Archive of Our Own ^beta

The night had turned a bit cool after the dance, but Llewellyn had prepared for that, a thin shirt under his suit. Jack had not need to do the same, as he felt when they dance out on the floor. He was riding on the kiss they managed to sneak while 'dancing' on the floor of the gymnasium. And the one that happened outside the subway before they went down. Jack's apartment was closer to the stop, and he offered to walk Llewellyn home as well before doubling around.

"No, no," he smiled, trying to fight off another giggling fit as Jack wrapped his arms around him, "You said it yourself, your Dad's got you working the shop early tomorrow. You're going to need all the sleep you need to keep up with hauling dead weight." The young man, a bit mischievous, lifted Llewellyn and held him against the next set of solid walls. Instinct had him gripping his shoulders, curling around him, a part of him greatly interested in the pressure and friction. "Jack!"

He grinned, "I don't think I need that much sleep if I can haul live weight just as well after a long day like today." His body was pressed up against him, and Llewellyn's body was very much appreciative of the feeling. If they weren't in the middle of the street, he would be acting on his desire to rub against him right there. He got a little bit by moving closer to kiss Jack from his position. If Mom hadn't invited William over, they could have gone back to his room, providing they were quiet enough...

Oh, my God, I think I understand what Mom was snickering about when I told her I had total control over my body when it came to sexual desires. It was taking a lot of willpower to not act on his impulses. Although a slight moan made its way out when Jack started sucking behind his ear. "Jack," he gasped.

"Llewellyn," he growled, the deeper tone of his voice destroying the integrity of his legs. After about a minute of giving him the start of a hickey, he pulled back and held up his boyfriend when his legs didn't keep straight.

"Cruel, Mr. Walker," he said, barely getting his footing back, "Incredibly cruel."

"Well, I'll just have to finish this later. I do have to get home and to bed to work in my father's shop in the morning," he teased. Llewellyn lightly pushed him before they finished heading to the building. "Are you sure you don't want me walking you home?"

"I've had no warning about workplace dangers, and it was the usual 'be cautious' from Mom and Grandpa," he said, turning to him, "At a possible least, I will be mugged."

"And at best?"

He smirked, "Then I get to go home and fantasize about what we can do tomorrow night."

"And you call me cruel," Jack said, one final kiss before heading to the door. "Get home safe."

"I will."

Llewellyn had traveled this section of the city numerous times, normally when there were more people out. His mother told him to keep his phone ready to record or call anyone that may try something. Right now, he had Detective Crabtree's number up and ready to dial if someone tried to mug him. He never actually had that happen to him, but John and Bobby experienced it. That was a mistake on the mugger's part, as Bobby bit the man's hand when he tried grabbing his brother’s wallet.

He was about a full block away. Llewellyn saw the lights of the apartment building they lived in and just reminded himself that it was a few more minutes. This made him more cautious and worried. More suspects were starting to threaten Mom and Grandpa nearby. It hadn't happen to him yet, but he wasn't normally out at night. He was a regularly 'straight' laced person that didn't have the rebellious streak that his mother developed from Grandpa's work. He passed by an alley and turned around when he heard something make a noise.

Nothing came of it, and he muttered, “Just your damn imagination, Ogden.” He was almost to the corner, avoiding a van that was parked illegally on the street. He heard the door opened and immediately moved away to give whatever person space to get out.

“Take your phone and your hands out of your pockets, Llewellyn,” a clear voice commanded, “And don’t call anyone. I know Mommy probably told you to keep someone on dial.” Confused, he turned to see a man that he vaguely remembered seeing in his Mom’s writing files. He obeyed the command when he noticed the gun directly at his head. He slowly lifted his hands up and away, the phone still on Crabtree’s picture. “Thank you for complying. So much.”

A second person, someone that must have been in the driver’s seat, yanked it out of his hands. It was smashed on the ground without a second thought. The other person was not someone that he recognized. Unable to do anything else, his wrists were yanked together before he heard the rip of duct tape. His heart started going faster when the tape was wrapped halfway up his arms. Satisfied, his arms were then taped to his chest. “Isn’t this overkill? I already can’t use my hands?” he asked, unable to keep the shakiness out.

The guy smirked at him. “You and your boyfriend were an absolute joy to watch,” he said, thumping the side of his neck where the hickey was, “Such puppy love between the two of you. Were we ever that, James?”

“Oh, I’m the cuddly type with you. A nice night of TV and snacks on the bed. Never picked you up and pinned you to the wall, though.”

“To be fair, neither of us have the strength like his boyfriend did.” He started forcing him backwards, until he was being dragged back into the van. His legs were then taped together, first at the ankles, then just above the knees. The vaguely recognizable one, James, the other person said James, got in the back with him, pulling him up to rest against the van side.

