Hey guys! I can definitely say I have more time to write now :) Cleaned my kitchen, set out some fancy dishes in a cupboard, switched out an old curtain rod for a new and curtains rather than blankets, went out to dinner with my folks, and I still managed to write most of this today. Of course, I'm once again posting something after midnight, but, eh.
Shoutout to the awesome reviewers: thefirstservant, MamaBear2Two, SubRosa7, 487carrie, mhart, guest, lunez, guest, Chrissysmiles, JudyL068.
Hope you guys enjoy it!
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"What? Ezra, what does that mean?" Chris was leaning forward in his chair, not liking how pale Ezra was anymore than Nathan, who was glaring at him, but needing to know what that meant. The boogeyman? Something in the way Ezra had said it had sent a chill down his spine. He couldn't say his undercover agent wasn't prone to dramatics, he could be, but this was not that. That had been true, deep, panic, a panic that seemed ingrained at the mention of the man, and seeing it on one of his men like that sent his need to do something, to fix it, into overdrive.
"Dammit Chris, give him a minute, he just had the start of an anxiety attack." Nathan was shifting so he was in between him and Ezra just a little, and there was no need for that. It wasn't like he was going to force him into talking. He leaned back, nodding, but unable to just leave it there.
"Whoever he is, he ain't gonna get anywhere near you." Chris's voice was severe, harsher than he meant it to be, but Ezra looked up at him, face still stark and stared into his eyes almost demandingly, "And he ain't gonna hurt you. He won't. I'll kill him first." Ezra just kept looking at him and Chris willed him to see, to understand the promise in his eyes, his agent staring for so long he wasn't entirely comfortable with the heavy gaze, but he just looked back, waiting until Ezra found whatever it was he was searching for and sank back a little in his chair, gathering himself before he spoke.
"Cardamone was my stepfather, my second stepfather. You learned, when that insipid fop Preston Wingo attempted to extort mah Mothah into marriage, that she had had five previous husbands. The numbah is actually six, but we do not...we do not acknowledge or discuss Cardamone." A very brief, very slight, shudder ran through Ezra, but it was more than enough to set Chris's hackles even more on edge.
"He was abusive?" There was a long moment where Ezra just breathed, and Chris didn't even need to hear the answer.
"He was a monstah. More to Mothah than to me. She...she protected me as best she could." Chris wasn't sure he should believe that, knew Maude had left her son in more than one bad situation. He wouldn't say that to Ezra though, as much as they didn't get along half the time he still seemed a bit in awe of his mother for the rest. Chris could see Maude being the type of person, as well, who could pretend abuse wasn't happening when she wasn't there, but be unable to do nothing if her child was hurt in front of her. In fact, he thought grimly, he thought that summed up Maude's protective instinct pretty well. Ezra eyes were glued to his lap, deep in thought, and he had started rubbing along his upper jaw line with the side of his good hand, elbow on the arm rest, and curve of his pointer finger pressing tightly into his face, and, Chris's eyes narrowed as he watched, he didn't seem to realize he was doing it.
"Is he where you lost your tooth?" Chris thought he must be wrong even as he said it, because Ezra wouldn't have had his adult teeth yet, not if this was only the second in the string of now six stepfathers, but after a long moment of stiffness Ezra nodded sharply, and after an even longer pause where Chris tried to think of something to say besides more threats to kill Cardamone, he spoke quietly, raising his head enough that he was staring at the top of the desk instead of his lap, but no more than that.
"Yes. Ah was struck in a mannah that both dislodged the immature tooth and damaged the adult tooth above beyond repair." Death was too good for the man.
"How old were you?" He thought maybe he'd remove the same number of teeth from Cardamone's mouth if he got a chance.
Chris knew he couldn't, not in reality, that unless he posed a physical threat when they got their hands on him-and get their hands on him they would-he could do no more than shove him around a bit when getting cuffs on him. Cardamone was going to rot in jail for a long, long time. Of course if he did pose a physical threat, if he was stupid enough to fight...
"Chris...", Ezra shook his head, not answering, and Chris dropped it with a nod. He'd find out before too long. "Ah nevah imagined he would seek me out at all, let alone attack me...Ah don't understand, ah was merely an annoying encumbrance to him, and Ah certainly have no knowledge that he could considah a threat...he has no reason to want me dead..." The man was fiddling with his pajama sleeves, and still not looking directly at Chris, voice getting quieter as he spoke, like he was speaking more and more to himself. "Ah know this is putting a large strain on everyone, particularly aftah the difficult case we already had-"
"Ezra..." Chris shook his head, disbelief filling him, "are you apologizing because of this evil son of a bitch trying to kill you?" Ezra looked at Chris through his eyelashes, not actually raising his face, and then abruptly changed the subject.
