I Apologise for the delay since the last posting. But I now have a few more chapters ready to post so you should be getting weekly updates of this story for a while at least.
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Started at the Bus Stop Chapter 43
When William's alarm went off the next morning, Percy didn't even budge. William carefully got out of bed, and after pulling on a pair of shorts he went through to do his ablutions before coming back into the room and getting ready for school. He tried to be as quiet as he could be, but Percy did wake up.
"Morning," he greeted William.
"Oh! Morning, lovey. Sorry, I was trying not to disturb you," William replied.
"You didn't. I need to piss, and that's what woke me. Thanks for trying though." Percy got out of bed and looked for the shorts William had lent him the night before to use after his bath. Pulling them on he headed to the toilet, stopping on the way to give William a quick good morning kiss.
When he got to the bathroom the door was closed and he could hear movement behind it. He knocked on the door lightly and asked, "Good morning. Do you think you'll be long?"
"Percy!" an excited Clive answered, and the door swung open to reveal him standing there in just a pair of boxers. "Did you sleep okay?"
"Yes, thank you. Are you nearly finished?"
"Almost, but you can come in and use the bathroom too."
"Thanks. I need to pee badly," Percy said as he stepped in and closed the door again.
Clive started to brush his teeth while Percy headed straight for the bowl and let go. Afterwards, he moved beside Clive and began to brush his teeth.
"Are you going to school today?" Clive asked dripping toothpaste out his mouth as he spoke.
"No, I don't think so. I want to try and get into my house."
The two boys finished up in the bathroom and returned to their rooms. When Percy got back, William said, "Dig through the drawers and find what you want to wear. I'm guessing you're not going to go to school?"
"No, I'm going to go up and try and get into my house so that I can at least get a key. And I need to try and let Mavis know."
"Okay. I hope it goes better for you today than it did yesterday. Let's go see what we can rustle up for breakfast."
William left Percy finding clothes to wear while he went down to sort out breakfast. He arrived downstairs to discover Adam had beaten him to it and had cereals and toast ready.
"Morning, William. How are you?"
"Morning, Dad. I'm fine, thank you. I came down to get some breakfast sorted, but it looks like I'm a bit late for that."
"I thought it might be easier for Percy if there is stuff out when he wakes up, so I decided to get it ready for all of us. Did he get to sleep okay?"
"Yeah. He was already asleep when I finished up with my bath. I tried to be quiet this morning, but he woke up anyway. He'll be down soon. He's going to try and get into his house today," William said.
"I'm going to be speaking to our solicitor later and sharing those notes you made with him. I'm sure those guys have stretched or broken some of the interrogation laws. Hopefully they can get some sort of compensation for Percy."
Percy heard Clive dashing down the stairs as he was doing the buttons on his shirt up. He walked out of William's room just as Juliet stepped out of hers, and after greetings the two of them went downstairs together.
While they were eating Adam handed a key to Percy. "This is for the front door. I would suggest you don't try going to your house until about ten. The wheels turn slowly, and it will probably be at least that long before they give clearance to enter the house. Also, I've written down our mobile numbers and my office number. Feel free to use the phone here if you need to get hold of us. When you're ready for your lunch, scrabble about in the fridge and have whatever you can find that you'd like. If you learn anything more or get any more bad treatment, phone me and I'll pass that on to our solicitor. I'm hoping with what you've told me that we will have a case to fight for some compensation."
"Thank you, but you really don't have to go to all that trouble. I'm sure things will work out okay," Percy said.
"Percy, you are still a minor. You may be old enough to consent to engage in sex, but you are not old enough to vote, or to drink alcohol in a pub. You were left without any protection on the side of the road after dark. You were deprived of food and water for a long time. You were denied your right to legal counsel and suffered some serious attempts at intimidation. You were lied to and falsely accused of misconduct of some sort. You were denied access to and information about your legal guardians. I'm sure the solicitor will be able to add more to that when he reads the notes that William made. These guys have got to be sorted out so that they will think twice before doing the same thing to someone else, maybe someone even younger or more vulnerable. I can't stand by and let all that go unchallenged. If need be, I will go to the press with it," Adam said sternly.
William put his arm around Percy's shoulders. "Dad's right. You were lenient towards Bryan and it didn't achieve much. But this is different. You were humiliated and tortured emotionally and mentally. These guys can't have the right to do that and must be stopped, whoever they are."
Percy bowed his head and looked at the floor. "I just want this to be over and to know what it's all about. I want to know that Mum and Dad are okay and innocent of whatever it is we are being accused of. And I want to get into my house and know that my things are okay."
"I'm hoping the solicitor will have some advice on that score too," Adam said. "Clive, you need to eat up. Your transport will be here soon."