Llewellyn couldn’t see where they was going. There was a blanket draped to keep him from seeing out the front and the windows in the back didn’t help that much either. James was enjoying watching him analyze his surroundings. “I didn’t get to really meet you last time, Detective Watts,” he said, the gun at his side with the safety back on as he laid it down. “My path ended a little bit before yours, otherwise it would have been fascinating to bring you in to some of my games.” He was confused and terrified as hell. Llewellyn doesn’t know what he meant by last time, or path ending before his. His name also wasn’t Watts. That was his biological father’s name, and he would never be granted it as long as the man’s wife was around. James was making it sound like they had met previous, or should have. “It would have been interesting, considering you didn’t know about your orientation the last time until you met Jack and dealt with the stamp case. I wonder if I would have been able to tell.”

“Wh-what are you talking about?” he asked, the fear causing his normal speech to falter, “My, my last name’s Ogden, I’m not a detective. I’m still in school.”

“Oh,” he said, crooking his head, “You’re not awake yet.” He stared at him uncomfortably long. “I wonder if I could. Although, I am definitely not your trigger. I wonder what is.”

“James, I’m hitting the drive-thru,” his boyfriend called from the front.

James was up and stopping Llewellyn from screaming within seconds. “You know my order, Robert. Grab something cheap for this one, too, you know how bad school dances were.” Llewellyn was too close to his captor, who had a hand on his mouth and kept swiping his thumb over a cheek, collecting tears that were falling out from the stress. He didn’t hold for long, until they were parked somewhere with little overhead light.

Robert came back with three bags and three drinks with a familiar M logo on it. “Your normal,” he passed, “My normal, and a cheap chicken with water for the young guy here.” It was rare that Llewellyn didn’t want to eat, but it was also his first serious kidnapping and he felt sick to his stomach. The sandwich was forced down, with the water being gone by the time it settled.

Llewellyn kept imagining that William and Mom would popped the doors open at any moment. That Crabtree and Higgins would be behind them ready to arrest the two. He really wanted one of his Mom’s hugs right now. Even one of Grandpa’s bear hugs that last five seconds now when they used to be longer when he had overloads would be bloody fantastic.

Instead, the sky started lightening with the beginning of morning and that was their sign to enact whatever plan they had going. He was warned about fighting, then dragged out of the back into a plain grass area. Surrounded by trees, he saw a machine waiting alongside a pile of dirt and a hole that was getting darker the closer they were getting. That’s, that’s not good. Why is it dark? Why is it so dark? “You know what, Robert? I have to give you more credit for eyeing him so closely to get the height right,” James said, looking between the hole and Llewellyn, “I thought I was going to have to hack into his medical files to get it.”

“Oh, thank you, honey,” he cooed. “I still think we should have had it up here and then placed him down.”

James carefully dropped down in the hole. His head was barely visible. “I wasn’t sure if the components would stay in place. Unfortunately, had to set it in the ground for this to work right.” He did something that Llewellyn couldn’t see before popping back up. “Everything’s still set and working. Hand me his legs.” Robert hauled him to the edge and helped hold him. Llewellyn looked down and saw white silk padding that looked disturbingly familiar.

That’s a coffin. That’s a coffin! Oh God. The pile of dirt, the digger that’s sitting there. “Please don’t,” he begged, being laid down almost gently. He heard something click A pressure plate, what the hell was that? What needed my pressure?! and it terrified him more. “Please don’t do this. Please. Please, please please. Please, don’t.”

“Now, Llewellyn,” James chided, closing the lower half and trapping his legs in, “You’re seventeen years old, only a couple of years off from legally drinking. You should be acting like a man.”

“I, I can only t-hink of few that can f-face a certain death with, with a calm face among the mmillions, bi-billions on this planet,” he choked, “I am not one of them. Please.”

He grinned, a mania barely coming up to the surface as he tousled the young man’s hair, “It’s not a certain death, just a possible one. Don’t worry, you’ll understand this much later on.” With that, he closed the top, making sure it locked as well before jumping out with help.

Llewellyn had never experienced pitch blackness around him before. Blindfolded with tiny amounts of light underneath it, yes. A dark apartment that lost its power, yeah, but there was still something in the background. Tiny dots, reflective surfaces. There was nothing here. “No, no no no no,” he gasped, unable to pound on the top thanks to his hands being taped to his body. His legs were also trapped, the lid too close for him to move. “Please, let me out. Let me out! Don’t do it! Please, don’t bury me! Please!”

He couldn’t hear anything outside of the casket. It was likely insulated thanks to the plush interior that someone thought dead people needed to be buried in! Please, please, let me out. It’s a prank, it’s a sick prank. Please just let me out! He jumped when something scratched the top, then heard thumping as more was dropped on the top. “Stop!” he screamed, “Stop! Don’t bury me! Please stop!”

“Oh, God. Llewellyn!” a voice cried. He didn’t hear it, panicking at the sounds of dirt covering his casket. It didn’t even take that long for that to stop, muffled quickly.

“Crabtree, call Brackenreid. Get him here. Higgins, contact with tech and start combing CCTV footage around the area. Constable McNabb, get to the Walker butcher shop, we need to question Jack Walker about what happened last night,” another voice commanded, “Julia, Julia.”

