Private Dicks (16 page)

"Okay. Tell Liam I said hi," Bridget responded, still looking worried.

"Right," Jason replied. He just hoped he'd be able to pass on the message.

*~*~*

It took willpower for Jason not to run the entire way home to the apartment he shared with his brother. Ten minutes had never felt so long. Halfway home he tried calling Liam. It just made him feel worse when there was no answer. By the time he reached their street, he was nearly vibrating from tension and worry. The fact that the feeling of foreboding had mostly faded told him that he was almost certainly too late to prevent whatever had happened. He found himself imagining all kinds of worst case scenarios from Liam lying in an alley somewhere to Child Services having decided that Jason was unfit to be his guardian. His imagination even managed to come up with a complicated scenario involving feral raccoons.

Once he actually made it inside his door, he found he was right about one thing: Liam should have been home, and he most decidedly wasn't. School had let out hours ago, and Liam always let Jason know ahead of time when he wasn't going to be home, even if just by text. Jason futilely checked his phone again, but of course no missed calls or messages had appeared in the last few minutes. Growing increasingly worried, Jason dialed Liam's number again.

The phone rang from inside the apartment. Liam never left his phone at home.

Over the next hour, Jason did everything he could think of: walked the route that Liam usually took to school and some of the surrounding area, called Liam's school, and called several of Liam's friends. There was just no sign of him. He started asking neighbors near their apartment, but the best he found was that a fire alarm had gone off in the building. More than one person said they'd seen Liam then, so he'd at least made it home. Jason finally just tried waiting at home to see if Liam might show up, but barely 10 minutes had passed before he panicked at the lack of action.

Bridget. He should call Bridget; she was always much better about keeping a cool head, and he knew her shift would be over by now. Maybe she'd be able to think of something. He closed his eyes and took a few deep, even breaths until he felt a bit more rational, but he still couldn't keep his hands from shaking as he pulled up Bridget's number on his phone.

"Hey Jason, what's up?" Bridget's voice came from the other end of the line, and Jason already found himself feeling better. Bridget could always calm him down.

"Bridget, Liam's gone. He's not at home, he's not at school, he didn't say anything to me, and he actually left his phone at home, which he's
never
done, and something might have happened, and I'm kind of freaking out," Jason said all in a rush.

"Okay hon, stay calm. I'm sure this'll turn out to be no big deal. I'm coming over right now."

Jason sighed in relief. "Thanks, Bridget. You're amazing."

"Don't you know it. See you soon, hon."

*~*~*

An hour later found Jason pacing the length of his small living room with Bridget looking on from the battered, dark blue couch that was the only real piece of sitting furniture in the room.

"Bridget, something's
happened
to him," Jason insisted, not for first time. "We've tried all of my ideas, all your ideas, and it's now been hours. Something's wrong." Speaking half to himself, he added, "Child Services couldn't just pick someone up off the street, could they? They tell you before they do that, right?"

"Why do you think Child Services might have taken him?" Bridget asked sharply, leaning forward and suddenly looking a lot more concerned. "Have there been any problems?"

"No, but—"

"But you're being paranoid," Bridget finished, visibly relaxing. "And no, they generally don't pick kids up off the street."

They both fell silent for a long moment, but Jason's mind continued to whirl. The Bureau of Paranormal Investigations might do that. They could have somehow found out that Liam was an unregistered psychic and then taken him away. But then again, surely even they wouldn't be allowed to just kidnap people in secret like that. The penalty for not registering wasn't that severe. Even with the shady rumors surrounding the BPI's treatment of people with rare abilities, he was pretty sure they didn't resort to outright kidnapping. Did they? Despite what had happened to his father, he remembered the BPI had made every effort to seem legitimate at first. His father had been in 'official training' for years before he'd just disappeared.

"You know, Jason," Bridget began cautiously, her tone immediately setting Jason on the defensive, because that was definitely her 'you're not going to like what I'm about to say' voice, "Have you considered that Liam might just be going through some kind of rebellious phase?"

