This is the third story in the Broken Trust Trilogy.
Broken Trust: Renewed Vow
By
AJ
Prologue: The Trail
Bruce Wayne entered Woodrow Roosevelt High School and signed in at the desk. He received some strange looks since the whole school knew that Dick Grayson had been expelled earlier that week.
"I'm here to speak with Principal Schoolfield."
"I'll show you in," the Assistant Principal said.
Bruce followed and he was once again sitting in front of Mr. Schoolfield, this time hoping to let him know about some new developments.
"Mr. Wayne, if you have come to make an appeal on letting Richard Grayson finish, I am sorry, but it's too late."
"It's never too late," Bruce said. "I want to show you something." Bruce placed a folder in front of Schoolfield.
"What's this?"
"Read it carefully and you tell me."
Mr. Schoolfield scrutinized the contents of the folder. Then he came to the last piece of paper.
"What? Is this for real?"
"Yes," Bruce said. "Dick was set up and now . . ." Showing just enough emotion. "He's been taken, and I need help to know who has him," even though he suspected already. He needed to confirm it. "I can't go to the police or even contact Batman."
"What is it that you need to know?"
"Who had Dick's locker before him."
"We'll have to look at the records," Mr. Schoolfield said.
They moved into the outer office. Principal Schoolfield searched through the file cabinet and found the card.
"Before Richard Grayson had the locker, it was Wendy Weiman. She only had it for two years. She died in a car accident along with her older brother. A drunk driver, I believe. Very tragic."
"And before her, who had the locker?"
"A Matthew Malone, a fine boy. He graduated with honors and I heard he went on to law school. There was a time though he did seem moody."
"Do you have anything else on Matthew Malone?" Bruce asked.
"You don't suspect him?" Schoolfield asked.
"I have to check whatever lead I can find," Bruce replied.
"Let me check," Schoolfield said. "We keep a record of all former students for the Alumni." Mr. Schoolfiend moved to another set of files cabinets and pulled out a folder and handed it to Bruce Wayne. Reading over the contents Bruce learned a lot. He learned the young man's age, where he lived, and the fact that his father was deceased and had been for four years. He also learned that Dick had been there. On the inside of the folder, behind the papers was a small bat sticker. He was on the right trail, but was he involved was not certain.
"I need to check Dick's locker."
"Here is the combination."
"I notice that the combination is the same," Bruce said.
"The student is assigned that locker the whole time they are in school. Once they graduate, the locker is reassigned to a new student. You can take that card to open the locker."
Bruce noticed that Principal Schoolfield avoided talking about Dick. 'He may be embarrassed at the fact the he had been fooled just as I was.'
With Bruce's photographic memory there was no need for him to take the card. He also memorized the information about Matthew Malone.
"Do you have a photo of Matthew Malone?"
"That is odd. Usually there is a photo. In fact there should be several, one for each of his high school years, unless the student missed sitting for their photo. They are required to have a photo taken for their senior year, but the photo is missing from the folder. Let me check the annual. I keep one in my office." Principal Schoolfield moved back to his office checked the year when Matthew Malone would have graduated. He went to the shelf where each annual was stored since the school was established. "That's odd. The annual is missing."
"Do you have extras somewhere stored elsewhere?" Bruce asked.
"The library store room might have them. Sometimes the Alumni request an annual for their banquets. The library is on the third floor."
"We can check Dick's locker along the way."
They stopped at Dick's locker and opened it. Inside they found two items.
"It looks like Mr. Grayson forgot some items," Schoolfield commented.
"Hardly," Bruce said. "I was here when he cleaned out his locker and turned in his textbooks." Bruce picked up the items, a jacket that Dick had been wearing and a large yellow envelope. 'Since when would you find an envelope addressed to me in a student locker? Most letters to parents were mailed.' The envelope had no address on it, only his name. "We better check the library store room."
Bruce followed Principal Schoolfield to the third floor and to the library. He unlocked the door to the storeroom and they entered. There were boxes stacked everywhere. Some were marked with library check out cards while others were marked with other records. There was a stack of boxes on the far wall marked with the word Annuals along with their years. They found the box easily. The box had four annuals covering the years that Matthew Malone would have been in school. The box was sitting on top of another. They opened it to discover all the annuals were missing.
"How can that be?" Principal Schoolfield asked.
"It would seem someone does not want us to know what Matthew Malone looks like," Bruce said.
"But why?"
"I think I know why," Bruce replied. Matthew Malone had to be their man. Bruce pulled out a photo from the inside pocket of his suit jacket and showed it to Principal Schoolfield.
"That's Matthew Malone," Principal Schoolfield exclaimed.
"No, Mr. Schoolfield, that's Tony Zucco," Bruce said. He wanted to play a hunch, and that hunch paid off.
"Tony Zucco? The mob boss who was executed four years ago? I can't believe it."
"Believe it Mr. Schoolfield. Tony Zucco had a son. And that's who has Dick."
"But why?"
"Dick testified against Tony Zucco for the murder of his parents five years ago."
Principal Schoolfield's eyes became wide as saucers, then fear grew deep in their orbs. "Oh that poor boy."
"Tony Zucco's son is taking his revenge as we speak, and I have to find him."
"For a moment you sounded like Batman."
"Did I?" Bruce said, feigning surprise. "Maybe it's because I'm worried about Dick."
"Don't you worry Mr. Wayne. I'll remove the expulsion from Richard Grayson's record. You've shown me the truth. If there is anything I can do, please don't hesitate to call."
"Thank you."
Bruce left the library and walked out of Woodrow Roosevelt High School. He carried the folder that contained Dick's evidence along with the new envelope addressed to him. With each passing moment he felt like he was failing Dick. He had to find him, but how do you find one 15 year old in a city as large as Gotham City. Answer, you go see a man about a dog.
Continues with Part 1: Addicted to Hell