“Don’t you dare, William.”

“It needs to be checked. Fingerprints, tech ID. It might help us find him.”

“We both know Gillies, there is nothing on this doll that’s going to help us-”

That, he didn’t know what that was. Hallucinations shouldn’t start this early from being deprived of oxygen. Why would he be hearing William order people? Why would he hearing William’s voice anyway? Who the fuck was Gillies and why the fuck would he be thinking about a doll? He would be thinking about his Mom, and Grandpa, and Uncle John, and Aunt Ruby and-.

Are they real?

“Mom?”

-

William Murdoch was woken up from the warmth that he was sharing with Julia by his cell ringing. Pulling himself away, he grabbed the offending item and slammed down on the instinct to throw it across the room. “Murdoch,” he grumbled.

“You need to get down to the station, Murdoch,” Crabtree said, “Package was left for you without anyone knowing.”

That was the first concern, and he sat himself up. “What else?”

“Had it checked. No explosives. Higgins and I opened it. It’s a model casket, but there’s a note taped to the top. ‘To only be opened by Detective Murdoch and Doctor Ogden together. There’s a present inside.’”

That did nothing to settle him. “We’re in.” He woke Julia up, who groaned at the interrupted sleep until he told her the reason of his frantic state. She was up and quickly dressed, confused as to why Llewellyn wasn’t in his room when she checked. She hoped that he had taken some advice and stayed with a friend, if not Jack himself.

The station was buzzing. Inspector Giles was ordering camera footage to be reviewed to find out how someone managed to get in and leave a package without being noticed. He noticed the two, but they didn’t pay any attention once they saw the casket. Murdoch was immediately analyzing it. “There’s two spaces for a finger on the casket lid, too far apart to be done by the same person.”

“A micro scanner, similar to the ones done on phones,” she suggested, mildly curious, “Possibly with our index fingers placed in. Perhaps that’s the reason for our names?” Nodding to her, he curled his finger over one of the areas, and she took the other. “I’m not getting any give.”

“Switch.” They walked around each other, and tried it again. This time, it opened. “Micro scanner it is.”

“Someone is going to a lot of trouble to…” Ogden trailed off when she saw what was sitting inside. A doll, dressed up in a green plaid suit, with dark, curly hair and brown eyes stared up at the ceiling. “No. No, not Llewellyn, what did He do?”

Before anyone else could talk, the doll did.

“Please don’t do this. Please. Please, please please. Please, don’t,” Llewellyn pleaded. Julia gasped, hearing her child begging in fear.

“Now, Llewellyn. You’re seventeen years old, only a couple of years off from legally drinking. You should be acting like a man.” Murdoch snapped to attention at the sound of James Gillies. They didn’t need confirmation that he had a hand in this, but hearing his voice solidified it in concrete.

“I, I can only t-hink of few that can f-face a certain death with, with a calm face among the mmillions, bi-billions on this planet. I am not one of them. Please.” Unable to bear it, she took the doll out and cradled it. Murdoch scanned the casket and found a USB that must have been plugged into the back of the doll. He would have to check the doll to see what it was for, if Julia gave it up.

“It’s not a certain death, just a possible one. Don’t worry, you’ll understand this much later on.”

There was a pause in anything happening, which Giles went to go call someone, when Llewellyn started talking again. “No, no no no no. Please, let me out. Let me out! Don’t do it! Please, don’t bury me! Please!”

“William!” she gasped, turning to him in absolute terror. They both remembered how he had done that to Julia in their previous lives. Night terrors stalked her for years after that. Gillies did the same thing to her child?!

“Stop! Stop! Don’t bury me! Please stop!”

“Oh, God. Llewellyn!” Julia cried, almost collapsing if William hadn’t been beside her. Higgins and Crabtree got chairs beneath them before they tumbled to the floor.

Shaky himself, Murdoch started ordering people while holding Ogden. “Crabtree, call Brackenreid. Get him here. Higgins, connect with tech and start combing CCTV footage around the area. Constable McNabb, get to the Walker butcher shop, we need to question Jack Walker about what happened last night.” That got everyone hurrying from where they had been gathered watching the events. Now, he just had to figure out how to get the doll away from Ogden. He first tried a stupid approach to just grab it. It didn’t work as she pulled it right back. “Julia, Julia.”

She curled her arms around the doll to stop him. “Don’t you dare, William.”

“It needs to be checked. Fingerprints, tech ID. It might help us find him,” he tried reasoning.

“We both know Gillies, there is nothing on this doll that’s going to help us-”

“Mom?”

Both of them looked down at the doll. “Llewellyn?” she asked, hope infecting her voice.

“Mom? You’re real? Please tell me you’re real,” he babbled.

“Oh, my God. Llewellyn,” she cried.

“Mom!”

Murdoch started turning the doll around in her hands before he found what he suspected. The mouth was actually a speaker, molded to not be immediately discerned by a casual looker. There was also a receiver in the left ear, not as hidden as the hair did that for it. There was no antenna that he could see, and he wondered if that was a concern. It might be hooked into the wireless internet, or it’s a mobile hotspot. Or it was originally a pair of cell phones that he converted for this purpose. Or walkie talkies.

