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Author's Chapter Notes:

The search for Brian's missing PC is on and Horvath's first suspect is Lindsey! Dun dun dummmmmm! Enjoy! TAG

Chapter 45 - PC Lost.



The paralegal quietly sidled into the conference room and tiptoed over to Mel’s side, placing a yellow sticky note on top of the table beside the legal pad she'd been using for her notes. Mark Jacobs, Mel's partner, looked aslant at her but continued on with the point he'd been making to the opposing counsel who was on the other end of the conference call. One glance at the note was enough to worry Mel. She quickly stood up and mouthed to Mark that she'd be back in ‘one minute’, then grabbed the note and strode out of the room.


Mel ducked into her own office and hurriedly dialed the phone number written on the sticky note. “Hey, Dusty,” she said when the phone was picked up after the second ring. “My assistant gave me your message. She said it was something about Gus. What's wrong?”


“I'm so sorry to bother you at work, Mel, but I can't seem to get a hold of Lindsey,” Mel’s neighbor and good friend replied. “Lindz dropped Gus off at my place this morning around ten so she could run some errands and said she'd only be a half hour or so. That was three hours ago and there's still no sign of her. I've tried calling both the house and her cell but there's no answer. Normally, I wouldn't mind - Gus is such a little doll - but I've got an appointment with my OB this afternoon. Do you know where Lindsey is? Or, if not, can you come pick him up, please? I need to leave in about forty-five minutes.”


“I'm so sorry about this, Dusty,” Mel apologized profusely. “I don't know what could have happened to Lindz. I'll be right over.”


Twenty minutes later Mel pulled up at Dusty’s. The buxom woman was already standing on the porch waiting for her with Gus in her arms and the baby’s diaper bag at her feet. Mel apologized again before gathering up her child so that Dusty could get going. Dusty sped off while Mel was still buckling the baby into his car seat.


“Where IS your Mommy, Gus Gus? Hmmm? She's not answering her phone and she didn't tell Mama she was going anywhere special today. What could she be up to, huh?” Mel babbled to her boy, trying to keep her tone light and cheerful even as she worried about what could have kept Lindsey from collecting Gus on time.


Dusty lived right around the corner, so it took Mel less than five minutes to drive home. It took longer to get Gus and all his stuff out of the car and bundle everything up the front walk. When she finally got the front door opened, she was surprised to hear voices coming from the dining room. If Lindsey had been home all this time, why didn’t she just pick up Gus herself? And why wasn’t she answering the phone? Mel was no longer worried about Linsdey possibly being hurt or lost. Now she was just plain angry about having been called out of an important meeting at work for apparently no reason. She was going to be demanding some answers from Lindsey and they better be good ones too.


“There you are, Sweetie. How did Gus enjoy the park?” Lindsey spoke up as soon as she spied Mel coming through the front room. Before Mel could ask what the hell Lindsey was talking about, the blonde woman turned to the older man seated next to her at the table and rushed on. “Detective Horvath, this is my partner, Melanie Marcus. And somewhere inside that bundle of blankets is our son Gus.”


The Man stood up and politely offered his hand. Mel sat the baby carrier on the floor at her feet and shook the detective’s hand while looking quizzically at her partner. Lindsey bent down and unearthed the baby from the carrier, holding him up and fussing over him as she took off the outer layer of jacket, hat and blankets, focusing all her attention on the baby and pointedly avoiding the gazes of both Mel and the Detective.


“Ms. Marcus, I’m Detective Carl Horvath, Pittsburgh PD. If you don’t mind, I’ve got a few questions for you and your partner about a pending case I’m working on.”


Horvath held out one of his business cards to Mel, who took it and scanned the information, which looked to her to be legitimate. “Of course, Detective. What’s this all about?”


“You two know a Brian Kinney, correct?”


“What’s the asshole done this time?” Mel scoffed, jumping to the inevitable conclusion. “If it’s a DUII then I win the pool on the bet with Ted and the rest of the Gang,” Mel laughed, thinking to herself that it figured Brian would have got himself in trouble with the police - she’d always assumed it was only a matter of time, considering the man’s lifestyle.


“No. No. Mr. Kinney hasn’t done anything wrong that I know of. No, I’m actually here about a completely different matter, Ma’am,” the detective scowled down at her joking demeanor. “It appears that Mr. Kinney’s home was broken into this morning and his PC was taken - both of which are felony offenses, of course, so we’re taking this matter very seriously.”