That was patently ridiculous enough to make Jason stop pacing just to scowl at her. "Come on, Bridget, are you kidding me? You
know
Liam. He's more responsible than I am."

"Can't deny that," Bridget agreed, an amused smile on her face, which Jason chose to ignore in favor of resuming his pacing. He caught Bridget rolling her eyes; she sighed and leaned backward on the couch, picking at a frayed thread. "Look, if he's not back in two days, we can file a missing person report."

Jason stopped again, staring at the off-color wall, not turning back to face her. No small amount of frustration seeping into his voice, he replied, "No. I can't."

"Hon, I know you don't want to wait that long, but …"

Jason cut her off. "No, I mean I can't file a police report. Not about anything to do with Liam."

Bridget was silent for a moment, and Jason finally turned to look at her, struggling to keep his expression neutral. She frowned at him, staring intently, almost as if she were willing the truth out. When she spoke, her tone was measured, but Jason caught the underlying suspicion. "And why not?"

"I'm not going to risk involving the police in anything to do with Liam."

"You're repeating yourself. What aren't you telling me?" Bridget's expression was hard, and Jason realized she knew. Well, it was pretty damn unlikely she knew specifically about his or Liam's abilities, but it was suddenly obvious she knew he had been keeping a major secret from her. He'd be pretty upset, too, in her position.

Jason sighed and came to a decision. He had to tell her. Maybe a filtered version, and maybe not everything, but she wasn't going to give up on the police angle unless he actually told her why that was impossible.

After he'd worked so hard keeping Liam's abilities a secret, it felt surreal to actually say the words out loud. "Bridget … Liam's an unregistered psychic."

Bridget stared blankly at him. Whatever she'd been expecting, it apparently hadn't been that. "That's it?" She finally asked.

Stung, Jason snapped at her, "Bridget, this is a big fucking deal to me!"

"God, Jason, I thought you were smuggling drugs for the mob or something!" Bridget crossed her arms and sat up stiffly; she had an odd habit of going formal in her posture when annoyed. "How long have you known? And why the hell did you keep it from me?"

"Bridget, come on. I didn't tell you because
no one
is supposed to know. Yes, not even you. It's not something I
tell
people." Jason carefully avoided the question of 'how long'. He wasn't sure how well she'd take 'since before we even met' as a response.

"I don't get what all the secrecy is about," Bridget said. "People dodge registration all the time. I get not publicizing your brother's a psychic, but come on; it's not that big a deal."

Bridget's casual attitude just agitated Jason further. “It is a big fucking deal, Bridget, and don’t you dare let this knowledge leave the room.”

"Christ, Jason, what's your problem? I mean, you don't believe the bogey stories about how people never come back from the BPI's registration training period, do you?” Bridget paused at the serious look on Jason's face. Her expression grew earnest as she tried to calm him down. "You know my friend Ted, right? His cousin did the registration year, came back when they said he would, and never had any problems. All the bad hype about the BPI—it's just rumors, you know?"

Jason held her gaze for a long moment, completely serious. "Bridget, I do believe the bogey stories."

Bridget sighed. "You know I would always keep your secrets. Even if I think you're being unreasonable."

Jason gave himself a moment to feel relieved, and then he leaned forward, head in his hands. He still had no idea how the hell to find his brother.

"Jace, maybe you should bring this to Eric," Bridget said suddenly.

Jason snapped upright and looked at her like she'd grown a second head. "What the hell does he have to do with any of this?"

"Oh my god, Jason, you've been obsessing over this guy for how long now, and you don't even remember his job?" Bridget threw her hands up in disgust. "He's a PI, and he has a
special class
license. There's no way you didn't know this."

Jason would never admit it, but he had honestly forgotten. "I didn't know he was special class," he said defensively. "Anyway, how the hell do you know?"

"He told me, because, unlike some people, I can actually talk to him in coherent sentences," Bridget said. "Look, Jason. Do you really honestly believe Liam is in trouble?"