“Llewellyn, are you hurt in any way?” she asked, finally figuring out something to say and keep the conversation going.

“N-no. I, I didn’t f-fight back. He had a gun,” he sniffed, “He caught me after I walked Jack home. Mom?”

“Yes, Llew?”

“Jack’s gonna be mad, he told me to get home safe. Can you tell him this wasn’t my fault?” he tried joking.

“Llewellyn.”

There was a loud sniff on the other side. “Sorry, I’m sorry.”

She closed her eyes, waiting for the moment of sobbing to pass before going on. “No, no, honey. It’s okay. I get it, humor is a defense that you get from your uncle when he didn’t get a girl’s number.”

The laugh on the other side was snot-filled, and more sad than happy. “I never told you that.”

“John had the same face when he struck out with a girl. You always tried to make him happy on those days.”

There was a sob on the other side, and Julia looked like she was about to follow. “Llewellyn,” Murdoch toned, keeping his voice calm and even for the both of them. Crabtree had called Brackenreid and was awaiting further instructions. Murdoch motioned for him to take notes.

“Detective Murdoch,” he hiccuped.

“I want you to tell me what happened since last night. We’re going to build a timeline. When did you leave your school dance?”

He had to think about it for a few seconds. “Ten thirty. I helped with the clean up alongside others. Jack was waiting for me.”

“And then you walked home with Jack?”

“I walked Jack home first. He’s closer to the subway stop.”

“Then you walked home?”

Another sniff. “Yeah. There was a van parked illegally, by the Visiage Center when I walked by. Only supposed to be for drop-offs. A lot of people park there when they don’t want to walk through the garage. They came out of it.”

“They?”

“I kinda recognized one of them from Mom’s writing files. His name is James. That’s what his boyfriend called him.”

Ogden turned to Murdoch in terror. She had started looking up their old lives, things that hadn’t happened yet. James Gillies had been one of her searches, when they had investigated victims similar to Bennett. She didn’t know how Llewellyn had seen that, she tried to make sure all of that was locked up. “Did you catch the other man’s name?”

“R-Robert.”

He closed his eyes with regret. Robert Perry. “What happened next?”

“Robert, he broke my phone. T-tied me up with duct tape.” There was a pause as he must have been thinking about something before he hissed. “Shit. Shit! He was watching us!”

“Llew,” Julia said, trying to get him back on track.

“He- they- Robert talked about how we were like puppy love. James, he, he saw Jack picked me up and pin me against the wall when we were walking home,” he admitted reluctantly. Julia closed her eyes because that was not what she wanted to hear out of her son right now, and she scanned the room after reopening to see more than a few amused faces.

“Don’t write that down, George,” Murdoch warned, then turned to the room, “I want Crabtree and Higgins as the only ones in the room, now! I want someone to find out how Gillies and Perry didn’t set off any BOLOs to let us know they were back in town. When Brackenreid gets here, he is the only other one allowed in. Clear?”

“Mom?”

People started filtering out. George had seated himself in another chair. Higgins was still working a phone. “We’re at the station, honey, and this isn’t a private phone call.”

“Does that mean…”

“Sorry, honey. The station just heard that.”

There was a small pause and Julia had a guess on what he would say next. “Fuck.” She snorted, a small comical point in this nightmare. “Mom.”

Murdoch took back over, seeing tears fall from her eyes. “What did they do after they tied you up?”

“They, um, Robert started driving. James sat in the back with me. He talked about how he didn’t get to meet me the last time. And, and he called me Detective Watts. I told him that my name wasn’t Watts, that I was still in school. He, he said I wasn’t awake yet. I don’t, I don’t get it. Mom, what did he mean?”

Brackenreid laid a hand on Julia’s shoulder, and she sighed in relief seeing him. “Dad.”

Having been told what was going on from Higgins after Crabtree’s call, still seeing the doll of his grandson disturbed his soul. “Bloody ‘ell,” he muttered.

“Keep going, Llewellyn,” Murdoch encouraged.

“Robert went to a McDonald's. James covered my mouth before I could scream for help. Then he drove and parked near, near where I am now.” There was a sniff and a hiccup. “They gave me a McChicken and water. Then, waited until sunrise before, before…” Julia leaned on William’s shoulder when he started crying. He felt her tears quickly wet his shirt.

Higgins got off the phone with tech and waved to the group for their attention. “One of the techs followed the van on CCTV,” he reported, “It went off camera around the parks.”

“Let me switch places with you, Murdoch,” Brackenreid whispered. He nodded and switched with the older man, allowing him to comfort his daughter and try to get through his grandson.

“Show me, Higgins,” he said, coming around the desk.

