Chapter 3: Questioning, Prisoner
Twenty-three-year-old detective Alfred F. Jones pulled into the park and came to a quick stop, sending dust and other things flying every which way and making the partly-confused/partly-frightened people gathered around the crime scene cough and sneeze. He got out of his patrol car and went up to his colleagues, Arthur Kirkland and Vash Zwingli. "Hey, guys!"
"You're late, bloody git," said an irate Arthur.
"Sorry about that," a clearly embarrassed Alfred replied. "Mattie got food poisoning last night, so I spent the whole morning watching him till Francis could watch him…after his morning sexytime thing or whatever."
"You let that frog watch your brother?" Arthur asked incredulously.
"Hey, it was either ask Francis, who has the week off, or force Yao to skip Kaoru and Mei's soccer match," said Alfred. "Anyway, what's going on?"
"We've got a missing child," Vash explained, reading what was written on a notepad. "Gilbert Braginski, five years old. His parents said he was snatched by a man who approached Gilbert and his brother at the playground. Also said that they saw the child being carried away and thrown into a white van."
Alfred's features darkened as he seemed to remember something. "Oh my God. Not again."
Standing in the park, Alfred found himself reliving the very day the exact same thing happened to Matthew Williams, his younger half-brother. Alfred, who had been only eleven at the time, had tried his best to protect his then-five-year-old brother from a man who had approached them, but failed. Alfred and his parents had worried that they would never see Matthew again. They did get him back, but it had taken the police one year to the day to finally find little Matthew and bring him home alive; it turned out that Matthew had been the target of a child trafficking ring. Now Matthew was seventeen, and Alfred still found himself checking to see that Matthew hadn't been snatched.
What had happened those twelve years earlier was one of the reasons why Alfred had decided to become a detective. So that what had happened to Matthew wouldn't happen to any other child. He hadn't lost an abducted child yet, but now he was faced with the possibility that this might be the first time he and his friends failed in bringing a child home to his family.
Vash, Arthur, and Alfred went over to the distraught parents and unconscious boy. Claus and Elise were beside themselves, while Ludwig was being loaded into the ambulance.
"Mr. and Mrs. Beilschmidt," Vash said. "Now, what exactly happened here?"
Elise sniffed as she wiped her eyes. "Claus and I th-thought that we'd take the boys to the park for the day. We were having a good time. Gil…Gilbo wanted to…Oh, God!" She started sobbing again.
"Ssh, it's alright, Ellie," Claus said as he tried comforting his wife. Then he spoke for Elise, who had her face buried in his shirt. "Gilbo…he wanted to go play on the slide w-with the other kids. I had Lui take him over there and keep an eye on him. That's when…"
"That's when what?" asked Alfred.
"That's when we heard Lui and this man shouting," Elise said, having calmed down just enough to speak. "Then we heard Gilbo crying and calling for help. We… we saw the man…we saw him carrying Gilbo away! And Lui, he…he wouldn't wake up!" She couldn't hold it in anymore and broke down again.
"Lui?" Alfred asked about the nickname Claus and Elise gave their eldest son.
Claus had his arm around his wife's shaking shoulders. "Lui's real name is Ludwig. He's Gilbert's older stepbrother, my son from my first marriage. M-My first wife, Hanna, died four years ago, from an accident…a head-on collision. The cops said the driver probably did it on purpose. Lui was in the car with Hanna…and he said the man who killed his mother"—Claus shuddered at the mere memory and started sobbing—"drugged him and tried to drag him away! I met Ellie a year and a half after the accident." He drew in a shaky breath, then spoke again. "W-We got m-married just last year."
Alfred gaped. "What kind of name is Ludwig for your kid?" Claus glared at the young detective.
"Al, shut up, you git!" Arthur scolded.
"Sorry," said Alfred. "It's just, well, Ludwig's kind of a strange name."
"Can you not make fun of people's names for one second?" asked Arthur. "Bloody hell."
"Uh, sorry about him," said Vash. "Continue. What happened after you found Lui?"
"The man who took Gilbo…he covered Gilbo's mouth and dragged him into the van," said Elise. "I ran after the van and grabbed onto the rear doors. I did manage to get Gilbo out and bring him back to Claus. But then the man…he came over and beat Claus so badly that he couldn't stand up! The man grabbed me by my hair, and dragged me and Gilbo into the van! He and his buddy sped off, but stopped and threw me out!" Elise was trying not to hyperventilate. "He kept my baby in that van! I couldn't grab onto it again in time."
"Gilbo was crying when that bastard took him from us!" said Claus. "Why? Why did that son of a bitch take our son?"
"We don't know exactly," said Arthur. "Now, this is important. Do you know of anyone—anyone at all—who would do this?"
Claus and Elise were silent for a few moments, trying like hell to keep their composure.
Claus shuddered as he spoke up. "Y-You don't suppose that it was the same person who tried to snatch Lui four years ago…do you?"
