Outside, she turned left along the aisle of trailers and brought them up to a red-and-brown-striped camper. It appeared a smidge rustier than most of the others they’d passed. Not as tacky as Calliope’s, but most certainly a product of the 1970s.

  Emma only hoped the camper wouldn’t be outfitted on the inside with its original shag carpeting.

  Knocking produced no answer, and the door swung in easily at Leo’s slight shove. Did no one latch their camper doors around here?

  Sure enough, Emma’s flashlight illuminated a fuzzy area rug covering the inside of the space. Although the rug looked relatively clean, at least. The rest of the camper was a mess of scattered clothing and trash.

  Matching the throwback feel, a big poster of Elton John in his early days graced the side of the kitchen area’s cabinetry. Somewhere inside, a stereo played classic rock.

  “Jamie Hearn? It’s the FBI.”

  Leo found the light switch, and overhead lighting popped on, confirming what their flashlights had hinted at. Sparsely furnished and messy.

  Emma didn’t even see a bed…until a pile of blankets moved in the corner.

  Appearing far too young to be a performer living on his own, a boy who could’ve passed for sixteen poked his head up from the blankets. Severe bedhead spilled around the band of oversize headphones covering his ears. He blinked at them.

  For a moment, Emma thought she was seeing a ghost. The boy was so pale and bewildered. Then she realized Leo was staring at the boy as well.

  Emma glanced at her partner. “This Jamie?”

  Leo nodded.

  Flummoxed by being woken, the kid muttered something under his breath as he sat up straighter. “What’s wrong? Why are you in my camper? Did something happen?”

  The young performer rubbed one forearm against his eyes and pushed back his headphones. More rock music leaked from within the earpieces. Emma couldn’t see the source of the music but figured a stereo or phone must be buried somewhere in the mess of blankets Jamie had pulled around him like a nest.

  Jamie squinted his eyes at them. “Is this a dream?”

  “No, it’s not.” Leo moved closer, stepping between fast-food containers and discarded clothing.

  The boy uncurled and grabbed a pair of jeans from somewhere in the blankets. He pulled them on while still under the covers and straightened his oversize hoodie. When he stood, he kicked aside the covers, revealing a smartphone and a few paperback books. He gestured to the dinette.

  “Uh, wanna sit down? Agent…?”

  “Ambrose,” Leo reminded him. “And this is Agent Last.”

  “Right, right, I remember you.” The boy swiped clothing and trash from the two benches of the dinette. Emma leaned against the kitchen cabinets instead, but Leo sat down across from the young performer.

  Leo reached down and collected the phone, handing it to Jamie.

  “Want to turn that down?”

  The boy thumbed the screen, tapping out a passcode. The volume decreased, but music continued to trickle from his headphones.

  “Jamie, do you know where Ty or Calliope might be?”

  “Huh?” He rubbed his eyes with his fist. “Nah, man, of course not. Not since last night. I haven’t seen them for…uh…”

  Emma shifted her stance, catching the boy’s eye once she realized his confusion. “It’s a little after three in the morning.”

  “Right, so…it’s been a few hours. I saw them around nine, maybe? Ten?” His eyes seemed to come awake for the first time as he inhaled deeply. “Hey, do you two smell smoke?”

  Leo sat back in the bench seat, his lips pursed, and Emma decided this would be her job. “Jamie, I’m afraid we have some difficult news. There was a fire, and we believe it was set specifically to kill Betty Weaver. She died a few hours ago.”

  Jamie’s mouth dropped open. He curled himself into a ball and backed up against the wall of his camper. The sound that came from his mouth was out of a horror movie. His wail shook the whole camper, drowning the soft rock music still coming from his headphones.

  That’s pure pain. Pure, unadulterated pain.

  Leo reached across the table to place a hand gently on the boy’s knee.

  Emma remained quiet as she observed.

  The boy—nineteen, she remembered Leo saying—shook with sobs, so much so that the dinette table rattled against the camper’s wall.

  “She was…she was…” The boy’s voice broke off in unintelligible waves of grief, and Leo gripped his knee harder.

  “I’m sorry about Betty, Jamie. But it’s very important we find Ty and Calliope.” Leo waited for a moment. After a few seconds, he repeated himself a bit more loudly.

