Chapter 2: Witness

Toby paled and looked at Sally. "You stay here and don' make no noise, got it? Not even if you hears stuff. Don't say anything. If you gotta cry, use my sweater to block the sound. Okay?"

Sally nodded and picked up the ratty sweater. Toby never wore it. He held it. It was a gift from the nice man in town. He always held it tightly at night when Daddy was home.

"Tobias you get down here now or I'm comin' up there and you'll be sorry!"

Toby ran out of the closet and down the stairs. Nothing had happened to Sally yet, and Toby was determined to keep it that way. Nothing would ever happen to Sally. He ran into the living room and stopped in shock. It wasn't Momma lying on the floor. It wasn't the broken beer bottles. It wasn't even the blood. He'd seen them all too often in his ten years to be shocked by them anymore. No, what shocked him was what his father was holding in his hand. How did he find it?

"What is this junk, boy?"

"Just..." Toby's voice quavered. "Just a toy, Daddy."

"A toy?!" Daddy looked drunkenly amused. "It looks like a chalkboard to me...with math problems on it!"

"It's just a toy, Daddy," Toby whispered. The first whack took him by surprise. He landed on Momma and felt dazed. Usually, he could duck and only feel a little bit. Daddy never hit him much. It was only at the end.

"You think you're smart enough to go to school? You're nothing but an idiot, boy! Can't do nothing right! I see crap like this lyin' around and you'll feel more than that!"

"Yes, Daddy," Toby whispered. That was the other rule. Always agree with Daddy.

"Now, I have business here tonight. You two get off your lazy behinds and clean this mess up!"

"Yes, Daddy," Toby whispered at the same time as Momma whispered, "Yes, Tobias."

Together, they quietly began to clean up the glass. Toby pushed and pulled the furniture back into place and regrettably dropped the broken chalkboard into the garbage can. He was ashamed that his hands were shaking. He could feel the side of his face swelling up and he was dizzy. But Daddy hadn't remember Sally and that was all that mattered. If Daddy was high, and it seemed like he was, that meant the other drug people would be coming. That meant that Momma and Toby and Sarah would have to hide upstairs and not let anyone know they were there.

When everything was cleaned up, Toby and Momma began to walk up the stairs.

"Tobias!"

Toby froze. So did Momma.

"You stay."

"Yes, Daddy."

"Tobias, no," Momma said. Toby was amazed. Momma disagreed! Daddy seemed surprised as well. He walked over to her.

"What did you say?"

"Please, Tobias. Don't do this. Please."

Daddy grabbed Momma and looked like he was going to kill her.

"I'm here, Daddy. I'm here. I won't go upstairs," Toby said. Daddy pushed him hard and he fell to the ground. Then, he threw Momma down onto the stairs.

Momma looked afraid, but she didn't dare disobey again. She limped up the stairs.

"You sit there, boy and don't say a word," Daddy ordered.

Toby sat down and tried to imagine that he was in school, learning things. He wasn't sure exactly what people got to learn in school, but it must be wonderful. There were so many kids there. He went into a daze and only came out when there was a pounding on the door. He awoke from his dream, scared and trembling. Daddy never had them downstairs when the drug people came over.

"'bout time you all got here," Daddy muttered as the men came inside.

Toby looked at them. They were like Daddy. He could tell. They had looks on their faces that were the same as Daddy's...only worse. They carried guns. Daddy didn't have a gun. They also looked at him in a way that made his skin crawl. He wanted to run. He wanted to get away, but he had to obey Daddy.

They talked and passed the drugs back and forth. Then, Toby noticed that he seemed to be a part of the deal. He didn't understand it, but he was afraid. They started shouting. It made his head hurt. Then, all of the men had their guns out and were pointing them at Daddy. He gestured to Toby and Toby somehow made his legs carry him over to the dangerous men. One of the men put a possessive hand on his shoulder. The hand squeezed more and more tightly until Toby winced. Then, he was thrown to the side again and he was on the floor by the front door. The guns started making loud noises. He'd never heard guns before. When they stopped, Daddy was lying on the floor, bleeding. Toby didn't feel sad about that, but he was still afraid. The men began to gather up their drugs and then they looked at him.

