delay. I was having trouble concentrating. Bruno had brought with him the smell of animals, sawdust and greasepaint. It was like a drug, focusing the blurry edges of my life.
I'd been born with a small body and a big mind, statistically speaking. After a childhood devoted primarily to consuming vast quantities of food, I had discovered there wasn't much I could do about the small body, but having a measured I.Q. of 156 made it difficult to accept any of the roles society usually metes out to people like myself. True, I'd ended up with the Statler Brothers Circus, but Nature had smiled, endowing me with improbable but prodigious tumbling skills. It made me a star attraction, but I wanted more and I'd worked for it. I'd always been interested in the criminal mind and, as I explained to Bruno, I'd used my circus earnings to finance my education, eventually earning my doctorate and an assistant professorship on the faculty of the New York City college where I teach.
Not bad for a dwarf, but pride does funny things. I was-and am-a good teacher, but that still left me on the public payroll, so to speak. Some men-my brother, Garth, for example, a cop on the New York police force-are there because they choose to be. I'd longed for the bloodletting of the marketplace and had managed to obtain a license as a private investigator. Clients weren't exactly forcing the city to repave the sidewalk outside my office, but I was reasonably happy, and that's not to be discounted.
'I haven't changed that much, Bruno,' I said quietly. 'I'm still your friend. You used to be able to talk to me.'
Bruno cleared his throat. 'I saw your picture in the paper a few months ago. You were in Italy. Said you helped break up some drug ring. I thought maybe you could help me.'
'I can't help you, Bruno, unless you tell me what the trouble is.'
'It's hard,' Bruno said in a voice so low I could hardly hear him. 'It's about Bethel.'
Bethel Jessum, Bruno's wife, was petite, beautiful, but with the mind of a child-a mean child.
'She's been running around on me, Mongo,' he continued, 'and I don't know what to do about it. It's driving me crazy.'
I studied the other man's face. Pain was etched there, and I thought I saw him blink back tears. I felt as if Bruno had put me in a box and was closing the lid. I don't normally handle divorce cases, not because I can't use the money but because they don't interest me. The fact that I knew Bethel as well as I knew Bruno only served to complicate matters. Of course, I had just finished reminding Bruno that he was my friend; now I had to remind myself.
'You want to know who she's seeing?'
Bruno shook his massive head. 'I know who she's seein'. Half the time they meet right in front of me.'
I winced. 'It's not as hard as it used to be to get a divorce, Bruno. At least not in this state. All you have to do is establish some kind of residence, then state your grounds. You don't have to prove adultery. I have a friend who's a lawyer-'
'You don't understand,' Bruno said sharply. 'I don't want a divorce. I love Bethel, and I want us to stay together.'
'You know who she's seeing, and you don't want a divorce. Why do you want a private detective?'
It might have been a hint of impatience in my voice, or simply what Bruno considered my stupidity. In any case, he nailed me with his eyes in that way only an intensely gentle man can manage. 'I didn't say I wanted a private detective, Mongo. I said I thought maybe
'I'm sorry,' I said softly. 'Go ahead.'
'Last winter in camp we picked up this guy who calls himself Count Anagori. Real good. Works the high wire. Statler saw him at a tryout and signed him on the spot. He's headlinin' now.'
'What's his real name?'
'Don't know. Guess a guy who walks the wire like he does don't need no other name. Ain't unusual. I never knew your real name until I saw it under that picture.'
It figured. Circus people are an insulated group, held together like electrons in an atom by strange, powerful bonds; a man's name wasn't one of them.
'Anyway,' Bruno continued, 'Bethel and this count guy hit it off real well together, like I told you. He's a good- lookin' man, sure, with lots of manners. But he's no good for her. Havin' a fancy European accent doesn't make you good for a woman. He's gonna hurt her sooner or later, and I want her to see that. I want her to see what a mistake she's makin'.'
'I still don't understand what you want me to do, Bruno,' I said gently.
'You got an education. You know all the words. I thought maybe you could talk to her, make her see she's makin' a mistake.' The tears in Bruno's eyes were now a reality, and he made no effort to wipe them away. 'Would you do that for me, Mongo?'
Knowing Bethel, words weren't going to do much good, but I couldn't tell that to Bruno. Instead, I told him I'd talk to his wife after the show that evening.
Bruno's face brightened. 'I'll leave a ticket for you at the stage door. Best seat in the house.'
'Then I'll see you up on the swings?' I wanted to sustain the mood. When I knew him, Bruno had been one of the best catchers around. His smiled faded.
'Don't work the trapeze anymore. Got scared. Happened all of a sudden. One day I just couldn't go up there anymore. Statler hired me as a clown.'
I was sorry I'd asked.
Bruno had been right; it looked as if the count was up in the world in more ways than one. His name was on every circus poster in town. It seemed odd to me that a talent like that should have been discovered in a winter tryout camp, but I didn't give it much thought; the fact that Count Anagori might be a late bloomer didn't seem to be part of the problem.
I walked around to the side of Madison Square Garden and went in the stage door; it was like stepping back through time. Charlie Ruler was in a straight-backed chair, riding herd. Charlie was ageless, like an old prop the circus packed away at the end of a run and carried on to the next town. His pale eyes were watery and now almost colorless, but his grip was still strong.
'Mongo! Bruno said you'd be here but I didn't believe it! How's the one and only superdwarf?'
I grinned and slapped Charlie gently on the back. We talked for a few minutes, and I could hear the house band starting. Charlie got on the phone and a few seconds later Bruno came hurrying down the corridor leading from the arena floor. He was dressed, but the wide grin beneath the paint was real. For a moment I thought he was going to pick me up and whirl me around. He didn't act like a man whose wife was cheating. He reached for me and I backed away good-naturedly.
'Easy, Bruno. You have to remember that I'm basically undernourished.'
'It's all right, Mongo!' Bruno was practically breathless. 'Everything's all right! Goin' to see you was the smartest thing I ever did in my life!'
'I'm flattered, but I haven't got the slightest idea what you're talking about.'
'Bethel!' Bruno absentmindedly put his hand to his mouth. His fingers came away blood red.
'Take it easy, Bruno. Slow down and tell me what you want to say.'
'Funny, the way it worked out,' he said, taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out. His joy was like that of a small boy who has won a reprieve from the woodshed. I was beginning to suspect that his shift from catcher to clown might have involved more than a bad case of nerves; heights, over a long period of time, can do funny things to a man's head, even the best of them. 'Right after I talked to you I told Bethel you were comin' to see her. That's when she said everything was going to be better.'
'Just like that.'
'Well, not exactly. At first she laughed, made fun of both of us. Then she went off to see Anagori.'
'How do you know that?'
Bruno flushed. 'She always went to meet him that time of day. Anyway, about half an hour later she comes back and tells me she's sorry. Asks me to
I couldn't, but the question was obviously rhetorical. I also couldn't imagine her having such a rapid change of heart. 'What did she look like?'
'Real pale. Shakin' like a leaf. Guess it hit her all of a sudden. I'm sorry if I put you to any trouble.'
