Author's note: I didn't actually plan for what happened in this chapter but I feel like it's been a long time coming.
Disillusioned
I want this to go away
...
Two hours. It had been two hours since the detective started talking to Danny.
Maddie watched the seconds tick by on her phone, bouncing her knee as she waited in the police station lobby with Jack, Jazz, and her lawyer on a bench propped against a wall. Several cops were chatting with each other and on phones in small office cubicles.
"Why is Danny's interview taking so long?" muttered Maddie, rubbing her bare fingers together, so strange not hearing the familiar sound of her jumpsuit material. She had opted to wear a normal skirt and blouse instead, anything to look like a clean-cut regular mother and not a mad scientist.
"They must have a lot to talk about," said Jack, placing his own bare hand on her knee to steady it. Maddie had convinced him as well to wear nice slacks and a shirt.
"But our interviews were just thirty minutes each," said Maddie.
"Yours would've been longer if I hadn't been there to shut down most of their questions," said her lawyer. "And Danny's kind of the star here. Detective Calhoun probably has a lot more questions to ask him than anyone."
Maddie studied her lawyer for a moment, a woman just a few years older and a couple inches shorter. Elsie Mitchell. Vlad had apparently worked with her before and swore she was the very best, that she could always think several steps ahead of anyone.
Maddie couldn't help but wonder if Elsie was a ghost.
"What do you think the detective is asking him?" asked Maddie.
"Three and a half weeks is a long time to be gone," said Elsie. "I'm sure the detective is trying to get all the details he can about what Danny was up to that whole time."
"I hope he can," said Jack. "I want to know what really happened to Danny, too."
"So do I," said Jazz, wringing her hands.
"Nothing happened to him," said Maddie. "He just ran away. But he's back now and he's fine; that's all that matters. I don't think hammering him with questions is doing him any good right now."
Jack and Jazz both furrowed their brows but said nothing.
"I wish you went in with him." Maddie turned away from Jack and Jazz and looked only at Elsie. "Then maybe he'd be done by now."
"Vlad wanted to hear Danny, Jack, and Jazz speak freely," said Elsie in a low voice that only Maddie could hear.
Maddie frowned at the cryptic response.
"And besides, Danny doesn't need me," continued Elsie, her volume normal again. "He's not a suspect in his own disappearance."
The cold implication hung in the air. Jack folded his arms, Jazz stared at the floor.
"You left your home in the middle of the night every night while Danny was gone," said the detective during Maddie's interrogation. "Where did you go?"
Maddie pressed her lips.
"What is the relevance of your question?" asked Elsie.
"We have security camera footage from various locations that show you driving your car between ten and midnight every night." The detective looked right at Maddie, ignoring Elsie. "Were you going to see Danny?"
"Don't answer that," said Elsie.
"Where were you keeping him?" asked the detective more forcefully.
"Don't answer."
"What were you doing to him?"
"Do not badger my client with these baseless accusations, detective."
Maddie had managed to keep a straight face during the interrogation but she was actually breaking down inside, her eyes stinging with the effort of holding back hot tears.
She was a suspect. She knew that. And now Jack and Jazz knew it, too.
Maddie breathed in deeply, leaning back and tilting her head slightly to look up at the ceiling.
What was Danny saying to the detective right at this very moment?
Maddie closed her eyes and swallowed. She wondered if Vlad really was here somewhere like he promised, using his ghost powers to help them out.
She would have to ask him later.
Maddie tried to busy herself with her phone, but the paranoid thoughts would not stop plaguing her. So she tucked her phone under her folded arms and bounced her knees some more to release the building anxiety.
At last, Danny emerged in the lobby escorted by a cop. Maddie stood, but Danny kept his head down as he approached.
"Danny." Maddie placed her hands on his shoulders and stroked his cheek with her thumb to get him to raise his head. "Are you all right?"
Danny's eyes were still lowered, not looking at her. But even so, the scar streaked across his left eye was obvious.
"Are we done, then?" Maddie asked the cop escort. "Are we allowed to leave?"
The cop opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by a voice that Maddie had come to seriously hate.
"You were always free to leave at any time," said Detective Calhoun, strolling up behind Danny. "You all came here voluntarily."