  Emma was relieved to hear the boy’s sobs quieting. Grief that profound was difficult to witness.

  “Jamie, I know this is hard. Ty and Calliope are the last two performers missing. That’s why we’re here, because we’d found everyone but the three of you.” Emma waited, hoping for a response, but the boy’s head was still buried in his arms. She felt positive he was listening, though. “The murderer is almost certainly a member of the circus troupe, and Ty and Calliope might be in grave danger.”

  “No…” the young man wailed. “Not Betty too.”

  Leo glanced at Emma. She sensed his hesitation before he pressed. “Or they might be the danger.”

  Jamie jolted in his seat, lifting his red eyes up from his knees for the first time since hearing Betty had been killed. “Uh-uh. No way.” He focused on Leo. “Betty Weaver was like…like a mom to all three of us. No way.”

  Emma stepped closer to the table, waiting for Jamie to meet her gaze before she spoke. “Be that as it may…does either Calliope or Ty have any reason to be angry with the troupe? Any reason you can think of, recent or not?”

  Jamie shook his head, using the edge of his hoodie to rub at his eyes. “You’re on the wrong beat here. No way would my friends hurt anyone in the group. There’s no bad blood at all between anyone…”

  The boy’s words trailed off. There was a hiccup in his movement, as if he’d frozen before trying to hide the hesitation.

  Emma caught it, and from the narrowing of Leo’s eyes, he had as well.

  Leo leaned forward, lowering his voice. “Jamie, whatever it is, you need to tell us. People are dying. Even if your friends didn’t do anything, we need to find them, and anything you tell us could help. What did you just think of?”

  The young contortionist jolted in his seat, eyes wide. He shook his head in denial.

  “I didn’t mean to say…it’s nothing.”

  Emma wanted to shake him but held his gaze instead. “Tell us.”

  Jamie ran a sleeve under his nose. “I mean, I don’t think it’s anything. There’s been some rumors that Calliope’s been messing around with Reggie. Behind closed doors, ya know? And Ty and Calliope are kinda supposed to be a thing. So I mean, maybe there’s some friction between Ty and Reggie, yeah. There could be.”

  Finally, someone with an ounce of motive.

  Jamie sat straighter in his seat, his voice getting stronger as he argued his way forward. “But what would that have to do with the others? Penelope, Dennis, Kyle? No, y’all, even if Ty’s mad at Reggie, he’d have no reason to be pissed at anyone else. He wouldn’t hurt Betty in a million years! Or the others. He’s not a killer. And anyway, I don’t even think he knows about that stupid rumor.”

  Emma glanced at Leo, waiting to see if he’d say what ought to be said. She was just getting ready to break the silence herself when Leo opened his mouth.

  “Jamie, it’s not a rumor.” Leo waited for the boy to meet his gaze, then went on. “I saw them together with my own eyes, kissing goodbye outside Calliope’s camper.” He indicated Emma. “She was with me. And if we saw them, that means they weren’t being very careful, so it’s likely Ty does know.”

  Emma waited a beat, letting that information sink into the white-faced teenager before she stepped forward. “Jamie, I have to ask. Are you sure Ty isn’t capable of murder?”

  His brown eyes appeared haunted. Emma watched the innocence being washed away from him by this very discussion.

  As Leo had told her before, the young performer seemed sweet. Too sweet to have murderers for friends…but, as she knew, anyone was capable of murder. Her goal was to stop killers.

  And that meant asking the tough questions.

  She crouched, getting on his level, and watched for a reaction. “Jamie? Do you think Ty could kill a person?”

  After what felt like a hundred heartbeats, he broke his gaze from hers and shook his head, staring at his knees. “I don’t think so. I don’t…but I mean, somebody is, right? And you’re saying it’s somebody in the circus. I don’t think he could do it, but…how could I know a thing like that about anyone?”

  Emma was about to ask where the boy thought his friends might be—any guess could be useful—when footsteps pounded outside the entrance to the camper door.

  Bunny Weaver stood there panting, red-faced and wide-eyed from sobbing. “I heard you. I heard you! But Ty’s innocent. My brother would never hurt anyone!”