For the first time, one of them spoke to him.

"You're coming with me."

Before he could stop the words, Toby whimpered, "I want Momma."

"There's someone else in here?"

Toby realized his mistake and shook his head, over and over. The man slapped him.

"Don't lie to me, boy."

"Momma, Momma!" Toby cried.

Then, the front door flew open. There were other men with guns and uniforms and shiny badges shouting.

Then, Toby was dragged in front of the dangerous man and the gun was against his head.

"Move it or the kid dies."

Toby looked at the other men with guns. They looked nice. One of them...he blinked and noticed that one was the nice man from town, the one who had given him the sweater. Then, he heard Momma scream and thump down the stairs. That was enough. The drug man whirled around and more guns fired. Then, Toby was on the floor with the man on top of him.

"Toby! Toby!" Momma was screaming and he could hear Sally crying. The man was pulled off of Toby. He was alive and his evil eyes met Toby's for a long moment. They stared at each other even while Momma held Toby close and told him that he was all right. The man scared him still. His eyes were so cold. They were worse than Daddy's. Daddy's eyes were always angry. This man was just empty. He was cold and evil.

The man was pulled out of the house, but Toby watched him disappear. The man had whispered something to him and it made him afraid, more afraid than he'd been before. You're mine. Never forget that.

Then, the nice man was crouched down in front of the McGregors. He looked at Sally and his eyes widened when he saw the sweater she was holding in one hand while sucking her thumb.

Toby finally paid attention to the words being said.

"You're the nice man from town," Toby whispered. "Momma, he's the nice man who gave me the sweater."

"Yes, I see that, Toby." She didn't sound happy, though.

"You all live here?" the nice man asked.

There was a bitterness in Momma's voice as she answered. "Yes, if you can call this living."

"Momma, Daddy's dead," Toby said, suddenly remembering.

"I'm sorry," the nice man said.

"We're not," Momma said.

"You're not?"

"Look what he did to my son. Look what he did to me!" Momma said, almost shouting. It made Toby's head hurt.

"We didn't even know he was married, ma'am. I'm sorry."

"Momma, don' shout," Toby begged. "Please, don' shout."

"I'm sorry, Toby."

"Do we still have to keep secrets, Momma? Can we tell now?"

Momma started to cry. She pulled Sally close and rocked them both back and forth.

Toby didn't understand and he twisted in her grip and began to try and comfort her. "I'm sorry, Momma. I didn' mean to make you cry...not like Daddy."

"Toby, you are nothing like Daddy. Nothing," Momma said fiercely. "You will never be like him. You can tell now. Daddy can't hurt us anymore."

Toby nodded and looked at the nice man. "Daddy hurts us. Every day. He hits Momma...and me, too. He don' let us go anywhere. If we do, we get hurt. He had the drug people over all the time. He was gonna send me wit' them. The man...the man with the bad eyes...he tol' me that...that I was his. I don' have t'go wit' him, do I?" Toby started to cry. "I don' wanna go wit' him. He's bad."

The nice man put his hand on Toby's arm. It wasn't threatening...not like when Daddy did it.

"No, Toby. You don't. You don't have to go with him."

Before any of them could say anything, Toby pulled away from Momma and hugged the man tightly. "Thank you! Thank you! Daddy was bad. Daddy was a bad man! The drug man is evil! I don't wanna see them again!"