Maddie bit her tongue to stop herself from saying anything snarky. She could feel Danny slumping his shoulders as she continued holding him. She gently guided him to spin around so his back was to her chest, one hand still on his left shoulder.
"Please schedule a full physical examination for Danny as soon as possible," said the detective. "He really should be checked out."
"The results of any physical examination would not be shared with you," said Elsie, walking up and standing beside Maddie. "You'd have to get a warrant for that."
"Perhaps I will," said the detective, his eyes cold as he stared right at Elsie.
Danny shivered. Maddie rubbed the back of his neck with her thumb. His goosepimpled skin felt like ice.
"Why do you care?" asked Maddie. "Isn't this investigation over now? Danny isn't missing anymore, so shouldn't you be closing this case?"
Now the detective turned his cold eyes on her. Maddie squared her shoulders and lifted her chin as she held eye contact.
"It's my job to investigate these things thoroughly," said the detective, "and the case won't be closed until I figure out exactly what happened to Danny."
His gaze fell on Danny now. Danny ducked and turned his head.
"Well." Maddie glared at the detective, bringing his attention back to her. "I really wish you had been this insistent on figuring out what happened to him back when you thought he was just a runaway teen with a drug problem."
The detective's nostrils flared as he silently held her gaze. Maddie tightened her hold on Danny's shoulder.
"That's enough," said Elsie, moving between them and turning her back to the detective. "Don't say anything else, Maddie."
"Sid," called a cop from a cubicle nearby, holding up a stack of papers. The detective gave Maddie a final look before walking away with his hand out to take the paperwork.
Elsie gestured with her hands to move along. Maddie guided Danny to turn with her and head toward the exit. Jack and Jazz followed, their expressions somber and puzzled.
Maddie could hear the clamoring outside even without opening the double doors. Through the glass, she could see a dozen reporters and crew members with cameras standing on the sidewalk in front of the station.
"What are they here for?" asked Jazz, also peering out.
"They're here for you," said Elsie, placing a pair of large mirrored sunglasses over her eyes and zipping up her purse.
"How did they even know we were here?" asked Maddie.
"Your family is pretty famous, and news like this travels fast in a small town," explained Elsie. "Plus, you know that huge ghost-hunting van of yours sticks out like the sorest thumb, right?"
Maddie groaned. "We just don't all fit comfortably in my car."
"Yeah, even with the front seat all the way back, my legs are so cramped," said Jack.
Elsie shrugged. "Well. It is what it is now. Just head straight to your vehicle and don't speak a single word to anyone."
Maddie hugged Danny to her, rubbing his upper arm. He leaned against her, angling his head downward and almost burying his face in her shoulder. And in that moment, Maddie couldn't help noticing just how tall Danny was now. She wasn't sure if he'd ever reach his father's height, but she had no doubt she would one day be looking up at him.
Or had she stunted his growth spurt? With torture, with malnutrition? How many ways had she damaged his body permanently?
Maddie shook her head. She couldn't think about that now. Right now, she needed to get her family back home.
Jack pushed open the doors. Maddie followed right behind him, still holding Danny close to her. The reporters began shouting questions immediately.
"Jack, Maddie, why is your family here at the police station today?"
"Danny, where have you been the past month?"
"Jack, will you and your wife resume hunting ghosts now that your son is home?"
"Jazz, what do you think happened to your brother?"
"Maddie, what was the first thing you did when Danny came home?"
Maddie looked straight ahead and clenched her jaw as she stomped past the cameras and microphones shoved in her face. She tightened her hold on Danny, who hunched over in her embrace, ducking and hiding.
"Maddie, is it true that you are a suspect in your son's disappearance?"
Maddie held back a snarl, heat rising in her face as she forced herself to stay silent. When she reached the Fenton Ghost Assault Vehicle, she threw open the back door and jumped inside with Danny, no time to run around to the other side and climb into the front passenger seat. Jazz was right behind her while Jack climbed into the driver's seat.
Maddie slid the back door shut and looked out at the reporters still shouting at them. Farther down the curb, she could see Elsie getting into her own car.
Jack pulled away from the curb, his moves jerky as he switched the GAV into first gear, then second, going full throttle and leaving the reporters behind. Maddie pressed a hand to her middle to massage her knotted stomach.