He nodded, pulling up the CCTV footage and a small map of Toronto’s public parks. “Laura sent this over. Confirmed that they had been watching and following the boys since the school.” It had been time-lapsed so they didn’t have to mess with it to get through it. Llewellyn didn’t fight back, as he said. Murdoch saw more by stance that Gillies was holding a gun. The van tried a couple of times to possibly get around CCTV, but they still found the McDonald’s stop.

Then, the CCTV that watched over all of the roads leading to the parks stopped working. “What happened?” he demanded.

“Laura and Travis are working together to get through the system, but they think it was hacked. Possibly by Gillies so no one could see where they were going inside.”

Why would that matter? We would have already been eliminating popular public areas. It cuts areas large enough and private enough- wait. He moved back over. “Llewellyn?”

To say he didn’t sound great was an understatement. “Yeah?”

“Did James and Robert already have the hole dug up?”

“Mm-hmm,” he hummed, and Murdoch figured he merely nodded his answer before remembering, “Yeah. And the, the, the c-offin, was already in the ground. James said he had to do it in the ground to make sure it worked out right.”

That meant they would have had to have been to the area earlier to set up. Before he ordered Higgins to look into that, Crabtree piped up, “I don’t think they could have done this in the parks.”

Murdoch frowned, but Brackenreid agreed, “Too many people wandering that place, even at night.”

“Then, where?” he asked, frustrated at their best lead destroyed.

A loud sniff came from the doll and everyone wondered if Llewellyn would start panicking, listening to the adults in his life unable to figure out where James Gillies buried him. Murdoch hoped he wouldn’t, they wouldn’t be able to calm him down if he hyperventilated himself unconscious. “It’s just trees and grass,” he muttered, “There wasn’t any houses or buildings. Why did he bury me in the middle of nowhere?”

Ogden, who had lifted her head off of her father’s shoulder, kept him going. “What else, Llew?”

“Nothing usable. It’s not like they would keep the digger here after burying me as a fucking landmark.”

Julia closed her eyes at her son’s outburst. “The absence of items are also used to find places, Llewellyn,” she said, keeping calm for their sakes, “Trees and grass. Any flowers?”

“Nuh-uh.”

“Electricity poles, telephone poles, cell phone towers?”

“Nothing, Mom. Just… The, the grass was mowed? Kept up?”

Her head shot up at that. Just trees and mowed grass? That sounded like private land. And if this version of Gillies was anything like his previous self, it was something connected to one of their lives. Whose, though, and when? Higgins was already thinking that, going through some of the stuff he remembered, with George getting on his own computer and doing a bit of searching on his own.

“Your original house is in the clear. So is the former Gillies residence,” George reported, “A lot of our former lives has been transformed into something else. Not enough privacy.”

“Some of the places I thought of were too far away,” Henry said, “But then I considered that Gillies might be watching and he might have done some research and-”

“Get on with it, Higgins,” Brackenreid scolded.

He sighed, “The grounds, from the Wild West caravan, it’s the back half of a golf course now that’s been closed for a while. Restorations are going on the place, including groundwork.”

“Well kept grass and trees,” Ogden repeated, while also thinking on why Gillies knew about the Wild West travelers from a hundred years prior. That case was before his, how in the world would he know about that case? Teddy Jones Jr. was before the first Gillies case, and Teddy, currently Patrick, didn’t even know about his past life. James had to have been watching them since they almost caught him for the string of murders, and he’s been putting the pieces together faster than they’ve been.

“What is everyone talking about?” Llewellyn asked, tired and scared.

“Old cases, kiddo,” Brackenreid said.

At that moment, McNabb interrupted, letting them know that Jack Walker was with his father and waiting to be questioned. Murdoch took that, allowing Henry and George time to narrow down the possible areas to hide a burial. “Detective Murdoch?” Jack asked, concern radiating out of him. “What happened?”

“Llewellyn was kidnapped on his way back home.” Jack covered his face and swore a couple of times, only revealing himself when he didn’t feel like breaking down at that moment. “I don’t want to tell you any details about what’s going on, but we know most of the timeline from a source. But I didn’t ask them this. Have the two of you been followed for a while?”

Jack focused on the edge of the coffee table, using it to work through his memories. “I think we were,” he admitted, “I always think someone’s eyes are on me, and it was getting worse when I would hang out with him outside. I was with Llewellyn usually when it happened, so I didn’t want to react. I thought maybe some homophobic assholes wanting the perfect time to attack us, but nothing happened. Until now.”

Mr. Walker rubbed his son’s shoulders. “When he came out, we had a few issues with people. Nothing major in the last year, even after he started dating Llewellyn,” he explained.

Murdoch knew a bit of this, seeing some homophobic aftermath with victims. “Okay, I’m going to have Constable McNabb taking your statement about last night and the other times you can remember about being followed,” he said, thinking about the case that will be built up against James.

When he got back, Henry was thumping with energy. “We were granted permission to see images from a satellite that was above the golf course yesterday afternoon. Saw a backhoe loader next to an open rectangle roughly about the size of a grave and a van roughly the same shape and color as the one we picked up on CCTV,” he said, “We’ve likely got the exact coordinates of where they buried Llewellyn.”

