Chapter 74 - Light at the end of the tunnel

Over his shoulder, the detective watched the medical team carry the injured man out of the tent. Instinctively Giovani hugged Viola against his chest so she wouldn't see all the blood when the dancer passed them. As if he could avoid as much as possible that she would mark in her memory such a horrendous sight as that. He didn't even greet her doctor friend, who just looked in his direction and nodded, following the doctor's out.

He would have to visit Mathias later, it seemed.

— Gi...

— I'm sorry, Viola. Ah, I'm dirty... Damn.

—Young master?

Behind him, Leonardo approached, looking lost in thought. Quickly the detective stood up eager to ask him questions. For the second time he stopped when he noticed a shadow on his countenance, like a sombre expression. Swallowing the discomfort of so much mystery, Giovani maintained his usual composure as a serious policeman.

— That was pretty dangerous — Leonardo murmured as he approached the other two — Are you all right? What about the dancer?

— They've already taken him to hospital. Mathias is with him, so he'll call me if anything happens.

— I understand. Thank you very much, Giovani. You were so quick to come to the dancer's aid... I really appreciate that.

— Surely you must be shocked, right?

— Honestly, I'm a bit surprised. The other lighting equipment didn't seem to have any problems, not even rust.

No problems at all? So how could a spotlight fall down overnight?

— That's strange. Are you sure about that, kid?

— Yes, the other floodlights are in the same condition as reported in the inspection. But... Some cables seemed to have been cut.

— Cut? — Giovani arched his eyebrow and crossed his arms, a pose he always took when he was deep in thought on his cases — Is that enough to make a floodlight fall?

— Of course not. It would take an enormous force to make one fall. Like... blows.

— So if someone had done that, we would have noticed thanks to the acoustics of the tent. The staff would have seen it too if someone had tried something. How strange, it looks like the work of a ghost.

Leonardo's body shuddered and a smile appeared on his face. Stranging such a smile, Giovani chose not to question anything. He could not always get a satisfactory answer if he asked too many questions. However, all that time he had been in Dreamland had made him learn to pay attention to small reactions like that.

And his intuition seemed to interpret that mischievous smile as a sign that Leonardo knew something.

— Well... Anyway, I'll have them re-inspect the equipment, and I'll see what I can do to prevent this kind of accident from happening again. Ha... This is really stressful, and my holidays are already over.

— Do you want me to look into this as well? Just in case it was someone with bad intent.

— I don't think it's necessary, besides you're looking after the disappearances too, aren't you? That would help a lot.

— Are you sure?

— The press will probably know about this incident. If they know that the police are investigating an accident like this, they will soon find out about the disappearances and that will be a real headache.

Should Giovani still be surprised at his mature decisions? Had that boy considered that in such a short time? As a policeman, Giovani could only agree with his decision and increase the discretion of his men who were still investigating the disappearances. Frankly, if he were in his shoes, he would hardly remember the world outside the park. It would be a priority to put an end to both the disappearances and the accidents.

No wonder the boy was the heir, huh?

Giovani couldn't do anything about it then. He'd go along at his own pace and pretend he hadn't noticed anything.

— You'd better ask your security team to also keep an eye out for possible employees with suspicious behaviour.

— I'll ask Vicente to take care of that, thank you Giovani. We'd better get back to the mansion, it's not good for Viola to be in the middle of this mess.

Feeling his mobile phone vibrate in his pocket, Giovani read the name that flashed on the screen, already imagining that his day would be long.

— I've got some business to take care of, so you can go ahead.

— All right, be careful.

Giovani watched Leonardo lead Viola out of the tent, and when he was finally alone he answered his mobile phone.

— I hope it's good news.

— The investigation team found a pile of boxes on the train, which contained old tapes from the security system. There's a recording of the incident you were investigating, it would be good for you to see it.

Footage of what you were investigating? There would be no reason for the tapes to be stored on the train and be related to the disappearances. Besides, they would be very old tapes... Would they be from Leonardo's brother's case?

The detective quickly ran out of the tent and headed towards the mansion.

Leonardo had given him permission to investigate his brother's case and also the hidden train. It had been weeks without any solid leads, rummaging through the boxes that were dumped in the wagons and checking the area in case the kidnapper had buried something. All fruitless so far.

