Free Deadly Treatment by David McLeod

trouble recently, he really is a good, honest wee kid. I admit he’s got a bit of a temper on him — guess it must be the Irish genes — and he’s stubborn; when he says he’s gonna do something, he does, I’ll tell you.’
    ‘What do you mean?’ Malone asked.
    ‘The best example I can give is actually when he’s being naughty. When he’s bad, I send him to his room; he’s to stay there until he can behave. After a certain amount of time, he’ll call out and ask if he can come back and join me. I’ll ask him if he’s going to be good, he’ll say ‘no’. So I tell him no. A while later, he’ll ask again if he can come out; again, I will ask him if he will behave and again he’ll say ‘no’. This will go on for several times until eventually he will say that ‘yes, he will be good.’ Then sure enough, he’s a proper angel — well, at least for a while.’ She took a moment.
    ‘So, as you see — no, he’s not perfect, and yes, he is a bit boisterous, but and I can’t emphasize this enough, he is basically an honest boy and definitely not a runaway.’
    Malone gently nodded as she finished her story, letting her words hang there for a while.
    ‘You said he’s been in trouble a bit recently; what do you mean by that?’ Taylor asked.
    ‘Aye, it’s those kids at school. They pick on him cause he’s wee, although he’s tough as an ox and can hold his own. They start it and he finishes it, but by that time, the teachers have arrived and he gets the trouble. Both he and I have tried explaining it to them, but all they see is him full of temper beating up the other kids.’
    Erin looked slightly proud of her son as she spoke of his fighting prowess.
    ‘What about with the cops, any trouble with them?’
    ‘Not really. He’s a bit of a loner and doesn’t hang around with the kids on the corners or anything like that, they don’t get on. I’m sure those kids blame him for things he hasn’t done. Cops have been around here accusing him of stealing, tagging, and property vandalism — but it isn’t him, it’s all lies.’
    Unsure as to whether Joshua was truly innocent or innocent only in his mother’s eyes, Malone changed the direction of the conversation
    ‘Do you mind if we have a look at his room?’ he asked.
    ‘Of course, follow me,’ Erin said, putting down the photo of Joshua she was holding, and picking up her drink again.
    Taylor and Malone followed Erin down the narrow corridor to Joshua’s room. To their surprise, the room was a mess. The bed was unmade and clothes littered the floor. In Malone’s albeit limited experience, parents of missing children invariably went to great lengths to meticulously clean and tidy their child’s room.
    The reasons for this were simple: it was a symbol of a brand new start, a sort of clean sheet for the child’s return, whatever the reason for his or her disappearance. It was also a way for the parents to be close to their child, and have something of theirs to physically touch.
    The walls were covered with posters of bands that neither Taylor nor Malone had ever heard of, and as they carefully made their way into the room, avoiding the obstacles of toys and garments that concealed the carpet below, both of them wondered if they’d get out alive.
    ‘Do you mind if I look in here?’ Malone asked Erin as he pointed to the chest of drawers.
    ‘No, go ahead.’
    He pulled open the top drawer in search of a diary or journal of some sort and was surprised to see it virtually empty, which with the amount of clothing on the floor, he shouldn’t have been. General bric-a-brac greeted his view, elastic bands, green plastic soldiers, matches, football cards, pieces of nondescript plastic and metal — nothing really out of the ordinary, certainly no diary.
    Taylor tiptoed over to the cupboard and pulled open the door. Jackets, trousers, and tops hung messily on their hangers, and toys and games were piled uneasily high beneath them. She closed the