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“Oh, God,” I said. I darted a glance at the trailer of this Solange person, and wondered how we were going to stop her from hypnotizing the entire town of Hampton Cove! Just then, a man hoisting a camera on his shoulder, and another man holding a microphone, downed tools right next to where we were hiding under the trailer. They shook a couple of cigarettes out of a packet and lit them, then took a long drag.

“I hate this job,” confessed the cameraman. “When is it going to be finished?”

“Not until the brass figure we’ve got enough footage,” said the microphone guy.

“And when will that be? I reckon we’ve got plenty of footage already.” He ticked it off on his nicotine-stained fingers. “We’ve got hours and hours of Solange doing her trick, dozens of clients on tape, and we’ve interviewed the entire staff of this stupid circus and everyone else involved. The only ones we haven’t talked to are the animals!”

“Look, we just gotta keep on going,” said his colleague. “We sure get paid enough.”

“You think? Peanuts, man, compared to what Solange and her family are netting.”

“You know something I don’t?”

“A hundred and fifty million bucks!”

Microphone Man whistled through his teeth.“Woo-wee. That’s a lot of dough.”

“You bet it is. Hotflix is clearly betting on a runaway hit, and I’ll bet they’ll get it, too.”

“Another Kardashians, only this time with a slightly more unusual family.”

“Keeping up with the Moonbloods,” said Camera Guy with a grin, then took another long drag from his cancer stick and dumped the butt right next to Dooley and me, stubbing it out with his foot.

“There’s been talk of the miracles all being bogus, though,” said his colleague. “Cops are getting involved.”

“Yeah, I heard that, too. But who cares, right? It’s just a show. And as long as the ratings go through the roof, Solange and company will keep raking in the millions.”

And then he dumped his cigarette butt, too, and both men were off.

We watched them enter Solange’s trailer, presumably to film some more footage of unsuspecting Hampton Covians being promised the moon by Solange and her sister.

Before Dooley and I could discuss what we’d just discovered, a man suddenly came hurrying in the direction of the trailer. It was Wolf Moonblood—only he had a wig haphazardly placed on top of his head, sideburns equally haphazardly pasted to his cheeks, and his mustache was completely askance.

He entered the trailer, crying,“Solange! Solange! Some guy messed up my hair!”

Dooley and I shared a look of understanding.

“Dooley,” I said. “I think we just cracked this case.”

“And me!” said Norm excitedly. “I cracked it, too, right?”

“You did the heavy lifting, Norm,” I said with a smile.

And for a tiny fly that was a real feat.

Chapter 45

Gran was reluctantly ambling along, taking in the sights and sounds of the fair that had graced her town with its presence. Next to her, Scarlett was teetering along on her high heels, and alternately nibbling and sucking at an ice cream cone.

“You have to lick it,” said Vesta, watching the spectacle with distaste.

“What are you talking about?” asked her friend, smacking her lips.

“You lick ice cream, not bite it or suck it—you lick it. With your tongue.”

“Look, it’s my ice cream so I’ll do what I want with it.” Scarlett attacked the thing again, making horrible sucking sounds as she did. “If you don’t like it, get your own.”

“I hate fairs,” Vesta grumbled.

“That’s because you hate everything.”

“No, I don’t. I like TV. And I like…” She paused, trying to think of what else she liked, until she caught Scarlett’s grin and grunted, “Oh, shut up.”

“I didn’t say anything!”

“But you were thinking it!”

“Oh, so now I can’t even think what I want?”

“You know what I mean.” Her granddaughter had convinced her to tag along while a big police operation was being conducted to find Vesta’s missing son. She didn’t have high hopes. The cops in this town didn’t exactly have a great track record catching the bad guys. Instead they kept arresting Vesta and Scarlett, even when they hadn’t done anything wrong!

So when she caught sight of a couple of officers sticking a piece of paper with a mug shot of the suspect under people’s noses, she sniffed annoyedly. “What? You don’t think they’ll find your son?” asked Scarlett.

“They couldn’t find my son if he danced in front of them dressed in nothing but a hula skirt,” she said. She frowned as she suddenly saw Sarah Flunk escorting Chase off the scene, the latter looking a little ill-footed for some reason. “Will you look at that? I think Chase just went and gothimself in trouble.”

“I like Chase. I think he’s a great cop, and he’s not bad-looking either,” said Scarlett.

“Watch it, you,” said Vesta, wagging a bony finger in her friend’s face.

“What did I say this time?!”

“Chase is spoken for, you know that.”

“I just said—”

“I know what you said, and I know how your mind works, and you’re not going to—holy cow, what’s going on over there?”

She’d suddenly spotted her cats, waving frantically at her from underneath a trailer.