Peggy Dulle - Liza Wilcox 01 - Death Is Clowning Around (21 page)

Chapter 24

I slowly turned around, expecting to see Beverly’s goons again, but it was Terri.

“Sorry, Liza.
I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s okay.”
I put the phone in my pocket.
“What can I do for you?”

“Can we do that interview now?”

Now?
With Tom possibly lying dead someplace?
I didn’t have time for her, but I took a deep breath and settled my stomach.
I’d give her a few minutes and then find an excuse to send her on her way.
I smiled.
“Of course.”

“I’ve gotten a lot of information about you from our conversations, but I have a few specific questions.”

We were passing the steps of the auditorium, so I sat down.
“Ask away.”

“You never talk about your mom and dad.
Do you have issues with them?”

“No, they’re dead.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

She frowned.
“May I ask how they died?”

I told her the shortest version I could think of about my parent’s airplane accident.
Then I stood up.

She stood up, too.
“What did your parents do for a living?”

“My dad was a lawyer and my mom a school teacher.”

“Just like you.”

“Yeah.”

“My dad was a lawyer, too, but he doesn’t practice anymore.
He and my mom run a small restaurant.”

“That sounds like more work than being a lawyer.”

“It is.
I think that’s why I come to clown camp.
If I was at home I’d be working at the restaurant and I do enough of that already.”

“Family businesses are like that.
Everybody works in them.”

“Yeah.”
She looked down at her notes.
“Ready for the next question?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

“Where were you born?”

“San Francisco.”

“Wow, that’s cool.
Did you grow up there?”

“No, my mom went into labor when she and my dad were at a party in the city.
I was raised in Hampton.”

“Where’s that?”

“Just a suburb in the bay area.
How about you, Terri?
Where were you born?”

“Don’t know.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m adopted and I don’t remember anything about my life before I started living with my mom and dad.
It’s weird because Lori remembers the good and the bad.
I don’t remember anything.”

Terri had to be the fifth adoption.
The one to the lawyer?
Could I have been wrong?
Could she be Jessie?
I was torn between finding the answer and finding Tom.
I needed to do both.

“How about we keep talking and you help me?”

“With what?”

“I lost my cell phone someplace here.”

“How are we going to find it?”

“I borrowed one from the cellular store down town.
I’ve been calling my own phone.
It rings and rings and then eventually goes to voicemail.
If I can keep calling it, then maybe I can find it by hearing it ring.
I can’t afford to replace it.”

“Sure, I’d love to help.
It’s like an Easter Egg hunt.”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, dial away and let’s see if we can hear it.”

I dialed the phone and we both stood up and listened.
Nothing.
“Let’s start at one end of the camp and make our way to the other.
That way we
will cover all areas
.”

“You don’t remember where you’ve been in the camp?”

“I’ve been everywhere with the kids and I can’t remember when I lost the stupid thing.”

“Okay, let’s go.”

I dialed, we listened and we walked.
Pretty soon Lori came up to us.

“What are you guys doing?”

“Liza lost her cell phone.
We’re calling it and listening for the ringing.”

“Can I help?”

“Sure, the more ears the better.”

I couldn’t imagine what the three of us looked like.
I’d dial, we’d take a few steps, and then we’d all put our heads up and listen.
Then we’d walk a few paces and I’d do it again.

A few minutes later Dan joined us.
“What are you guys doing?
You all look ridiculous.”

“She lost her cell phone.
It’s like a hunt.
We’re listening for the ring.”

“Cool.
I want to help.”

This was ridiculous.
Now four of us were searching.
What if we found Tom?
How was I going to explain him to them?
Besides, it wasn’t helping.
I still couldn’t hear Tom’s phone.

We’d almost made our way to the other end of the camp when Dan put up his hand.
“Wait, I think I hear it.
Dial it again.”

I dialed and we all listened.
I couldn’t hear a thing.

“Yeah, it’s coming from over by the small cabins.”

“How can you hear that?
I don’t hear a thing.”

“My mom always said that I had ears like a bat.”

We wandered by the cabins.
Suddenly I could hear it too.
Lori and Terri yelled together.
“We hear it!”

I dialed again and we narrowed it down to the third small cabin.
All four of us walked up to the door and I opened it.
It only opened a few inches.
Carl’s goons stood right inside.

“What are you doing here?”
Bruno asked.

Lori stepped forward.
“We’re looking for Liza’s cell phone.”

“It’s not in here.”

She shook her finger at him.
“Do you know who I am?”

“Yeah.”

“Then get the hell out of our way so we can look for the phone.”

“You’re not allowed in here.”

“My parents run this joint and I’m allowed everywhere.
Besides, you’re not important enough to stop me.”
She brushed him aside and we all walked in.