“Wow. Justin’s missing? How? Who would have taken that poor kid?” Mel asked, realizing that the detective's visit was a far bigger deal than she’d at first suspected.


“That’s what we're trying to ascertain, Ma’am, and why I’m here.” The detective flipped open a small notebook and scanned over his notes. “Can the both of you please tell me where you were this morning?”


Mel was surprised by the question, especially since it implied she and Lindsey were under suspicion, but she was even more surprised by Lindsey’s answer. “Well, Mel was at work all morning, of course, and I was here taking care of our sweet Gus until about a half hour ago when Mel came home and took him for a quick walk to the park.”


Mel was momentarily stunned by the huge lie Lindsey had just told. To a cop, no less. She didn’t know what to do or say. So she didn’t say anything. She just sat down in the nearest chair and kept her mouth closed, waiting to see what was going to happen next.


“Can anyone confirm your whereabouts this morning, Ms. Peterson?” Horvath asked pointedly, focusing all his attention on Lindsey and pretty much ignoring Mel.


“Well, no. I was here . . . all alone. Unless Gus will vouch for me,” Lindsey tittered nervously, leaning back in her chair and looking upward, slightly to the right, instead of looking directly at the cop.


“I see,” the detective pursed his lips noncommittally and made a note in his book. “Mr. Kinney said that you have a key to his residence. Is that correct?”


“Oh, well . . .” Lindsey’s eyes glanced briefly towards the hall tree that stood in the entryway near the door, and to the antique glassware bowl that sat on the shelf there, which is where they both put their keys as soon as they came in the door. “I used to have a key, but I don’t know where it is these days. I haven’t even thought about that key in ages,” she offered with an ingratiating smile aimed at the policeman.


“Uh huh . . .” Horvath continued to scribble something in his notebook and Mel didn’t think it was anything good. “So, Ms. Peterson, from what I hear, it seems you’ve repeatedly voiced a very strong dislike for Mr. Kinney’s PC. What’s that all about?”


“It’s true that I don’t approve of PCs. I think the entire practice is utterly abhorrent and I won’t apologize for stating my opinion about that,” Lindsey insisted very vocally. “I’ve tried to talk to Brian about this idiocy of buying a PC - on several occasions - but he refuses to listen. I can’t believe he would waste his hard earned money buying an in-home whore. It’s so offensive. And on top of that, the way he keeps thrusting the little slut in everyone’s face is just detestable. Frankly, I’m sick and tired of it, and I told him that until he gets rid of that piece of trash, he’s not going to be spending any time with his son - I won’t have some kind of money-grubbing slut around my son. So, if that’s what you mean by voicing my dislike for the tramp, then yes, I have been, and I don’t plan on taking it back either.”


At first Horvath just listened to Lindsey’s rant and didn’t say anything. When she eventually ranted herself to a standstill, he still just stood there and watched her. After a bit, Lindsey started to squirm in her chair. She was no longer looking up at the detective with the defiance that had marked her stock speech on PCs. Now she was looking everywhere but at the police detective, looking like a guilty child more than anything. Mel was amazed and worried by what she was seeing. As a lawyer, she knew what a person who was lying looked like, and this was it. Mel was sure that a seasoned police detective could see it just as easily as she could. What the fuck had Lindsey done to look so damned guilty? Or maybe she didn't want to know.


“Tell me, Ms. Peterson, do you hate PCs enough that you’d do something to hurt Justin Kinney?” Horvath asked, the question directly on point, staring at Lindsey with a piercing glare as he spoke.


Lindsey paled at the dead on accusation, tugging at her necklace and fidgeting uncomfortably. “Of . . . Of course not . . . I wouldn’t do anything . . . I-I-I wouldn’t touch that trashy little whore with a ten foot pole,” Lindsey asserted, finally finding enough words to deny any involvement after stuttering through a weak beginning. Of course she ruined it all with her next statement. “And stop calling him ‘Justin Kinney’. PCs aren’t allowed to have last names and even if they were, he is not a ‘Kinney’. Brian didn’t marry the tramp, he just BOUGHT him so he could have a convenient ass to fuck. Don’t glorify the gold digger by giving him a name he doesn’t deserve.”


