Keats, not able to resist such a compelling urge, ran down to the area of the crime and began to ask questions to all the witnesses who came forward.
She talked to Zigg, Clippo's partner in the act, and found out that they had been having a dispute over who got the bigger cut of the funding.
"He was being a real prick, too. Said he was the star of the number. But lemme tell you something, babe: there ain't no show without me. If I didn't play straight man to his crazy clown garbage, his butt would be tossed into the nearest crapper." Zigg said.
"How long have you known Clippo?" Keats asked, wishing she'd brought something to write on.
"Like I said, his shit don't work without me. I trained him. He was real wet behind the ears when we first met about ten years ago. I took him under my wing. He was almost like a brother to me.
And then he has to go spouting lies to the boss man. I may be a lush, but at least I show up to work every once in awhile. Anyway, he started demanding a bigger cut."
"How big?" Keats pressed. Zigg frowned heavily.
"Why does it matter?" Zigg answered. Keats gave a grim smile.
"So I know how much of a motive you have. The higher the sum, the more the cops notice you. Just tell me a ball-park figure."
"He wanted 70 freakin' percent. That's more than I got for having ten years seniority over him!" Zigg yelled, unintentionally making himself a bigger suspect than he already was.
"70 percent out of what, Zigg?" Keats asked. Zigg looked around to make sure no one was listening. When he was satisfied, he leaned close to Keats' ear.
"Seventy cut out of 200k." He whispered. Keats' eyes widened.
"A year?" She asked, incredulously. Zigg nodded.
"But you're a clown. I know doctors who make less than that!" She blurted out.
When the information had suitably digested, Keats continued her questioning wondering whether or not to switch careers before she walked the line.
"Why you so curious, anyway, sweets? You studying to be Nancy Drew?" He laughed like a donkey at his own joke. Keats faked a laugh in order to keep him in good humor.
"Sure. Nancy Drew…that's me, all right." Keats muttered. Zigg pointed to his dressing room five feet away and winked at her.
"Your partner was just killed." Keats exclaimed. Zigg shrugged.
"So what? Anyway, just because I have a pretty good motive doesn't mean I killed the son-of-a-bitch. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad he's dead and all…but I didn't do it." Zigg said with an angry face.
"That remains to be seen, Zigg. The evidence that the cops are going over right now will prove your innocence or cement your guilt." Keats told him.
"Have you ever heard the expression 'what's done in the dark will be brought to the light?'" Keats asked. Zigg nodded, somewhat enraged by the statement.
"That's from a Johnny Cash song…" He muttered.
"If you're lying to me, sooner or later God's gonna cut you down." Keats said in a condescending tone. Zigg ripped his red clown nose off and threw it to the ground with a grunt.
"Remington, how come whenever there's a crime, you always happen to be there?" Delko said with a smile.
"Seems a little bit suspicious, don't you think, Eric?" Calleigh told Delko with a mile-wide grin. They might not have admitted it, but they had sort of missed her.
"Oh, just taking it easy. Hanging out with circus folk and such. They're really interesting people, you know…" Keats murmured, not really knowing how to explain herself, even though she knew it wasn't needed.
Delko and Duquesne nodded, giving her reassuring pats on the back.
"Don't worry, sweetheart. You're not in trouble." Calleigh said. Keats gave a sigh of relief and nodded, leaving the rest of the questioning to the ones on duty.
Keats and Patty walked along a lonely street in the midday heat, carrying cups of colored ice and wishing that Miami weren't so damned hot.
"Should we go swimming?" Patty asked, her voice becoming weak.
"Sure…if we can make it." Keats groaned. They fell onto a bench and breathed heavily. Perhaps they would get to it when they gained their strength.
"I feel like we should be doing something. I leave the day after tomorrow and I want to make the most of the time we have left." Patty finally said.
Keats smiled at her friend lovingly. She put her arm around her and sighed.
"Peanut Butter…just hanging out is enough, isn't it? We don't need the circus, or the zoo, or the beach, or the movies. We're fine the way we are." Keats said.
After finally making it back to Keats' apartment, they collapsed on her sofa and more or less passed out.
Ryan looked over the documents and photos from the crime scene, mildly tickled by the fact that even a clown whose job was to bring joy to the masses, still had the drive to kill someone.
"I heard that Keats was terrorizing the clowns." Ryan murmured as Eric Delko sauntered up to his desk. Eric gave a small smile.
Somehow, ever since Keats had come to Miami Dade, it had made Eric and Ryan become better friends.
"She was born to do this job, man. It's in her blood, now." Delko said with a laugh. Ryan nodded in agreement.
Horatio had just finished questioning Zigg for the second time when he heard his cell phone ring impatiently. He reached for it quickly.
"H? Can I please help with the clown case? It's the most interesting one we've had since I've been there." Keats was on the verge of whining. Horatio smiled to himself.
"June, the doctor told you to take it easy. As soon as your friend Patty goes back to Sarasota, then you can come back to work."
"Fine." Keats sighed in surrender. The clown case might be wrapped up by then.
Suddenly, she thought of an idea. An idea that would allow her to work on the case anyway.
Patty noticed the gleam in her eye and gave her a sharp slap on the back of her head.
"Don't even think about it, dumbass. Rules is rules."