-

Llewellyn wished he would stop crying.

After finding out, no, he wasn’t hearing voices in his head. That was his Mom and Detective Murdoch. They had something that was allowing them to talk to him and he to them. He really wanted to beg them to get him out. The dark wasn’t that bad, hadn’t been bad. But he knew he was buried in a coffin, or a casket, probably the six feet, or two meters, whatever, that was standard in North America. He was trapped until someone came by and dug him back up. He couldn’t move until someone cut the damn tape off. It was starting to hurt. Keeping his arms in the same position too long was starting to cause a few pins and needles to pulse through. He didn’t want to twist onto his side in case the click was to a pressure plate to a bomb or something that would kill him if his weight left.

Detective Murdoch asking him questions, guiding him through his night and it kept him from breaking down immediately as he had to put his mind to remembering what happened. His nose kept running and he couldn’t wipe anything off, so he was forced to sniff every couple of seconds to keep himself from leaking out.

But then he had to remember being dragged over to the hole, being placed in the coffin, casket, and he started crying from the memory. He’s pretty sure he set off his Mom. They had done that to each other in front of the TV enough that he recognized her silent crying. He really, really wanted to give her the answers she, they need, but he didn’t even know where he was or whether they would find him in time.

“Llewellyn?”

Oh, Detective Murdoch was back. He was still pretty much crying. It took a lot of energy to steady his voice for a single word. “Yeah?”

“Did James and Robert already have the hole dug up?”

He nodded absentmindedly, forgetting that no one could see him. “Mm-hmm.” He had to cough to clear his throat and actually talk. “Yeah. And the, the...” Get it out, Ogden. It’s just a word. “The c-offin, was already in the ground. James said he had to do it in the ground to make sure it worked out right.”

He thought there was a mention of CCTV and everyone stopped talking to him for a few minutes. They’re probably watching cameras. Maybe they can follow the van? It also meant there was no one taking his mind off things. The only thing he realized they had followed something until it didn’t work. “Too many people wandering that place, even at night,” Grandpa noted, sounding like his former Chief Constable self instead of hobbyist painter.

Detective Murdoch sounded irate. His thoughts didn’t pan out on where they had taken him. “Then, where?”

Llewellyn’s stomach dropped out as they were no closer to finding him even with CCTV. He had a lot of regrets, the major one being that he didn’t take Jack up on his offer to be walked home. But, what if they kidnapped him and placed him here instead? What if they kidnapped both of us and killed him because he wasn’t their main target? He was working himself up for a possible attack and he couldn’t use any of his normal behaviors to calm himself down. He sniffed to get the snot to stay down and had no relief before more filled it. His mother’s writing mouth came out when he couldn’t provide himself any physical help. “It’s just trees and grass. There wasn’t any houses or buildings. Why did he bury me in the middle of nowhere?” he demanded, voice shot from an only staved off attack.

His Mom’s voice, shot as well but still soft, asked, “What else, Llew?”

He shook his head. “Nothing usable. It’s not like they would keep the digger here after burying me as a fucking landmark,” he cursed, wincing at the swearing after. His third within a day, if anyone noticed it.

“The absence of items are also used to find places, Llewellyn,” she sighed, “Trees and grass. Any flowers?”

“Nuh-uh.”

“Electricity poles, telephone poles, cell phone towers?”

“Nothing, Mom. Just…” He closed his eyes, not like he needed the help to see in his memory by blocking out sight. Trying to remember what he saw, the picture wasn’t helpful. He couldn’t recognize trees, it was literally just green grass on a mostly flat ground. Really green grass, and it looked like it was from some American TV show. “The, the grass was mowed? Kept up?”

Something about that caught their attention. Llewellyn heard snippets of Crabtree and Higgins talking about places. Higgins started explaining something until Grandpa reprimanded him as if he caught Aunt Ruby creating an elaborate story about why she was out at night.

Wild West caravan? Mom repeated the well kept grass and trees and it made sense that a golf course would have been likely. The other stuff didn’t. “What is everyone talking about?” he complained, tired and just wanting someone to explain things. He was stuck in a casket and he didn’t know why.

“Old cases, kiddo.” It still made no sense. Mom would have loved telling him about some weird, old timey side show attraction that she would have encountered during her work with Murdoch. Grandpa liked telling them about the ‘safer’ cases of theft and funny captures. What old cases?

Murdoch left, apparently they had Jack brought in for questioning, and he hated that they would probably tell him what was happening and that he wouldn’t be able to talk with him…

“How was the dance?” Mom asked, getting his attention and keeping each other calm.

He really hated sniffling. “Good. Jack and I got to be on the floor. Only one person heckled us.”

“Oh, really?”

“They yelled at us for being so ‘pure’, and to stop making everyone else look bad.”

His Mom laughed, but he heard the wetness behind it. “Do they still enforce the ‘only arms around each other’?”

“Yeah.” Still managed to sneak in a kiss. Several of the constables knew his boyfriend could lift him, he didn’t need Crabtree and Higgins hearing about his kissing.