“I see . . . And you’re sure nobody saw you here this morning that could vouch for your whereabouts? No mailman or delivery person? Somebody you talked to on the phone during this time? Anything?” the cop asked speaking plainly enough to make Mel afraid.


“No. I don’t think so. I was just here, alone, like I am all day everyday with my son. There’s nothing illegal about staying in my own home, I hope,” Lindsey answered, now looking belligerent more than anything.


“Okay. Well . . . Thanks for talking with me ladies,” Horvath replied after a minute of further staring at Lindsey. “I think I have all I need here for the moment. I may have more questions for you later, however, so don’t be surprised if I stop by again.” He smiled condescendingly down at Lindsey, put his notebook away in his suit jacket pocket and nodded. “You don’t have to get up. I’ll see myself out. You two have a nice afternoon now.”


Mel watched as the man strode out the front door and pulled it closed behind him. Then she turned towards her partner and just stared at the woman that she wasn’t sure she knew anymore. Lindsey was fussing with Gus in order to avoid having to look back at Mel. Just as the lawyer was about to finally speak up, Lindsey stood up, hefting the baby in her arms.


“Come on, Lambskin. I think it’s time for your nap. You look like a little sleepyhead to me . . .”


Mel waited, not so patiently, at the dining table for Lindsey to return. It took a lot longer than the usual ten minutes or so that was normal for changing Gus and putting him into his crib for a nap. Mel wasn’t about to head back to work though until she’d had a chance to confront her partner. Eventually, Lindsey couldn’t find anything else to delay with and slowly descended the stairs back to a waiting Mel.


“So, what brings you home in the middle of the day,” Lindsey asked with fake casualness.


“Try the frantic phone call I got from Dusty saying she couldn’t get a hold of you and she needed me to come pick up Gus . . . whom she’d had all morning while you were OUT OF THE HOUSE!” Mel returned, almost yelling the final words of her sentence before she realized she needed to keep her voice down if she didn’t want to wake Gus up. “What the FUCK, Lindsey? Why did you lie to a police officer? And where the fuck were you all morning, because you sure as hell weren’t here with our son like you said you were!”


“Don’t you dare curse at me, Mel! I don’t appreciate your language or your tone,” Lindsey tried to turn the tables, assuming that superior WASPish demeanor that Mel hated more than anything.


“Cut the crap, Lindsey. I’ll fucking curse if I want to and my TONE wouldn’t need to be this way if you hadn’t just involved ME as an accessory to providing a false statement to the damned police! I’m a lawyer, for fuck’s sake, Lindsey. I could be disbarred for this shit. Now, you’re going to tell me right this minute what the fuck is going on or I swear, Lindz I will call that detective back and tell him the fucking truth.”


“You wouldn’t dare!” Lindsey hissed back, outrage contorting her usually saturnine features into an angry mask. However, when Mel’s rigid stance evidenced the fact that the lawyer wasn’t going to back down this time, Lindsey seemed to crumble into the chair in front of her, breaking almost instantaneously into faux tears. “Mel, please. You can’t do that. Please.”


“Then tell me the fucking truth, Lindsey. Where were you this morning,” Mel demanded.


Again, Lindsey fidgeted and looked around her rather than looking directly at her questioner. In the end, her gaze drifted up and to the the right so that she was looking somewhere over Mel’s left shoulder. It was almost as if you could see the wheels in her head spinning as she tried to come up with an acceptable answer. Mel was shocked that her partner of almost ten years would act so deceitfully towards her of all people. But it was worse when Lindsey finally did start to speak.


“I just . . . Well, I decided that I would try one more time to get through to Brian. I didn’t want to let our friendship just fade away like it seems to be. Especially not over something as stupid as his need for a convenient, in-house fuck toy. So I thought I’d go over there and try to talk some sense into him. But, when I got there, there didn’t seem to be anyone home, so I just left,” Lindsey asserted, still nervously fiddling with her necklace through the whole speech and adding a random, pathetic sob here and there. “And, well . . . I just didn’t want that detective to read anything into it, you know? I mean, you could tell just by the way he was questioning me that he already thinks badly of me. I didn’t feel it was wise to give him any more reason to doubt me, is all.”


“That’s a huge load of bullshit and you know it, Lindsey,” Mel accused as soon as the woman was done speaking.


“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Mel.” Lindz batted her big brown eyes and looked as pitiful as she possibly could.