"Yes!" Jason returned instantly.

"Well, then." Bridget stood up. "I'd say we have a call to make."

*~*~*

In the US, the regular police force had no jurisdiction over any crime that involved supernatural elements, non-humans, or human psychics, even incidentally. Ostensibly, that meant that all such crimes needed to be dealt with by the BPI. However, they didn't have enough manpower to effectively deal with minor crimes. That led to the development of a "special class" license for eligible private investigators—that is, those that underwent a training program. The license authorized them to handle cases below a certain scope, especially those that only peripherally involved the supernatural, and even make limited citizen's arrests. There were laws in place to protect client privilege for those who worked with these private investigators, which prevented the BPI from requiring investigators to turn over potentially damaging information about clients. One of the most common examples was that the BPI couldn't force private investigators to report unregistered psychics. All of that meant that people who were afraid to go to the Bureau for some reason or another often called upon special investigators instead.

Eric arranged to meet Jason the next morning at a nearby cafe, though not the one where Jason worked. He'd called in sick, so it might have made things a little awkward. Apparently, Eric didn't have a proper office set up, so he'd suggested a neutral meeting point.

Jason was worried about his ability to manage a serious conversation with Eric—he'd barely made it through the phone call, and he might not have without Bridget to supply him with words. He wanted to be focused on Liam and not some ridiculous crush, but the truth was the combination made things worse—the stress over Liam combined with the fact he'd never been good at talking to Eric meant he'd been struggling to string more than two words together at a time on the phone.

He had to admit these were definitely not the circumstances under which he would have preferred to meet with Eric.

Jason reached the cafe a few minutes late, and as soon as he saw the back of Eric's head, his heartbeat kicked into overdrive. He took a few deep breaths, desperately trying to calm his chaotic emotions. He waited until he felt he could act like a rational human being and then walked inside.

The door chimed as he walked in. He and Eric acknowledged each other with a nod, and Jason went to buy a drink, both so he wouldn't feel rude and to give himself time to gather his wits.

Finally feeling relatively calm again, Jason joined Eric at a small table against the wall. Despite how often Eric showed up at pool nights and other gatherings with Jason's friends, Jason had never managed to just sit down and talk with him like a normal human being. "Um, hello," he managed.

Eric's tone was neutral and business-like as he spoke. "Hello. You said over the phone that your brother is missing, correct? Tell me more."

Jason looked around, suddenly uncomfortably aware of how exposed they were. Eric caught on to his discomfort immediately and added, "I understand the setting may not allow for full disclosure. I'm just looking for basics. Think of this as something like a screening, just a formality."

"Right." Jason sat up straighter. He attempted to focus on the situation and not on Eric Donahue's stupid attractiveness. He was more successful once he started speaking, if only because talking about Liam refocused him on how stressed out and worried he was. "My younger brother didn't come home yesterday. He's an extremely responsible kid—he wouldn't just stay out overnight like this without letting me know. I checked with his school and all his friends, and
no one's seen him since yesterday He left his cell phone, too, and he never goes anywhere without it." Jason noticed that he'd started to tap his fingers restlessly and tried to tone it down. Eric said nothing, giving every appearance of listening intently. "I'm actually his legal guardian," Jason continued. "He's fourteen, and both our parents are gone."

"I've heard a little bit of the story," Eric said, nodding. "How long have you been his guardian?"

"Two years. Since our mother died." Jason paused. He always felt awkward telling people about his mother's death. Not because he was still mourning, but because he wasn't, and a lot of people reacted with excessive sympathy. He wasn't very good at dealing with it, so he mostly avoided the topic. To Jason's relief, Eric said nothing.

"Also, I don't know if this is relevant," Jason went on, staring very fixedly at the napkin holder, "but our father's been gone since just after Liam was born." He specifically neglected to expand upon that, and Eric didn't ask. "Our mother pretty much lived in the hospital for the last year and a half or so before she died, so I guess you could say I've been in charge of him for a bit longer than two years."