Chapter 9: Back Pocket
"Missing? Bette?" Tack choked out each word one after another as if he didn't have the breath to form full sentences.
Billy slumped back heavily into a chair. It squeaked from his weight. Dust billowed up. Artemis's eyes prickled. She held back from sneezing, it didn't feel like an appropriate moment to do so. Leant forward, arm propping up his chin, Billy looked like an aging uncle, drunk and divorced sitting alone on Christmas day. Dick still stood with his arms folded. He looked stoic, cold even, but there was something about the slouch of his back and clench in his jaw that suggested to her that he was more ill-at-ease than he first looked.
"Her parents reported her missing this morning after she hadn't been home last night," Capooche said. "Do any of you know where she is?" He looked at each of them in turn. They all shook their heads.
Her head spun. It felt filled with cotton wool. She had been expecting something… she just hadn't been expecting this. Why did bad things happen to good people? Why was the world so cruel?
Tack was the most upset. He didn't seem to know what to do with his arms. He stretched, gestured and flapped them about like a fairground ride. He kept squeezing his hands together. Whenever he stopped, Artemis could see them shaking.
"I'm sorry you had to find out like this," Capooche said. "I was told you four were close to Miss Kane –"
"Are," Tack said.
Capooche winced and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Sorry. Are," he corrected softly. There was a small pause and Artemis could feel the rush of blood in her ears. "I was wondering if you noticed anything strange about her yesterday. Any routine she skipped, any small detail you think could be relevant."
Bette hadn't met Artemis at the gym like she said she would yesterday. Could that mean she went missing around that time? And she had mentioned that other girl, what was her name? Amalia. She was missing too wasn't she? Why hadn't the police been involved with her disappearance if it was as suspect as people seemed to think? She was dimly aware of the others shaking their heads.
"Do you think she's okay?" Tack's voice was soft and small.
Capooche looked down.
The fat cop scoffed and wrestled himself out of his chair. His cheeks were ruddy and flushed. "It hasn't even been twenty-four hours yet, there's nothing to worry about. The girl probably just went out partying like most girls her age and stayed over at someone's house…" He trailed off at Artemis's glare.
She made a small noise in the back of her throat like a territorial growl. "Most girls her age, huh?"
Capooche stepped forward and grabbed the larger man by the upper arm. "A word, Tim," he said. His voice and face were resolute as iron. Tim started to say something, seemed to think better of it, and allowed himself to be led further into the office.
Silence.
"Miss Crock," the receptionist eventually said. "That jumper isn't regulation."
Artemis nearly laughed. A student was missing and her main concern was her freaking jumper? At that she did start laughing, but cut herself off as soon as she heard herself. She sounded like a nervous, manic serial killer clown.
"When you're finished here, return to class. And remember to not tell anyone. If the situation doesn't change we'll hold an assembly tomorrow." The receptionist gave them a once over as if she suspected they would light the office on fire the second they were left alone, seemed to reassure herself they wouldn't and left the office with a swish of skirts and a click clack of heels.
The door clicked shut. It was silent. The room had an electric tension to it so palpable Artemis could feel hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Bette was missing.
Bette was missing.
"I didn't think I'd see you again so soon, and definitely…not like this," Dick moved over to them. Artemis realised that as soon as the adults had left the room they had all clustered closer together instinctively like penguins or asteroids in orbit.
"You know him?" Billy asked.
"We went out for coffee," Dick said.
"He's like thirteen!"
Artemis blushed. "No we didn't!" Dick arched an eyebrow at her. "Well we did. But not like that!"
"Bette's missing, and you're talking about coffee?" Tack said. He paced up and down in front of them, shoes squeaking on the floor.
There was an awkward silence. Artemis looked down. She hadn't known Bette for long, but Bette had been nice to her and she felt like in time they could've been close friends. Could be. She wasn't dead, just missing. And that meant she could be found.
"She's going to be fine," Artemis said.
"How do you know?" Tack's eyes were pleading, he looked like he was about to cry. God damn it, she hoped he didn't cry.
"Because I'm going to make sure she is."
"How?"
