Songs:
Red right hand - Arctic monkeys
Candy man - Christina Aguilera
***
The tent is absolutely buzzing with energy, there are people of all ages sitting on the edge of their seats waiting eagerly, there is soft upbeat music playing through the area, but the middle of the tent- where I'm assuming the show takes place- is empty of anyone.
As my eyes are fixed to the centre of the room, I get tugged down into a chair so I'm sitting between both girls right at the front.
"We won't be able to stay for the whole thing, but you'll see enough to know who a few people are," Rosemary says in my ear over the music.
"That's alright, sounds fun."
I only give her a blunt answer because my eyes are already darting around the tent trying to study as many people as I can.
It's mostly full of people here to watch the show, but around the perimeter of the tent there are men, all standing about three meters apart, and I quickly understand what their job is when I see one of them bonk a person on the head for trying to stick their head under the bottom of the tent.
It makes me giggle a little.
"Oh, that," Charlotte laughs when she notices what I'm looking at, "That's nothing, people get in a lot more trouble trying to sneak into our show—"
"Don't fucking scare her Char," Rosemary scolds and I'm stuck looking between them both like I'm watching tennis.
"She'll see it eventually, it's fine," she says then looks back to me, "They just get a little busted up for doing it to the dancers...given how our show is a little less...child-appropriate."
I nod and go to say something but the music in here stops and gets everyone's attention.
Showtime, I guess.
As quick as that music stops, another track starts and some spotlights turn on to shine in the centre of the circle that's acting as a stage.
The room quickly erupts into claps when a man walks out into the stage, he's dressed in a suit and a top hat, it's not hard to guess who he is.
"That's Richmond," Charlotte whispers to me.
"Richmond the ringmaster," Rosemary adds and it makes them both giggle over it.
He takes a step up onto a little platform in the middle of the stage and holds up the cane he has in his hand, turning himself in a circle with a smile while looking around the tent.
While he's up there I get a better look at him, he doesn't look how I imagined him, he's young, maybe late thirties, I can see bits of his still youthful brown hair peeking out of his hat, he's actually quite handsome.
"He kind of keeps to himself unless he's needed for something important, he's lovely though, such a sweetheart," Rosemary says and I nod.
"Ladies, gentleman and children of all ages! Welcome to Spectacle, the most magical, dazzling, dangerous and enchanting circus off all Australia!" he shouts which makes everyone burst out into cheer.
I don't even have to hear him say anything else to know he can completely draw a crowd of people in, he just has that aura about him that makes you want to listen to him like he's talking only to you.
"Are we ready to see something spectacular?" he yells, pointing his cane at people in the audience "are you? What about you? And you?"
He's very good at this.
But I freeze when his cane directs to me and he's looking right at me with a smirk, he looks devilish.
I'm sure he knows who I am because he looks next to me at the Charlotte and Rosemary, and he runs this place, he would obviously know there is a new dancer coming today.
"Are you ready, my dear?"
"Umm, yep," I squeak.
It makes him chuckle but he goes right back to asking more people the same question.
"Alright then, I think I've left you waiting long enough, now please, stay in your seats, pay close attention, you don't want to miss a thing...but don't look too closely, or don't get caught anyway!" he chuckles.
Great, that's real fucking comforting.
But as soon as he finishes his sentence, his hands fly up in the air and his head tilts back at the same time as the music changes; an upbeat trumpet tune fills the room and we all follow the direction of his cane and look up.
Then at the top of the tent, two people send themselves flying off of separate high ledges and it makes me gasp, but that's quickly replaced with a laugh when the two of them end up swinging through the air by holding onto bars hung up by ropes.
I hear the girls giggle at my reaction but I'm too enticed to care, I've never seen anything like this.
Both people swing backwards and them forward again and I nearly shit myself when one woman lets go off the bar and starts flying through the air...only then to be caught by the other person who holds her up while they swing.
"Oh, my fucking god," I chuckle in awe.
With one more swing back and forth, the women lets go again, and by the grace of god she manages to catch back onto the bar she was originally holding.
My eyes are averted from them when Richmond- Richmond the ringmaster- point his cane down and to the back of the tent and we all follow him without even being told to.
The back of the tent opens and a swarm of people run in, all cheering and waving their hands at people as they run around the circle.
