Chapter Nine
"Eden, what's up with the gloves?" Barnaby asked. His only reply was a sloppy sign that the girl made in her feverish state. It didn't help that it was a sign that he didn't understand.
"Go get her notebook, Bunny, if you insist on asking questions." The blonde did as what was intelligently asked of him, walking back to the front door of his apartment where Kotetsu laid her backpack. He unzipped it and began to rifle around the many things she crammed into it: mostly clothes, but he also pulled out a book and a small stuffed horse.
"Does it work with a key?" Kotetsu softly asked, still holding onto Eden's hand, occasionally stroking it. He really felt sorry for the poor girl. She nodded weakly. "Can you take the gloves off?" Shake of the head.
"I found her notebook." Barnaby declared, standing up and carrying it over. "But I found something better." As he held out the book for Kotetsu to take, he showed a small cell phone in his other hand, giving a small grin.
"Excellent job, Bunny!" The older man took the book and pencil, gently laying it across the girl's lap and placing her hands over it to keep it from falling off. "If you want anything, just write it down, okay?" The Wild Tiger noticed a crease form on Eden's forehead, then a frown form on her lips. She began to move as if to stand, but the man quickly gripped her shoulders and urged her back into the chair.
"Hey! Hey! You're really sick, kid. Just rest." She couldn't protest. Kotetsu was stronger than her and she was ill. The odds were against her. But she would watch and wait, saving what little energy she had left for when Barnaby opened her phone.
The veteran hero looked over his shoulder at Barnaby, trying his best to communicate his idea to his friend with his eyes. The kid was really smart and was getting good at it. A few seconds passed as his amber eyes locked with emerald ones, and slowly, the blonde just slipped the phone into his rear pocket as if he was completely disinterested in it. Kotetsu gave a grateful smile.
"Listen to him, Eden. You'll recover faster that way." He walked around the chair and found himself a seat on the floor, sitting crossed legged and staring at the girl. She returned the favor by staring back at him, half-lidded and drowsy.
Without a word, the duo had understood each other. They could see the determination in Eden's eyes to defy them, to prevent them from using her phone to contact her guardian. It was completely pointless to agitate her now, just to have her thrash around and make herself sicker. But if they just sat and waited, with the help of the medication, the runaway would eventually drift off to sleep. And with her soundly snoozing, Barnaby could finally begin to send her back home. It took longer than either of the men hoped for her to lull into slumber land, but after an hour and some soothing words on Kotetsu's part, Eden stopped fighting herself and finally went into a deep sleep.
"That took too long." Barnaby commented as he dug the girl's cell phone out of his pocket. Kotetsu was prodding the teenager ever so slightly just for good measure. She didn't respond.
"Who can you find, Bunny?"
"No one." The blonde went down the list of contacts Eden had on her phone, passing by full names but nothing stood out. Finally, a family member showed themselves. "Oh, wait. She has an uncle, apparently."
"Perfect. He's probably her guardian."
"I'm on it." Barnaby had the phone to his ear, the dial tone ringing. Then suddenly the other line picked up on the second ring. "Hello? This—"
"You better tell me where my niece is or I swear—"
"Whoa! Whoa!" That wasn't what Barnaby was expecting. Even Kotetsu heard what the uncle was saying and he jerked his head around to see how his partner would react. But now that the blonde thought about it, it was strange that a mute girl would call her uncle; he could understand the man's fear and anger. "This is Barnaby Brooks Jr., the hero. I just wanted to tell you that Eden is safe, sir."
"Oh my God…" The man muttered into the speaker. "Mr. Brooks…" The blonde thought that he recognized the voice.
"If you don't mind me asking, sir—"
"I'm very sorry, Mr. Brooks. That was very unprofessional behavior, especially coming from the Chief of Police."
"…" Barnaby had to stop thinking for a moment and align his thoughts properly. "… Commissioner James Clarkson?" Kotetsu's ears perked up and he immediately scuttled closer to the blonde, eager to eavesdrop.
"Yes, Mr. Brooks." The man confirmed, relief engulfing his voice. "I am so sorry you had to deal with Eden again."
"Sir, it's not a prob—"
"No no, Mr. Brooks. I can come get her right now; that is no problem." The earnest footsteps descending down a flight of stairs could be heard, along with the opening of doors and the jingling of keys. "Where are you? I don't want you to go out of your way."
"Ah," Barnaby was still trying to recover from the surprise. "You can come to my apartment, sir." And he relayed the physical address to the older man. "I'll tell security to look out for you so they don't give you trouble."
"Thank you so much, Mr. Brooks." And with that, he immediately hung up.
The blonde did the same, setting the phone on the floor next to him. He and Kotetsu stared at each other for a dubious moment and they started to put together the facts.
"So," Tiger began. "That was Mr. Clarkson?"
"Yes."
"But he was labeled as 'Uncle' on her phone?"
"Yes."
"So," He scratched at his chin thoughtfully. "That means that Clarkson is Eden's uncle." Barnaby furrowed his brow at his partner, a disappointed look; he had figured that out already. "No way!" He tried to wave it off with a hesitant smile.
"It makes perfect sense though!" The blonde retorted, startling the older man. "If Clarkson is her guardian, then that would explain why he was willing to bend the rules. As her employer and parent, he can watch her while she worked at the police station."
"That also explains the empty house!" Now Kotetsu was getting it, remembering the farewell dinner. "That's the Commissioner's house! He's the guardian that lives with her!"
"Exactly!" Then it hit him. The younger man quickly scrambled to his feet and threw himself over to Eden's bag again, opening up smaller pockets and emptying out their contents.
"Bunny, what are you doing?"