He got on the phone immediately.
Reinforcements would be on their way soon.
If Tom was in here we had to find him fast.
Bruno’s friend, Oscar, was standing by another door.

“Dial it again, Liza,” Lori said.

We could hear it ringing behind the door that Oscar was guarding.
Lori walked up to him.
“Step aside.”

“No.”
Bruno shouted, then looked over at Oscar.
“I told you we should have gone in and turned off that stupid phone.”

“Do you like your job?”
Lori asked as she pointed her finger into Bruno’s chest.

“Yeah.”

“I could get you fired.”
She leaned back toward us.
“Did you see him make a pass at me?”

We all nodded.

She turned back to him.
“Move aside.”

I could tell he was arguing with himself.
He looked confused.
It was just the opportunity that Lori needed.
She dashed around him and opened the door.
Lying on the bed was Tom.
His hands were tied together and his face looked worse than it had the last time I’d seen him.
Both eyes were swollen shut and I could see cuts around his mouth.

Lori looked at Tom and then back at Oscar.
“Who the hell is this?”

“Someone we’re supposed to be watching.
You all need to leave, now!”

I let Lori and Oscar argue about if and when we were leaving.
I went over to Tom and felt for a pulse.
It was weak but still there.
As I untied his hands, he moaned.

I pushed open one of his eyelids.
His pupils were completely dilated and he couldn’t focus, even when I said his name.
They’d obviously given him some drugs to knock him out.
I needed help to get him up.
When I looked up, Terri stood over the bed.
She looked more confused than Oscar.

She frowned as she tried to place him.
“I know him.”

“It’s okay, dear.
Just help me get him up.”

“Sheriff D?”

Terri
was Jessie – I knew that now –
but
right now I had to get Tom out of there before the rest of the clown posse arrived.
I turned to Terri and put my hands on her face.
“Jessie.
All of your memories are going to come back, some slowly and some in a rush, but right now we’ve got to get Tom out of here.
Do you understand?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.
Help me get him to his feet.”
I yelled to Dan, “Can I get some help here?”

He looked from Oscar to me to Tom, not knowing what to do.

“Dan.
I need your help,” I pleaded.

“Okay, Liza.”
He walked over and helped me get Tom off the bed.
We got as far as the front door and we ran into Oscar and Bruno, both holding guns.

Chapter 25

It was a standoff.
Suddenly I heard Tom’s voice.
“My phone.”

“Never mind about your phone.”
I turned back to the two men.
“We’re leaving.”

“No, you’re not,” Oscar demanded and took a step toward us.

Tom said, “Liza, where’s my phone?”

“I don’t know.”

“Liza!”
Tom shouted.
His knees were still week, but he’d definitely had found his voice.

“What?”

“Where is my phone?”

I turned to Dan.
“Find this damn man his stupid phone!”

Dan ran back into the bedroom, carrying my phone and dialing.

We all just stood there and waited.
A few seconds later Dan came running back into the room and handed me the phones.
Tom was finally starting to stand on his own two feet and not leaning so heavily on me.
I gave Tom his phone.
He quickly pushed a button and then put the phone in his pocket.

Lori stepped forward.
She stood between us and the two goons standing in our way. “What are you going to do, shoot us?”

“If we have to,” Oscar retorted.

“How are you going to explain that to my parents?”

The two men looked at each other.

Lori stepped toward them.
“We’re going directly to my parent’s office.
You need to step aside and let us go.”

“We’ll go with you,” Oscar said.

She brushed him aside.
“Idiots!
I don’t need your help to find my own parent’s office.
Get the hell out of our way.
And if you follow us, I’ll get you fired!”

I had to hand it to Lori.
She was a very tough girl.
Given what she’d gone through as a child probably had made her strong.

We walked out of the small cabin and into the night.
I knew if we stayed outside, we’d be spotted right away.
The next set of goons might not be as open to Lori’s commands.
The kid’s dorms were only a few feet away.

“It’s getting cold and I don’t want Tom to get sick.
Let’s go through the dorms.”

“Sure,” Lori said.

Lori led, followed by me and Dan holding Tom, and then Terri.
She looked lost and confused.
I wish I had the time to explain everything to her, but I didn’t.
I hoped there’d be time later.
We got to the dorm safely.
Parked in front of the building was a video repair truck.

“What are they doing here so late?”
Dan asked.

I didn’t have the time to explain what the hell was going on at clown camp.
That would take hours.
“I think I heard Carl talking about installing security cameras.”

“Oh.”

I knew if we avoided the bathrooms, we wouldn’t run into any of the video technicians.

As we were about to exit the building, I heard people talking.

“Wait.”

Lori looked back at me.
“Why?”