“Lindsey, I can tell you’re lying. And I’m pretty sure that cop could tell it too. Now, what the fuck are you hiding?” Mel demanded, standing up so she could glare down at the lying sack of shit that her partner had suddenly turned into.


“Mel . . . Please, don’t look at me like that. I’m not lying to you. Stop acting like you think I’ve done something wrong,” Lindsey replied, seemingly on the verge of breaking into tears again.


“Then why the hell were you gone for three fucking hours and why didn’t you answer when Dusty tried to call you, huh?” Mel asked expressly, while staring down her prevaricating partner. “Dusty told me you dropped Gus off with her at ten and it was after one when she finally gave up trying to find you and called me. So what WERE you doing all that time, Lindz? Huh?”


“I wasn’t anywhere special, Mel,” Lindsey answered with assumed composure. “After I left Brian’s I went and ran a couple of errands and then stopped for a cup of coffee. I just wanted a little ‘me’ time, you know? I guess my phone must have been turned off. I was just about to go over to Dusty’s and get him when that police detective showed up. I’m so sorry you had to leave work to pick up Gus.”


“You know what . . . Fuck it! Whatever,” Mel threw her hands up in the air and shook her head. “This is total bullshit and you know it, Lindsey. I don’t believe for one second that you just went off for three hours and totally FORGOT about our son. But, if you insist on lying, that’s fine. I can’t force you to tell me the truth. Just don’t expect me to back you up if that cop comes back to ask more questions.”


Lindsey gasped and pretended to be offended by Mel’s words, but the act wasn’t very convincing. Mel didn’t plan to stick around any longer to hear more lies though. She was too angry at Lindsey to deal with her at that moment without doing or saying something she might later regret. What Mel needed to do right then was to get some space and try to figure out what the fuck she was going to do.


Without another word to the woman who was still sitting there pleading with her, Mel got up, grabbed her keys and was out the door in ten seconds flat.


Fucking Lindsey . . .


********


The boy really didn’t want to wake up. He peeked out from under his still-closed eyelids just enough to determine that it was still dark out, so it couldn’t be time to get up. But he couldn’t get back to sleep either. He was too cold.


Instead of getting up and figuring out where the duvet had gone, the boy snuggled closer into his lover’s warm body. He reached over with his left arm and hugged the man’s sturdy frame. The arm around his back squeezed him back.


*Mmmmmm* “Brian . . .” Sunshine moaned contentedly and turned his head just enough so he could leave a kiss on the chest under his cheek.


“I’m afraid I’m not ‘Brian’, but I don’t mind the kissing, Little One,” a voice that was definitely NOT the Master answered.


The boy’s eyelids shot open and he immediately realized that he wasn’t in the safety of the loft’s big platform bed. He was in a pitch dark, cold, hard, damp hole. The body next to him was not that of his Master either.


And then all the horrors of his situation came back to the boy in one devastating wave of memory.


“Uh, uh, uh, uh . . .” the boy panted, scrambling backwards, away from the alien body and unknown voice as fast as he could move.


Which wasn’t very fast, unfortunately. He was slowed down by the fact that his legs seemed to be tied together with very little slack. He wasn’t able to move very far, either. He backed into another cold hard surface after only moving a meter or two. The best he could do was huddle there in the corner where he’d come to a halt, pulling his arms and legs in tightly so that he was as small as possible. In the process, he determined that the thing hampering his legs seemed to be a metal chain attached to both his ankles with heavy metal cuffs. Other than the shackles, and what felt like a metal collar around his neck, he was completely naked. Which no doubt accounted for why he was so cold.


The boy realized that he must be screaming again when he heard the unknown voice speaking, repeating the same calming words he’d heard the night before.


“Shhhhh! Come on, Little One. No need to freak out again. I thought we were done with all that. Shhhhh. It’s okay. It’s only me, Little One. Calm down. You’re gonna be just fine . . .”


The boy made a conscious effort to stop his noises. His screaming was only freaking him out even more, and it sounded as if the voice didn’t like it either. It took him a minute or two, but eventually he calmed himself down.


“That’s much better. I don’t think my ears could take much more of that. Good to know you clearly have very healthy lungs, though,” the voice said teasingly. “Now, why don’t you come back over here onto the mattress pad where it’s a tad bit warmer, Little One.”


The unknown hands reached out to him, but the boy whimpered and pulled away from the touch.