She could call the League… But no, they wouldn't help her find Bette. As harsh as it sounded: one schoolgirl's life wasn't high enough on their list of priorities. Kaldur had already told her to not contact the Team no matter what, but they might change their mind if she told them what was going on. No, she was capable, she could do this herself. And if for some reason she needed backup, she could always call Robin, he was always up for a chance to get in trouble.
"I'll find a way," she said.
He didn't look too convinced, but he didn't question her further and finally stopped his pacing. He stood still with arms by his sides like a sad broken toy.
"Going missing for no reason. Skipping school…" Billy shook his head. "That doesn't sound like Bette."
"I don't think he thinks she's missing for no reason," Dick nodded over to where Capooche was walking back. The other cop wasn't with him.
Capooche had good hearing. "No, I don't," he said. He strolled up to them, wiping his hands on the front of his uniform as if cleaning off some strange substance he found poking around where he shouldn't have been.
"What happened to Doughnut?" Tack asked. He seemed to be feeling better and had picked his unconcern regarding authority right back up.
Capooche's mouth turned up at the corners and he coughed into his hand. "My colleague is on his way back to the station."
"Why?"
Capooche turned to face her. This close he actually looked younger. He had a large hawkish nose and strong cheekbones. He had looked wiry from further away, but Artemis could see his arms coiled up and tight with muscle beneath his uniform.
He paused, deciding what to say, rolling the words around in his mouth like water before eventually spitting them out like he was a wine taster. "We had a… disagreement regarding the importance of the investigation. The finding of your friend and her safety is my top priority." He pulled out a pen and a small black notebook from his back pocket. "Do you know if Bette has any history of mental illness?" he asked.
Artemis found a spot next to the wall and sat down. This was going to take a while.
"You said that Bette wasn't at your gym class?"
Artemis nodded, and Tack and Billy agreed. Dick stood to one side playing on his phone. They'd been in there for nearly an hour, and the room felt stuffy and oppressing. Sweat prickled at her underarms. She fanned her face.
Capooche grunted and frowned, leaning forward on his chair, tapping his pen against his notebook. "Are you sure?"
"Ask anyone else in the class," Tack said. "Or check the attendance. The teachers collect it every lesson, even Gym. Our teacher is meticulous. He carries it around in a black folder. If you miss two classes unexplained or forget your gear twice, detention." Tack shook his head slowly, smiling as if remembering some classic family tale. "He loves that black folder. I don't think I've ever seen him without. He even carries it with him when he's on duty in the canteen. You know, I think it makes him feel more important–"
"Thanks, Tack." Capooche cut in. He sighed and stood up, Artemis caught a glance of his notebook before he snapped it shut, page filled with small cramped writing. She imagined what his mind had found out from the interview. What theories had made it onto the page in ink, which were still circling his mind? "Well I think I've held you all up enough for today."
"Yeah, we'd better get back to class. If there's one thing we value, it's our education." Tack said. He tried a smile but it looked sickly, like a wilting plant. Artemis forced out a laugh, but cut it off quickly when she heard its strained sound.
Capooche smiled sympathetically and pulled out four business cards, handing one to each of them. "If you think of, or remember anything else, call me."
They all stood up and shook his hand. Artemis's left leg was numb from the way she had been sitting and she wobbled as she stood. Dick put his hand on her arm until she was steady. She glanced at him, but he was already looking away, as if helping her had been as instinctive and easy as breathing.
Tack thanked the policeman for his help. Capooche sighed. "Just doing my job," he said.
Capooche opened the door and Billy, Tack and Dick walked through while Artemis hung back.
"Why were you surprised when I told you Bette wasn't at Gym?" She asked Capooche after the others had passed. She kept quiet so they wouldn't hear–maybe he would open up to just her. "Shouldn't that have been the first thing you checked with the school, when she went missing?" It was just a hunch that he was hiding something, the way his eyes tightened when she told him Bette wasn't at Gym, like he hadn't believed her or that it meant something hugely important. Maybe he would open up to her.
His eyes tightened again. A small almost unseeable squint which caused his laugh lines to bunch up. Bingo. "I wasn't surprised," he said. He was lying.
She shook her head. "You know something, something else,"
Capooche looked her in the eyes again and she knew she was right. She could see the secrets swimming in his eyes like sharks. He sighed and pulled something out of his pocket turning it over in his fingers. She couldn't make out what it was.