It's almost hard to keep up with everything as it happens but I follow the direction that the ringmaster points.
I watch as a man double if not triple the size of any man I've ever seen start lifting things, weights, tables, he even calls people from the audience and starts to lift them up over his head.
As quick as that finishes I'm drawn to a man standing with all different sizes of knives and then my eyes fly to a woman that's standing against a target.
"No," I whisper in shock.
Then the man starts throwing knives at her, making me jump every time they only just miss her by an inch or so, everyone else in the room is just as in shock as me.
The man then turns and faces all of us with a much larger knife, it's more like a sword, and he has a wicked glint in his eyes that makes me nervous about what he's going to-
"Ahhhh!"
My thoughts are cut off by screams from people around me when the man lifts the sword above his head and points the tip to his mouth.
"He's not going to—"
"Just watch him," Rosemary laughs.
I keep watching him, cringing back into my chair as he slowly puts the sword between his lips and then starts pushing the sword into his mouth.
The room erupts into shocked screams, some delighted and some disgusted, I'm somewhere in between.
When the sward is no longer visible beside the handle, were directed to look elsewhere.
That same routine carries on for about half an hour, I watch people walk on a tightrope, a magician does his magic and some women do tricks on rings in the air. It's like watching something out of this world, something that isn't real, it all looks so magical, like they create heaven in a night then you get to step back into the real world.
Just as another act is about to start, I hear someone calling out next to us and look to see Paul- the man from the front door.
"Girls, come on, time to get ready for your show."
"Shit, come on," Charlotte says, standing up from the chair and I follow her lead, as does Rosemary.
I'm a little bummed that I have to leave the show, and even more so when I reach the door and hear screams followed by the sound of an animalistic roar, but I follow the girls anyway.
We walk outside of the tent and head over to the tent next to it, this one has a sign saying 'V.I.P'
There are two men standing guard at the front, these men seem a lot less friendly than Paul.
"Hello, ladies," one of them smile but they don't say anything else, they just step aside and hold the tent curtain open for us all to walk in.
When we walk inside, the tent is empty, literally empty, there is no one in her, and there are a lot of places people could be.
The entire floor is covered with little round tables everywhere, all facing the stage that sits at the back of the tent, the only table that's different is a longer more oval-shaped one that sits right at the front of the stage.
Then on either side of the tent is two bars, I guess so you don't have to be walking all over the tent to get to the bar.
I'm gonna have to go pay attention to that bar and see what drinks they have, it's a circus and this is a V.I.P tent, I'm sure they will have alcohol even though they shouldn't, but if I can match these drinks to the ones being transported everywhere, it'll help me with the case.
The entire room is red and gold, the tables have red clothes over them and the chairs are painted gold, as well as the big curtain behind the stage, it's all very classy in here, you wouldn't think it's a circus at all.
"Okay, come on, we'll introduce you to the girls then you can wait out here and watch the show," Rosemary says, tugging me along towards the stage.
We don't walk up it though, we walk around it and behind it, going through the back of the tent and into another smaller tent is filled with girls, a lot of them.
The smell of make-up and perfume fills my nose to the point that it's almost unbearable; something I'm going to have to get used to I guess.
The girls are all spread out over the place, some standing as they get dressed, some sitting in chairs, even some sitting on the makeup desks that sit on the two side walls and the back of the tent.
They're all stunning, if I was actually here to be a dancer I would be intimidated, but I don't care what they think of me.
No one even turns to look at us as we walk in, they all continue to get dressed or do their hair and make-up.
I'm guessing these girls are very secure in themselves because there are more girls naked back here than I've ever seen in my life.
The few that are dressed though look great, not that there's much of them covered anyway, they are all in little coloured outfits, some one-pieces, some two, some just little underwear and nipple tassels, and they all pull them off with so much class.
"Girls!" Rosemary yells, making them all turn to look at us in the doorway, "This is Danica, our new dancer."
I get ready to say hi to everyone...but Rosemary was right, these girls a fucking bitches.
They hardly acknowledge me, they all just mumble "hi" then turn around and go back to getting ready.
Not that I want them to pay much attention to me anyway, but still...rude fucks.
Charlotte looks at me with a shrug, "She told ya, don't worry about them, they don't spend any time with us during the day anyway, they're too famous."