"Since she works for the police, I'm willing to bet Eden has some sort of identity card." That statement in turn caused Kotetsu to think of something as well. He went over to the sleeping girl, who still had her notebook in her lap, and he carefully slipped it out from under her hands. He opened it up to the very first page and found what he was looking for.
"Bunny," the tiger called, holding the book up for his partner to see. Barnaby was walking over triumphantly with a small wallet in his hand. "'Property of Eden Clarkson.'" The veteran hero read aloud from the front cover. The rookie opened the wallet and exposed the ID card for his partner to read as well.
"'Stern Build Police Force. Clarkson, Eden.'"
"Damn it." Kotetsu cursed with a wily grin, amused by how easily he was fooled. "The proof was so obvious. I can't believe we went around this long without knowing her last name!"
"It's just one of those details you don't think about, I guess." Barnaby mused, looking over the ID card again. A photo of Eden showed on one side with some basic information on the other: position, age, weight, hair color, eye color. Her relation to James Clarkson couldn't be denied. And the commissioner was quickly heading over to the apartment.
"Ah, damn! I didn't call security about the Commissioner yet!" Without hesitating, Barnaby dug out his red phone from his pocket and dialed the building's main office. He told them the guest he was expecting and they confirmed that security would be told. "Thank you." He concluded.
It only took half an hour for Clarkson to arrive, which was impressive considering the distance between his townhome and Barnaby's apartment. He politely knocked on the door and when the young man opened it for him; he beheld a tired and worn-down man. The Commissioner had terrible dark circles under his eyes and his clothes were wrinkled and disheveled. It was a completely different man from whom he saw for the first time at the police station, well-dressed and organized. But Barnaby figured that a niece missing for three weeks could drive a man to extremes.
"Thank you very much, Mr. Brooks." The older gentleman seized the blonde's hand and shook it vigorously as he stepped in. He quickly spotted Kotetsu, standing next to his niece and smiled.
"I should have known you were in on this too, Mr. Kaburagi." Clarkson moved to shake the other man's hand, where Tiger approached him in turn. "Thank you so much." He shook his hand very heartily as well. Kotetsu noticed that James' gaze looked around him and to the girl on the chair.
"Eden is sleeping, sir." The father began, getting a start on comforting the policeman. "I'm afraid that she's sick, so we gave her something to help her sleep it off."
"That is too kind of you two."
"Please," Barnaby interjected, coming up from behind, "Sit down and have something to drink while you're here."
"Thanks, but I really need to get Eden—"
"Mr. Commissioner," Wild Tiger interrupted and grabbed hold of the man's hands, furrowing his brow in a knowing expression, "It's past one in the morning. She's not going anywhere. The least you can do is sit down and relax for a bit before going back." The graying haired man hesitated, his forehead creasing in thought. The Hero pair could plainly see the exhaustion weigh on the man like a yoke and could only imagine that it felt worse than it looked.
"Just…" Clarkson finally relented, his voice sounding unsure. Kotetsu laid a hand on the man's shoulder and gently tried to turn him in the direction of the kitchen.
"Yes, just for a minute." The father knowingly comforted. "Just sit down long enough for the shock to wear off. I'm sure you even have questions for us."
"… Yeah." The policeman agreed, looking over his shoulder one last time to look at Eden before entering the kitchen. Wild Tiger graciously offered him a seat at one of only two chairs that the modest dining table had. Barnaby had gone to the cabinet and pulled out a glass, quickly filling it up with ice from the freezer and filling it up with water from his kitchen tap. The blonde set the glass in front of James and took the remaining seat opposite to him, folding his arms across the table top.
"How did you find her?" The Commissioner began, reluctantly fingering the drink offered to him. Kotetsu cleared out his throat and tapped the table right next to the glass twice, trying to hint to the man to finally drink. Clarkson couldn't help but faintly smile at Kotetsu's subtle message and finally raised the water to his lips and took a sip.
Since Barnaby was the sober one when the duo had found Eden, he explained the whole scene. How she was sitting alone in plain sight, her out-of-it nature, the realization she was sick, her weak attempts to fight back, and finally, just how recently they found her. Clarkson leaned back in his chair, his head facing the ceiling and his face in his hands.
"She's such a troublemaker." He muttered to himself.
"Yeah," the older teammate commented, smiling, "You know, Bunny and I never even realized that you two were related."
"Oh?" James lowered his hands. "Eden didn't tell you two?"
"She's not the sharing type." Kotetsu replied in a light-hearted manner.
"That's too true." The man heaved a heavy sigh. "I'm her uncle on her father's side. Richard Clarkson was my older brother and the previous City Police Commissioner. I was his right hand man in the department before he was murdered, so it was only natural that I take his spot after the smoke cleared." James's eyes betrayed his melancholy mood and the blonde was pleased with himself for offering the man water instead of alcohol.
"Commissioner Clarkson?" Barnaby spoke up. "I have a few questions about Eden, if I may ask." The policeman raised his brow in acknowledgement, his glum look slowly dissipating as the young man spoke.
"Yes, Mr. Brooks?"
"Why did Eden run away?" He unconsciously curled his right hand into a fist, eager to finally receive some answers. "What ever happened to those charges against her? What's with those weird gloves on her hands?" He managed to stop himself. One question at a time; take it easy. Kotetsu's eyes lowered in concern as he noticed his partner tense up. He kept his thoughts to himself though, deciding to carefully observe the younger man.
"That…" Clarkson raised a hand and pinched the bridge of his nose as if he had a headache, "Is a lengthy and ugly story."
A/N: I apologize; this is turning into the longest night ever. lol. But there is only one more chapter to wrap it up and then we can move on!
Thank you to everyone who reads. I hope you are enjoying it!