“Hush now. There’s no need to get all upset again, Kiddo. We were touching all night long and you were just fine. I promise I won’t hurt you.” The hands made contact again, brushing gently against the boy’s skin, and persisting until the youth stopped flinching away. “That’s right. It’s just the two of us and you got no reason to be scared of me. If anything, I should be the one scared of you and all your screeching.” *hahaha* “Now, come on back over here on the mat and we’ll get warm again.”


The boy let himself be tugged back to the other side of the small space. The voice was correct that it was warmer once he was on top of the thin padding that seemed to serve as a makeshift mattress. The shared body warmth from the arms wrapping themselves around him also helped. It took a little while, but after several minutes the boy found himself relaxing a bit more, glad for the person next to him in the dark, mostly because it meant he wasn’t alone with his panic.


“See, isn’t that better, Little One?” the deep bass voice crooned once they were settled. “It’s just you and me kid, so we might as well be friends, right? By the way, my name’s, Luke . . . Well, that’s the name my most recent Master gave me, and I suppose it’ll do as well as any other. The Master I had before this didn’t bother giving me a name and just called me ‘Boy’ for the three years I was with him - the bastard. Before that, the idiot who owned me called me ‘Eustace’, which is just silly, if you ask me. I mean, a six foot three, two hundred fifty pound black man being called ‘Eustace’ is just plain wrong, don’t you think?” The velvety voice laughed and the melodious noise of it washed over the boy’s raw nerves like a balm. “Before that I was just D4739, which, you know, doesn’t really count as a name. But before THAT, I was Darnel Saunders - of course, that was back when I was still a human being. Since I’m only a chattal now, it doesn’t really feel right to go by that name . . . so I guess we’re back to Luke.” Again, the velvety smooth laughter rippled through the small space, helping to hold back the boy’s fears.


“So, what should we call you?” the voice asked after a minute or two. The boy shrugged his shoulders. “Hmm. Does that mean you don’t have a name or that you don’t have a preference what I call you?” The boy shrugged again, transmitting his indecision through the movement of his shoulders against the larger man’s chest. “Okay, well then I guess we’ll just have to stick with ‘Little One’ then.” The body gave the boy a familiar squeeze that seemed to convey understanding for the young man’s lack of words.


“You do realize that you’re not much of a conversationalist, right?” the voice teased after a few more minutes of silence. “And here I was, hoping that having another person in here with me would help to while away the time. It’s just my luck that my new room mate is the quiet type. Damn lousy luck.” The boy huffed a little semi-amused noise in sympathy for the man’s predicament. “I do wonder, though, what a pretty, sweet little thing like you could have possibly done to end up here in the seventh circle of hell with a reprobate like me? I wouldn’t think you’d merit the attentions of a hardass like The Sapp, Little One. Especially with that doting Master of yours.”


The boy raised his head at the mention of his Master, wishing he could see the face of the other man in the dark.


“At least I think that was you I saw at Lapointe’s a few weeks back . . . or is it a few months? It feels like I’ve been here for fucking ever. I think it’s probably only been weeks though, right? Anyway, when they threw you in here last night I got a good enough glimpse of your face before they closed the door to see what you looked like and I’m pretty sure you’re the same pretty little blond I saw that last night I was at Lapointe’s before he shipped me off here for ‘retraining’.”


The boy nodded his head to confirm that he had indeed been at the dinner party from hell.


“I wouldn’t have thought your Master was the kind to send you to a place like this. He seemed pretty protective of you, Little One. He sure as hell raised quite a ruckus that night when Lapointe’s guests took you off without permission. The Sapp was still pissed off about it later that night when he was loading me up to bring me here. But, from what I could gather, your Master and The Sapp didn’t seem to get on much. Which is why I’m so surprised to see you here.”

 

Unfortunately, hearing mention of his Master - the kindhearted man who had saved him from the Handler and that Bellweather man once already - was too much for the boy. It just reminded him of the fact that he no longer had Brian to protect him. He was alone again. He was lost. And this time, the boy figured it might be for good.

Chapter End Notes:

2/9/17 - Let's hear it for our Poor, Scared Justin. But at least he's got a friend to help him through the fear. Bet you all forgot about Luke, right? Unfortunately, I'm not sure there's much Luke can do to help save our boy. I hope Brian and Horvath find some clues to where Justin's being kept soon! TAG

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