Beside her, Danny leaned over and cradled his head in his hands with his elbows propped on his thighs. Maddie placed her other hand on his back and rubbed it. He tensed and shuddered, so violently that Maddie promptly took her hand away.
"So are we gonna talk about any of this?" asked Jazz.
Jack swung the GAV into a tight turn. Maddie clutched her seat to regain her balance. "Talk about what?"
Jazz scoffed. "Uh, what just happened back there? The interviews, the reporters?"
"What about them?"
"Mom, all of the questions the detective asked me were about you!" Jazz shrieked.
"He's just doing his job, Jazz," said Maddie. "After a whole month of doing basically nothing to look for Danny, he's finally doing his job."
"But why is he investigating you?" Jazz's eyes took on a wild look. "I mean, you didn't know where he was the past month, did you?"
"Of course not."
"Then what does he—"
"He's just being thorough," said Maddie more snappishly. "Nine out of ten times when a child goes missing, a parent is to blame."
"But he thought Danny just ran away before," said Jazz.
"And he did just run away," said Maddie firmly.
"Then why does the detective suspect you now?"
"Because it's more sensational that way," said Maddie. "All of those journalists and reporters back there, they want something more interesting than just a teenage runaway. And Detective Calhoun wants this case to be bigger than it is for his own ego, too."
"But what exactly makes him think you had anything to do with Danny's disappearance?" asked Jazz with a small whine.
"Nothing," said Danny, sitting up and looking at Jazz with tired eyes. "Obviously if he had something to go on, he would've arrested Mom today. But he didn't. Because he has nothing."
Jazz stared, her expression searching him. Maddie folded her arms and studied Danny's profile.
"I ran away," said Danny. "And then I came back. That's all. Mom had no idea where I was the entire time."
The GAV lurched into a stop at a red light. Jazz continued staring at Danny.
"What happened to your eye?" she asked.
Danny leaned back in his seat and inclined his head, his gaze falling to the floor. "I already told you. It was an accident."
The light turned green, and Jack sped the GAV through the intersection.
At home that evening, dinner was uncomfortable and mostly silent. Maddie cooked up a number of Danny's favorites hoping that would make it easier for him to eat, but she could see him struggling to place even small bites into his mouth, forcing them down with hard, deliberate swallows.
And she could see Jazz and Jack staring at him, looking worried. Maddie tried her best to distract them with small talk, but they barely engaged, replying with clipped responses that went nowhere.
Danny was the last to finish eating, as Maddie expected. But at least he cleared his plate. It was all Maddie could ask of him for now.
Not long after dinner, Danny went to bed early and shut himself up in his room. A few hours later, Jazz also went to bed. Jack and Maddie retired to their room as well.
Maddie dressed in her night clothes, then brushed her teeth and washed her face in their bathroom, rubbing moisturizer into her tired skin and tugging at the new wrinkles around her eyes and mouth. She didn't remember having these wrinkles just a month ago.
She turned off the bathroom light and reentered the bedroom to find Jack staring at her from the other side of the bed, standing and still wearing his jumpsuit.
"Jack?" Maddie frowned. "Aren't you going to get ready for bed?"
"Don't you think we need to talk first?" asked Jack.
"Talk about what?"
"You know what. About today. About Danny."
"And what about Danny?"
"We should schedule a physical for him." Jack came around to her side of the bed. "Have a doctor look him over."
"I'll take care of that," said Maddie, already making plans to call Vlad and ask him about doctors that she might be able to bribe to keep a secret.
"And are we going to have him see a therapist again?" asked Jack. "It doesn't have to be Brandan; we can find someone new."
"Why do you think he needs to see a therapist?" asked Maddie, her mouth twitching at the mention of that man, that traitor. She had trusted Brandan to help Danny with his painkiller addiction but instead he turned the cops on her.
"You don't really believe his story, do you?" asked Jack. "That he just ran away and then came back when he was ready?"
"That's exactly what happened, Jack. I saw him run away."
"I know you did, but obviously there's more to it than that."
Maddie hesitated but tried to keep her expression stoic. "Why would you think that?"
"Because of the way he's acting." Jack held out a hand, gesturing in the direction of Danny's room. "He's not acting like himself, Mads."
"Being on his own probably wasn't easy, and he was going through a hard time before he took off," said Maddie. "I wouldn't expect anyone to be exactly the same after that."