Whatever inside joke Charlotte and Rosemary have with that makes them both start to laugh as they turn around, forcing me to turn with them so we can head back out the backstage tent.
"You wait out here by the door and watch us, I'll tell one of the guys to stand by you and make sure they know who you are," Rosemary tells me and before I can even think about objecting, they're both gone, Charlotte walks off back to backstage and Rosemary walks over to a man, talking to him and pointing to me.
She gives me one last smile before she walks past me and backstage again.
"Danica?"
I turn at the sound of my name, seeing the man Rosemary was talking to walking up to me and my eyes instantly rake over his body, noticing his domineering poster and the gun tucked into his pants.
"That's me."
"Arthur," he smiles, holding his hand out to me and I quickly shake it, "I've been told to look out for you tonight, you're the new dancer?"
He makes himself comfortable next to me, leaning on a post and even with the slight decline in his height, he still towers over me.
"I am, yeah, I think I'll be okay on my own if you want to do something else," I tell him, half being genuine and half just not wanting someone this close to me in case he sees me looking around like a hawk.
"Thank you, ma'am," he laughs, "but this is my job, to look after you girls, some not very nice people get let in here, I'm here for your benefit."
The tone in his voice makes my stomach drop a little, he sounds serious about that and I'm not about to argue with him.
I give him a small 'sorry' and a nod then look ahead without saying any else, hoping he takes the hint that I don't want to talk and he can focus on something else.
He does though, and we stand there for ten minutes in silence as I watch the tent start to fill with people, and when I say people...I mean men.
All different kinds of men, they all look like they come from different countries, different places, they all carry themselves differently, some laugh, some talk, some sit alone and some look like men I would avoid on the street.
The one common factor with them all though, they all look rich, very rich.
Their suits all fit perfectly and are all paired nicely with different things, some with pricey looking rings, some flashy pocket watches, a few have canes with jewels on the top, even their shoes look expensive, and I don't miss it when almost every one of them has a holster with a gun, and if they don't have one, someone in their group does.
But to my surprise, they don't get to keep them, they all get handed into a man walking around asking for them and telling them they "Sorry, sir, no weapons allowed in this tent, they will be held behind the bar or you will need to leave if you can't part with it." Almost all of them look pissed off by it, but I think it's a good idea.
They all make their way to the bars to give their order and I notice it's men that work behind the bar, not the women, I asked the guy next to me if that was intentional and all he said was "drunk men and pretty half-naked women...not a good mix, it's better for the girls to stick to dancing."
I wasn't going to argue on it.
Once all the men were sitting and chatting with one another, I noticed that the only table not filled was the oval one right in the front of the stage.
Hmmm, who sits there?
And then, like the universe was on my side, more men walk into the tent to answer my question.
That's when I saw them.
They come in too suddenly for me to see all their faces, but they look just the same as anyone in here; dressed rich, respectable, dangerous and of importance.
It's a group of six, three walking in the front and three in the back, and the way they carry themselves like this is their tent and theirs alone gets my attention.
It's like they move in slow motion with how intently I'm watching them, they all stride right through the middle of the tables without looking at anyone or saying a word; their long coats swaying behind them with every determined step.
No man already sitting down says a word to them as they pass, they hardly even look up, if they do it's to nod at then look away, not that any of them are acknowledged anyway.
Who are they...
I push myself off of the post I'm leaning on to watch them some more.
When they reach the table I assumed they were heading for, they all split off slightly, to the chairs spread out over the table.
Everyone watches them.
Each one of them keep their heads forward as they take coats off and lay them on the table, followed by their suit jackets that they hang on their chairs, it's almost synchronised.
When their jackets come on, leaving them in only their shirts, I notice the guns again that everyone seems to carry, some in their belts and some held in holsters under their arms.
I see two men from the bar make their way over to the table and half of me is looking forward to seeing them have to part with their guns like the other men do, but when the men get to the table, the group of six sit while they waiters smile and start speaking with them about drinks.
What the fuck?
It makes an intrigued and amused smile pull at my lips as I stare at them.
"Who are they?" I ask Arthur next to me.
That's an innocent enough question, isn't it?
He knows exactly who I'm talking about as my eyes are fucking fixated on all of them.
"They're part of the family, they work here."
Oh.
