“I’m not stupid enough to give up my job here, especially Saturdays and Sundays when we get the crowds. I do quite well for myself. I’m not just paid to perform, you know. I’m also supposed to keep an eye out for the wrong types. The boss don’t want no one who might cause trouble, you understand. And sometimes I’m needed as a bodyguard.”

“A bodyguard for whom?”

“Ah, that would be telling, wouldn’t it?” He grinned and gave me a wink. “Let’s just say that not all the things that go on around here are as wholesome as watching a belly dancer or petting a camel.”

“Criminal activities, you mean?” I asked.

“Oh, no,” he said with exaggerated innocence. “All the bosses around here are as pure as the driven snow.” Then he laughed again. “So tell me about yourself. How long have you been in the business?”

“Not long,” I said. “In fact I’m not really a performer at all. I’m a friend of Bess Houdini. She asked me to take her place until she’s well enough to come back.”

“So what do you do the rest of the time, when you’re not performing?”

“Whatever I can get,” I said. “It’s not that easy for someone arriving from Ireland, as you know yourself. I was a chorus girl a few months ago. I worked in a sweatshop once.”

“So this is a big break for you too,” he said.

We reached the soda fountain and went inside. He ordered me an iced sarsaparilla and assisted me onto the high stool at the counter. I noticed that his hands lingered a little too long on my waist.

“So tell me about the fire-eating and sword swallowing,” I said. “Aren’t they terribly dangerous?”

“Only if someone gives me a push at the wrong moment,” he said. “On the whole it’s no more dangerous than the things those illusionists do.”

“That’s right if this week is anything to go by,” I said. “You heard about what happened to Lily, then.”

“Lily? The girl who got cut up with the saw? Of course I did. It’s because of her that I’m here.”

“You knew her?”

“No, I mean they needed an act to fill in at the last minute, didn’t they?”

“And how did they come to hire you?”

“Let’s just say I’m a friend of a friend. Somebody owed somebody a favor.”

“Lucky for you,” I said. “So will you just be filling in for this week and then going back to your old job?”

He shrugged. “Depends,” he said.

“On what?”

“You ask a lot of questions, you know that?” He leaned toward me and touched the tip of my nose in a rather too intimate gesture. “Aren’t young ladies supposed to be coy and demure?”