Chapter Nine
Fisk arrived to find Jim and Karen alone, outside the cell, conferring. "Where's the kid?"
Jim turned to the Lieutenant. "He needed a bathroom break."
"Alright," Fisk looked at the fax Tom had given him, "He has an Amber Alert out on him. Selway and Russo found his parents, they're on the way and, oh, his name is Dimmey, Dimmey Palmerston."
"That might help."
"So, what else did you get?"
Karen held her hands out in defeat. "Boss, we're digging but, his memory? Doesn't seem to work like ours so …"
"We have to find some way to jog his memory. We need some things for him to draw on, big paper, colors. And I need a map of the area between his house and where we found him. I doubt he walked all the way from his place to where we found him. We should canvass the bus routes and trains."
"That's in progress."
Heavy footsteps signaled Dimmey's return, the steps awkward and accompanied by the clanking of chains.
Fisk looked at the wide eyed expression. Dimmey towered over his guards, who looked like they were protecting him. "He still need all that?" Fisk asked quietly of Jim and Karen, indicating the restraints.
"He's unpredictable, Boss," Karen answered. "And faster than he looks."
Jim shifted his weight, impatient to get back in and find out where the other children were.
Lieutenant Fisk nodded, keeping his eye on the huge man. "Any feel for if the other children are alive or…?" he asked, looking from Karen to Jim.
"No, Boss. I don't think he even knows." Jim eased the tension in his neck and turned back to the cell. "We'll get the locations as fast as we can."
Karen hesitated but Jim headed straight back for the cell, following the trail of bars back to the closed gate.
"I'll bring the things you need," Fisk said to Karen with a nod, "Go."
The guards had arrived with Dimmey and waited a few feet back from the cell gate where Jim stood. They looked from Jim to Karen. "Um, Detective?" one ventured.
Exasperated that they didn't just ask Jim to move back, Karen gave them a pointed look and spoke quietly to Jim, "We're in the doorway." She guided him out of reach of the big guy. At her prompt, he followed the guards in again. She waited seeing Fisk arrive with butcher paper and crayons and a street directory.
"Here, Dimmey, you can do some drawing while we talk if you'd like," Karen said as she put the paper and crayon packet on the table.
Dimmey's eyes lit up and he wrestled with the packet of crayons. He grunted and the crayon packet went skidding across the table as he failed to pull the wrapper off. One of the uniformed guards placed it back on the table in his reach.
"You need a hand with that?" Jim asked.
Dimmey sounded annoyed, "No, I can do it!" Then the packet opened with the sheer force he applied. Several crayons went flying.
Karen's mouth twitched. The guards were caught between being guards and babysitters, one of them diving to pick up crayons under the table. She kept her eye on Dimmey but he was intent on the paper in front of him, he'd chosen black and red to start with and mixed them with abandon, but even the stick figures of most eight year olds would have been an improvement on what he managed. She couldn't make out what it was supposed to be.
"Nice colors," She commented, "red and black."
"You drawing the children you picked up, Dimmey?" Jim asked.
"Yeah." Dimmey looked around for another crayon. "I need pink."
"Here's pink." Karen handed it over.
"What do you need pink for?" Jim asked.
"The train."
"A pink train?" Jim asked, turning to Karen.
She shrugged. "I don't know."
Dimmey continued drawing, oblivious to the conversation in front of him.
"We got that directory?"
"Yes."
"What train line runs from his place to our precinct?" Jim's thoughts raced ahead. "At the back they have a subway map overlay."
Karen was already there. "The F train."
"Did you enjoy your train ride today, Dimmey?" Jim asked while Dimmey reached for another crayon.
He nodded, Karen tapped Jim's foot, their code for affirmative.
"You got on at Sutfin Station right?"
"Yeah."
"Were you alone there?"
No answer. He picked up the yellow crayon and started what could have been a person.
"Is that where you found Sophie, the girl with the yellow hair?" Karen asked.
Dimmey shook his head.
"No." Karen supplied.
"Did you have any of the other children there with you?" Jim asked.
Dimmey ignored him, concentrating as he selected a green crayon and began to draw boxes.
"Which child is there now?" Jim persisted.
"The red one." He took a red crayon and started drawing something in the green box.
Karen stood and went to Fisk. He got himself connected to the patrol in the area of Sutfin Boulevard Station, which was only a block from Dimmey's home.
While Fisk worked this information, Jim continued digging for more. "Can you draw me a picture of the other children and where they are?"
Dimmey shook his head, a crayon rolled away to Jim's hand. He picked it up.
"Dimmey?"
"I need that one."
"This one?" Jim held up the crayon.
"Yeah. It's pink."
"If I give it to you, will you draw me a picture of where the other children are now?" Jim repeated.
Dimmey shook his head again. Karen returned.
"Why not Dimmey?" She asked.
"I don't know where they are." He started to cry. "I want my Mom."
"Would you like Detective Dunbar to find her?"
Dimmey nodded again. Karen gave Jim the single tap.
"I'll go see what I can do, and I'll be back, Big Guy, you wait here?"
The man nodded again and sucked on his drink.
"This one's for you," he said, handing the first drawing to Karen.
"Thanks. You want to do another one?" she asked. Dimmey picked up the pink crayon Jim had left and began again.
"You good to stay?" he said under his breath so only Karen would hear. When she confirmed she was, Jim pushed back and stood a little awkwardly, the painkiller injections to his knee were wearing off. He waited while the gate was unlocked.
Outside the cell, Fisk called out, "We're around the corner here, Jim."
Jim walked up to Fisk. "Any word on the station?"
"They're looking, but so far nothing."
Jim closed his eyes, he squeezed the bridge of his nose. "Karen's getting him to draw. I wish I had something faster."
"The parents are due any time now." Marty said, "If that helps?"
Jim turned to Marty, wondered who else was here. He nodded, "Good, we'll use the parents as leverage. Boss, can you hold them upstairs for a little while?"
"Sure. Just don't take too long. I get the idea they feel like theirs is one of the missing children, not the abductor."
The group was silent; this situation was a tragedy for all, the victims, Dimmey and his parents.
Jim took a breath, ready to go back in. "He doesn't like to give up info but seems willing to confirm info we feed him. We'll start trying public places where he might have left them."
Jim turned and went back to the cell, running his hand along the tomb wall, until he came to the cell door. "Officer?"
"Yes, Sir, door's open."
"Thanks."
Jim entered the room. "Dimmey?"
"Yeah?"
"I found your Mom."
Dimmey sounded happy at that, "And my Dad?"
"Yeah, I'm going to bring them both here. You want that?"
"Sure do." Dimmey looked up at Jim as he took the chair in front. "You found them quick. Did you find my cat?"
"Not yet. But if you'll help us find the other children, I might try."
"I don't know where they are." He started a new drawing.
