Here is chapter 14-the final part of Dreary Dreams…please review as I am ill and I wrote this from my sick bed…please excuse all errors. As you all know I do not own Treasure Planet—Disney owns it.
Jim hated the very idea of trusting Silver. Still there was a chance that he was telling the truth and he would hate to lose the chance to solve the mystery. Nothing mattered more in his life at that moment than finding Caroline Doppler.
"How do I know I can trust you?" Jim muttered. Silver's smile grew in size.
"Easy, Jimbo. You could call the cops. You hadn't yet." Jim saw the logic quickly. Silver had the power to trick him; then again Jim had no problem calling for help.
"Fine. But if you try anything…" Jim let the threat hang. Silver was not stupid; he wasn't exactly trust worthy, but then again Jim knew that he really did not have a choice.
"7 o'clock, you'll be meeting me at the back door of the inn. I'll has the proof." Jim bit his lip.
"All right, I'll be there." Silver said nothing, but nodded as he paid the waiter and slowly limped toward the door.
"Are you all right, Jim?" Kimberly asked softly as they walked home. Jim hadn't said a word since leaving the Benbow and Kimberly was starting to feel concerned.
"Just thinking." Jim muttered. Victor gurgled about something and Jim almost smiled. He could not imagine the pain of losing his son.
"Is something wrong at work?" Jim shook his head, patting Victor on the back.
"No, nothing like that. Doc and I had a great time over his questions. Some of them were just interesting." He lied casually. As much as he hated lying to his wife, the fear of her getting involved and then getting hurt was too much.
Kimberly stopped walking and grabbed her husband's arm. Concern flickered in her blue eyes and Jim swallowed.
"What's wrong? I know you better than this." By habit, Jim nervously ran a hand through his short hair and sighed.
"I was just thinking about the Dopplers." That was all he needed to say. Kimberly nodded and smiled slightly to reassure him.
The couple walked in silence for a moment, each lost in their own thoughts. Finally a sigh from their son broke the silence.
"Would you mind if I went out tonight?" Jim asked suddenly. He was careful to not sound worried; but the question in itself was odd.
"Where are you going?"
"I bumped into an old friend today and he wanted to talk. Kinda like a long-time-no-see get together." It was not really a lie…but then again if it were the truth, Jim would not have felt so guilty saying it.
Kimberly smiled one of her brilliant smiles.
"That's great, Jim. Which friend?" Jim nervously shifted his son to his other shoulder.
"David Shepherd. You know from the academy?" Kimberly nodded vigorously and laughed.
"You haven't seen him in years! Where is he staying?" She looked expectantly over at him and he swallowed.
"I didn't ask. It was kind of an unplanned meeting. We were both going some place and would be busy the rest of the day, so we agreed to have a snack later tonight. It slipped my mind till a little while ago."
"Jim, you can go anywhere you want. Just keep in mind that you have work tomorrow."
"Yeah, I know."
7:45pm
Jim took a deep breath as he made his way across the road to the inn's back door. True to his word, Silver stood there. Darkness shrouded his face, but Jim would have recognized the old cyborg anywhere.
"Jimbo." Silver said simply, quietly greeting him. Jim nodded not really concerned with answering him. Whether or not Silver found it rude that he had received no reply, he didn't say.
"Here's be me proof." Silver handed Jim a folder. Although they lived in a modern industrialized world, paper was still fairly common. Jim opened the green cover and leafed through the many papers. Some seemed irreverent as if some disorganized person had stuffed them into a special folder marked 'odds and ends'. Still as he skimmed through page after page, some just looked important. Finally he came across something worth reading.
It was a newspaper clipping dating a good twenty years ago. Flashing across the top of the clipping in bold font was the statement that caught Jim's eye: 'Young Captain to go to Court over Killing'. It went on further to state that a certain Captain Jacobs had been nearly killed by Gregory Smitten, the only son of David Smitten. Jim frowned as the name Smitten flashed in his memory. But the fact that the guy was well known was all he could come up with. He read on further…
David Smitten was charging Captain Jacobs with brutality and unnecessary manslaughter. A few needless sentences explaining who was in the court case followed and Jim almost stuffed it back into the folder. Then he caught the story underneath the 'unnecessary manslaughter'.
Pirates had attacked Captain Jacobs' ship and just as the heat of battle had begun to cool, Gregory Smitten had tried and failed to kill the captain. In complete self-defense the boy had been shot, though neither the Captain nor the first officer would comment on who had actually killed the boy. It went on further to say that Captain Jacobs had won the appeal and had received a medal for valor rather than jail time.
"Silver, what does this have to do with anything?" Jim asked holding up the clipping. Silver smiled.
"You found the clue, Jimbo. You found the clue."
Short, I know and this is a bit of a cliffhanger…but then again…I only have so much time. Please review if you enjoyed it.