"I can't tell you. I'm not involving you kids," he said more to himself than her.
"Hey Artemis, you coming?" Tack's voice yelled out.
"Just a minute," she called back. She narrowed her eyes at Capooche. "You were the one who brought us here in the first place," she said, hands on hips.
His hand moved again and Artemis could see that he was flipping a pack of cigarettes over and over again in his hand like how a magician absentmindedly handles his cards. He glanced down to where she was looking, and immediately stopped. It was a nervous habit, she realised. He looked wistfully down at the cigarettes and then shoved the pack back into his pocket.
"It was a bad idea," he said gruffly. "But I want to let you know that I'm doing everything I can to find your friend."
"Except using our help."
"I know this is hard for you, having your friend missing. And I know you want to help more. But I'm trained for this, and I've spent half my life doing this. This is my job. You don't want what this job brings, Artemis. Let me do my job. I'll find your friend. You just focus on being a kid…" He trailed off. His face turned pale, his cheeks looked like they were made of plastic. He leant back against the wall as if he didn't have the strength to stand up. He clutched his right hand into a fist, knuckles white with force. He grunted in pain.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
He put his head down, his jaw clenched. He dragged his hands across his face. His legs shook. Eventually the fit, or whatever it was, seemed to pass. She grabbed his shoulder and side and helped him back to his full height. As she did so, she slipped the notebook out of his back pocket and up under her shirt, tucking it into the waist of her skirt. Robin had taught her a few sleight of hand tricks. She felt guilty, Capooche was likeable and he obviously cared about helping Bette. But if he wouldn't give her the answers she was asking for, she would have to take them.
"Thank you," he said hoarsely. "I'm okay." He didn't sound like he believed it. There were small red crescents on the palm of his right hand from where his fingernails had dug in.
"What is it?" she asked. He hadn't felt sick. She had carried sick people before, had seen them in the hospital. His muscles weren't atrophied like a cancer patient; he looked healthy, felt strong. But obviously something was wrong.
He didn't answer for a while. His face was slowly filling back up with colour like a balloon being inflated. "Nothing good," he said eventually.
There was an awkward pause. "Artemis, hurry up!" Tack called out to her again.
He motioned her away. "Go to your friends." He frowned to himself. "You've already helped enough." He reached to his side. Artemis winced, if he checked his back pocket she'd be caught out. But he reached into his other pocket, the one with the cigarettes and she relaxed.
She nodded and smiled at him, and she walked out of the office slowly, forcing herself to not to run unless she give herself away. She reached Tack and Billy standing sullen in the hallway, Dick wasn't there.
"Where's Dick?" she asked.
Billy shrugged. "Guess he got tired of waiting." Whatever, she told herself. But something about that stung her and she didn't know why.
"Wait!" A voice called out from behind them. She turned to see Capooche hurrying out the door towards them. He already looked much better, as if the fit had never happened. But she could see his ill health now in the shadows of his eyes and off-beat gait. It was like when finding a stain on a shirt: it was hard to see before, but now that she had seen it her eyes were drawn to it until it was almost like there was nothing else there. He must have found the notebook missing and known someone had taken it. Her heart jumped in her chest like it had been kicked by an angry horse. She opened her mouth to deny everything.
"Could I have a word, Billy?" Capooche asked.
What? She shut her mouth. Capooche must have caught her looking at him strangely because he nodded at her reassuringly. She forced herself to not duck away, and nodded back.
"And what if I say no?" Billy said. His arms were folded and feet set into the ground like posts. He was ready for a fight.
Capooche's shoulders lifted minutely, as if he were breathing deeply. "Then you say no. But I'd appreciate it if you said yes."
Slowly the fight drained out of Billy. The posts wilted back into legs, and his arms dropped back to his sides. "See you guys later," he muttered to them, and trudged back into the office, Capooche following closely behind.
"What took you so long anyway?" Tack asked after Billy left. "Did he tell you anything else about Bette?"
"No," she said. She brushed her arm back against her side to remind herself Capooche's notebook was still there. But I hope he will soon.
A/N: Things are heating up ;)
Also, in case you haven't heard, we're getting a third Young Justice season! Once again, thank you all for your comments.
~WCW
