Revenge

Chapter 24

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The boys noticed it was getting light and were relieved to know that soon Lucas' parents would be getting up and notice that they weren't there.

They'd been listening to the man that the older man called Boscorelli on and off all night as he thrashed about and had his nightmares. They didn't know exactly what the dreams were about, but they figured out that he was a policeman and that some person named Faith probably worked with him. Apparently there'd been some kind of accident in which this Officer killed the older man's family. It all sounded pretty innocent to Lucas. I mean, sure the man had lost his family, but the Officer did seem sincere in his sorrow for what had happened.

Lucas felt Tommy poke him in the ribs. They'd been taking turns sleeping when they could with the man above them calling out frequently. Lucas jumped at being poked and looked over at Tommy.

"I have to go to the bathroom," Tommy mouthed to Lucas. Lucas gave him a look as if to say, "What d'you want ME to do about it?"

"I really have to go," Tommy mouthed. Truth be told, Lucas had to go pretty bad too and it didn't help lying on this cold, hard floor all night. Lucas held up a finger signaling Tommy to wait a minute as he moved over to peek out from under the bed. He looked around as much as he could and listened for any sounds in the house. He heard none. Now seemed as good a time as any to try to get out - and Lucas knew that the man above him needed medical help because he'd seen the bloody bandage that the older man had discarded onto the floor when he'd put a new one on him.

"At least one of us should try to get out and go for help," Lucas mouthed to Tommy.

"I know. Which one of us should go?" Tommy mouthed back. Lucas shrugged, neither one wanting to stay behind and neither one wanting to be the one to try and leave. They decided to do "rocks, papers, scissors," and soon it was decided.

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The woman woke up to the sun shining across her room and stretched, looking at the clock. It was only 7:00 a.m. She didn't want to get up, but knew that the boys would be getting up soon because Bailey would wake them up wanting to go out for the morning. She glanced over at her still-sleeping husband. She kissed him, which woke him up and then she threw the covers off.

"Already?" the man moaned.

"Yes, already. The boys will be up soon, raring to go," she answered, standing up as she put her arms through the sleeves of her robe. As she rounded the bed to head out to the kitchen to start the coffee, she noticed her husband roll over, attempting to go back to sleep.

"Oh no you don't, Mister," she said, giving him a playful swat on the backside.

"I know, I know. I'm coming," he answered, a little more awake this time. She looked over her shoulder as she left the room, ensuring that he was indeed getting out of bed. She stopped at the door to Lucas' room and didn't hear any sound. She decided she'd let "sleeping dogs" lie and continued on to the kitchen, certain that the smell of coffee, bacon and eggs cooking would rouse them from their sleep.

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Trisha, Rose and Mikey came out to the kitchen at just about the same time. Rose headed straight for the automatic coffee pot that had started brewing the coffee that she'd put in it the night before. It was almost done and Rose couldn't wait to get her hands on some of it.

"G'morning, Mikey. Sleep okay?" she asked as Bosco's younger brother scuffed into the room and sat at the table, waiting for his mother to put down a cup of coffee in front of him.

"Not really. I kept having this dream that two women were up chatting half the night," he said sarcastically.

"Sorry about that," Trisha said. "That was my fault. I couldn't sleep. I kept having these weird dreams."

"Even after we talked?" Rose asked her and she nodded. "The same pictures again?"

"Yeah, a couple of new ones too. Some policewoman, I'm assuming was Faith, was there and they were trying to take care of some injured kids. And then, Bosco and 'Faith' rode into the hospital with them in the ambulances," Trisha relayed, hoping that it made sense to someone.

"Well, let me tell you, Mo's been to the hospital quite a few times during his time as a cop. I keep telling him to keep his head down," Mikey thought back fondly.

"Well, maybe if you think that this is something you're remembering Maurice telling you about, you should talk to Faith. Maybe it'll mean something to her," Rose suggested.

"Yeah. I'll talk to her as soon as we get down to the House," Trisha agreed and they all went to get dressed.

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Faith came out of the locker room and Lieutenant Swersky took one look at her and knew she was in no shape to go out on the road today. She looked like she'd been up for five days straight - and she had.

"Yokas," Swersky called to her as she headed down the hall. She turned and looked back at him, hoping he had some news.

"Yeah, Lieu?" she responded hopefully as he caught up with her.

"You're off duty today. Go home and get some rest. That's an order," he told her.

She started to object, but he wouldn't let her get a word out.

"Look. You can't go non-stop like this and be any good to anyone. Go home. Check on your family. Get a shower and some decent food. A couple hours of comfortable sleep and then come back in. I promise if I hear of anything, I'll call you immediately," he told her. She could tell by the look on her face that he wasn't taking no for an answer.

"Alright, Lieu. But I'm only taking a couple of hours," she said.

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Lucas' parents were sitting at the kitchen table. His father was reading the newspaper and his mother was reading the magazine section of the paper. The television was playing in the background and they were only half listening to what the morning anchor was saying.

"I can't believe they're not awake yet," said Lucas' mother as she took another piece of bacon from the plate. "This bacon's getting cold. Maybe I'll go wake them up."

"Just let them sleep. If it was at all like when my friends slept over, they were up talking and goofing around all night. They'll probably sleep until noon and then you can give them brunch," said his father as he turned the page of the newspaper.

"Well, I better at least open the door and see if Bailey wants to go out. I don't want to clean up THAT mess," she said, standing up and walking down the hallway quietly.

Lucas' father remained in the kitchen, reading the paper and listening to the television. Maybe because it was so quiet, his ears picked up the report they were giving out again on the missing police officer. He couldn't say what, but something about the descriptions grabbed his attention at the same time he heard his wife call to him from the hallway.

"Roger! The boys aren't here. Neither is Bailey," she called up to the hall to him.

"What d'you mean they aren't there?" he said, putting down the paper and getting up, the description that was being reported suddenly out of his mind. He walked down the hallway and to the door to see that, indeed, both beds were empty and the dog was nowhere to be found.

"Maybe they got up early and went out to walk Bailey and play," he reasoned.

"No," she said, her mother's instinct kicking in.

"Maybe they went to Tommy's house during the night to sleep," he suggested and his wife went to the phone to call Tommy's house.

As she was dialing the phone, Lucas' mother heard a whimper outside the door. "Roger. I think the dog is at the door," she called to him, the phone to her ear. Roger opened the front door to find a cowering Bailey on the front steps, obviously thinking that he was in trouble for something.

Lucas' father opened the door and let the dog in as he stepped outside to look around. The boys were nowhere in sight and he called out to them.

"Lucas! Tommy! You boys had better get in here and have a darned good explanation of why you were outside at all!" he called out. No response. He came back into the house to see if there'd been any news from Tommy's house.

"Are they there?" he asked his wife, becoming alarmed himself now. She shook her head no and hung up the phone. "Maria and Tom are on their way over now," she said. "We'd better get some clothes on so we can go looking for them," she said as they both headed to the bedroom to dress.

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Lucas attempted to make his way from under the bed to the doorway. He would peek around to see if he could see the old man and if he had a shot at getting out of the house. As soon as he'd made it to the doorway, the man on the bed behind him began to make noise again. Tommy shrunk under the bed further as Lucas froze in the doorway. He heard the man in the other room stir and tried to make it back under the bed before he'd reached the room. He'd almost made it when the man came around the corner and saw the bottoms of Lucas' feet going under the bed.

"You there! Get out from there. How long've you been under there," said the man, hitting floor and looking under the bed to see two sets of wide, frightened eyes staring out at him.

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TBC...