Author's Note: Ok, it's going to start getting darker from here on out. I hope you like it!
Chapter 6: Bait
Mike and Peter sat at the table trying to come up with plans to get Barty off Patty's tail, but they first needed to find out how much Peter's parents knew, and that was the task proving the most difficult. They could easily just lure Barty into a trap with the police around to catch him so he was arrested and carted off to jail, but that may not have stopped other people from coming after Patty. If her parents knew where she was, there was every chance in the world they'd send someone else after her.
"The only thing we can really do is try and get him to talk somehow," Peter said. "Just ask him how much my parents know."
"I doubt he's going to be so forthcoming, Peter," Mike said. He knew it was their only option, but they had to think of a way to get him to talk.
"Well, he is an idiot," Patty offered. She stood in the kitchen pouring herself another glass of ginger ale that Mike and Davy had gotten at the store for her stomach.
"Yeah, but Mike's right," Peter said with a sigh. "He's not going to just volunteer information without incentive. He knows if he does, Dad'll kill him."
"So we entice him to talk," Patty said.
"How?" Mike asked even though he thought he knew where she was going; he just wanted to keep Peter as far away from that kind of action as possible.
"Patty, I think I know where you're going," Peter started. "But I really don't think it's right."
"Ok, so we stand back and do nothing," she said. "Or I just go home and grovel and beg for forgiveness."
"You know I don't want that either," Peter said.
"Well, what other choice do we really have right now, Peter?" she asked. She suddenly grabbed her stomach, slammed her glass on the counter and ran for the bathroom. Mike cringed and felt bad that there wasn't more they could do to help her feel better. Peter got up from the table and darted after her. Mike sighed and starting cleaning up a little. Peter and Patty were in the bathroom only for a few minutes when they came back out. Mike handed her a fresh glass of the ginger ale which she gladly accepted.
"I wish there was something more we could do to help with that," Mike said.
"It's fine," Patty said. "It's perfectly normal. Something every woman has to deal with, right?"
"Yeah, but it doesn't really make it any better," Peter said. Mike was about to say something, but he heard Davy and Micky pull up to the house. When they walked in, Davy looked as upset as he had been when they left, but now Micky was also upset.
"Hey, how'd it go?" Peter asked. Davy glared at Micky before sitting down on the couch.
"Fine, mostly," Davy said. Mike could sense there was tension between them and was almost afraid to ask what had happened.
"What's going on with you two?" Mike asked anyway standing up and steeling himself to play referee between his two friends.
"Oh, nothing," Davy said his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Micky just almost got himself arrested."
"You what!?" Mike exclaimed turning on Micky.
"I did not!" Micky argued. "I did nothing they can charge me with!"
"How about harassing a police officer?" Davy asked
"Micky?" Peter asked clearly as stunned as Mike was. It was very unlike Micky to do anything illegal. Unless, of course, his friends were in danger and he absolutely had to.
"I did not harass him!" Micky defended.
"You called him an idiot!" Davy said. "And don't try and tell me that you weren't about to punch him, cause I could tell you were."
"What in the world…Micky, what did you do!?" Mike asked.
"I didn't do anything," Micky said.
"Cause I stopped you," Davy argued.
"I was not about to punch him," Micky said but Mike could tell he was lying.
"Ok, how about you two start from the beginning," Patty said coming between all four of them and trying to diffuse the situation.
"There was this little girl in the police station," Micky started. "I could tell she was scared and the idiot cops were getting angry with her rather than trying to help her because she wouldn't even so much as tell them her name."
"What was she doing there?" Peter asked. "Was she lost?"
"She was stealing bread so she could eat," Micky said angrily. "She had a bruise on her face and her arm. It was clear to see that she was being hurt and neglected and those cops just kept pestering her to tell them who she was and where she lived. She didn't want to tell them because she's too afraid to go home."
"You don't know it was her parents who were hurting her," Davy said.
"Yes, I do, because she told me," Micky said.
"Well, how would the cops know that?" Davy asked. "Don't go calling them idiots because they don't have all the facts, Micky."
"All you had to do was take one look at her!" Micky exclaimed.
"Well, Davy has a point," Mike said. "She could have gotten beat up at school or she could have been hurt by someone else entirely."
"Then why was she stealing bread?" Micky said scathingly.
"I don't know, but you can't expect everyone to jump to the same conclusion you did," Mike said. "Did you actually call the cops idiots?"
