One week later, Buck and Matt were at the apartment when the phone rang; "Get that will you, Buck," ordered Matt, who thought it was one of his friends on the phone.
Buck ran to the phone and picked it up. "Hello?" he said nervously. Buck was scared of Matt's friends who were even less friendly than Matt.
"Buck Wilmington?" asked a man's voice on the other end.
"Yeah, that's my name. Who's calling?" answered the boy not thinking before he answered.
Buck heard footsteps behind him and turned to face Matt. "You idiot! You were supposed to hang up - now they'll come and get you." Matt slammed down the phone receiver angrily, then glared at the brown-haired boy. Somehow the cops must've got suspicious that Buck might be with him.
"I'm sorry - I didn't know," apologised Buck, backing away from the angry adult.
"You're stupid then. Go and pack some clothes, we're leaving," said Matt and went back into the sitting room to turn the TV off.
Buck ran along the hallway to the bedroom, where he had some clothes in a closet and once there started packing everything into a backpack. Then he remembered what his mom had always done; she'd always folded his clothes before he put them into a bag to take to a sleep-over so that they didn't get creased. Buck started folding the clothes neatly and quickly. He had always listened intently to his mom's words of wisdom, believing that her ways were the right ways.
He heard the doorbell ring and ran to his bedroom's window - it was his only way out, even if it was four floors up. Buck stood nervously looking at the ground far below - he didn't want to die.
Matt was in the kitchen, grabbing some of his clothes from the clothes line hanging there, when the front door was forced open.
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"Where's the boy?" asked the tall well-built policeman as he looked at Matt suspiciously. They had a warrant for the man's arrest for several crimes they now had evidence of and could add kidnap and possibly child-abuse to that. After their detective friend had traced Buck, they had been able to find some new contacts who were friends of Buck and Matt. The contacts hadn't known Buck was with Matt and were upset to hear that he was, because they didn't want the son of their dead friend to be hurt by the violent man. They would rather give evidence against Matt than have the man continue to hurt Belinda's son.
"What boy?" asked Matt innocently. He hoped the cops might fall for his act and leave, not realising that they had come to arrest him for some of his unlawful work.
"Buck Wilmington; someone has spotted him entering here several times after his mother's body was found and he disappeared. We know he's been here because he answered the phone earlier," answered the young man with shoulder-length medium-brown hair whose name was Vin. He'd just been transferred from Texas and this was only his second house-call.
"I don't know anyone by that name," lied Matt convincingly. Then his hands were cuffed behind his back by the well-built Josiah Sanchez, a cop he had met on several occasions. Matt knew that Sanchez wouldn't be gentle with him; the cop had said before that he detested people who hurt good people and Matt was pretty certain that the cops suspected that he'd been rough with Buck.
"Officer Jackson and Officer Tanner - go to the bedroom and see if he's there," ordered Sergeant Sanchez. They had looked at plans of apartments around here and knew that there was only one bedroom in each one. This apartment block was among the cheapest around and the apartments didn't have enough rooms for extra bedrooms.
Nathan Jackson and Vin Tanner headed along the hallway, looking for the bedroom.
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Meanwhile, Buck had decided to hide under Matt's bed instead of jumping out of the window, which seemed like a really bad idea to the boy. There was the fire escape, but Buck didn't want to leave the apartment - he was sure that he could stay there hidden, then leave with Matt after the cops had gone.
"BUCK?" called Nathan as he walked into the apartment's only bedroom. He scanned the room, looking for any signs that the boy had been there recently. Then he saw the strap of a backpack sticking out from under the bed. The African-American cop got onto his hands and knees and looked under the bed.
Buck crawled against the wall, hoping that somehow the cop wouldn't see him there.
"Hi there, are you Buck?" Nathan could just make out the shape of the boy in the darkness under the bed.
"I'm not talkin'," answered the boy fiercely.
"You can't stay here on your own - we need to find you a nice clean place to live," said Nathan gently, looking at the filthy boy who only just fit under the bed. Jackson's eyes were becoming accustomed to the darkness and he could make out more details of the kid now.
"I'm fine here," answered Buck, trying to sound convincing. He had to make them believe that Matt was taking good care of him or they'd put him in a foster home.
"You can't live here anymore. There's no-one to take care of you." Nathan spoke gently but with some authority in his voice.
"Matt will take care of me," replied Buck confidently. Despite the man being bad-tempered and violent, he had kept Buck safe since the boy's mother had died.
"Matt has to come with us; he's done some bad things," answered Jackson. He was glad that they could take Matt away; the boy would have no reason to stay here in this slum then.
"He ain't done nothin' wrong!" shouted Buck defensively. As far as he knew Matt hadn't done anything that would get the man arrested by the cops.
"How can ya be sure?" asked an accented voice in the room. Buck figured another cop must've crept in and been listening.
"Coz everything he does is done for the right reasons," said Buck, remembering what Matt had taught him.
"I see - would ya like some candy?" tempted the voice. "I'm Vin Tanner by the way," said the man hoping that introducing himself might make the boy a bit friendlier.
"I ain't allowed candy - it rots my teeth."
"I eat candy all the time and my teeth aren't rotted," replied Vin, now on his hands and knees beside the bed and holding out a candy bar temptingly.
"It's a trick - soon as I get close you'll grab me and pull me out!" yelled Buck, staying against the wall.
"Don't you want a family who love you?" asked Nathan Jackson, compassion in his voice.
"Matt loves me." Buck wondered how long he'd have to stay under the bed for - it was dark and there was barely any room to move.
"I'm not leaving without you, Buck; you can't stay here alone," said Vin sternly. This boy was certainly very obstinate, but the cops weren't leaving without him.
"It's my home now - I can stay here if I want," argued Buck.
"You need to get a bath and some clean clothes or you'll get ill," said Nathan. The brown colour of the boy's skin was from dirt, as Nathan knew that Buck was definitely a Caucasian.
"We don't have any water," Buck lied, as Matt had told him he didn't have to bath anymore.
"We know a place where there's water, we could take you there in our car."
"I ain't going nowhere in a cop's car!" shouted Buck, getting frustrated by the annoying cops who wouldn't leave him alone.
Nathan pulled Vin aside and whispered to him, "We need Josiah in here straight away." Vin nodded and went to fetch the older man.
"Where's he going?" asked Buck suspiciously, upon hearing footsteps leaving the room.
"He's given up talking to you and he's leaving," lied Nathan, seeing if that would get a reaction from the boy, but clearly Buck didn't believe him.
Buck heard louder footsteps entering the room and he shook with fear; they sounded like a big man's feet and he was scared.
"Where's the boy who doesn't want candy?" asked a deep voice Buck didn't know.
Nathan walked over to his older friend and explained that the boy wouldn't come out from under his bed.
Josiah walked to the bed and crouched down to look underneath it. "Matt said you need to come out from under the bed and do everything we ask," tried Josiah in a gentle coaxing voice.
"You're lyin'," replied Buck staying pressed against the wall where he felt safe.
"Your mom would want you to find a new family who love you," said Josiah - that line would surely affect the boy.
"Can I get a family who's nice to me and really loves me like I'm their own?"
"You wouldn't be sent to an unkind family, son. Only good, kind people can look after children."
Buck slowly crawled out from under the bed and Josiah offered his hand to help the boy up. The boy gratefully accepted the help and finally stood facing the cops. The boy decided he'd go to a new family in the hope that they would treat him better than Matt did.
Matt had already been taken away by some other officers, when the three policemen led Buck downstairs.
To be continued...