Chapter 21 Tim

TIM

          It was still damp and chilly for June. Jess finished his business at the Carthage bank and decided to drop in and visit Treacher before heading home. He found him at his desk, doing paper work.

         "Hey," he said.

         "Good morning," Treacher replied without looking up. He was unshaven and his uniform was rumpled.

         "Are you okay? You look as if you didn't get home last night."

         "I didn't. Busy night."

         "What happened?"

         "We got Jack Dorney and two of his friends."

         "Who's Jack Dorney?"

         "Petty criminal from Lisbon. Wanted for burglary, assault and robbery. They got one of the gang last week in Lisbon."

         "What was Dorney doing in Carthage?"

         "Probably thought the one they caught would give them up so they left town. Lukey called me about eight and said somebody was in her old barn. So I figured it was them. I called Nottingham for backup and we got the three of them."

         "So have you got them here?"`

         "No, they took them to Lisbon. That's the jurisdiction where they're wanted. Soon as I type up the report I'm done with that lot."

         There was a sound from the back room. "So who have you got in there?"

         "Go see. But don't wake him up."

         Jess came back a moment later. "He's a kid! What's he done?"

         "For the moment trespassing. I put him in there because I didn't want him to run off. Besides it was cold out this morning. He didn't seem to mind getting inside. I gave him some breakfast and he's been sleeping in there ever since."

         "Who is he?"

         "He wouldn't say. I think he was with Dorney and them last night but nobody saw him. This morning Lukey said she saw somebody run from the barn to her shed when she went to open the gas station. I went to look and found him."

         Jess took another look at the boy in the cell. He was dirty and looked half starved. He had long hair in a matted tangle.

         Jess asked, "What are you going to do with him?"

         "They'll take care of him at Lisbon."

Jess exclaimed, "No!"
`
         "What do you mean, no? What else is there to do with him? Now look don't you go getting involved! This is no nice little boy from Carthage! He gave me a fight and tried to bite."

         "You scared him."

         "No it was the other way around. This one scares me."

         So far Jess had seen a dirty neglected child, painfully thin and probably sick. Asleep he didn't look all that savage. "What will happen to him there?"

         "He will go to the children's shelter. They'll clean him up and give him what medical care he needs. He'll get plenty to eat."

         "And then what?"

         "That depends. We don't even know who he is yet."

         Jess said, "He can't be any older than Joey. I wonder what's going to become of him."

         "They'll try to place him in family care. Not much chance of that, though. Too many problems. For one thing he has a bad cough and he's not very healthy."

         Jesse knew that when people around here took in County boys this age they were looking for healthy kids who could work. "Maybe he has relatives."

         "What kind of relatives would they be if he's in this kind of shape and they did nothing about it?"

         Jess drank his coffee. He was thinking of it: a boy Joey's age who had nobody and nothing. "There has to be something we can do for him."

         "Well there isn't. At Lisbon he'll get food and shelter and medical attention. They'll find out who he is and take it from there."

         "Sounds like he's awake." Jess went into the back room and saw the boy sitting up. Treacher was right about the cough. This child was sick and half starved. The ragged clothing he was wearing was not adequate for the chilly day. The boy looked up at him. "Hey." Jess said.

         The boy turned away. "Would you tell me your name?"

         "You a cop?"

         "No. I'm a chicken farmer. Jess Maciver." He extended his right hand through the bars.

         The boy squinted at him as if he were trying to figure him out. Then he took the offered hand and said "Tim Dorney."

         So he must be Jack Dorney's kid. Jess asked "How old are you, Tim?

         The boy was chary of giving information. He said. "Thirteen."

         A few months older than Joey! "Are you hungry?"

         That got a response. This was a child who was probably hungry all the time.

         Treacher said, "I was going to go to the diner and get him something when he woke up."

         "I'll go. What would you like, Tim? This is Tuesday. They have beef stew today. That all right?"

         Tim nodded. Obviously anything would have been all right. Jesse set out across the square to the diner.

         Treacher watched him. He knew Jesse's tender heart and his concern for children. But he better not think he had tamed this one. Treacher's years as a city cop in Camden had taught him a thing or two about street kids, always a heartbeat away from violence, suspicious, defensive, and schooled to do whatever it took to survive. That included lying, stealing and hurting people if it came to that. This child for all his fragile appearance was tough, he could not have survived this long otherwise, Tough and street wise, he knew things about a world Jesse had never seen or dreamed of. Treacher didn't like to see how Jesse was getting pulled in. Jesse was good with kids, the kind of kids he knew anything about, but he had never met up with anyone like Tim Dorney.

         And the reverse was equally true. Tim had never met anyone like Jess.