"Yes, cause they were," Micky said. "They're just going to dump her in a foster home."
"Well, what are they supposed to do if she won't tell them her name?" Patty asked.
"She would have told them, but she was afraid of them," Micky said. "They were getting angry with her instead of trying to compassionately get her to open up to them."
"Well, that's all very sad, but there's nothing you can do about it now," Mike said. "We have other things to worry about."
"Oh, he wrote down the address of the foster home they're taking her to," Davy snapped. "He plans on going back to visit her."
"I promised her everything would be ok," Micky defended.
"Why?" Mike asked. "You don't know that."
"I don't know, ok?" Micky said sounding very exasperated. "Is this gang up on Micky day or something?"
"No one is ganging up on you, Micky," Peter said. "We just really can't handle too much right now, and I'm sorry, but even though I'm sure we all feel really bad for that girl, keeping my sister safe is too important not to push on a back burner."
"I'm not trying to do that, Peter," Micky said. "I just…I don't know. I felt like I had to do something. I felt like I owe her."
"You don't know her," Davy said.
"I'm aware of that," Micky said. "I can't explain it. But I can't break my promise to her. I have to make sure she's ok. If I do, that'll be one more person in the world who let her down, and I can't live with that on my conscience."
"Well, maybe you should have thought about that before you made that promise to her," Davy said.
"Davy, stop," Mike said when he saw a flash of anger cross Micky's face. "I know you're upset over this thing with your mother, but don't take it out on Micky. He was trying to help a little girl. I can't say I wouldn't have done the same thing. I may not have gone as far with it as he did, but I still would have wanted to help her, and I know you would have, too. But you're angry and bitter, so take a deep breath and calm yourself down before you say something you can't take back. I'll make a deal with you, Micky, ok? I'll go with you tomorrow to check on that girl, but for now we have to work on saving Patty. Deal?" Davy looked down at his feet shamefully accepting that Mike was right. Micky looked from Peter to Patty and finally back at Mike before sighing and sinking into a chair in the living room.
"Deal," he said.
"Ok, so Peter, Patty and I were just discussing how to figure out what Peter's parents know and what they don't," Mike said sitting back down. "And what the best way to get Barty arrested would be."
"We need to get him to talk somehow," Micky agreed. "It's not like we can just call them up and ask them."
"Right," Mike said. "But I think there may only be one way to get Barty to spill the beans on what he knows. I know you don't like it, Peter, but I agree with your sister."
"Are you guys talking about coercing it out of him?" Davy asked.
"Well, he's not just gonna up and volunteer the information," Micky said.
"Well, no, but it's wrong to hurt someone," Davy said.
"Yeah, it's also wrong to shoot at someone," Mike said. "Especially a pregnant woman."
"If you guys don't want to do it, I can," Patty said.
"No," Peter said. "I don't want any violence around my niece or nephew."
"Peter, my baby isn't even born yet," Patty said.
"Well, they can hear things inside there," Peter said. "Or so I've heard."
"It's ok, Patty," Mike said before she could argue. "First things first; we have to figure out a way to lure him into a trap where we can capture him."
"Easy," Patty said. "We use me as bait."
"I don't think so," Mike said.
"You must be joking!" Davy exclaimed at the same time.
"No, Patty," Peter also said at the same time.
"Yeah, that's not happening," Micky added also at the same time.
"Do you guys have any other ideas?" Patty said looking a little annoyed.
"We can use bait, but it sure as heck isn't going to be you," Mike said.
"Then who?" she asked.
"One of us dresses up as you," Micky said picking up on Mike's plan.
"Are you serious?" she asked.
"Yeah," Mike said. "Let's see, Davy's too short."
"Well, Peter and Patty are twins," Davy said.
"I've dressed up like her before," Peter agreed.
"Yeah, when you were 5!" Patty argued.
"Do we still have that blond wig?" Mike asked ignoring Patty.
"I'll go get it," Micky said as he dashed up the stairs.
"You have a blonde wig?" Patty asked skeptically.
"Yeah, it's helped us get out of a few binds," Mike said laughing. "Micky wore it once when he pretended to be a chaperone."
"You dress up as women in your spare time?" Patty said laughing.
"Not in our spare time," Peter said. "It's not like it's a hobby, but we have to sometimes."
"Peter wore it once pretending to be Davy's mom in a toy factory so we could help this guy save his job," Mike laughed.