"Ah need to get a hold of mah Mothah, Ah have to make sure she is alright, and warn her her well-being could be in dangah. Ah need mah phone, Ah have to get it." He tried to stand up, much too fast, and went pale, Chris half standing as Nathan wrapped an arm around his shoulder and helped him back into the seat.
"No, you need to sit, I'll get your phone. On the dresser, right?" Ezra nodded, and with a solid pat on his shoulder and a warning look to Chris-shooting a similar look back, Chris wondered why was he the bad guy now?-Nathan strode off on his mission.
"Do you know where your mother is now?" Chris asked. As much as he didn't like the woman, he didn't want her dead either, and not solely for Ezra's sake. And no one, even those far worse than Maude, deserved to be attacked or murdered because an abuser thought he still had the right to do as he liked with them.
"During mah last email exchange with Mothah she was in Switzerland and planning to stay for several more weeks, but it has been nearly that long since Ah have heard from her. She could easily have moved on by now, or be in the process of doing so." Worry flickered over Ezra's face, the man not going to the trouble he usually did to hide his emotions, too preoccupied. Chris was certain he was worrying over something already having happened to his mother, and he wanted to tell him it would be fine, but he knew damn well it could be a lie and so he kept his mouth shut.
The two waited in a tense silence, Chris more anxious than he wanted to admit as the minute or so it took Nathan to get the phone and come back seemed to stretch out and out. If something had happened to Maude, let alone if she'd been killed, the toll it would take on Ezra...whatever else she was, or whatever Chris's opinion of the woman, she was still Ezra's mother.
He had other questions about Cardamone, what the man was involved with, if he had any friends in high places, that kind of thing. Ezra saying he had no information that Cardamone could consider a threat meant that information like that existed. Frowning, Chris wondered just how exactly Cardamone made a living. Call it a hunch, but Chris would bet his badge it was something illegal. Most kids wouldn't have picked up on the kinds of things Chris wanted to know, but he highly doubted Ezra had been much like most kids.
Finally the medic was back and handing Ezra the phone, nodding to the quickly muttered thanks and standing over him like a sentry as Ezra fumbled just a bit in unlocking the phone and dialing the number. They waited and waited, and it was clear by the southerner's expression that it had gone through to voicemail before he spoke. "Mothah, Ah need to talk yah right away. It's a serious emergency, please call back." Then his fingers were flying over the keys, he must have been sending a text. In a move that Ezra ordinarily wouldn't have considered, he immediately redialed the number, waiting impatiently only for it to go to voicemail again. Chris watched as he, scared and frustrated, slapped it down onto the desk without leaving a message this time, "Why won't she answer?!"
"Maybe Maude has her phone on silent. Or, you said she's likely to be in Switzerland, if she's on the slopes it would be pretty hard for her to hear her phone, or answer if she did." Chris did his best to make his voice sound calm and reasonable, and Ezra nodded his head slightly to each suggestion, though Chris could see he was just as wound up as he had been, voice strained against another potential outburst as he responded.
"Ah suppose that those are possibilities, Mothah does so love to ski."
"What's the time difference between here and Switzerland anyway?" Nathan asked, moving to lean his side against the desk so he was in Ezra's view without him having to turn his head, and looked at Ezra as he spoke, "Could she still be asleep?"
"No, Ah had considered that briefly, but in Switzerland it would be late afternoon or early evening by now, Ah believe they are eight hours ahead of us."
Nathan blinked in surprise, "Do you have a world clock memorized?" He was clearly joking, but Ezra, high-strung and with most of his mind elsewhere took him seriously.
"What? No, of course not." But he knew almost exactly what time it was where his Mother was supposed to be. Chris cursed internally, hoping that Maude called back soon. After a moment, Ezra said quietly, "Would it be possible for me to examine the email correspondence? It may be that my knowledge of Cardamone could reveal more pertinent information." Ezra was asking Chris, but Chris looked up at Nathan, because it was fine with him as long as he gave Ezra the all clear.
The man hesitated for a second, nodding after he'd thought it over, "As long as he sticks to the couch and doesn't overdo it, that's fine. Ezra doesn't need to be sitting up at a desk though, and he hasn't eaten yet."
