Page 36 of Monkey Business

Angel and Vince chuckled under their breath, watching as the lights slowly turned out, the midway locking their games and prizes up.

“Let’s move. Around the tents toward the back,” said Trak.

The area designated for performers only was filled with travel trailers. Workers, competitors, and owners were all in the same area. As the darkness covered the area, small fires were lit, patio lights hanging from awning overhangs on the trailers. Most had small generators keeping the insides of the trailers cool at night.

They could hear competitors talking about what had gone well that day and the things they needed to be better at. When they approached the trailer of the O’Noth circus, there was a small circle of people standing around.

“You guys did great today,” said Sean. “We’re in second place right now, but we know we can make up the difference in the next few days. Big bonuses for everyone if we win this, so I really need for everyone to pull out a few new tricks.”

The crowd of people smiled and nodded, but one man was visibly unhappy.

“What’s wrong, Comber?” asked Patrick.

“That was the second lady who disappeared after my monkeys walked her to the back. What the hell is happening? Do you know that they could take my monkeys away from me if they suspect that they’re doing something?”

“First of all, they’re our monkeys. We bought and paid for them. You just train them,” said Patrick. “Secondly, no one is taking the monkeys. I get it. Two women disappeared, but that’s not our fault. We needed them to sign the releases for videos. That’s all. Where they went after they left us, no one knows.”

“Someone knows,” said one of the acrobats. The two brothers glared at her.

“What the hell does that mean?”

“I mean, someone must know what happened to them. Their poor kids are all alone now. I think it’s terrible.”

“Yes. Yes, it’s terrible,” said Sean. “We’re all feeling the same thing. It’s terrible. But we need to focus on winning. That’s it.”

“Alright. Long day tomorrow,” said Patrick. “Get some rest. There’s hot food in the mess tent.”

The brothers watched as their team walked away, whispering and nodding to one another. What they were totally unaware of was the three men watching them in stealth suits from the sides of the trailers.

“Do you think they suspect?” asked Patrick.

“No. There’s no way. We didn’t touch that woman,” smirked Sean. “The monkeys did.”

“Yeah, but we need those damn monkeys. He’s right about that. We can’t let the authorities take them if they suspect something.”

“Don’t worry about it. We’re going to win this and move on for a while. The mummy exhibit is winning people over. I understand we’ve had a lot of foot traffic for that one.”

“Yep, record-breaking ticket sales. We need to win tomorrow, and the rest should be smooth sailing. What about those guys that were here the other day?”

“Don’t worry about them. We’ve got this.”

“It makes me nervous,” said Patrick.

“It makes you nervous because your fucking drug-addicted son nearly ruined it for us,” said Sean.

“Don’t speak of my son that way! Don’t speak of the dead in that way!”

“He’s dead, Patrick. Gone. We wouldn’t have had this issue if that damn truck driver hadn’t recognized him. Shit. Who knew your kid was going to church every Sunday and confessing.”

His brother glared at him, shaking his head.

“He was a good boy. Someone got him hooked on those drugs.”

“I’m not going to argue with you. You’ll never agree that it was his poor decisions that nearly ruined this for us. Get some sleep. It’s going to be a long day tomorrow.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

“There’s definitely something that they’re hiding,” said Vince. “The brothers were arguing about Nozo confessing to Gus, but neither of them said what he was confessing to.”

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