'What would be the point? It doesn't make any difference what's really going on there. The only thing that matters is that they own the circus, and they obviously don't intend to sell it.'
'Then you're not going to check with the bank in Chicago?'
I shrugged. 'Sure. Why not? It's on the way home.'
'But you don't think any information they might give you could somehow help us get the circus back?'
'Highly unlikely. I just want the information, if I can get it.'
'I don't understand, Robby. If the people who own World Circus are up to something fishy, I mean something besides providing a sanctuary for illegal aliens, then why wouldn't it be possible for us to expose them and perhaps put them out of business? We could pick up the circus the same way they did. They virtually stole it from Phil, so why shouldn't we steal it from them?'
'It might be possible; it just wouldn't be a good idea.'
Harper lifted her head from my shoulder, peered at me in the dim light cast by the dashboard. 'And just why not, Mr. world-famous private investigator? I thought getting Phil Statler's circus back for him was why we came here.'
'Because, my dear, the people who own World Circus and who may be using it as a front for some kind of illegal operation might not appreciate having the circus 'stolen back,' as you put it, much less having their activities exposed. Let's suppose, for the sake of argument, that we're dealing with some heavy drug dealers here. That would be my guess as to what's going on; the circus is used as a front for picking up drug shipments and then distributing those drugs in lots to smaller dealers across the Midwest, all along a fifteen-hundred-mile route. They're able to keep everybody together, and everything buttoned up tight, because everyone has a piece of the action. They've probably bought protection from local police in the areas they travel through. Of course, we could always go to the DEA-assuming we had some kind of proof. So all of the people involved are busted and put in the joint, the circus is seized and eventually put up for sale, we buy it and turn it over to Phil to manage. You think the big boys behind the whole operation, assuming it is drugs, are going to let it go at that? The first thing they'd probably do is blow up the whole circus during the middle of a performance, and then they'd start knocking off every one of the listed shareholders in the Statler Brothers Circus, starting with you and me. Drug dealers don't take kindly to having their operations exposed.'
'I see,' Harper said in a small voice as she again rested her head on my shoulder. 'I hadn't thought of that either. But what if we could expose them without their finding out who we are, or that it's really the circus we're after?'
'I've already told Luther we were interested in buying the circus. I want to do some checking with the bank in Chicago, and then I'll pass on anything I learn, along with our suspicions, to an FBI friend of mine in New York. But for now, we stay away from the circus. We want to get Phil back on his feet, not put him under the ground.'
'You're right, Robby,' she sighed. 'It's just such a shame. .'
After a few more minutes, Harper began stroking my thigh- slowly and gently at first, then with increasing pressure and purpose. It was becoming just a tad difficult to concentrate on my driving.
'It's still a couple of hours to Topeka,' I said hoarsely, stroking the back of her hand where it had come to rest in my groin. 'You want to stop someplace for the night where we can be, uh, warm?'
'I think that's a wonderful idea, Robby,' she said huskily. 'I was beginning to wonder how long I was going to have to keep this up before it would occur to you. I was afraid I was losing my powers of persuasion.'
Fifteen minutes later we came to a medium-size town and found a motel on the highway just beyond it. I pulled up to the main office, parked next to a newspaper vending machine and left the car running, went into the office to register. I'd just started to fill out a registration card when I heard the office door open and close. I turned, was surprised to find Harper standing just behind me, a wry grin on her face. She was holding up a copy of a local newspaper, and I was startled by the half-page photograph and the banner headline just above it.
Obviously, the story told by the photograph and the banner headline had, at least for one day, pushed news and rumors about the werewolf killings off the front page. Now the big news was UFOs, as well as the Big Question of what the message seen by a few million people across four states might mean, and who the message might have been intended for; none of the dozen pilots who had been hired to skywrite or tow banners professed to know.
The headline read:
The photograph was of a message in smoke written across the sky, and it read:
MONGO CALL HOME
'Robby, I think you'd better call your brother,' Harper said drily. 'He seems anxious to talk to you.'
'Cute, Garth. Really cute. Is something the matter with Phil?'
'Well, well, well.' Garth's voice at the other end of the line carried more than a hint of exasperation. 'No, nothing's the matter with Phil. What with Mary's cooking and a lot of walks along the river, I'd say he's looking quite healthy. I see you got my message.'
'I got it, all right, along with a few million other people. Jesus Christ, Garth, just how many planes did you hire, and how much is all that skywriting and banner-towing going to cost Frederickson and Frederickson?'
'Don't ask. I wouldn't have had to spend any money if you'd simply checked in with me after a reasonable time, the way you're supposed to. How the hell was I supposed to reach you? I thought we had a standard reporting procedure we're both to follow.'
'Our mother is alive and well and living not too far from here, Garth, and you're not her. This is more of a vacation than an assignment, for Christ's sake, and there's nothing dangerous involved.'
'You should have checked in with me, Mongo,' Garth said coldly. 'You should have checked in within twenty- four hours. That's the procedure. We've agreed that we've made enough enemies over the years so that keeping tabs on each other, vacation or no, is a good idea.'
'I've been distracted.'
'Distracted, huh? You say you're in no danger? Well, I've got good news, and I've got bad news.'
'Come on, Garth, get on with it. It's late.'
'Oh-oh. Did I catch you in a bad mood?'
'Listen, brother, I'm the recipient of what's probably the most expensive three-word message in the history of communications, and I have to help pay for it. But am I in a bad mood? Not really. What I am is disappointed in recent events, and the previously mentioned distraction is waiting to give me comfort. So give me the good news first. Just thinking about what all that skywriting is going to cost us may be all the bad news I can take.'
'I wouldn't have done it if I didn't think it was important, Mongo,' Garth said evenly. 'You don't think you're in any danger, and I think you could be. Have you been to that bank in Chicago yet?'
'No.'
'Well, don't bother. I'd be very surprised if they tell you anything.'
'That's your good news?'
'The good news is that I found out who bought that circus. The bad news is the owner. World Circus is a show you should steer clear of. There's no way you're going to be able to buy it, because they won't sell.'
He'd gotten my attention. 'Let's take it from the top, Garth. How did you find all this out?'
'The wonders of technology, brother. I thought I might be of some help, so while you've been traipsing all over America's heartland trying to find a circus to buy, I've been sitting in our air-conditioned offices punching up a few things on the computer and talking to some of our contacts. First, it seems that United States Savings and Loan got itself involved in the same financial difficulties and scandals that brought down a lot of other savings-and-loans operations a while back; there were lots of bad loans and a flirtation with bankruptcy. When it looked like they were going to have to accept federal receivership, all of their debts and assets went on the public record. I was able to access that information. It turns out that Statler Brothers Circus was picked up at auction by the Battle Eagle Corporation, an outfit operating out of Bern.'
'Switzerland?'
'Yeah, that Bern.'
'Who the hell are they?'
'Not 'they'; 'he.' And Frederickson and Frederickson had to cash in a few IOUs in order to get the rest of this information. Battle Eagle is wholly owned by one Arlen Zelezian, a German Swiss.'
'And a drug dealer.'
