Page 3 of The Taskmaster
But I didn’t want to follow a manual. The boy was traumatised, and I wanted to do what I could to help.
Keeping my voice light and calm, I replied, “Cases like what? Because I don’t think I’ve ever been faced with this before, so let’s just go with our gut, yeah?”
He was too busy talking into his radio to respond, and I moved to sit on the mattress next to the little boy, holding my breath at the smell permeating the air. But I didn’t care. I was fighting the urge to pull this little lad into my lap and hold him tight.
“You look like a clever boy,” I said, and he nodded. “I knew it. I’m very good at guessing things like that. “Do you think you could do something really clever for me?”
He took a moment, then gave me a slight nod. “I know this is tough for you, so I’m going to give you a few choices. I need to get you out of here...” He started to panic, shuffling his feet to try to get away from me, even though he couldn’t go any further back, and he gave a little squeal that broke my fucking heart.
“It’s okay,” I said. “Don’t get upset. I won’t make you do anything you don’t want to. If you’re not ready to leave this closet, that’s fine. We can work up to that.” He was breathing heavily, but I think my words were getting through to him. “Why don’t you turn and face this wall,” I said, tapping the back wall of the closet. I wanted him to turn around so he couldn’t see the room in front of us. Jenkins might’ve been holding up the sheet to hide it, but I didn’t want to take any chances.
He panted and whimpered, but then nodded and slowly shuffled himself to face the back wall. I could see goosebumps on his skin as he continued to rock back and forth and shiver beside me, and on instinct, I took my jacket off and draped it over his shoulders. I didn’t even think about how he’d react. But that small act of kindness broke both of us.
The boy started to cry silent tears, and he crawled into my lap and rested his head on my chest. Such a small action, but it was huge. It showed that he was starting to trust me. Or he was so broken from what’d happened, he just needed someone to cling to. Whatever it was, I wanted to be here for him.
I wrapped my arms around his tiny body that shook as he sobbed, and I cried too, kissing the top of his head as I said, “You’re safe. You’re okay,” over and over. I’d have done anything to make him feel protected in that moment.
God knows how long this poor boy had been in here, hiding, watching with eyes that should only ever see the world with wonder and awe, witnessing the most barbaric thing he’d ever see in his life. A nightmare that he could never wake up from. It felt like a fucking knife to my heart. I wished I could take that away from him. This boy wasn’t much older than my own daughter.
“Shhhh,” I hushed, as I held the boy tightly in my arms and rocked him. “You’re safe now. I won’t ever let anything or anyone hurt you.”
“Dan,” Stamford snapped in a hushed command.
I ignored him.
“One day,” I went on, closing my eyes as I rested my head on his. “We’ll go on a train. A real train, just like Thomas. Maybe it’ll take us to the seaside, and we can make sandcastles and?—”
“For fuck’s sake, Dan. Enough,” Stamford seethed. “Watch what you’re saying.”
“Why?” I hissed back. “Because right now all I can think of doing is anything to make this better.” I glanced down at the boy in my arms.
“Nothing will make this better,” Stamford replied. “We need to get him out of here and to a hospital.”
Moments later, the forensic team walked in with their kit, along with Detective Harrigan. Harrigan bypassed everyone andcame over to the closet, crouching on his haunches as he said gently, “Hey, buddy. My name’s Mick. I’m here to take you to a safe place.”
The little boy didn’t say a word, just clung to me a little tighter.
“Can’t I take him?” I asked, but Harrigan shook his head, and Stamford piped up, “I need you here. Mick can handle it.”
Handle it.
He spoke about the boy like he was a piece of evidence to be bagged and tagged.
“With all due respect,” I went on. “I think it’d be better if I stayed with him. The boy trusts me, and?—”
“Are you going against the orders of your superior?” Stamford snapped.
I couldn’t give a flying fuck how superior he was. This was about so much more than fucking protocol.
What the hell was going on here?
Couldn’t he see I’d made a connection with this boy. It’d be better for me to take him. Everything about this felt wrong.
But as I went to argue, Mick reached forward and wrapped his arms around the boy, pulling him forcefully off my lap, as my jacket fell from his tiny body.
The boy started to wail, his hands grappling, arms outstretched, begging not to be separated from me.
“No!” the boy cried, but Mick already had him in his arms, and he stood up, walking to the door as the boy peered over his shoulder, his tear-stained face pleading with me to do something.