“Knowing your parents, I’m assuming you broke that a couple of times,” Grandpa teased. Llew groaned. He chuckled, “I thought so.”

“It’s okay, Llewellyn. I have several stories about your grandfather sneaking out to see his future wife away from her father’s eyes.”

“Whose side are you on?”

The banter was interrupted when Murdoch came back and Higgins announced that they saw the hole on satellite footage and they had his exact coordinates.

They were coming to get him out.

Mom was telling him what they were doing, giving him something to focus on as they clamored around her. Crabtree was calling the owners. Higgins was getting his tech set up ready. Murdoch was getting information about BOLOs placed on James and Robert. She told him they were getting in the car to drive to a golf course.

And then she cut off.

There was no noise, none of the background noise that he had been using to keep himself sane, no people yelling orders to each other. There was something, but he didn’t know what it was, but it wasn’t people talking and-

“Mom?” he tried, “Mom? Please, don’t do this.” There was an embarrassing whine out of his mouth when there wasn’t anyone responding to him. “Please answer. Someone answer. Don’t leave me alone. Don’t leave me alone in here. Please.” It was still too quiet, and it was almost like a phone call was cut off and-

“SOMEBODY!” he screamed, “MOM!” They had started talking to him once he was in the coffin slash casket and he hadn’t been alone during this entire time, and it was the only thing keeping him from having a panic attack and hyperventilating into unconsciousness.

‘It’s not a certain death, just a possible one.’ Was he lying? Was this always going to lead to my death? Was this some sort of sick game to Mom and Detective Murdoch that was going to just kill me?

“Llewellyn!”

He squeaked, “Mom?”

“Listen to me. Breathe in for four seconds. Come on, sweetie.” He followed his Mom through multiple rounds of guided breathing before he had calmed enough. “Llewellyn? Are you still awake?”

“B-barely,” he mumbled.

“Okay, we tried to leave with the doll, and it went offline. That’s why it cut us off.”

Doll? “O-okay?”

“I’m going to be there when they dig you up. But I’m not going to be able to talk to you.”

Can’t talk to him? He wasn’t sure... “Mom?”

“Your grandfather’s going to be here on the, doll, with you. It’s going to be about twenty, thirty minutes to the golf course. Then, it won’t be long before we get you out of that thing. Llewellyn, could you handle that?”

He hoped he could. “Yeah?”

“Llewellyn?”

“Just hurry, please.”

“We’re using the sirens, sweetie.”

-

The owners of the golf course were there, giving permission and letting them know about some of the oddities of what they discovered after being called. The backhoe loader had been used, there were tracks going in and out, and there was a roll of sod missing. Henry led the way using a GPS, George drove with spare shovels while leading one of the workers with the backhoe.

Henry stopped just before his listed coordinate. “The hole was right here,” he called out. Several constables started trying to pull up the grass, searching for the sod piece. He went over to an oddly placed utility box a few feet away. Cracking it open, he found an over-sized cell phone antenna and a pipe going down. “Murdoch, got something,” he yelled. Murdoch looked over, and while Ogden was watching for them to uncover the spot, he came over to see what was found. “Looks like Gillies’s work.”

“Antenna to connect the casket with the doll. The pipe’s giving him air by fan,” he agreed, figuring things out in his head in a horrifying line of events, “Make sure nothing happens to it until we unbury Llewellyn.” He nodded, finding another constable to guard it with him and start working on the electronics.

Rales was finally the one that managed to find the edge, pulling up a segment of grass as a carpet before tossing it to the side. Another also got a second section and pulled it off as well. He motioned to the backhoe operator, who came forward and started digging in the freshly turned earth and dumping it off to the side. The machine cut down their time, taking ten minutes what three people would have taken an hour. They stopped because it hit the casket. Crabtree and Murdoch were the first ones in, shifting and moving off the smaller amounts until most of the casket was uncovered. Trying to open the thing was another matter. Both felt digital locks along the side. They needed the keys to undo them. Where would Gillies have placed the k-

“Julia, call your father, tell him to bring the casket and the doll with him!” William yelled.

“That’ll mean Llewellyn can’t talk to anyone,” she said, “He panicked when we tried that before.”

He thought about it. The casket’s likely too thick to hear through, at least with standard talking and… “I’m going to pound on the top. Let him know we’re here. If he knows that, maybe he can take a few minutes of silence.” She nodded and started explaining that to her father. Murdoch pounded three times right where his right ear should have been.

Julia listened to her father relay the instructions to her son. “He heard the pounding and knows. He thinks he’ll be fine until we get this open.”

Five minutes and another pound on the casket to keep him going saw the arrival of Brackenreid in a screaming patrol car. Anybody that wondered how the man became one of the scariest Inspectors Toronto criminals ever saw caught a full look as even with a porcelain doll and casket in his hand didn’t stop him from looking like his terrifying former self as he strode to the group. He passed the things on without a word and stood next to his daughter while Murdoch and Crabtree figured things out.

