Freakshow

Chapter Eleven

Cairo sprung into action and grabbed his jacket. He turned to me and said, "Do you need to change? We have to go look for her."

I looked down at my flimsy clothing and said, "Yeah, can we head back to our trailer? Rose, did you check her bedroom?"

"I did when I went back to change, but maybe she's there already."

"Maybe," I said, "but that wouldn't explain the blood."

"I get bloody noses all the time," Rose said. "It's probably just a bleeding nose, right? I feel stupid for coming to get you."

We left the RV and made our way back to our shared travel trailer. "Don't feel stupid for worrying about your friend," Cai said, "the safety of our employees is paramount to us at Cirque."

Rose glanced at him as if she'd forgotten who he was. Ultimately he was their boss and it really was a little odd to have him join them.

"I'm glad you found me," I said. "When's the last time you saw her?"

"A couple minutes after you left, we met a couple new guys from the clown group. They're pretty cool, tats and piercings, that new extreme performance thing that's so popular now. Anyhow, we did a few shots with them and we had to go to the bathroom. We headed out to the toilets behind the performers tent. Cara said she'd wait for me outside, but when I was finished, she was gone."

"Where did you find her handbag?" Cairo asked.

"I didn't notice it at first," Rose said and tears began to leak from her eyes, "I walked back and found it under the stairs at the bathroom. I didn't even see the blood until I got back to the party. The guys and I looked everywhere for her, but I haven't been able to find anything, so I came to get you. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize," I said and Cairo grabbed my hand as we walked. "I don't know her as well as you do, this isn't something she would normally do?"

"God no," Rose said, "I'm the flaky one, but any time either one of us hooked up with a guy, we'd tell the other. Girl code, so the other one doesn't worry."

"Okay," I said and appreciated Cai's steady touch. I noticed Rose looking down from time to time, glancing at our fingers intertwined. "Let me get some pants on and we'll start a search for her."

"Sounds good," Rose said, "I'll wait here." She sat at the little kitchen table where the three of us had laughed and chatted just hours before. I prayed Cara had just taken off with somebody and was holed up with a hottie, shagging and drinking and forgetting about the time. I prayed that my friend was safe.

I checked Cara's room first of all. I thought for a moment that Cara was curled up on her bed, sleeping, but realized it was a pile of clothing. Cara wasn't known for being the tidiest, and the false hope brought the sting of tears to my eyes.

I took off the missing girl's dress and slipped into loose pants and a thick sweater. I wore fuzzy socks and my Uggs, just for comfort. I wasn't out to impress anyone with my fashion sense tonight, not when my friend was missing.

I found Cairo and Rose making awkward small talk in the kitchen. "Okay, let's go," I said and the two jumped up, relieved to be put out of their shared misery.

"Where to first?" Rose asked.

"Back to the party," Cairo said and we headed that way.

The crowd was winding down by the time we got there. It was after one in the morning and most people had to be up early for rehearsals and last minute run throughs.

"Have you seen Cara?" Rose asked people here and there. The answer was unanimously the same. No.

I saw Erica, from the Vancouver ticket booth. "Have you seen my roommate, Cara?" I asked her.

"I can't say that I have," Erica said, "I thought she was with you guys all night."

"She never made it back to the trailer," I said.

"Let's go tell my father," Cairo said reluctantly when their search came up empty handed. We followed him to Orion's RV and my stomach clenched at the sight of it. The last thing I wanted was to encounter Orion tonight, with my scent all over Cairo's body, and my eyes full of lust for the son I was warned against pursuing.

Cai knocked and tried the door. It was locked and the RV appeared deserted.

"They might be sleeping," he said and stood back. He picked up a small pebble and tossed it at a nearby window. He called out a couple times and a light came on inside.

My stomach clenched and I prepared myself for Orion to figure out everything. He had that strange sixth sense and appeared to look into my very soul when I was around him.

The door swung open and a girl appeared, she looked similar to Cairo but was very young. "What the fuck, dude?" she said and blinked her eyes a few times.

"Where's dad?" Cai asked.

"I dunno," the girl replied, "He had a meeting or something. What time is it?"

"It's after one," Cairo said, "We need to get security. Something's happened. A girl's gone missing."

"Not again. I'll make the call and get people looking," the girl said, ducked back into the RV and slammed the door.

"What does she mean again?" I asked. "Has this happened before?"

"We have people leave the Cirque all the time," he said, "but in Montreal and Vancouver, we had girls go missing after a party. Your friend makes number three."

"You've already had girls disappear? Why did you still throw a party?" I asked.

"Honestly? I didn't think much of it until I saw the purse," he told me. "Like I said, people come and go all the time around here. It's the nature of the business."

"It wouldn't be that suspicious if we hadn't found it," Rose said.

"Don't defend him," I said, "this should have never been allowed to happen. My friend is missing because of you."

"That's unfair," Rose said, "we all expect these parties. I don't think Cairo would have been able to shut it down even if he'd tried."

"I'm sorry Liv," he said, "if I had even suspected a thing, I never would have allowed it. I care about our employees. They're our friends and even feel like family after a while. We're a big band of misfits, we stick together."

I saw sincerity on his face; I recognized how distraught he was because I felt it too. I took a deep breath and said, "I'm sorry, I'm just so worried about her right now."

"I'll do anything I can to find her," Cairo said, "I promise you."

"Can we go look for her now?" Rose said, "We need to do something. I can't just stand around waiting for the security guys to find her."

"Neither can I," I agreed and the three of us went on another fruitless round of the Cirque grounds looking for a girl who seemed to have disappeared into thin air.