CHAPTER 7. Blurred
Will grunted as he crossed the door before shutting it close with his foot.
"You… useless… thing," he hissed, and gifted his bike with two kicks. "You had to break, didn't you?"
"Will?" came his sister's voice from the kitchen.
"I'm home," he replied while walking towards his bedroom. He collapsed in bed after tossing out his dirty sneakers.
"God, you stink!" said Rebecca entering his room without knocking. "Where were you? It's almost nine!"
"Out," he mumbled, too tired to speak any further.
"Where? In a barn?" his sister sniffed.
"Working," he said plainly.
"I thought you worked only in the evening," the girl replied, confused and worried.
Will shifted in bed and laid an arm over his face. "Yeah, I did. At least, I used to. It doesn't matter anymore, I'm not coming back there," he hissed.
"What? What happened? Did he fire you or something?" Will snorted but didn't reply. "Tell me!" she demanded. "You promised me you'd tell me everything?"
"Did I?" he joked, but he was actually thinking what to say. Before realizing, he was lying to her again. "I had a fight with him."
"What?"
"He said he didn't like my job. I'm not a prodigy digging, but I know I'm good. And then he said he would pay me less because the work was inferior, and I shouted and left."
"That guy sounds like an idiot to me. But… are you sure you want to quit? I mean, less money is better than no money at all, right? Next week we'll have to pay the rent again. I guess I could find some kind of job, though. Mrs. Tantrumi talked to me in the main hallway and told me she needed help, so I-"she said really fast but got interrupted.
"Mrs. Tantrumi?" There was no way his sister would end up working for that witch. Will was sure the woman knew exactly who Crawfly was, and that meant she had sent him there purposefully. No.
"How much do we need?" he asked.
"For the rent? I believe it was £63," she said squinting. "Oh, but I've paid your phone yesterday. Let's make it £70. Why?"
"Because I've already found something," he said then.
"Really? Where?" Rebecca replied, half dubious half hopeful.
"A pub," Will said thinking about the purple card.
"A pub," Rebecca repeated. "You. In a pub. I'm not complaining, but whoever hired must be blind. You don't even look old enough to drink accompanied by an adult. That could get them in trouble…"
"Have you ever heard of unregistered employment?" Will joked. Truth was, he was beginning to worry. What if the guy thought he was too young?
"Okay. Just stay away from the murky," she sighed, and turned to leave.
Will groaned and propped himself up on one elbow. "Wait, where's Mum? Now that I think about it, I didn't see her in the living room."
"She's not here. Therapy or something," Rebecca said wearily.
"At nine? Well, that's weird," he frowned. "So what's for dinner? I'm starving."
"Where is it?," the old man asked, voice husky and potent.
He stood up and surrounded the other man in the room. They looked alike but also very different. Both of them had the same angular features and cavernous eyes. Both of them were tall and slender. However, while both of them were old and wrinkled, one was vivacious and the other dry as a dead branch.
"Where is…what?" the vivacious one said, confused.
"Our new attraction." After the silence his subordinated gave as an answer, he spoke again visibly annoyed. "The boy!"
"Oh." The man paused, and rubbed his hands together. "He's fled. I don't know how, I've even made sure he wouldn't be able to escape…"
"You've made sure," the older man said dryly.
"Yes, I broke his bike. I even-"
"You weren't supposed to break his bike, you should've been watching him!"
"I know, sir, but the boy was starting to suspect! It was too risky-"
"I've heard enough. I don't want you here, you are dismissed," the old man said waving his hand.
"That's not all. We have bigger problems. The kid 've been stolen by Dark Light's!" the subordinate warned.
"Stolen? How?"
"After the kid left my place, I followed him. Not too far from there he was speaking to The Owner," he hissed.
The old man cursed. "Did he accept already?"
"No, sir. He tried to refuse, but The Owner insisted. However, there's a big chance he might accept. He needs the money; he looked willing to do almost anything!"
The old man walked back and forth, scheming. He stopped in front of the window, his hands hidden inside his pockets. The dim light of the room combined with the bright red curtains casted weird looking shadows over his face. It seemed as if he were about to start a monologue in a macabre theatre. But he simply said,
"I'll take care of that myself."
And those words alone where a thousand times more meaningful than any speech. When the old man wanted to take care of things, there was nothing that could stop him from achieving his goal.
Drake showed Eddie another picture.
"And this is Stephanie," he told him. "His grandfather was one of my father's co-workers. Now that they're both retired, he contacted me to see if I could help him with the case."
Eddie nodded.
"She's missing since November," he explained. "That's almost seven months and this is the first track we have, thanks to Cal."
"How did he escape? Did he tell you?" Eddie asked, intrigued. If that kid had managed to find a way out, he was sure his daughter could. She was extremely clever.
"It was luck, if you can call it that. They were taking him in a van, God knows where. He was blindfolded, tied…, and then he heard shouting. The driver had some kind of telephonic fight and crashed. He died on the spot. But Cal, Jesus, that kid's got one hell of a guardian angel. Not even a scratch," Drake said amazed.
"So the kid broke free, found the guy dead in the driver's seat, and knew that was it. He was out."
"Can I… can I talk to him? I want to ask some question about my daughter," Eddie requested.
"Sure, I'll call him. Just be gentle, okay? It's difficult for him to trust strangers."
Just seventy pounds, Will thought. Just that. And then, I'll leave. I can do that.
It was dark, only the stars and a little slice of moon illuminating the cobbles. He aimed towards the entrance and sighed. Once there, he nodded greeting to the bouncer and held up the card. "I'm here to see the manager?"
The bouncer nodded and gestured for Will to go inside. The pub was hundreds of conversations told in loud voices, all of them competing with some kind of accordion music that dominated the atmosphere. The crowd was mostly middle aged, although there was a part of the swarm that looked in his twenties. One bartender was shaking a cocktail behind the bar on the right side of the room. Will winded his way through the warm bodies trying to reach the bar and ask the man. He coughed when someone spat cigarette smoke in his face. The smoke twisted and rose, forming curls in the gloom, illuminated only by the intense shade of purple of the bar lights.
He felt a hand on his shoulder.
"You're here!" It was the man that had given him the car. The owner.
"Yes…," Will replied, not knowing how to start.
"I don't think I've introduced myself. I'm Benjamin, but you can call me Ben, everyone does," said the man, extending a hand.
"So, I'm here because-, "Will tried to say, shaking his hand lightly.
"You have a name?" Ben cut him smiling.
"I'm W-, "he started but then stopped. What if the man investigated him? What if he discovered he was fourteen? What if he called the cops? He panicked. "I'm Seth," he lied.
"Seth. That's a nice name. It suits you well."
"Thanks?" Will said awkwardly.
"What were you saying?" Ben continued with an encouraging smile.
"Oh, I- I remembered you said you were short of personal, and I thought that maybe if there's still a free spot I could work here for some time? Nothing too big, just a…"
"That's great, Seth! That would be really helpful. What was your estimated salary? I can pay you fifty pounds a week, is that enough?"
Will gasped. "Yes, of course. When do I start?" he joked.
"Can you start now?" asked Ben, and Will raised his eyebrows. "Tonight is quite a special night, as you can see we have a full house. However, why don't we go into my office to talk? Things don't pick up around here for another hour or so. The main attraction is still missing."
