Send in the Clowns, a Detective Mike Bridger novel Read Online Free Page A

raised railway tracks. They were visible on the other
side of the motorway at the rear of the Oval. She knew them well,
the noise of the passing trains kept her awake every time they set
up in Dunedin. The sun was trying its best to dissipate the
darkness around her, but it had not built up enough power yet and
the cold air was getting colder with the dawn. As a result, her
breath was causing a little condensation in the slight
chill.
    As she got nearer to the
southern end of the Oval, she could see the top of the main tent
through the trees. A horrid yellow, it had always made her slightly
ill too look at it. This morning her churning stomach made it even
worse. Looking at her wrist, trussed up in its protective cast, she
knew she remembered that happening, but realised little else of
last night was clear in her mind. It had been dark in the room she
had woken in; she had sensed a presence lying next to her, male or
female? She could not tell. The fragrance suggested female but she
knew that was a stereotype these days with what some of the men she
knew wore on their wrists. Not one for the morning after niceties,
she had quietly climbed out of the bed and gathered her skirt off
the floor. She had still been dressed from the waist up.
    It must have been a male;
the rye thought crossed her mind. Very romantic… but needs
must.
    It had taken her a couple
of hours to find her way back here, she had no money on her for a
taxi and she hadn’t been able to find any back in that house before
she left. Feeling cold and tired, she just wanted her bed.
Something caught her eye near the road… As she got closer, she saw
there was a number of darkened police cars parked against the
curb.
    Shit, the Clowns must
have been fighting again.
    She thought about turning
around and finding a place that was open, maybe get a coffee, the
last thing she wanted to do was speak to the police, but the draw
of her bed was overpowering and she found herself walking into the
surrounds of her makeshift temporary home anyway. She was only a
few yards from her caravan. The police were probably just here to
deal with the silent animal rights protesters that followed them
around wherever they went. She could not see any of the usual lot,
standing silently, hiding behind there animal masks. Maybe the
police chased them off…
    “ Maria…,
Maria it’s awful… He’s dead Maria” The short fat woman that did
most of the cooking had stepped into her view. She was looking at
her and crying. Maria could not remember her name but knew she
always had the smell of boiled cabbage about her. She did not keep
track of the help normally, only her rivals.
    “ Who? Who’s
dead?”
    “ Irish Mick….
Michael, he’s been murdered.” The woman sank further into her tears
and tried to give her a hug. Maria brushed her off in
shock.
    “ Micks dead?
How?”
    “ He got
bashed in the head last night in some alleyway, left for dead…
well, left dead anyway…He was on his way to the hospital too see
you… did you not see him?”
    A cold chill ran down her
spine, Mick had come for her; maybe she was wrong about him. An
image of a cold dark alleyway fought its way into her mind, there
was something familiar about the picture but she could not place
it. She could remember nothing after stepping into the colder air
outside the hospital last night. That was the pill, one of the
downsides. She knew what she was doing when she was flying but she
did not always remember it in the morning. She realised that the
fat woman was staring at her in a funny way, staring at her
costume. Looking down at her midriff, she saw spots of red blood
scattered around in random places on the white spandex.
    Shit, where in the hell
did that come from? Her mind drew a blank, anything could have
happened to explain the blood, but the pill always hid the truth
from her. Maria’s first reaction was denial, a sort of
self-preservation. It was something she had learned at a very young
age. Attack