This is the sequel to Broken Trust: Shattered Family
Broken Trust: Little Bird Lost
By
AJ
Prologue: Runaway
Aunt Harriet came down the stairs earlier then usual. Something had disturbed her sleep. She couldn't put her finger on it, until she spied the envelope sitting on the table in the entryway. Had Alfred forgotten to deliver the mail? The envelope was plain, no name or address. Harriet opened it and read what was inside.
What? She moved quickly up the stairs for a woman her age, determined to see if it was true. The door to Dick's room was ajar and as she entered, her eyes grew wide. The bedding was disturbed, but barely. Dick's dresser drawers had been hastily left open, some of their contents emptied, and the special bank shaped like a circus tent stood open. The money it contained was gone. Harriet's eyes filled with tears as she turned away from the dreadful sight. She did the only thing she could, calling for help.
"Alfred! Bruce!" She went down stairs to the living room calling them once again. "Alfred! Bruce!" Once in the living room, she moved to the couch and broke down. She pulled out a handkerchief from her dressing gown, covering her face and sobbed. The note she still held in her hand dropped to the floor.
It was Alfred who arrived first. "Madam, what has happened?"
"Oh Alfred . . ." Harriet continued to sob. "He's gone."
"Who's gone, Madam?"
Harriet reached down to retrieve the letter, but Alfred was quicker. He read the contents and his eyes grew wide.
"I must tell Master Bruce at once," Alfred said. "Be assured Madam, we will find him."
"Find who Alfred?" Bruce emerged from the study. He had been out of communication for hours and just returned. He had found the punch card and brought it to ask his own questions. Then he spotted Aunt Harriet. "Aunt Harriet, what's the matter?"
She continued to sob, shaking her head.
Alfred handed Bruce the note and he read the contents.
Bruce,
I know you believe that I've broken my oath. I haven't. That oath is all I have now. I did not steal those exam papers. I did not put those things in my locker. Someone has set me up. I must prove my innocence. Please, tell Aunt Harriet and Alfred goodbye for me. I love you all, that will never change.
Dick
"What does he mean, 'broken my oath?' What oath does he mean? Harriet asked.
"We made a promise to take care of each other," Bruce said. "It was before you arrived." Though Bruce was thinking about a far different oath, one that he had performed with Dick in a darkened cave with nothing but a candle, the good Book, and the bats as witnesses.
"Oh Bruce do you think all this time Dick has been telling us the truth?" Harriet said, interrupting Bruce's train of thought.
"It looks that way," he said. Bruce read the note one more time and then the punch card. 'Had Dick left this behind for me to find? And why was he looking for information on Tony Zucco? He's been gone for four years,' Bruce thought. 'What did he see that I missed?' Bruce walked toward the stairs to go to Dick's room. Perhaps there was some clue as to where Dick might have gone.
"Bruce, where are you going? We should call the police to help us find Dick," Harriet said, then turned away angry. "This is all your fault, not believing him, forcing him to stay in his room. And him not eating since Friday."
"What?" Bruce turned back to Aunt Harriet. "What's this about Dick not eating?"
"You heard me Bruce," Harriet said, anger lasing her words. "In your own blind stubbornness you failed to notice that Dick wasn't eating his meals. He hasn't eaten since Friday. Poor boy must have put himself on a hunger strike because we wouldn't believe him."
A deep hollow sinking feeling came over Bruce. "Alfred, is that true?"
"I'm afraid so, Sir," Alfred explained. "I would take his tray to his room and leave it outside his door as you requested. It would stay there untouched. His door was locked until last night when you had me deliver his tray in his room. He barely touched it last night. I noticed all he ate were two dinner rolls and water. The tray was left on the table outside his room."
"Bread and water, a prisoner's meal," Bruce said. Guilt filled him. How could he have doubted Dick, but the evidence was overwhelmingly against him.
"Alfred, please make Aunt Harriet some tea. I'm going to check Dick's room. Then meet me in my study."
"Very good, sir."
Bruce went up to Dick's room and seeing the evidence with his own eyes once again causing that hollowness to be more pronounced. Dick's dresser drawers stood open and the circus tent bank was empty. Now he wished more than ever that he had not treated Dick so badly, including tossing him like a ragdoll across the room, treating him like . . . like a criminal. He could still picture the look of astonishment and horror on Dick's face. He hadn't listened to Dick's pleas, and now he wished he had. Dick was out there alone, searching for something, perhaps even a new home.
'Had he become so disillusioned that he ran away because of me? '
Bruce recalled five years ago why he took Dick Grayson in. He thought he could help Dick deal with his parents' murder just as others had helped him, turning his anger and rage into something far more meaningful and productive. He wanted to adopt Dick so he would have at least a parent who would be there for him. The court would not allow Bruce to adopt Dick Grayson because he was a single man, and so Bruce thought he couldn't be a true father toward Dick. He realized he was wrong. Over the five years they'd been together, Dick had become his son in all but name. The thought of not seeing Dick again, tore a whole in his heart that was just as large as the one when his parents were murdered. Any other child would have run away out of spite, but Dick's note didn't have the tell tale anger of a teenager scorned. Dick's note had a purpose. He ran for another reason, to prove his innocents. Thinking about that, Bruce moved to Dick's desk and found Dick's notes as well as the two letters that someone had given Dick.
He picked up the letters and read each one, then saw the list that Dick had compiled. He read it over carefully, trying to learn what it was that Dick had learned.
Dick's List
The person had to be someone at school.
The note was taped to my locker (amend, the first note). They wanted me to see that note first.
Person had access to principal's office and safe in order to get the exam papers.
The person knew my locker number and combination in order to slip the exam papers inside my locker.
I've had that locker for four years, who had it before me?
Person placed handgun and other items in my locker, probably when everyone was in class that morning, then informed Mr. Schoolfield.
While I was in Mr. Schoolfield's office that person added the second note.
Knows about my past, that I came from the circus. Very few know that.
Question #1: How did they know I was attending that school?
Question #2: Could the person be a former student or member of the staff?
Question #3: Who knows about my past?
Question #4: Who is – I Am Madness
I know what I have to do. Will require some special tools. Have to leave tonight when everyone is asleep. Don't know what this will mean. Even if I do prove my innocence, will they let me back in school? Or Bruce, will he . . . Have to leave him a note only he'll understand. Shakespeare makes a great paperweight.
Shakespeare? Bruce got the meaning quite well. He raced back down the stairs to his study, the only place that Aunt Harriet wasn't allowed to go. He found the note tucked under the heavy bust and opened the letter.
Bruce,
I'm sorry for causing you so much trouble. I don't blame you. You were doing what you had to do. You know I would never hurt or betray you, especially your secret. I swore an oath and I have kept that oath. I will continue to keep that oath till my dying day. Whoever has tried to destroy me, is also trying to destroy our family. I don't know why. I will not let that happen, even if it means my death or if I never see you again. That person knows about my past. I can't do this as Robin. I will not rest until the person responsible is behind bars. I love you.
Dick
And at the bottom a drawing in the shape of a bat. With that symbol, Bruce realized that maybe Dick wasn't totally lost to him.
'Someone had set Dick up,' Bruce realized. 'Someone who knows about his past. There were questions that had yet to be answered. Why did Dick request information on Tony Zucco? Zucco was sent to the electric chair and has been dead for almost four years.'
Bruce looked at the punch card and noticed that there was a line under one of the words. 'Of course! I should have seen it. Zucco, despite the fact that he was a mob boss, he was also a family man. Dick, I hope you're not getting in over your head.'
Continues with Part 1: Mob Bosses and Their Sons