I look back at them all sitting at the table, not really being able to get a good look at any of them from the dim lights and the distance but I still look over all of them with a microscope.
My eye integrating is cut short when the lights in here go dark except for lights shining on the stage.
I'm not left wondering why because as soon as the lights go out, the tent fills with music, and the curtains to the stage pull open, showing off a line of women all dressed and standing ready to do their job.
The room fills with claps and whistles from the men.
I don't blame them, they're all dripping with sex appeal, I look through the line of girls trying to find Charlotte and Rosemary, I quickly see them both standing together in the middle of the line.
Rosemary is...very pink. She's got a two-piece set on that is almost blinding with how sparkly it is, her blonde hair is down and curled, and her face isn't void of sparkles either, her lips are bright pink and look like someone patted on a tone of pink glitter onto them, but fuck me does she pull it all off.
Charlotte is next to her wearing a red one-piece that cuts almost all the way down the middle so her breasts are on full display, she's even taller now in the bright red hells she has on and her hair hangs long down her back in perfect ringlets.
Then in one swift motion, they all lean their bodies forward and hold their fingers to their lips with a smile like they're about to tell a secret, then the music gets louder and they all start to lip sing the first line to the song.
"Sweet, sugar, Candyman."
My eyes go wide watching them when all at the same time they split off to different places on the stage and immediately sqaut themselves to the floor while parting their knees in one abrupt motion.
How they do that in those heels...I have no idea.
They all hold their hands on their parted knees and roll their bodies to the music which sends the men in here crazy with screams.
I'm in awe watching them...Do I have to do that?
They all push themselves to stand then stand facing sideways and lift their one arm in the air, then different times, they swing their arm back slightly in the air while at the same time their arm goes just behind their ear, their legs step forward at the beat of the music.
As quick as they finish that part, they all get in a line again and wrap their arms over each other's shoulders, then each second girl starts to squat again, lowering themselves to the ground teasingly while the other girls stand and encourage the men to cheer.
When the cheers are loud enough, the girls drop as low as they can and part their legs again, this time balancing on one leg and kicking the other in the air, and boy oh boy does it make the men scream.
They all quickly stand up again start to make their way to the side of the stage and begin to walk down it and every man that was standing and cheering quickly sits down as each girl starts to dance over the floor before picking a man and stands next to them.
Then as the music hits a beat, each woman spread out over the tent spins, sending themselves in a gracious turn while holding into the back of whatever mans neck they're with and then they land in their laps.
They sit in the laps of the man and lean themselves back to be basically lying over them then they lift their legs in the air to move them to the beat of the song.
From where I'm standing it's just a bunch of legs in the air now.
It makes me giggle.
But as quick as they are laying down, they push themselves up dance back to the stage, leaving every man they touched begging for them to come back.
I can't take my eyes from then as they move, it's entrancing, the way the lights catch their outfits and sends glimmers through the room. The way they move, it's like the music moves with them, following every move they make in perfect precision.
It makes an excitement bubble inside me, but as soon as I feel it, I'm pushing it down.
This is a job. Just a job.
As much as I have to act like I belong here and I'm enjoying this, I need to remember why I'm here; to solve a case, nothing else.
When I look back at the stage I lock eyes with Rosemary who smiles and waves at me while turning her body with all the other girls to face their behinds to the audience.
I fake a smile and wave back at her.
I can't get close to them.
I'm not getting close with them only to break their trust, maybe I can hang out with those bitchy girls and avoid everyone all together.
Fucking hell, I hardly even know them and I'm riddled with guilt already.
I need to get out of here.
"Arthur, I'm tired, I'm going to go to bed, tell the girls for me?"
"Oh, alright, I'll walk you back to your cart," he tells me with a smile.
Ugh, is everyone here so fucking nice?
"No, no, it's okay, I'll be fine on—"
"Sorry, it's my job, come on now," he smiles, leaving no room for me to disagree as he holds his arm out for me to take.
Fuck's sake.
I link my arm through his with an internal huff and he walks us both out of the tent and down towards the entrance again.
Today was the first day, this is my only grace to have a little slip-up, this is a job and I need to work.
I just need to dance and observe.
Maybe I'll act like a cunt so no one wants to talk to me, that'll work.
I can't treat this like a holiday, I'll start again tomorrow and focus more on the case.
The sooner I can get out of here the better.