Chapter Three

Jaime and Steve were still looking at the note when there was a loud, insistent knock on the trailer door. "Jana, it's Lou. Are you alright?" Jaime opened the door and Lou stood in the doorway, fanning at the smoke. "I'm so sorry, Dear," the gaffer said. "Not exactly a warm welcome for your first day, was it?" He looked questioningly at Steve.

"I was walking past when it went off," Steve said quickly. "Just making sure she's ok."

"Your group is rehearsing soon; you'd better get back to the Alley," Lou told him.

Steve looked directly into Jaime's eyes. "Sure you're ok?"

"Yeah. Thanks again, um..."

"Boffo."

Jaime stifled her laugh the best she could. Boffo? "Thank you, Boffo." Once she was alone with Lou, Jaime decided to take a leap of faith. She handed Lou note number three. "This was on the dresser."

Lou looked at it closely and shook his head. "Melina."

"What?"

"Melina wrote this. She's just a kid - I'm sure she meant no harm. Let's find you a new trailer, then we'll have a chat with Melina."

"I like my trailer," Jaime insisted. "Besides, I don't scare off that easily. Tell me about Melina. How old is she? Should we talk to her parents instead?"

"If the Feds ever come poking around, she's 19. She's Soviet - half of our performers are - but, well, the government would probably still take a dim view -"

"How old is she really?"

"Fifteen," Lou replied.

"Fifteen? Her parents allow her to -"

"Ain't got parents. Guess I'm the closest thing."

"What happened to them?"

"They were both full-blooded circus - you know, sawdust in the veins - and Melina grew up under the Big Top. Her parents helped arrange the first tour of the U.S./Soviet Cooperative Circus. Unfortunately, they had an ulterior motive; they were planning to become Americans."

"They defected?" Jaime asked.

"They tried. Her father was killed, possibly by the KGB, but we don't really know. Her mother...your guess is as good as mine."

"Huh?"

"She disappeared - POOF! Never returned to her homeland, never became an American."

"And Melina?" Jaime inquired.

"She was - still is - alone. We've allowed her to stay with us, found work for her and protected her from nosy Feds, because who knows what would happen to her if she was sent home?"
"Poor kid..."

"She really is a sweet little thing. That's her handwriting on your note, but I'm sure her intentions weren't as bad as they sound. Probably a bad practical joke. I'll go and get her."

"Lou?" Jaime said carefully. "Could I, maybe, talk to her alone? I mean, you being her boss and a surrogate parent..."

"Yeah, ok. I'll find her for you."

"Thanks, Lou."

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Ten minutes later, Lou returned, dragging a frightened-looking young girl by her arm. Jaime saw them coming and opened the door. "I see the smoke has cleared," Lou noted. "Jana, this is Melina. I'm betting you two have a few things to talk about. Let me know if she gives you any trouble."

Jaime inwardly wondered, if Melina was such a 'sweet little thing', why was Lou treating her like a wanted felon? "Hi, Melina, come on in," she told the girl, closing the door behind her.

The girl immediately began to stammer. "I - I'm so sorry...I didn't mean to cause trouble...I'm really sorry."

Jaime held out all three notes. "You wrote these?" she asked.

Melina nodded. "But they weren't - I mean, I didn't - I'm sorry." She hung her head as tears formed in her huge, green eyes. "I was trying to find my mother."

"Sweetie, how would writing threatening notes help you do that?"

"Lou told me if they didn't find another wire walker, he'd let me give it a try. I'm not too crazy about highwires, but I thought maybe if my mother saw me on the playbill as a wirewalker, she'd think it was too dangerous, and she'd come out, to try and stop me."

"What do you mean, 'come out'? Melina, do you know where she is?"

"She's here."

"Excuse me?"

"She's either traveling with us, with the circus, hidden somehow, or she's following behind, but she's close; I can feel her."

"Sweetie," Jaime said gently, "I know you'd like to believe that -"

"It's true! It is!"

"From what Lou told me, your mom is probably hiding somewhere, from the Russian Police. Or -" She stopped herself from telling the child that it was likely her mother was dead.

"Lou thinks she's dead, too," Melina said softly. "But I'm gonna find her some day! I will!"

"I'd love to see that happen," Jaime told her. "In fact, maybe I can help you look for her. But you have to promise me something -"

"No more notes. I promise."

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Steve snuck back to Jaime's trailer after most of the circus had turned out its lights and gone to sleep. "So we know who wrote the notes, and we're no closer to what we came here to do," Steve summarized.

"Yeah. And I'm in love with a clown named Boffo."

"Very funny."

"Steve, what do you think of Lou?"

"He's got a pretty good handle on this place. Good source of info. Probably not the brightest crayon in the box, but this is the circus."

"Do you trust him?" Jaime asked.

"About as much as I trust anyone else here. But yeah, I think he's clean. Don't you?"

"I'm trying not to be skeptical, but he seems a little too accomodating."

"Maybe he likes you - really likes you..."

"Try again, Boffo. He's that friendly to everybody. Except Melina. He treated her like some kind of criminal."

"She didn't exactly welcome you with open arms."

"She's a kid, Steve, a very young, very frightened kid. I swear she's scared of her own shadow in the sawdust. I'd love to be able to find her mom for her."

"Would be nice, but remember we're already here for a reason, and that's what we have to concentrate on." Steve got up, kissed Jaime very softly and headed out the door. "See ya under the Big Top."

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