"And I really thought that would be the last time I had to dress as a woman," Peter mumbled.
"Found it!" Micky said bounding down the stairs.
"Don't you think it would be easier just to have me do it?" Patty asked.
"No," all four of them replied in unison again.
"Patty, we can't risk anything happening to you," Peter said. "I'd never forgive myself if anything happened to you."
"Oh, but I can?" Patty asked. Peter opened his mouth to say something, but shut it almost immediately.
"That's not what he meant," Mike said. "None of us are ok with using you as bait. It's not saying we don't think you can't take care of yourself either. It's just…you're pregnant. You have to protect your baby as much as yourself." Mike didn't feel comfortable using her baby as a way of making her feel guilty enough to make her back down, but it seemed to work; she didn't say anything else in protest.
"Ok, Peter, put the wig on and get dressed in some girl's clothes," Micky said handing Peter the wig. "I want to see how believable it looks." Peter nodded and dug some girl's clothes out of their closet. After a few minutes in the bathroom, he came out wearing a floral print skirt, a blouse and the blonde wig. Patty bit back a laugh.
"Looks believable," Davy said.
"It's missing something," Mike said. He looked Peter from top to bottom, but couldn't place it.
"Yeah, he's missing a stomach," Micky said. "He's too skinny."
"Really?" Peter asked. "Are you really going to make me wear something to make me look pregnant?"
"You want this to work?" Micky asked.
"And what were you thinking of using, Micky?" Mike asked skeptically.
"Well, she's not that-" Micky started, but Mike quickly clamped his hand over Micky's mouth.
"Patty is beautiful," Mike said staring at Micky and trying to convey it was never a good idea to imply that a pregnant woman was either "fat" or "round" or "big" or anything like that.
"Of course she is," Micky said quickly getting the hint. "Just a few towels wrapped around his stomach out to do the trick." Micky dashed into the bathroom and came back a few moments later with some towels. Mike grabbed some duct tape and Davy lifted up the blouse Peter was wearing so that Micky could wrap the towels around his stomach and Mike could tape them in place.
"I can't believe you guys are making me do this," Peter mumbled.
"Would you rather your sister do it?" Micky asked quietly so Patty wouldn't start protesting again.
"Of course not," Peter said. After a few minutes of making sure everything was smooth, Peter tucked the blouse back into the skirt and this time he looked good. Patty wasn't showing all that much yet, so they didn't need Peter to be all that big yet either, so the towels worked well.
"Perfect!" Mike said. "Ok, so now we just have to figure out where he is, then Peter gets out of the car and leads him into our little trap."
"Then what?" Davy asked.
"Well, then…" Mike started, but he couldn't bring himself to say it out loud.
"We'll deal with that when we get there," Micky said putting a hand on Mike's shoulder. None of them were really looking forward to the prospect that they might have to hurt another person, but Mike just had to keep reminding himself that Barty deserved it. Anyone who hurts a pregnant woman deserved a good smack in the face. But he still really hoped they could find another way around it.
They had spent the better half of the day driving around with Peter and Patty crouched down in the back of the car driving around hoping to get a good glimpse of Barty, but none of them saw him. So Mike decided to try again tomorrow, and turned the car around to head back home. Just in case, Peter and Patty stayed hidden in the back seat. Davy was honestly glad to be heading home. He wanted this all to be over and for Patty to be safe, but he was extremely tired. He hadn't slept well the night before because Peter had woken them from having his nightmare, and Davy hadn't been able to sleep after he'd had his own nightmare the night before that on their couch.
So when they finally reached the pad without incident, Peter rushed into the bathroom to take off his getup and Davy told Mike and Micky he was going to go to sleep early that night. Mike, Micky and Patty waved him goodnight and sat around the kitchen to talk some more. Davy made his way into his bed carefully stepping over the sleeping bags that belonged to Micky and Mike and crawled under the covers. He was asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.
Davy walked down the street and kicked at a rock. He really didn't want to be going home, but he had no choice. His favorite teacher had given him a bologna sandwich earlier that day, and as his stomach groaned, he pulled it out. He'd eaten half of it earlier, but was saving the other half for the walk home. Just like he always did. He never knew if there would be food in the cabinets when he got home. By the time he reached the run-down apartment he called home, he'd finished the sandwich and threw the baggie away. He paused for a moment on the other side of the door before he opened it. He had to listen for sounds pertaining to actions he didn't want to see. His mother would stoop to whatever low she could think of to get money for drugs and alcohol, and he really didn't want to see any of it. Hearing only silence on the other side of the door he carefully pushed it open. The sight that met him was a typical one. Both his parents were passed out on the floor, blood dripping from their noses. Davy just rolled his eyes and walked over to the phone. He dialed a number he knew well, and a very pleasant voice greeted him.