So the detective's franticness was immense. He drove along the motorway at high speed, eager to get to the police station and find out what had been found. It was his light at the end of the tunnel that he had been waiting for. Anything would do, as long as it could give him a way to reach the bastard who was having fun tricking him.

And half an hour later, Giovani finally arrived panting at the police station.

— He arrived quickly...

— What did you find?

The policeman was not surprised by the detective's anxiety, so he quickly took him to a remote room inside the police station, where several monitors showed several images of very poor quality. Sitting there, the boy turned to Giovani with great expectations.

— Very well, I asked you to be careful when handling the tapes as they are old, and I have two copies, one with the original quality of the images and one edited.

— You asked for the edited version as soon as you found something?

— Yes sir. Clarifying the images can help find clues, can't it? Second thing I need to warn you, there's a period of time when the cameras just stopped working. And it was all the cameras in the area near the train.

Surprised, Giovani pulled up a chair to sit down.

— I didn't see any security cameras in the area of the train...

— They probably took it down, but it certainly filmed the train, detective.

— And what was the period when the cameras stopped working?

The rookie policeman pulled out his notebook and pointed while showing it to Giovani.

— Between eleven at night and one in the morning.

— One in the morning... The police report says the bodies were found around that time. Did the cameras pick that up?

— Not the exact time of death, but something does show up.

The policeman soon pressed the key, starting the recordings. Giovani easily recognised the area behind the circus, where the foremen worked. It was a little different, probably because it was a recording from more than ten years ago, but still recognisable.

Soon two children appeared running through the circus holding hands, seeming to know the area well. They passed a group of assembled performers who seemed to greet them, and only one of them followed the children from afar. He seemed to wait a while before going after them.

Giovani recognised him too.

The rookie policeman paused the video and pulled out a folder containing the criminal record, the person in the photo and the video were the same. It was easy to identify him as Agenor Cavalcante, an abuser who was hired as a trapeze artist at the circus right after he got out of prison.

His criminal record did not appear in Dreamland's files, which led Giovani to believe that Rohan Evilian did not know about his employee's background. If it were any other place, the detective wouldn't find it odd that the owner didn't know such information. However, Dreamland was famous across the continent, they would have enough resources to thoroughly research anyone seeking employment with them.

Even more so in a place that would be like a feast.

Continuing the video, Giovani would see how the abuser managed to get the children onto the train. From there, the detective leaned in and didn't blink for a second. He was so focused on watching every second of the recording that his eyes were burning. To his misfortune, the image seemed to get darker and darker as if a shadow appeared and swallowed everything, and when the children got on the train the recording stopped. The image full of static and noise remained for a while until it suddenly returned showing two fallen bodies.

On the other monitor, the policeman showed the same image, but it was clearer. Giovani's eyes widened at the sheer horror those bodies showed. They were not just fallen bodies, they were... Disfigured and bloody. And to make matters worse, only one of the children remained sitting on the floor, looking at that scene until he started to cry.

Was it... Leonardo?

Suddenly the detective remembered when the two of them had followed Viola onto the train for the first time. As if he had seen something he shouldn't have. His reaction that had made him faint and come under the watchful eyes of the main attractions... It made sense.

Oh, how he regretted it now. If he had known before how serious the problem was, he certainly wouldn't have allowed him to go along. Although even Giovani didn't know that there was a fallen and almost buried train in the park.

However, for all his surprise at seeing with his own eyes what Leonardo had seen that night, Giovani saw something else.

Someone's shadow.

The policeman soon paused and pointed at the screen, also noticing the shadow. A great sign that it was indeed a clue.

— It seems to be the shadow of some adult, as if he was at the back of the train where the camera doesn't pick up.

— Can you enlarge the image?

— Just a minute, sir. — After enlarging the image, the boy turned to the detective — Is that good?

Giovani leaned further over the table and peered his eyes analysing the shadow. That shadow was weird. The detective could even see the silhouette of an adult, but the head part was different... It was strange. There was something long on it. Tilting his head trying to see from a different angle, Giovani remembered the first time he met that person.

Just like he always wore the same style of clothes when he was working.

A smile broke out on Giovani's lips.

— Perfect.

The shadow showed not just an adult, but an adult wearing a top hat.

And Giovani only knew one person who wore a top hat.