  As if the words had been poison, the girl hugged one arm around her waist and bent down, leaning against the door as she heaved thick bile from her stomach. The day’s events were too much for her. Bunny probably hadn’t eaten, and she was most likely dehydrated from crying. And the smoke couldn’t have helped.

  Emma sat frozen, unable to go help the little girl.

  Bunny’s brother? Since when did the girl have a brother?

  And if her brother was Ty, who supposedly had no family…

  Everything we’ve been thinking is wrong.

  32

  Emma knelt in the doorway of Jamie Hearn’s trailer, going down to Bunny’s level and waiting for her sobs to quiet. When Bunny raised her face, her cheeks were lobster red from the cold and tears.

  Emma spoke quietly. “Bunny, where’s your dad? Why are you out here by yourself?”

  “He fell asleep. I got tired of crying by myself and came here looking for Jamie because he has a good sleeping spot. He lets me nap here.”

  She lifted a finger, pointing inside the camper. Across from Jamie’s nest, a small stuffed pony could just be seen sticking out from beneath a smaller pile of blankets.

  Emma looked at Jamie with a question in her eyes.

  “Yeah, she comes here sometimes if her mom and dad are running errands and she doesn’t want to be alone. We’re family, like I said. All of us.”

  “Okay.” Emma turned back to Bunny. “Sweetheart, is that what you meant when you said Ty is your brother? You’re all family because you’re all in the circus together?”

  Bunny gazed past her, over her shoulder, and she sensed Leo standing just behind her. Jamie had gone quiet in the little dinette.

  When Bunny took a deep breath, Emma got the sense that the girl’s secret had been a long time coming out. She tried to offer her the most unthreatening gaze she could as she waited.

  “Ty told me it’s a secret, but he’s my brother. We’re family, and I love him. He loves me, and he wouldn’t hurt my mom.” She clenched her arms tighter around her middle, shaking her head. Emma used the edge of her coat sleeve to wipe Bunny’s tears. “He wouldn’t hurt anyone.”

  Emma stroked the girl’s back and glanced at Jamie. “Can I have a blanket? I don’t think her coat’s enough.”

  She kept her attention on the eleven-year-old as Jamie collected a blanket from the pile Bunny used for naps. As Emma wrapped the material around Bunny’s shoulders, the girl’s sobs subsided.

  Gently, Leo helped her to her feet and inside the trailer, settling her across from Jamie, who’d returned to the table.

  Emma sat down beside Jamie on his side of the table, to better see Bunny’s face as they talked. “Is it possible he didn’t mean you were blood siblings? The circus is a type of family, though not a biological one.”

  The girl shook her head, frowning at Emma as if she were the child. “I’m not stupid. We’re brother and sister.”

  Leo held up a hand. “Bunny, you said my mom instead of our mom…does that mean you have different mothers but the same father?”

  Bunny bit her lip, ranging her gaze around the group. Her thoughts were broadcast to each adult surrounding her. She’d already said too much, and guilt was forcing her to figure out how to backtrack.

  Too late for that, I’m afraid.

  “Bunny, listen to me.” Emma leaned forward, taking Bunny’s hands in hers. “We’re federal agents who only want to help people. Sometimes, that means we need to hear secrets. You understand that?”

  She nodded. Her hands were chilly against Emma’s palms. “Yeah.”

  “Okay. It sounds to me like what Ty told you was a big secret, right?”

  Bunny nodded. Probably for the first time that night, the eleven-year-old was focused on something besides her enormous loss. “I’m never supposed to tell. Ever.”

  “You’re very trustworthy, and you’re a good person. Do you know why it needed to stay a secret? Did Ty ever tell you what would happen if the secret was told?”

  The child shook her head. “Just that we’d get in trouble.”

  Jamie leaned forward, his arm pressing against Emma’s as he reached across the table. “Bunny, it’s okay, sweetheart. Your mom would want you to tell these agents whatever you know. They’re just searching for the people who’ve killed the people we love. Right, Agent Last?”

  From Jamie’s nervous expression, he wasn’t sure whether he’d done the right thing.

  Emma nodded, giving the younger man a grateful smile. “Bunny, do you know who your dad is?”