Chris nodded, "Alright, I'll go tell JD to get copies of the emails set-up, you get him fed."
"Excuse me, Ah am present in the room, you know, and perfectly capable of making mah own breakfast." Nathan had looked slightly sheepish at the beginning of Ezra's statement, but by the end he was shaking his head. Chris looked him over and shook his own head. In addition to his nerves being about shot it was obvious he was in pain, and even if all he wanted was his customary bagel with cream cheese, he didn't need to be expending the extra effort.
"Ezra. Let Nathan help you."
"Mistah Larabee, Ah am fine."
Despite knowing that 'Mr.' had come from annoyance, Chris looked sternly back, tightening his lips a little when Ezra showed no reaction. "Ezra. Let Nathan help you." An almost invisible nod was his answer, but Chris waited until he'd allowed the medic to start helping him to stand before he took his gaze off him and climbed to his own feet.
"Alright, I'll get that arranged with JD, and then I'm going to make my way into the office." He'd been planning to wait until later on in the day, when they'd had more time to gather information and do research, but this new information changed things. Chris wanted to know everything Sharpe and Noll knew about this plot and Cardamone and he was going to find out. "Ezra, in addition to going through the emails I want you to make a file full of everything you remember about Cardamone. You've got one of those microphones on your laptop that turns talking into typing, right?" Ezra's shoulder had come out before, and there wasn't always someone available, either on the team or from the administrative support pool, to take dictation.
"Yes, but Ah do not have mah laptop at the present moment." Damn, he should have thought of that. Of course he wouldn't have it here.
"Is it at the office or at your apartment?"
"Ah believe in mah haste Ah left it at the office."
"Well, I'll bring it back for you, in the meantime see if JD can get something similar on my laptop, if not have him do your typing."
"And what has error has young Mistah Dunne committed to have become the day's chore boy?" Chris thought for a moment, and decided he wasn't going to open that kettle of fish if he wanted to get out the door anytime soon.
"You can get that story from him and Vin. About Cardamone-put the things you think are most important first, but don't leave out anything, I mean anything, that you remember-down to his shoe size, favorite food."
Ezra gave him a look that implied Chris was a few cards short of a deck, but you never knew what information could come in handy and Ezra knew that as well as any of them. "Unless your plan involves somehow luring the man with either shoes or calamari, Ah am am not sure what purpose that information would serve."
Chris narrowed his eyes slightly, "Do it anyway, smart-ass." Ezra nodded, and he said, just as seriously, "Don't push yourself."
"Ah am fairly certain Mistah Jackson will ensure that eventuality." There was a hint of wryness in his voice, and Chris wasn't sure if that was a good sign or not, if Ezra was actually coping or just putting up a mask, but there was little he could do about it now.
Nathan nodded from beside Ezra, "You're damn right I will."
"Good." Chris nodded and walked purposefully from behind his desk, patting Ezra on the back of the shoulder and heading out of the room. JD was in the kitchen gulping down a second breakfast of runny and slightly burnt looking scrambled eggs, meaning the kid had cooked them for himself, and he stopped long enough to tell him that Ezra was going to need his help with the computer and to ask where Josiah was.
"He went out front, said he needed to walk around a bit." Chris nodded, thinking Josiah likely needed to let off some steam if he'd gotten around to watching that video like he'd been planning to. Sure enough when he went outside he could see Josiah walking back from the direction of his barn, and whether the man had been talking at his patient old work horse, Job, in the building or letting out his frustrations on a hay bale out in back of it, Chris didn't know. He could see that he looked calm enough as Chris raised a hand in greeting to him, Josiah raising one back as they walked towards each other, and that was what mattered.
"Heading in?"
"Yeah, want to start the interrogation." He paused, as Josiah nodded, then said bluntly, "Cardamone was one of Ezra's stepfathers. Ezra hasn't a damn clue why the man would have any kind of grudge against him, but he abused him and Maude. That's how he lost his tooth. Said he was the damn boogeyman when I asked if he knew the name, and had what Nathan said was the start of a panic attack."
Josiah's jaw had set as Chris was talking, and when he was done said quietly, voice tired and angry, "No matter how much of it I see, even with what I experienced, I will never understand the cruel things people can do to the children in their care. I'll make myself available to him, but if he doesn't want to talk about what happened pushing would do more harm than good, Chris."
Chris nodded, "Good man," and with a smile that barely turned up the corners of his lips, turned and headed for his truck. The sooner they got the lead they needed, the sooner they could get this scumbag, and throw away the key.