"That's not what I mean. He's acting like…something happened to him." Jack paused. "Something bad."
"Like what?" Maddie tried to sound unimpressed but her heart was quaking.
"Maybe… I don't know." Jack sighed. "Maybe someone found him and…took him somewhere."
"Took him where? For what reason?"
"I—God, do I really have to say it?" Jack's voice rose, then fell to just above a whisper. "There are sick people out there who love doing sick things to teenage boys like Danny."
Sick people who love doing sick things to—
The fear in his eyes, the defiance vanishing into submission as she at last conquered his mind and soul and body—
Especially his body—
The way he quivered whenever her fingers trailed over his bare skin—
So satisfying so intoxicating so—
THRILLING
Yes she did love every sick thing she did to Phantom. Such a powerful ghost and yet he was all hers. She was able to take all of his power away from him.
After years of devoting herself to ghost research, he was supposed to be her crowning achievement. He was supposed to give her everything she wanted, even if she had to take it by force.
But she didn't know it was Danny, she thought Phantom was just a ghost, not human—
Not her son—
Not her fault—
"Danny's going to be fine," said Maddie, her voice shaking as she gasped in a breath. "I'll get him the help he needs. You don't need to worry about any of that."
Jack stared at her, his eyes piercing through her.
"What?" asked Maddie, holding one elbow and rubbing it.
"I just don't understand why you're not more concerned about what really happened to Danny," said Jack, his brow creasing. "You were so persistent about figuring out what was going on when he started acting weird after he snuck out of the house."
"Yeah, well, as I recall, you didn't care at all to figure it out," spat Maddie. "You kept trying to tell me he was fine. I had to investigate on my own."
"But you were right!" said Jack. "That's how we discovered he was stealing painkillers from Pam, because you didn't believe his story when he said that he just went out to see Sam and that was all that happened the night he snuck out. You knew something was wrong, that he was hiding something."
Maddie sighed but didn't reply.
"And I've already apologized for ignoring the signs, for not taking Danny's odd behavior more seriously," continued Jack. "But that's why I don't understand you right now. Why are you accepting his story that he just ran away?"
"Because I saw him run away."
"We both know he's lied to us before. And it seems pretty clear to me that he's lying again."
"It's not a lie when I saw it happen."
"But kids who run away don't stay gone for over three weeks, Maddie. They're gone for a night, maybe two, but they usually come back pretty quick. Danny had no money or anything; where could he have even stayed for a whole month on his own?"
"I don't know."
"Don't you think we should try to find out? And if he won't tell us or the cops, maybe a therapist could get him to open up—"
"I don't want to push him, Jack!"
Maddie nearly yelled. Jack fell quiet.
"I don't… I don't…" Maddie moved to the bed and sat on the edge, clasping her hands between her knees and looking down at the floor. "I tried pushing him last time, Jack. I tried forcing him to talk to me, to tell me what was wrong." She raised her head. "I pushed him away, Jack. I literally pushed him away."
Emotion flooded her eyes, tightened her throat.
"I pushed him," she said as her tears fell. "And when I pushed him too far, he ran from me. And I can't lose him again, Jack. I can't. Three weeks not knowing if he was safe or alive—I can't, I can't, I can't."
It was true. She knew it was true. Danny ran from her when she backed him into a corner, forced him into a position he didn't want to be in—
Phantom looked good on his knees didn't he—
But she was really just hoping Jack would buy this line of reasoning, that he would give up on trying to figure out what really happened to Danny.
She had to convince him. For Danny's sake, not hers. Danny had begged her not to let anyone know what really happened to him, and Maddie was bound to his request.
Yes. This was for Danny.
As she kept telling herself.
"I can't push him right now," said Maddie more softly. "Not when I just got him back."
Jack was quiet for a long time. Maddie lowered her head and continued crying while she waited.
"Maybe you're right," said Jack at last. "Maybe it's too soon for us to be trying to force anything out of Danny right now. Might be better to wait until things have calmed down."
"I saw him run away, Jack," said Maddie, wiping her eyes. "Just believe me on that, okay? I need you to believe me, especially since nobody else does right now."
"Mmm." Jack scratched his neck. "That's another thing I wanted to talk to you about."