"Hello?" said the man on the other end of the line.
"Hello Dr. Cragen," Davy said.
"David, is that you?"
"Yes. I just got home. They did it again."
"Alright, I'm on my way," Dr. Cragen said with a sigh. Davy stepped over the bodies of his parents on the floor and walked to the kitchen table. He set his backpack on the table and started to do some homework. He'd gone through three math problems when he heard the knock on the door. When he opened it, an older man with a very warm smile and sparkling eyes was standing on the other side.
"Sorry, Dr. Cragen," Davy said stepping aside to let him in.
"Don't apologize, David," Dr. Cragen said. "Don't ever apologize for your parents. It's my job to make sure they don't kill themselves. You have nothing to do with it."
"I know, but I wish I didn't have to call you so often," Davy answered closing the door behind him.
"So do I, David, so do I." Dr. Cragen walked over to Davy's parents and knelt down next to them. He checked for a pulse in their wrists and then he checked their eyes. "They should be fine. It appears they both drank too much again."
"Thanks," Davy said.
"I really wish that you didn't have to deal with this."
"My grandpa says he's trying to take me away. But the social worker said that it might take a while. She said she hasn't seen anything that would give her cause to let Grandpa take me."
"Well, she needs to be more thorough. I know I'm a doctor and I can't release medical information without a warrant, but I am tired of reporting suspicions of neglect and having nothing happen. I'm damn near tempted to break my oath and just hand over their patient records without a court order."
"Don't do that, Dr. Cragen. You'll lose your job!"
"I know. Want me to stay for a while until they wake up?"
"That's ok," Davy answered. He really would have liked the company, but he knew it would make his parents mad.
"Are you working on homework?" Dr. Cragen asked seeing the school books on the table.
"Yes. Math."
"I hope you're doing well in school?"
"I guess. I got a C on my last test."
"If you need any help, feel free to ask me. You're a very smart young man, Mr. Jones, and you could do well if you put your mind to it. But I can imagine how hard it must be when you have to deal with this."
"Thank you, Dr. Cragen." Davy smiled. He really liked Dr. Cragen. He seemed to care about him and had even given Davy a new sweater for Christmas. Granted his mother had sold it to a pawn shop, but he couldn't bring himself to tell Dr. Cragen that little bit. With a final smile, Dr. Cragen left Davy alone with his parents. As soon as Davy had made his way back to the kitchen table, his mother moaned and sat up. She looked at Davy with confusion in her eyes.
"Who are you?" she asked. Davy sighed a little.
"I'm your son David," he answered very slowly and deliberately.
"Son?" she echoed. "I don't have a son!" She leapt up off the floor and charged at Davy. "My son died before he was born!"
"No, Mom, that was my brother!" Davy cried leaping out of the chair and crawling under the table to avoid her.
"You killed him, didn't you!" she exclaimed ignoring Davy completely. Davy wished that he had asked Dr. Cragen to stay, but it was too late now. Davy dashed out of the kitchen and in her current state, it took a while for her to realize he'd escaped from the kitchen.
"Mom, please stop!" Davy cried as she picked up a knife and charged him again. Davy dodged her again, used to this kind of behavior from her.
"You're not my son! Tell me what you did to my son!" she shrieked. Davy ran through the living room but slipped on the puddle of blood coming from his dad's nose. He crashed on the floor and his mom was on top of him in a second. He tensed up and tried to wriggle away, but couldn't. Luckily she took that moment to remember who he was for a split second and dropped the knife. "Oh, David, I'm so sorry," she cried.
"Get off," Davy said. She sat up and at that moment his dad started coming to as well. Davy didn't wait for another romp around the apartment to avoid his dad, so he just walked toward the front door and left. When he slammed the door behind him, he heard the familiar sounds of his father yelling at his mother.
Davy bolted upright in his bed and felt very cold. He looked around and saw he'd kicked the covers on the floor and onto Mike and Micky's sleeping bags. Peter was lying asleep in his bed across the way, but Mike and Micky had woken up and were looking at him with pity. Davy didn't want anyone to pity him, so he just got out of bed and left.