Chapter 2
Vimes kept noticing the lack of Nobby Nobbs. Once he would have thought that was ridiculous, in his own time he was glad to forget the corprol was there sometimes, but now... well now his absence seemed wrong somehow. He couldn't shake the feeling that there was something fundementally wrong with the boy suddenly ditching what amounted to a small fortune for him so suddenly. Iit was the same feeling he got when clues just didn't make sense (not that clues ever actually made sense until afterwards, but it amounted to the same thing).
His patrols took him down the roads he vaguely recalled Nobby mentioning as where his family was staying, keeping his eyes peeled for the large jacket and top hat, but saw nothing. He asked some of the other urchins he came across, but each of them shrugged, and he didn't have nearly enough pennies for the inevitable swarm if he started to pay them for information, so he kept looking.
In the end he found Nobby by literally tripping over the boy.
Iit had started raining and he'd moved into one of the alleys where the roof overhung just enough to give some shelter. He'd kicked some rubbish out of his way and was surprised when the bundle cried out "Oi! Watch it!"
"Nobby?" Vimes said, of course he would find him in the last place he'd expected, that was Nobby for you.
The rubbish shifted and Nobby's head came up, big eyes fixing on Vimes face. "Oh! Hullo Captain Keel!" he said, a sickly looking grin spreading across his face. "Fancy meetin' you here sir."
Vimes' frowned, he'd seen that glassy stare often enough in his time as a copper. Someone had given Nobby a good hard clip round the ear, sending him into the nearest wall no doubt, knocking him half senseless if Vimes was any judge. He'd seen enough men, women and children in his time with that look. The way Nobby was clutching his left arm to his chest told Vimes exactly who it had been. Nobby's father was a known brute, right up until he'd died he'd been dragged into the cells to sleep off a night of heavy drinking and heavier fighting. Everyone knew what he did to his wife and sons (well, Mostly Nobby), but no one said or did anything about it.
The classic Morporkian sense of community. People like the Nobbs fell beneath most peoples radar. Kids like Nobby fell even further, no one noticed them unless it was to give them a kick to make them go away. Nobby, the older one, had always made throwaway comments about the abuse he suffered, offhand and without any hint of anger at his situation, it had just been life to him them. It was just life to him now.
Vimes heaved a sigh. "Can you walk Nobby?" he asked, he didn't want to have to carry him, but he would if no other choice presented itself.
Nobby frowned, his odd features twisting in confusion. "Captain?" but the boy was scrabbling to his feet, arm still clutched to him, hisses of pain escaping through pain clenched teeth.
That did it. Vimes wasn't a cruel man, and getting Nobby to Dr Lawn would be much faster if he walked for both of them. He bent down, scooped the boy off his feet, and easy feat, he was still too light for a boy his age even with all the feeding he was getting. There was a startled sqwauk from Nobby, but nothing more. He glanced down and Nobby's face had gone white under the grime and his hand was pressed to his mouth. Vimes knew what that was like, with a head would, even if it didn't draw blood, ever movement felt too much. He stopped, letting Nobby lean away from him to dry heave his nusea away.
He ignored the rain, and the curious stares of the few others on the street. He ignored the smell of the boy in his arms, and when Nobby was ready he caried on, making a beeline to Dr Lawns house, his own house as well he supposed, for all the time he spent there. At the very least the man wouldn't be surpirsed to see his occassional housemate coming in with another patient for him.