Chapter 26.
Later that night, when it was apparent that Lucas wasn't going to wake up for a while, Bridger decided to tell the crew. It was only half six and most of the crew were still having dinner in the restaurant. Spotting both Crocker and Ford at the table in the restaurant with the rest of the crew, he ambled over to them and whispered something in Ford's ear. The man gave his assent and the remaining crew watched with growing interest as Bridger called,
"Can I have your attention please? I need you all to meet in Mr Ford's room after you have finished your meal." At Ben's confused look, he added, "It's the biggest room here and I don't think I could fit you anywhere else. Thank you."
With this, he walked away, leaving a lot of unanswered questions with the crew. He only reached the reception desk when he heard someone calling his name. Turning around, he discovered it was Matt.
"Mr Bridger, have you seen Lucas?" Matt looked worried.
"Yes, he's asleep in our room. He was watching TV, but he looked shattered so I made him go to bed." Bridger explained. Matt looked impressed when Bridger said he got Lucas to bed.
"Thank goodness! I did wonder where he was, but I thought he was with Emily or Barry. I know this may sound like a strange question but was Lucas in his rag doll position when you found him?" At Bridger's confused look, Matt explained, "Well when we were younger and he wasn't talking, he used to lie on the couch and the way Lucas would lay on it made him look like a rag doll."
"Yes he was as a matter of fact. Why?" Bridger was confused with the current topic of conversation.
"It may sound really weird, but you can usually tell what type of mood Lucas is in by the position he sits in on the couch. He only does it when he's not talking though. It's something that Baz and I noticed very early on in life." Matt explained with a chuckle. "Are you going up to your room?"
"No, I'm going to tell the crew about Lucas in one of the rooms."
"Well, can I stay with him until you come back? I don't want to leave Lucas on his own because if wakes up and no one's there…" Bridger gave his assent and handed Matt the key.
***
Bridger stared nervously at the cramped crew in front of him. He knew there was going to be fireworks before the end of this conversation, as everyone adored Lucas. Sighing, Bridger decided to speak.
"Now I'm sure you're all wandering why I've called you in here. Now do you all know about Lucas's uncle, Baz in hospital? Well last night, at the hospital they were questioned by two detectives. The same two detectives called here today in the hotel to question Lucas…"
"But Lucas is a minor…They couldn't question him by himself!" Kristen was quick to point out.
"They didn't, Matt was with him at the time." Kristen looked satisfied with the answer. "Anyway, during the course of the interview the detectives pushed Lucas about two notes found in the back of Baz's pocket and apparently one of those notes was his…" Bridger was again cut off by outraged cries by the crew, all except Tim, who remained quiet.
"There's something else you're not telling us isn't there?" Kristen noted, silencing the other people, who turned their attention back to Bridger.
"Yes, I'm afraid there is. After the note incident, the detectives asked some more questions. They pushed too far, I'm afraid, and now Lucas won't talk. According to Matt, he used to do this a lot when he got really scared and wouldn't talk to anyone for days. We're not sure how long Lucas is going to stay like this, it could be a couple of days, and it could be a couple of months. What we need to do is to make Lucas feel loved and wanted. He's going through a tough time at the moment and Matt has already spoken to Lucas about the note so there's no need to mention that to him."
"Why didn't Matt stop the interview before that? I mean couldn't he see that Lucas was becoming agitated?" Ben almost shouted, voicing the crew's opinion.
"Matt did everything he could to prevent this, but this came on suddenly and afterwards he stopped the interview. He didn't want this to happen any more than you or I did!" Bridger protected Matt. Ben snorted in response to this comment and mumbled something inaudible. "I'm sorry; did you want to add something to that, Mr Krieg?" The younger man shook his head.
"Where is he now?" Katie asked.
"Lucas is asleep in his hotel room and Matt's there keeping him company." Bridger explained.
"Why didn't he report the note when he first got it?" Crocker wondered.
"Apparently he did, but to his uncle. That's why it was in his back pocket."
"That still doesn't excuse his not reporting the note to one of us though!" Kristen mumbled.
"Well, maybe he didn't want to tell us about the note because he thought we would judge him." Tim put in quietly.
"We wouldn't have though," Ortiz said.
"He wouldn't have known that if he was scared and didn't feel like he could fully trust us. I mean, who would you trust? Your friends, who you see everyday or a close member of your family that you don't have to see often?" Tim answered again.
"Any more questions?" Bridger asked, noticing a few yawns starting up. "Good. You can all go to sleep and ready for the last day of conferences!" There were groans all round at the mention of conferences, but they did start to make a move out of the room without too much fuss.
Outside the room, Tim ran and caught up with Bridger.
"Sir! Can…Can I talk to you for a second, please?"
"Of course you can," Bridger exclaimed.
"In private I mean." Tim looked desperate and Bridger agreed.
***
"So you've been receiving these notes as well…"
"I've only got one so far, sir!" Tim explained meekly.
"Still it's a note and you got it, I mean if this hadn't come out would you have told anyone then?" Bridger looked angry and Tim looked at the floor, ashamed.
"I didn't think it would affect anyone…I'm… I'm sorry!"
Seeing Tim was already feeling guilty enough as it was, Bridger continued in a less strict voice. "Look, I know this is hard, but you do understand why I'm telling you off? I mean, you could have been injured before we'd even had a chance to realise what was going on." Tim meekly nodded, still looking at the ground. "OK, get some rest and in the morning I'm going to ask round and see if it was only you that had a note, or whether there was more." With that, Tim nodded and walked back to his room. Bridger sighed. Notes and accidents? Something wasn't right and Bridger knew events were going to get worse before they got better.
TBC…