Broken Trust: Little Bird Lost
By
AJ
Part 3: The Search for Prudence Malone
Dick Grayson woke several hours later. It was well into the afternoon. He slept nearly 12 hours. He was also ravenously hungry. Rather than ignore that need, Dick went into the kitchen. He found it to be well stocked. He found everything he needed to make himself a meal. Then it occurred to him that someone must have stocked the place, since the food was fresh, even right down to the cookies in the cookie jar. In fact the cookies tasted familiar. Alfred must have recently restocked everything. It's been a while since he and Batman had to use a safe house either for stakeout reasons or for injuries that needed tending as soon as possible, preventing them from returning to the batcave.
Dick gave a deep sigh. He wished he could have convinced Bruce of his innocence, but all Bruce could see was the evidence in front of his eyes. Sometimes it was difficult to separate the dark knight detective from Bruce Wayne the philanthropist. Dick also found at times it was difficult to separate Robin from himself. Without the mask he was supposed to be like everyone else. When he was in school Dick found he could, but with times like this, despite the mask, he found that he could not stop applying those skills that he had been taught by Batman.
Dick's thoughts now turned to finding the woman Prudence Malone. The key question he had for her would determine if his forming hypothesis was correct. Dick pulled out the address from his backpack. He looked around and found a large map of Gotham City. He located the street and the block. Luck would have it. Her home was only three blocks from his location. Thinking he would be returning to the safe house, Dick packed only a few items and left others behind. He didn't think he needed to carry his change of clothes while he kept his bat rope, batarang, and the throwing bat in the hidden pocket of his backpack. He took with him Prudence Malone's address, adding the directions to her home. He just needed to go south on Branch Road then turn left on Oakwood Avenue. The house shouldn't be hard to find after that. Dick took his bike, having secured it to the fence with a special padlock and chain. It was one that Bruce got for him. It had a longer, more complicated combination lock made up of numbers and letters. Dick could set it himself, choosing a combination that Bruce would not even suspect.
That thought caused the tightness in Dick's chest to return. He clamped down on the feeling, reminding himself that he was on a mission, to find out who it was that framed him and bring that person to justice. Dick spotted the house and confirmed the address. It was modest looking and well maintained. Prudence Malone looked well off, but that could be deceiving. There were a lot of people who appeared to be well off, but were very deceptive. Some were also deceptive when it came to being in need. Bruce made sure that a background check was done before any funds from the Wayne Foundation were dispersed to someone in need. Dick couldn't do a background check on Prudence Malone. There wasn't time. And if he tried to do one at the safe house, Bruce would know since the portable computer was linked to the main computer in the batcave. Right now, he had to do this another way.
Dick approached the house and knocked on the door. A woman not much older than Bruce came to the door.
"Yes, who is it?"
"Ms. Malone?" Dick asked. "Are you the mother of Matthew Malone?"
"Yes, what do you want?"
"I'm Dick Grayson, President of the Student Council at Woodrow Roosevelt High School. Graduation is coming soon and since your son is an alumnus we would like your son to give the commencement speech."
"Really, that would be really nice. My son is not at home because . . ."
"He's right behind you," It was the same voice. Matthew Malone grabbed Dick's arms then shoved him forward. "Lock the door Mother. Looks like our little flier has come back to roost. Give me something so I can tie his hands."
Prudence Malone ran and grabbed a necktie that was lying across a chair.
"Why are you doing this?"
"Better gag him, too. We don't want him alerting the neighbors."
Finally Dick was forced on the couch and he got a good look at his abductor and tormentor, the one who got him kicked out of school. His eyes became wide and he knew his hunch had been right. He then realized why the school annual with Matthew Malone's image was missing, and at this point he should have realized that all of this was an elaborate trap. And the most frightening thing, Bruce didn't know where to find him.
#
Bruce returned to the Manor after Alfred insisted there was nothing he could for Dick at the moment. As he left the study, sure enough Mrs. Harriet Cooper confronted him.
"Bruce, if you are not going to call the police, I will. In fact, I want you to drive me into Gotham City and to the Police Headquarters and talk with Commissioner Gordon."
Bruce had to admit that Aunt Harriet was right. Dick may be trained as Robin, but he didn't take his uniform with him, and that meant he couldn't allow himself to fight for his life if it came down to it. Even as Dick, he may use some of his acrobatic skills, but even that skill might give him away. Dick had tried to leave him clues to his whereabouts, but they were few and not much help. Bruce was drawing a blank.
'Come on Bruce, you've have fewer clues that this to find criminals. Why can't you find one 15 year old boy?' Bruce unfortunately knew the answer. He wanted to give Dick time to discover the answers to the questions Dick had posed to himself. He already made a terrible mistake in not believing his ward . . . no his son, that everything had been a set-up. Now Bruce hoped he hadn't made another by no going after Dick.
"All right, Aunt Harriet. I'll drive you."
Continues with Part 4: I Am Madness