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Detective Nicholas Carson had no idea that the drug dealers they had been investigating were also into selling children. He had no idea that the little boy he'd given a sweater to on the street one day was the son of the piece of filth they'd been trying to bring down. As he hugged the boy, the words he had spoken suddenly made sense. The boy was a witness. His mother was as well, but he was a witness. He could identify the man they had arrested. If they had all been there during the other drug deals, they could probably testify to a lot of activity. Tobias McGregor, Senior was an important figure in the drug underworld. His death and the arrest of some of his partners would shake up the drug trade, even if only until the others could reorganize. Once the news that a young boy was a witness got out, his life would be worth less than a penny in the gutter.

He met Mrs. McGregor's eyes. He realized he didn't know her name even. She understood. She wasn't an idiot, for all that she was dressed like some backwoods housewife. She had lived in desperation, sacrificing herself for her children. Now, she understood all too well that her son was in danger, that they all were.

"Would you come with us–?" he paused, waiting for her to introduce herself.

"Alice. My name is Alice. Yes, we'll come." She stood, picked up Sally and looked at Toby with tears in her eyes.

Det. Carson led them all out the door, allowing Toby to hold onto him. This family tore him apart.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"You're a policeman?" Toby asked. It was a few hours later. They were at the hospital. He'd had stitches and the doctors had diagnosed a low-grade concussion. He was sitting patiently on the bed while Momma was being fixed. Sally was asleep beside him. He held her.

"Yes," Nick said. He had told Toby to call him Nick.

"What do you do?"

"I try to help people."

"Why do you need a gun for that?"

"Because sometimes, like tonight, we have to go after dangerous people. It helps us protect people and ourselves."

"I tried to do that."

"When?"

"Momma and I, we didn' want Daddy t' start hurtin' Sally. She's so little. So...whenever Daddy'd start on Momma, I'd hide with Sally in th' closet. Most of th'time, he'd forget about us...'cause we don' matter, 'cept when he's mad."

"Well, then, you do what I do."

"Can I see your badge?"

"Sure." Nick handed it over.

Toby looked at it. It was a shield. He wondered if it protected Nick from the bad guys.

"I wanna be a policeman."

Nick took back the badge. "Toby, I think you can be whatever you want to be, but you should make sure you try lots of things first. What are your favorite subjects in school?"

"Never been."

"Never?"

"No. I wanna go, but Daddy'd never let me. He said I was too dumb for school. He said I wasn' good enough for it."

"Never let anyone tell you that, Toby. You're smart enough. I think you must be a genius."

"Why?"

"Because I can tell. I can see when kids are smart, and you're smart. So is your sister. You both should go to school and then you can see what you like and what you want to do when you grow up."

"I can go?"

"Of course."

"You're...you're not just kidding?"

"No. I wouldn't do that, Toby."

Toby smiled, but then he remembered the man again.

"What about the drug men?"

"What about them?"

"They know me. What if they find me at school?" Toby asked, feeling afraid again.

"Toby, how would you feel about going somewhere else and having a different name?"

"Could it be Timothy?"

"You wouldn't mind?"

"No! I hate it here. I hate my name...and Sally's name. Daddy picked them. Momma didn' get to choose. I wanna get away. Can we do that?"

"Yes. Now, you and your Momma are going to have to talk about it, but we need your help."

"For what?"

"If you had to, could you tell people about what you saw in the house?"

"How would that help?"

"It would help us put the men in prison."

Toby looked at Nick for a while. He was afraid of the men. He didn't want to have to tell strangers about them...but... he looked at Sally. If he was going to be a policeman and protect people, he should start now.

"Will you help us, Toby?"

"Yes."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

The McGregors all died that day. With the death of Tobias, the others died as well. The deaths were not regretted by any of them. Alice, Sally, and Toby died with a cheer, not a whimper. Their deaths heralded the birth of the McGees: Joan, Sarah and Timothy. They moved away from their prison in Chicago and set themselves up in a small town in western New York. If any of the agents in charge of creating their new histories were surprised by the ease with which the McGees were born, they didn't show it. The McGregors had been miserable. The McGees had a chance to be happy.