  “Billy Weaver’s my dad.” The girl didn’t sound sure, and her gaze darted around the inside of Jamie’s trailer rather than meeting Emma’s.

  Emma studied the child, trying to make all this make sense. Bunny’s green eyes were almost feverishly bright. Could they trust anything the little girl told them? Could they…

  The answer came at her like a jolt.

  Forcing a relaxed smile, she raised her eyebrows at Leo. “Can I talk to you for a sec?” She stroked Bunny’s back. “This will only take a few minutes.”

  Standing on adrenaline-fueled legs, she picked her way through the discarded clothes and trash to the back of the trailer. Leo was on her heels.

  At the bathroom alcove, she turned to face him and whispered. “Bunny’s eyes are that same green as Ty’s.”

  Her pretty, bright-green eyes.

  “Her parents’ eyes are brown.” Leo’s voice was pitched as soft as her own. “It’s not impossible, genetically, that she’d have green eyes and they’d both have brown.”

  He was right, but still…

  “Less than twenty percent, I think.” She squeezed his arm. “But think about who else has green eyes.”

  She watched Leo search his mental file, his eyes widening when he found it. “Reggie O’Rourke.”

  Emma straightened beside him, nodding to herself. That was it. She knew it. “We on the same page?”

  “Yeah, I think so.”

  Inhaling deeply, Emma led the way back across the small space and stopped beside the dinette.

  Jamie’s face was blank. He’d come fully awake but had gone numb with shock. Across from him, Bunny’s lips trembled. That was something. She was still focused on her secret, hadn’t dived into the deep well of despair. Not yet.

  “Bunny, we—”

  “Ty doesn’t have parents,” Jamie blurted, so loud that Emma and Bunny both jumped. “He’s been in the circus since he was a baby.”

  Emma took a careful seat beside Bunny, keeping her focus on Jamie. “Who’s Ty’s mother?”

  The teen shrugged. “I don’t know. Ty told me she left him with the circus when he was a baby. He’s been raised by the Ruby Red. We told you, we’re family.”

  Emma pressed her fingertips together, willing her hands to steady. “Is it possible that Ty’s mother didn’t abandon him to the circus? Did she leave Ty with his father?”

  And did Ty’s mother really leave of her own accord? That was a question for another day.

  Jamie frowned. “No. Ty never told me that.”

  Because Ty didn’t know Reggie was his father? Or because Reggie refused to acknowledge his own child?

  And if the abandoned child learned that his father was screwing his girlfriend?

  That would be enough to mess with anyone’s mind…

  Emma needed to be careful. Needed to remember that she was speaking to a little girl.

  “Have you ever noticed that Ty and Reggie have the same eye color as yours, Bunny? A bright, beautiful green?”

  Bunny whimpered and covered her eyes with both hands. “Do you think Reggie’s my father?”

  “We’re just talking, sweetheart. No one knows anything for sure right now. It’s just talk. If you think of anything, speak up, okay?”

  The girl dropped her face into her arms, but she nodded the slightest bit.

  Leo set a careful hand on her shoulder, trading glances with Emma before refocusing on Jamie. “Jamie, has Reggie ever called Ty his son? To your knowledge?”

  Jamie shrugged but appeared uncomfortable. “Nah, not that I’ve heard. He did, uh…” The young man closed his eyes with a grimace. He breathed out a curse.

  Emma stared at him, waiting, and finally decided to press. “This is important. Have you heard Reggie call Ty his son?”

  “Dammit, I don’t know…it probably doesn’t matter, but…”

  Emma shifted in her seat. “But?”

  “But I did…I did hear Reggie say once that Kyle Perkins was like the son he’d never had. Ty was with me when he said it.”

  Emma had to stop a curse. There’s our motive for Ty killing Kyle.

  The old ringmaster truly was a piece of work.

  Leo met Emma’s gaze. She understood they shared the same thought. The two agents were synchronized.

  Leaning back against the cheap plastic of the bench seat, Emma took a deep breath. She needed oxygen to the brain. She examined the two kids at the table and worked to find the missing piece in all this.

  Even if O’Rourke was both Bunny and Ty’s father, and even if Ty had serious reason to be jealous of Kyle, where did that get them…aside from Ty being in a pretty messy headspace?