Don't Clown Around Pt 1

By Boomer


It was a moonless Friday night at the Municipal Park, where the Italian Festival was being held. The food booths were crowded with hungry patrons, while the Band playing in the Pavilion was surrounded by music lovers. Tents containing Arts and Crafts were arranged in a row stretching around the parking lot in front of the wooded area that separated the Park from rail road tracks. "I want a pizza, how about you, Ethel?" The young couple were just passing a tent selling toys.

"Yes, get me one with mushrooms and pepperoni, and I'll look to see if I can find Sarah something. The cute woman with long black hair wandered around the toys, but couldn't find anything for her little niece, so she waited for Eric in the semi-darkness between the toy tent and the one selling decorative lamps, while crowds of people passed by in the well lit area.

"Ho,ho,ho." A Clown brushed passed her heading towards the rear of the tents, and she laughed as he skipped by. However, her smile quickly changed to panic, when a damp cloth was clamped over her nose and mouth.

"WHA,MMMMPPHH" She found herself being dragged backwards, but the cloth stifled her shout for help. "That smell, what's happening?" She tried to pull the cloth away, but the man was too strong, and for some reason her strength was quickly ebbing. "Feel soooo dizzy." Her eyes rolled up in her head.

"Good girl. Now to give you a ride." The clown lifted the nearly sleeping young Italian girl, tossed her over his shoulder, and carried her bobbing body through the woods to a tent next to the nearby railroad tracks. "OK Gerry, here's another one." For safety's sake they usually kidnapped only one girl at each event. Still they knew the Police were going to get suspicious sooner or later, so they were close to wrapping up the operations in this area.

Eric returned with the two slices of pizza. "Ethel? Where are you?" He asked for her inside the toy tent, but no one knew anything. He searched all around the area. No Ethel. "Where could she have gone?" The puzzled boy friend went to the main tent, and they asked for her over the loud speakers. No response. The Police were then notified, but did nothing, because Eric hadn't checked her home, or anyplace else where she might have gone. They assumed the couple had a spat.

Late that night a coal train stopped on the tracks in back of the park. Two men carried the sleeping Ethel to a boxcar where two more men waited. "Here's another one. You'll have one more on Monday." The man with the white clown face announced.

"So soon?" A man in the boxcar asked. "Isn't that dangerous?"

"We're falling behind in deliveries." Replied the clown, placing the woman's bound feet into the train. He watched as they pulled her inside the boxcar. "Let's get back to the tent, Gerry." Several minutes later the whistle signaled the train's departure, and the week-end passed with no further incident at the Park.


Monday morning a memo hit Captain Bennet's desk, indicating one more missing girl. "Hey Chip, am I wrong or have disappearances taken a sharp rise recently?" He called out to Sgt Henney, who was given the task of tracking precinct statistics.

"You're right Cap, but then everything has risen in the past two months." He tried excusing any real action on the missing women, by lumping them into the general crime statistics. "Should we put a special team on it?" The Sgt brought in the folder on statistics.

"Ask the twins to come to my office." Opening the folder, the Captain put his cigar down, and perused the figures, as well as the details, until the two women Detectives stood before him. "Sit down, Detectives, I have a special assignment for you." Megan Freedman sat in a chair directly across from the Captain, while Sherry sat along side the maple desk. They were twin sisters although not identical. "We've experienced an unusual rise in disappearing women in the past couple of months. It may just be a normal fluctuation in statistics, or it might be that someone is kidnapping them. I want the two of you to investigate." He handed them the folder. "Pull the files for the past two months to see if there are any similarities.''

Monday evening the local Symphony gave their regular monthly concert in the community park. Most of the audience was comprised of elderly couples with only a few younger people sprinkled throughout the crowd. Mr. and Mrs. Martin had brought along their daughter, who was visiting them on the way to meet her husband in Florida. The three of them placed their lawn chairs on the little knoll overlooking the area leading to the Pavilion where the Orchestra was set up. After nearly a half hour listening to classical music the young daughter, Martha, needed a break "Would anyone like a drink?" She asked her parents, making an attempt at getting away from the boredom. The young attractive woman rose out of her seat, and then headed for the refreshments on the other side of the parking lot. "I'll be glad when this is over." She thought, crossing the dimly lit lawn area next to the woods. It was getting dark, but the lights from the parking lot made it possible to pick her way towards the refreshment stand

"Have a balloon Miss." A Clown jumped from the woods, and startled the young woman.

"No thanks", Martha declared, as the man then pulled out a horn, squeezing the bubble on the end. She expected a loud sound to emanate from the large round end, but instead a cloud of powder hit her face. "Ooooooo." Waving her hands wildly, trying to dissipate the dust, she gasped, inhaling a large amount. "Uhhhhhh, feel strange." The clown grabbed her before she fell, and carried her body like a limp rug under one arm. Martha barely knew what was happening, bouncing along draped over his arm, as she was carried her through the trees to the tent by the tracks. She was then laid on the ground. "What's going on?" Martha mumbled. A damp cloth was then placed over her mouth and nose, causing the young woman to attempt a scream, but it was stifled by the rag. "HHHHMMMMPPPHHH!" Martha breathed heavily not realizing the effect the fumes were having on her senses. Quickly she succumbed, and her cute little frame went limp on the floor of the tent.

"Robo stared at his watch. "Where's that train?" He stood over the pretty catch. "We need to get her out of here in a hurry. Somebody's gonna come lookin' for her."