The second lock clicked when Crabtree passed a doll arm over it. The other arm unlocked the first one. Tossing both of them aside, they pulled the lid to see Llewellyn Ogden alive and breathing harshly. He calmed greatly when he saw their faces. “Llewellyn,” Julia said, wanting to jump down and hold her child.

“Mom!” he called back, voice cracking but full of relief. Murdoch immediately tried to lift him up. “Wait. Wait! There was a click when he put me down!”

“A click?”

He nodded, “Like a pressure plate?”

Murdoch stilled when he heard that. Gillies would be the type to teach himself explosives, but he isn’t the type to kill kids, even if they were former Detectives that he would have killed prior. What if it was for something else? The… He heard the whirling of a fan somewhere around Llewellyn’s head. Gazing around, he saw that a section of padding was gone. There was a grate, painted white to blend in, and it lined up with the pipe. “Were you or James talking before laying you down?” Llew nodded. It clicked in his mind and he felt fairly confident about his next move. “George, at the same time.” He took a giant chance, lifting one side while George got the other.

The pressure plate clicked again, and the noise died down. Both he and Crabtree held Llewellyn up when his knees buckled from relief at not being blown up. “William!” Julia yelled, wanting to smack the man for going through with an unvoiced plan.

“The pressure plate turned on the electricity, calling the doll and powering a fan that kept bringing in fresh air,” he said, getting his rapid-fire thoughts in line as they lifted Llewellyn up for the EMTs to hoist out of the hole. “He was never in any danger.”

The only reason that she didn’t wallop William after that was because she was ‘checking’ her son over (he was somewhat cold and the sweat matted his hair down) while the EMTs performed actual physical checks and cut the tape for evidence. His eyes were still red and teary, and his face was blotchy in a way she hadn’t seen since he was four. But he wasn’t injured, and he was alive unlike many of Gillies’s victims. “Llewellyn,” she breathed, relief seeping out of her soul.

“Mom.” He wrapped himself around her when the tape was removed and the EMTs stepped back. “I am never watching that episode of CSI ever again,” he complained shakily, trying not to break down in front of strangers because he wouldn’t be able to stop if he did and they would sedate him for easier transportation and he really didn’t want that. “In fact, I’m going to find every single TV show and movie that has this type of scenario and flag them so I can avoid them for the next ten years.” Julia snorted. She hugged him back just as tightly, content on hearing her son’s slightly shocky heart rate and ragged breathing to hold back her sobbing. Julia felt her father wrapping around them and she lost that hold quietly.

Constables helped the other two out of the grave. Higgins went over to Crabtree, helping him dismantle and prep Gillies’s electronics for evidence. Murdoch, William, didn’t want to intrude on the family moment, and was at a lost for what to do. He took a look at the tape to see a familiar green and black plaid pattern that had to have been custom made. One of the constables was planted flags and spray painting the route between the hole and the box. With acknowledgment from the owners, they would dig it up for evidence.

His phone went off and it gave him something to do. “Murdoch,” he greeted.

“Oh, such happiness,” James Gillies cooed. Murdoch started scanning the area for him. “I’m surprised you’re not around them as well. Even the Inspector’s rubbing his child’s back. Maybe even little Watts’s, I’m at the wrong angle to see.”

He switched to the area behind Julia. But he didn’t see James or Robert. Nor any sort of camera that they could be watching from. “He’s not Watts,” he growled, trying to spot something.

“Oh, trust me, I found the affair and Julia’s refusal to not abort this time completely hilarious, especially since she gave birth to a little boy then named Llewellyn. But it is the little detective, even if he doesn’t remember yet like everyone else.”

“You buried a seventeen year old-”

“That would have lived. You said it yourself. ‘He was never in any danger.’ Robert and I had plans if anything happened to you or Julia. Dig him back up and handed him safely back to Grandma Brackenreid, drop him off at a hospital. Do you think we would have allowed a seventeen year old to die, Detective Murdoch?”

He actually wasn’t sure on how to answer that. William remembered the small girl that had been kidnapped from her parents and used as a ruse to get him going. But he threatened Roland, to get himself killed by Murdoch’s own hand.

James chuckled, knowing he caused a slight crisis. “Oh, William. We’re not the worst ones to remember. In fact, I believe Sally and Eva met after their memories came back. Although, Mr. Pendrick doesn’t remember either. Still blissfully in love with Sally. Quite sad, really. I heard Ms. Pierce had quite the thing for you. Maybe she’ll be the next one you encounter.”

Gillies hung up on him and he turned when there was a hand placed on his shoulder. Llewellyn was being walked to the ambulance with Julia holding onto his hand. Or maybe he’s holding onto hers. “Was that Gillies?” Brackenreid questioned.

“More of them remember than we know,” he said, relaying what he was told, “Sally and Eva have met each other.”

“Bugger,” the older man cursed, “About time we start listing the ones we’ve gotta watch out for.” Murdoch nodded, and headed to his car to head to the hospital himself.