Maddie looked up at him from the bed.
"The police interrogations today," said Jack.
"They were just your normal police interviews," said Maddie, sniffling and rubbing away the last of her tears.
"Then why did you need a lawyer?"
Maddie didn't reply.
"Maddie." Jack stared down at her. "Why do the cops think you had something to do with Danny's disappearance?"
"They're just exploring every possible angle," said Maddie, standing so she no longer had to look up at him.
"But the detective didn't ask me about other angles," said Jack. "He just asked me about you."
Maddie's lips thinned as she crossed her arms.
"All of his questions to me were about you," said Jack. "You and your relationship with Danny. And where you were going when you left the house every night while Danny was missing."
"What did you tell him?" asked Maddie, her heart hammering.
Jack blinked a couple times before answering. "I told him the truth. I told him that you went out to look for Danny some more."
"Is that all you told him?"
"I—well, he asked why I didn't join you in those nightly searches, but I told him that you found it therapeutic to go on your own."
Maddie's chest felt tight but she nodded, satisfied with his answer.
"That, uh…" Jack cleared his throat, pinching the front of his neck. "That really is what you were doing, right?"
"What do you mean?" asked Maddie.
"I mean, you weren't doing anything else besides looking for Danny when you went out every night, were you?"
"What else would I be doing?"
Jack started playing with the zipper at the collar of his jumpsuit.
"What else do you think I would've been doing, Jack?" Maddie asked more forcefully.
"I thought that maybe…" Jack lowered his zipper, raised it again. "I thought you were sometimes going out to hunt for…Phantom."
Maddie scrunched her mouth. "Did the detective ask you about that possibility?"
"No," said Jack. "But you were so obsessed with him before, and you were very insistent that I not join you for these nightly searches for Danny, so I had to wonder…"
Maddie narrowed her eyes. "If I was going out to look for Phantom instead of Danny?"
"Yes." Jack dropped his gaze to the floor. "Or…"
"Or what?"
Jack fumbled with his zipper some more, still not looking at her.
"Or what, Jack?" Maddie put her hands on her hips.
Jack let go of his zipper and looked at her squarely. "I thought maybe you were going out to see Phantom."
Maddie's stomach clenched and fell, flipping over.
"I thought…" Jack massaged the back of his head. "Maybe you two were…"
"Were what?" asked Maddie with her teeth clenched.
Jack sighed. "Having an affair."
Maddie pressed a hand to her chest, her jaw dropping. She took a step back and could do nothing but stare at Jack for several moments.
"He—He's a child, Jack," Maddie sputtered. "Phantom. He's just a boy."
"That's not what you were saying before." Jack turned dark eyes on her. "Before when I mentioned the age difference between you two, you told me that ghosts don't age the way we do, that we had no way to know how old Phantom really is."
"Yes—well—that's true." Maddie straightened, feeling heat in her cheeks. "But he does still look like a teenager. And you don't think I'm sexually attracted to teenage boys, do you, Jack?"
"I've heard the way you talk about him with Jazz."
"Excuse me?"
Jack groaned, slightly rolling his eyes. "Look, we've had sex only once since Danny disappeared—"
"Oh, is that what this is about? I wasn't available enough for you while our son was missing?"
"No, of course not. Finding Danny was our priority."
"Right, and we were both exhausted after looking for him all day."
"But apparently you weren't too exhausted to sneak out at midnight to, as you say, look for him some more."
Maddie's lips clamped together as she glared furiously at Jack.
"But even before Danny went missing, you were becoming so…distant with me during sex," said Jack. "Like you were thinking about something else. Or someone."
Maddie could feel tears springing to her eyes but she refused to let them fall, her jaw tightening with the effort.
"You really changed right after you nearly captured Phantom in that alley," said Jack. "If that even is what really happened."
"'What really happened'? What else could have happened?" snapped Maddie.
"I don't know; you tell me." Jack met her glare. "You ran off after him without even waiting for me."
"You were slow, Jack. I wasn't about to lose Phantom because I was waiting for you to catch up."
"Or were you in a hurry to be alone with him in that alley?"
Maddie's eyes were hard but she couldn't stop one tear from rolling down her cheek.
"Why didn't you capture him?" asked Jack. "You had him. I saw you. Why did you wait so long to trap him in your Thermos? Why was he down on his knees while you were bending over him when I found you?"
