O’Noth.”

“That’s their circus or stage names,” said Code. “The names on the licenses and tax documents are Alberto and Fernando Tolivari. Born in Juarez. They are sixty-eight and seventy-one, respectively.”

“Okay, so what do we know about them?” asked Nine.

“Nothing.” Gaspar, Ian, Nine, and Ghost stared at the man, waiting. “Look, I found nothing. Ace is working on trying to gather more information now.”

“I’ve found a few things,” said Ace, poking his head into the room. The men stared at him, waiting patiently for him to continue. Ace stared back, then realized they were waiting for him.

“Right. Sorry,” he smirked. “Code is right. They were born in Juarez but came across the border together when they were in their early twenties. They came on the pretense of visiting a sick relative. There’s no record of them returning. They worked odd jobs before finally getting their U.S. citizenship, then suddenly were able to purchase the circus. They paid cash for it.”

“Cash? What was that bill?” asked Ian.

“It doesn’t say. The circus closed for two years right after they bought it, then reopened with all new acts, animals, attractions, everything. They’ve traveled all over North America performing, never staying more than three or four days.”

“Is that significant?” asked Ghost.

“Most circuses will stay for a few weeks because it allows people to return often. Win their money back at the midway games, see a different act, or sometimes come without the kids and enjoy.”

“So why didn’t they do that?” asked Nine.

“I’m not sure yet. What I can tell you is this. A woman has disappeared at every performance they’ve done in the last thirty years. Sometimes more than one,” said Ace, staring at the men.

“And no one is investigating this?” yelled Gaspar.

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