Gerald watched the whole thing from a corner of the tent. "It'll be here soon, don't worry."

"I'm afraid the cops will put things together, and start asking embarrassing questions." Robo complained, and upon hearing the train whistle, placed his arm behind her back, partially lifting the unconscious body. Martha's pretty face fell backwards, letting the long straight hair dangle down her back, as Robo lifted the woman off the ground, to carry her out of the tent. When the train finally stopped, he placed the limp body into the boxcar. "We're nearly finished at this location." While the two men on the train picked up the latest victim, the Clown yelled out the need for a meeting to decide on a new site. After a brief stop the coal train proceeded on its way.

There was a brief pause in the Symphony, because of the train noise, and the need for a break. "Where is Martha?" Mr. Martin posed the question. "She should be back by now."

"Why don't you go see what's keeping her Ralph?" The elderly lady punched her husband in the shoulder. "She went to get refreshments. Maybe she met someone she knew." The elderly couple searched the entire park, but found no sign of their daughter.

Tuesday morning the two female detectives had all the missing women folders for the past two months spread out on the conference table. "We've had fifty missing cases. Three actual homicides, four suspected murders, ten runaways, twenty of the missing have been found, and thirteen women were reported missing from the Municipal Park, during different events." Megan finished writing the summary on the blackboard.

"Why hasn't someone noticed the number missing from the park before?" Sherry wondered, as she sat with her elbows on the table staring at the figures on the green board. "It's probably because they happened during different events." She answered her own question.

"Missing women are a low priority for the department, unless they turn into homicides." Meg suggested that most are runaways. "We need to check on that park. Something's happening there."

Sgt Peters entered the conference room with a manilla folder. "Here's another one, ladies. It happened at the Municipal Park during the Symphony last night." Throwing the folder on the table, he walked out.

"That settles it, we need to check the events, their date, and compare them with the disappearances. Then we have to find a commonality." Meg stated.

"You start on that, and I'll go to the Park." Sherry placed a weapon in the holster behind her back, threw on the short brown leather jacket, and headed out. When she arrived the crew was cleaning up the Pavilion, taking down the speakers and amps, and sweeping the audience area of debris. She crossed the parking lot to the refreshment stand. "Those people are there for every performance, but I assume they're pretty busy most of the time." She looked around. "Where would they take the victim, if it was a kidnapping." Sherry wasn't aware of a pair of eyes peering out from a tent, observing her every move. "I wonder if that tent over there is present at all the events. " She headed towards the hidden Clown, so he backed off to sit down on one of the cots. "Is anyone inside?" Sherry inquired before entering.

Robo grabbed one of the horns. "It's just me Robo the Clown, 'HONK,HONK'" He shouted, jumping from the cot, racing past the startled detective. "HO,HO,HO" He then took a balloon from his belt, picked up an air hose laying on the ground, and inflated it. "Have a balloon, young lady."

Sherry accepted it. "And you are?"

"Why, Robo the Clown." He danced around her.

Sherry managed to calm the Clown, so she could question him. He told her about being an employee of the City and that he was present for every event. She then checked his tent, but found no evidence of wrong doing. "Looks like someone else is here. Who is he?"

"He's my partner, and fills in for me sometimes." Robo mentioned Gerald was in town shopping. After supplying I.D.'s for both of them he watched the detective swagger down the lawn towards her parked squad car. "I wouldn't mind grabbing her rear end." He commented on the tight fitting jeans that clung to her firm round bottom.

By the time Sherry returned to the conference room, Megan had narrowed down the suspects to a couple men on the maintenance crew, the manager of the refreshment stand, and Robo the Clown. Her research had overlooked Gerald, because he hadn't shown on any of the paper work. "Robo showed up in the area three months ago, just when the number of missing women spiked." Meg explained. "The next event is the Antique Auto Show starting Friday."

"We need to keep an eye on that Clown, and his partner." Sherry declared. For the rest of the week the two detectives investigated all the files, searching for other clues, while waiting for Friday to arrive. When the Auto show began, Sherry made her presence known by patrolling through the Antique cars, while Megan took a position in the woods to keep an eye on the tent.

Robo danced around Sherry, honked his horn, and offered her a balloon. "HO,HO, HO." He then went on to entertain the other attendees of the show. After a while he returned to his tent. "Gerry, we have to figure a way to get rid of that detective."

Gerry lay on one of the cots with his hands behind his head. "Why don't we kidnap her?" He speculated.

"Are you crazy?" Robo seemed startled by the suggestion.

"Why not? She's very attractive, and after doing it we leave town." Gerry sat up, looking very serious. "Look, when they discover she's missing, she'll be on the train to the warehouse, and the Police still won't have anything on us." Gerry peered out of the tent. "Uh-oh."

"What's wrong?" Robo asked.

"Someone's in the woods spying on us." Gerry pointed in Megan's direction. "Is that your detective?"

"No, that's a different one. How many are there?" He wondered out loud. "We can't do anything now." Robo paced back and forth in the tent. "It's time for us to go, so we'll hop the train tonight, go to the warehouse, and decide on our next move there."

Gerry stood up to protest. "I say if that one is still there by the time the train is due, we take her with us." He peered through the flap opening.

"NO, if we only take one, then the other will call for help, and follow the train. We have to grab them both." He left the tent to continue his rounds.