Maddie raised her hand and slapped him across the face. Jack's head turned with the force but he otherwise looked more stunned than hurt.
"How dare you make such an accusation," Maddie snarled between hot breaths.
"You have yet to deny it," Jack said coolly, his cheek flushing red.
"I shouldn't have to."
They locked eyes for several intense seconds. Maddie then turned up her nose and got into bed, rolling over on her side so she didn't have to look at Jack anymore.
Jack stayed motionless for some time, then he started moving. Maddie heard the closet open, the sounds of Jack pulling off his jumpsuit and dressing for bed. But when the bedroom door opened, Maddie shot up with a jolt.
"Where are you going?" she demanded.
Jack's hand was on the door handle, a pillow under his other arm as he turned back to look at her. "I thought it might be best if I sleep downstairs tonight."
"No," said Maddie. "You can't do that. You have to sleep up here with me."
"Maddie, I really don't want to."
"You have to. We can't let Danny and Jazz see you on the couch in the morning."
Jack groaned and let go of the door handle. "Maddie—"
"We can't let them think there's anything wrong between us," said Maddie. "Not right now, not with everything going on."
"So you think lying to them is the best course of action right now?"
"Yes, it is. It's especially what's best for Danny. He's far too sensitive, and seeing us not getting along would only break him up more."
Jack pressed the fingers of one hand to his eyes, rubbing them.
"Jazz has told me how upset and scared Danny gets whenever we fight," continued Maddie, still sitting up in bed. "You know how you always forget our anniversary?"
"You know I don't mean to," grumbled Jack.
"Well, remember last year when I went to visit Alicia? Danny thought I was leaving you because you forgot our anniversary again. He was convinced we were getting a divorce." Maddie placed a hand over her heart. "Apparently, he really freaked out over it. Jazz said he cleaned the whole house just so I would have one less thing to be angry about when I got home."
"He often expects the worst in any situation," said Jack.
"Right, he does," said Maddie. "And Jazz told me something else, too. You know how we fight every Christmas? Money troubles, visiting your family, that sort of thing?"
"I don't know why visiting my family has to be a fight at all," snapped Jack. "Why do you hate my parents so much?"
"Because your father is a rude, selfish man who just sits around watching TV while expecting his wife and me to cook and wash all the dishes," Maddie shot back.
"My mom likes taking care of him! And I help out, too."
"Yeah, only after I come into the TV room and ask you to."
"Well, you sure didn't mind taking their money to fund our research when we were just starting out."
"I never asked them for that money; you did. And I made sure to pay them back as soon as things picked up for us."
"But they did help us out when no one else wanted to invest in our ghost research, and it would be nice if we could let them see their grandkids for Christmas sometimes."
"No, stop, wait." Maddie made a wiping motion with her hands, as if erasing the argument. "The point is, we've been fighting every Christmas since we've been married, and Danny, from what Jazz has told me, used to get very upset about it. He would hide in his room and Jazz would find him crying. And one time he asked her what we were fighting about, and you know what Jazz told him?"
"No, I don't," said Jack, sounding tired.
"Jazz told him that we were just fighting about whether or not Santa Claus is real," said Maddie. "Jazz didn't want him to think we were fighting about anything serious, so she made up something silly to comfort him. And he believed it. For years, he was convinced we were just fighting about the existence of Santa Claus and that was it, nothing he needed to worry about."
Jack blinked, silent for a couple beats. "She really told him that's what we fight about every Christmas? Santa Claus?"
"Yes," said Maddie, leaning forward as emotion broke into her voice. "That was how he coped with us fighting."
Jack massaged the back of his neck. "I wish I could say that surprises me, but it doesn't. I don't know where Danny gets his sensitivity from, certainly not you or me."
He stood in front of the open door, still holding a pillow under one arm while staring down the dark hallway. Maddie watched him, waiting.
Finally, Jack shut the door slowly, quietly. "All right," he said. "I'll sleep up here."
"Thank you," said Maddie.
"I'm not doing it for you."
Jack shut off the lights and lowered himself onto his side of the bed. Maddie lay back on her pillow, pulling up the blanket to cover her shoulders.
Darkness. Stillness. Not another word was spoken between them.