"It's a possibility," said Vash.
Elise spoke this time. "My ex-husband, Ivan Braginski. He's Gilbo's real father. He lives in West Seventh."
"Why would Ivan want to take Gilbert?" Vash asked.
"He did yell at Ellie a number of times, saying he would take Gilbo with him and move someplace else, even out of state," said Claus. "Come to think of it, I wouldn't put it past the guy to do this. Sending a couple buddies of his to snatch Gilbo."
"It was because he kept on demanding more visitation time with Gilbo," Elise added. "He gets Gilbo on Father's Day, two weeks every summer, once on Thanksgiving break, and for three days every Christmas break. And he doesn't think it's enough!"
A paramedic came up to Claus and Elise. "We're getting ready to take your son to the hospital. You can ride along if you want."
"Thank you," said Claus. He wiped his eyes and helped Elise up.
"I'm so sorry about what happened," said Alfred. "But don't worry. We'll find Gilbo and bring him home. I promise."
"Thank you," said Elise. She and Claus got into the ambulance with their son.
"It's okay, Lui," Claus said with worry. "You'll be okay, son." Elise sobbed into Gilbert's teddy bear, which she still held close to her.
"I couldn't protect him…little bro…" Ludwig mumbled over and over. He was still unconscious, so he didn't hear Claus talking to him.
Alfred, Arthur, and Vash walked to their cars.
"Let's go talk to this Ivan Braginski guy," said Vash.
"Yes," said Arthur. He and the other two got into their cars and made their way to Ivan's house in West Seventh. They expected to find him at home, and ask him questions. They also expected to find little Gilbert there as well.
Alfred suddenly remembered something else; this time, it concerned Ludwig's nickname. "Oh no. Kiku knows a kid named Lui. If that kid was Kiku's friend...then Kiku's not gonna be too happy about finding out what happened!" The young detective ran his hands through his hair, then started his car and followed his colleeagues to West Seventh.
Yuri parked the van in front of an abandoned building. He got out of the driver's side and shut the door. "Brother Dmitri, we're here. Come on, get out and bring the brat in."
"Right," Dmitri said. He opened the door and got out himself. Then he opened the van's rear doors and got a still crying Gilbert out; the boy had stopped struggling a few moments before they reached their destination. Dmitri and his comrade went inside the building, which smelled heavily of mildew and felt drafty due to years of depreciation.
Yuri and Dmitri reached their boss, who was the man called Sasha.
"Brother Sasha, here's the boy," said Dmitri. He placed Gilbert on the floor. The boy looked up and saw Sasha grinning and leering at him. Dmitri took the tape off Gilbert's mouth and untied him.
Sasha bent down and looked the boy over, examining him like a piece of meat. "Excellent." He grinned again and stroked Gilbert's hair slowly. "He's perfect. He'll sell for a fair price, I'm sure. Just like that other boy, from twelve years ago. The one with blond hair and purple eyes." He laughed as Gilbert flinched away in fear.
Gilbert got very scared after hearing this and struggled in Dmitri's tight grip. "Let me go! I want Mommy and Daddy! I want my big brother."
"Shut up," Dmitri said in a harsh voice. He leaned in closer. "Your brother's dead. I killed him myself."
Sasha saw that Gilbert wouldn't stop struggling, and took out a gun. He held it under Gilbert's chin. "You will stop struggling like that. Or else I'll kill you! Do I make myself clear, boy?"
Gilbert stopped struggling upon feeling the cool metal of the gun against his skin. He cried and nodded. "Yes."
"Good," Sasha sneered and took the gun away. "Yuri."
"Yes, sir," said Yuri. He took out a pair of shackles and put them on the boy's wrists. Then he got a painfully firm grip on Gilbert's shoulders and led the child down a long corridor. Dmitri followed, and Gilbert looked down sadly as Yuri forced him to the end of the corridor.
Yuri, Gilbert, and Dmitri finally came to a stop in front of a closed door. Yuri opened the door, revealing a dark, drafty room with nothing but a dirty mattress on the floor. The mattress had a very thin blanket and a dirty pillow with no pillowcase on it. The upper corners of the room had patches of mold growing on them, and there was a small window that didn't let in any light.
Yuri unshackled Gilbert and pushed him into the room. "Make yourself at home, boy," he sneered. Then he slammed the door and locked it with a deadbolt, leaving Gilbert to look at his now bruised and scraped wrists.
Yuri and Dmitri walked back to Sasha.
"Dmitri, you and the others go check to see if the other merchandise is still alive," Sasha said coldly. "We need live products, not dead ones."
"Right away," said Dmitri. He, Yuri, and some other people went down the corridor again, this time unlocking and opening other doors, revealing other children. They were all crying their eyes out.
Gilbert heard the other kids (the walls were thin in this place) and started crying again. He went over to the mattress, got under the blanket, and lay down. "I wanna go home. Lui, why'd you hafta die?"