Don't Sweat the Small Stuff Read Online Free Page B

sat back down and drained his mimosa. I can say with authority that we were both stunned.
    “Moe, why would someone try to sabotage your carnivals?”
    “That’s your second assignment, James. To find out why.”
    I looked at my roommate, and he could see the concern on my face. I mean, it still was a concept that we were grappling with. The concept of being serious private investigators. Jody Stacy was a private investigator. We were amateurs. And here was someone actually trying to hire us.
    “In the past year, four of my rides have had major accidents.”
    I knew I’d been right on that subject. I finally remembered I’d read about it in the
Miami Herald,
but too late to warn James. I should have told him then I had doubts about his new position, but now it might mean a job. I was secretly glad I’d kept the story quiet. This might be a new source of revenue.
    “Four accidents, and one death.”
    Pretty serious stuff. “One death?”
    “These were rides that were checked out, Skip. Rides that were almost foolproof. And yet, for a variety of reasons, people were thrown off of them. Little things, like a loose screw.”
    Not only thrown. An innocent had been killed. I’d read about the death but never got all of the brutal details.
    “A seat belt broke loose. It’s almost impossible for that to happen. Almost impossible. But, a customer was thrown to the blacktop pavement. Serious injuries. On another ride, a safety bar snapped. Now, unless someone sawed through those heavy metal bars, that just shouldn’t happen. The rides today are foolproof. Really. Foolproof. But,” he paused, taking a deep breath, “the bolts had come loose and she was thrown under the ride, into the mechanical gears and—”
    I interrupted quickly for fear that Moe might actually describe the blood and the gore that surrounded the death.
    “So you’re saying it has to be sabotage.”
    “At first I thought it could be explained away. I thought to myself that accidents do happen. Even the big guys have accidents. Disney had two trains run head on into each other. The Eaton Brothers lost a car from the top of their Ferris wheel. Win’s Spectacular had a plane from the kiddie ride fly off its moorings. Things happen, boys, but in this case I don’t see any other explanation.”
    “Moe, there must be something else that could explain these accidents.”
    “No. Nothing else. A gear snapped on another ride we nicknamed The Ameba, and the entire operation came to a screeching halt. And this was one day after The Ameba had been thoroughly inspected by a Florida State licensing agent. Thoroughly inspected, guys. We should have been on solid ground.”
    “What happened?”
    “Two riders slipped under the safety bars and were thrown from their pods. One of them walked away. The other was mangled by the remaining pods. She’s confined to a wheelchair and takes nourishment from a bottle.” Moe sipped his champagne and juice and swirled the liquid in his mouth.
    We were all silent for a moment. It was a wonder that Moe Shows were still setting up shop. I was amazed. Being vaguely familiar with the situations and hearing them firsthand was a different situation all together.
    Setting his drink down, he said “We’re as thorough as we can possibly be. Our insurance rating,” he spread his hands out palms up, “was very high. Now—now we’re in a couple of nasty lawsuits and some people are reluctant to even visit our little show. This could kill us, guys. Kill us.”
    “So you want us to look into this matter?” James sat still as Moe stood up, walked to the kitchen, and brought out the carton and bottle. He poured us another orange juice and champagne.
    “Not just look into the matter.” He stood above James, looking down at him with a frown. “I want you to find out who is messing with me. I want to know who’s trying to destroy this business, and I want to know why. The Dragon Tail will be set up this afternoon, and I’d like