Chapter Two

Jaime carefully checked her trailer for bugs - both listening devices and the eight-legged kind. This was, after all, a traveling circus. Satisfied to have found neither type, Jaime sank wearily onto the single bed, catching her balance as the mattress sank halfway to the floor. Oh well, she thought to herself, doubt I'll be sleeping much anyhow.

A knock at the trailer door sent Jaime directly into Jana-the-tightrope-walker mode. "Jana, Dear, welcome home!" Lucretia Daminov, a tall, thin woman with a young face that didn't seem to match her age-whitened hair, stood in the doorway. Jaime opened the door and the older woman embraced her. "I am Lucy, Lou's replacement. We're so glad you've come back to us. Anything you need, you just let me know."

Jaime reached behind the gaffer to close the door. Once they were alone, both women dropped their facades. "Jaime, thank you for coming so quickly."

"Oscar said there've been accidents?"

"Yes. My second night in charge, my trailer suddenly developed a wiring problem and there was a small fire." Lucretia closed her eyes briefly, trying to blot out the bad memories. "Less than a week later, one of the elephants missed its cue, and its trainer is now missing four front teeth. In the three months since then, we've had two more small fires, a blackout in the big top - during a performance - a horse that lost its footing, a near collapse of the main tent, a severed trapeze rigging and...two days ago...a wire walker fell. Her net gave way, and..." her voice trailed off sadly.

"Dead?" Jaime asked, not really wanting to know.

"Yes. So far, the only fatality. The rigging, the nets, the wire - all have been replaced and I'll be inspecting it personally each morning."

"So will I," Jaime added. "Have you gotten any notes, phone calls - anything that might suggest what the motive might be?"

"Nothing. Perhaps they believe a woman has no business being in charge of this troupe, or perhaps their feeling is that we've run the course and should just go dark."

"It has to be someone inside the troupe," Jaime observed.

"Unfortunately, it appears you are right. We do have hangers-on, people who follow the circus, wishing to join us, but they'd have no access to what happens behind the scenes. Six weeks ago, I hired the first team this troupe has ever had, and still the accidents continue. I don't intimidate easily, but with innocent lives at risk..."

"You did the right thing, calling Oscar," Jaime affirmed.

"He's never let me down in the past."

Huh? "Have you known him a long time?"

"Quite a while, yes. Would you like to see the new rigging?"

------

"Remember, Dear," Lucretia said as Jaime strapped on the rigging that would take her up to the platform near the top of the tent, "even if you begin to lose your footing, do not panic. You would still have several seconds to bring your center of gravity back into line over the wire before you'd actually fall."

How reassuring. Jaime nodded. The similarities between the rigging she'd just strapped on and the parachute rigging from the day of her accident made her shiver. She'd joked a few times in the years since she'd been skydiving that it wasn't the height that she was so afraid of; it was the fall. This time, though, the height and the fall, scared her to death. Her heart pounding in her throat, Jaime nodded to Lucretia, who began to slowly raise her into the air, a little at a time, until she reached the platform. She removed the straps once she was firmly on the platform, then picked up her balance pole and clung to it like an old friend.

Jaime tested the wire - which was actually a rope - tentatively with one foot. It was taut and ready. As for Jaime herself, her nerves were definitely taut; however, she felt anything but ready. She stepped very slowly and cautiously out into what felt like mid-air, the pole bouncing in front of her. To her joy and amazement, she stayed upright on the wire. Feeling a little better, she walked to the center of the wire, raised one foot and did an extremely careful turn on one leg.

So far, so good.

Steve, having just finished his first rehearsal with the clowns, stopped to watch. Jaime, feeling a little bolder with each second that she didn't plummet to her death, allowed both feet to leave the wire in a tiny leap, then a slightly higher one where she reversed direction in the air.

"Easy there, Ace," she heard Steve whisper from the ground. "We're dark tomorrow, too. You've got another whole day to practice. Looking good, though."

Jaime gave him a smile and a wink, knowing he was focused in and watching, then skipped back to the platform. She did a few more back-and-forth runs, complete with a few more low jumps and pirouettes, then strapped the harness on again and gave the signal for Lucretia to lower her to the ground.

The gaffer helped her out of the harness. "Very impressive. No one would know you're a rookie."

"Thanks," Jaime told her. "I had a good teacher."

------