Jack was carefully applying his clown makeup in the mirror the next evening, a frown firmly on his face as he painted a smile over it, when there was a knock on the door to his trailer.
"Come in," he said.
Tony Zucco opened the door, beaming. "Jack, you can buy me a drink after the show tonight," he said.
"Why?" asked Jack. "What's the occasion?"
"Well, I think my little business venture with Mr. Haly is going to prove very successful after tonight," said Zucco, taking a seat opposite him. "I think he'll be forced to reconsider my proposition."
"If you're thinking about doing anything illegal, you picked a bad night for it," said Jack. "Mr. Haly's talked some bigwigs into coming to the show tonight – Bruce Wayne, Harvey Dent, the police commissioner and probably some of his officers. I'm not worried about being recognized under the makeup – I've been outta Gotham long enough for my face to have slipped from their memory anyway. But sticking up the circus or whatever you have in mind is a really stupid idea tonight."
"I'm a more subtle guy than that, Jack," said Zucco, lighting up a cigarette. "And frankly, I'm glad you got a good audience tonight. The more publicity this gets, the better."
"Sal Valestra would tell you that the last thing a criminal needs is publicity," retorted Jack.
"Well, Sal Valestra didn't need to make a name for himself," said Zucco. "Anyway, I'll be gone before anything happens. But after it does, I'll let some rumors casually slip that I'm the guy behind it, and pretty soon, people will know not to mess with me or my associates. You should be pleased – I picked the target out specially for you."
"Who's the target?" asked Jack, returning to his makeup.
"Your favorite family, the Flying Graysons," chuckled Zucco, puffing on his cigarette.
"I think blackmailing them over their marriage problems is pretty low, Tony," said Jack. "That's not the kinda reputation you wanna get as an up and coming criminal."
"Oh, it ain't blackmail, Jack," said Zucco. "It's something much better. Something that'll make more of a splash, or more of an impact, I guess," he chuckled.
"What are you talking about?" asked Jack, confused.
Zucco chuckled madly. "I partially sawed through the rope holding up one of the trapezes. The Flying Graysons will be flying for a few swings, and then bam!" he said, stubbing his cigarette out. "The circus will be looking for a new act, and your girl will be rid of her patients. You can thank me with a drink, like I said."
Jack stared at him in disbelief. "You…did what?" he stammered.
"I told you, I partially sawed through the rope…" began Zucco.
"Are you insane?!" demanded Jack, standing up. "You can't kill them!"
"Why not?" asked Zucco, puzzled. "You said your shrink girl won't date people involved with her patients, and if they're dead, they ain't her patients no more. Plus you said the whole family was a real pain in the ass, so it's no loss. And this way Mr. Haly will know I'm serious about that protection money…"
"I don't want them dead, Tony!" shouted Jack. "There's a kid involved, for Christ's sake! You can't just kill a kid!"
"Jack, I think all that clowning around has made you go soft," said Zucco. "We're criminals, and killing people is what we do if they get in our way. That's all part of the job. It's just business, after all."
Jack said nothing, hurrying toward the door of his trailer. "Where are you going?" asked Zucco. "Jack! It's too late – they're on in a few minutes! You can't stop it now! Jack!"
Jack ignored him, racing across the camp toward the big top, his heart pounding in his chest. He heard the noise of the appreciative audience applauding Leo the Lion Tamer, and he knew the Graysons were on next.
He burst backstage, looking around frantically for them, and spotted them climbing up the ladder. "Mary, John, Dick, stop!" he shouted. "Don't go up there!"
They either didn't hear him or ignored him, and Jack ran toward the ladder, intending to follow them and drag them down. "What the hell do you think you're doing, J?" demanded Mr. Haly, intercepting him.
"Mr. Haly, the Graysons can't go on!" gasped Jack. "The trapeze isn't safe!"
"Of course it is – I just checked it this afternoon," retorted Mr. Haly.
"No, it's been cut!" exclaimed Jack. "They're going to fall, and they're going to die!"
"Who cut it?" demanded Mr. Haly.
"It doesn't matter – just get them down now!" shouted Jack.
"This wouldn't be some petty revenge of yours, would it?" asked Mr. Haly. "The Graysons are a happy family again, so you make them cancel their act so they don't upstage you like they did with their incredible and your abysmal performance last night? Or is it just some sick joke of yours?"
"Mr. Haly, I swear, this isn't revenge, and it isn't a joke!" exclaimed Jack. "You've got to stop them, or get a net, or…"
"So it is an upstage thing," said Mr. Haly, nodding. "You want to ruin their act by adding a net, and taking away the suspense. That's just pathetic, J. The sooner you're out of here, the better," he said, heading out to announce the Graysons.
Jack looked around desperately for a net or something that could prevent the tragedy he could feel about to happen. But there was nothing he could do. He couldn't catch the Graysons if they all fell together – he'd be crushed. And if Mr. Haly didn't believe him, nobody else would either.
He glanced out to the audience, and saw Bruce Wayne sitting and laughing with Harvey Dent and Police Commissioner James Gordon. And then he saw someone else that made his blood run cold.
"Harley!" he gasped. "No, no, no, this can't be happening…"
But it was, and it did. He saw the spotlight come up on the Graysons. There was cheering from the audience as John Grayson leapt forward and grabbed the trapeze. He swung back and held out his arms for his wife, who leaped forward to grab his hands…
And then the rope snapped. Mary and John plummeted toward the ground as the crowd gasped, and then all sound stopped and time slowed as the two fell down, down, down…
Jack had shut his eyes before the impact, and for a moment afterward, there was silence again. And then there was screaming and shrieking as the circus performers rushed onto the scene, and the audience panicked. Through the mass of people, Jack's eyes fixed on Harley, who sat stunned for a moment, and then stood up, racing toward the ladder to comfort Dick, who was standing on the platform high above, staring down at the scene in shock.
Mr. Haly straightened up from examining the bodies – it was obvious from a brief glance that John and Mary Grayson were dead, and nothing more could be done for them. With a silent, stony face, he suddenly announced, "Send in the clown."
"J, you're on!" hissed someone, prodding Jack.
Jack nodded slowly. Making disaster into laughter – that was his job. That was the clown's job when something went wrong – to somehow find the funny side of tragedy.
"Well…quite the memorable show we got tonight!" he exclaimed, appearing on stage. "Positively breathtaking, huh? Y'know, at times like these, you just gotta…try to see the funny side. Like…like how this whole thing maybe coulda been avoided if one tiny little thing had somehow gone differently. That's life though – a series of tiny things going wrong until you get one big tragedy. So what can you do? Well, I'll tell you, ladies and gentlemen – you can laugh. That's all anyone can do when faced with the cruel absurdity of the world. They gotta laugh."
And the Joker did, while the Graysons bodies were covered with a sheet and dragged off. He laughed while Harley comforted Dick, who didn't stop sobbing. And he laughed as Bruce Wayne looked up at the eight-year-old orphan, remembering a night long ago in a dark, deserted alleyway.