"I want to stay and help Percy," Clive responded.
"I'm sorry, but that is not going to happen," Adam responded.
"I don't think you would be able to help me anyway. The help I'll need will be from people in authority somewhere," Percy told Clive.
"It's not fair. Why are people being so horrible to Percy?" Clive complained.
"It's not people, just some people. Sometimes you get people who think they are better than others and they think that means they can be horrible to those they are better than," Percy answered. "And then there are people who are kind to others, like you and William and Juliet and your dad. I've just come across some who are not so kind."
"Sometimes people don't think about what they're doing and how it will affect others. They don't care enough to worry about it. I've been like that at times, but now I try to think things through a bit more first," William said.
"Anyway, you need to get your bag and get outside that door. Your lift will be hooting any second now if they don't see you waiting," Adam said.
Clive did the rounds giving everyone a hug goodbye. Picking up his bag, he headed towards the front door just as a car horn sounded out in the street.
"Oh, dear, I guess I'm the cause of Clive being late," Percy said.
"No, you were just another opportunity. We have to chase him most mornings," Adam said. "Now I also need to get off to work, and you two had better get on your shanks ponies to school. Remember to keep me posted, please, Percy."
"I will do. And thank you for being so good to me," Percy said.
"It's our pleasure. We're just glad you had us to turn to last night and didn't have to sleep out on the street," Adam said. He left the table and went out to his car.
William had a few minutes to kiss and cuddle with Percy before he and Juliet had to leave for school. Juliet gave Percy a kiss on his cheek and a hug. Once he was alone in the house, Percy began to think about the day before. After a while he looked at the clock and saw that he still should wait about half an hour more before trying to go to his own home. The waiting seemed a lot longer than half an hour. As he waited, he couldn't stop thinking over his experience, and the more he thought the angrier he got about it. Initially he had felt that he didn't want Adam to get a lawyer involved, but as his anger built so did his desire to get the men who had treated him so poorly to be corrected.
At ten to ten he decided he had waited long enough and set out on the short walk to his house. As he approached the house he saw that the police car no longer blocked the driveway. When he got close enough to see into his yard he saw a car and a small van, neither of them familiar. He walked up the driveway to the front door, which was open, entered, and began to look around. He could hear people in both his mother's and father's studies. Percy decided not to alert them to his presence until he had been to his room and got his key for the house and anything else he might need. He quietly went up the stairs to his room. Upon entering it he wanted to scream. Percy was a neat and orderly person. His desk had obviously been searched: drawers were still open, papers which had been in a draw were scattered across his desktop, his wardrobe was open, and boxes he used for storage were out on the floor and open. His new collection of toys had clearly been rifled through. He felt sure there had been a few snickers at his expense. The chest of drawers in which he kept his folded clothing had been gone through as well; some of the clothes had been pulled out and left on the floor. The books in his bookshelf had all been pulled off, and now lay piled on the floor or put back in the wrong place.
Percy felt violated, felt that his privacy had been destroyed. He became even angrier than he had already been. He pulled the top drawer of his desk fully open to get his house key. The drawer had been messed up, and he had dig around to find the key. He put the key in his pocket, then went in search of his digital camera, hoping that they hadn't taken it and that it still had some battery power left. It had been a while since he last used it and charged it up. He was in luck and found it within a few minutes. He used it to take some pictures of the state of his room. Then he quietly went down to his parents' room, where he took more pictures. Their room had been left in an even worse state than his own.
Down on the ground floor he went into the lounge and saw that all the books, DVDs and videos had been gone through and left in disarray. He got more photographic evidence and headed into the kitchen. He shuddered at what he saw. He knew Mavis was going to be furious when she saw it. They had clearly helped themselves to tea and coffee, leaving dirty cups and mugs strewn across the counters. They hadn't even cleaned up where they had spilt coffee and sugar. He took more pictures and then left just as quietly as he had entered. The team still searching the two studies never noticed his presence.
Back at William's house, Percy made himself some coffee and then tried to phone his mother's mobile. As he expected, he got no answer. He phoned Mavis and spent a bit of time chatting to her and letting her know he would keep in touch and let her know of anything he learnt as soon as he could. With that out of the way, he phoned Adam and explained what had happened and that he had some photographic evidence of the state of parts of the house.
"Right. I'm going to come to you and get those pictures. I've already had a conversation with our solicitor, who has passed me on to another lawyer who specialises in this sort of thing. He has asked that we get as much evidence as we can, and this is the sort of thing I'm sure he would like to see," Adam said. "If he wants to interview you, would you be willing to speak to him?"
"Yeah, I guess so. Right now, I'm kind of angry about it all."
"I'm not surprised. I'm also angry about the way it's been done. I don't care what it is your father has been doing, you didn't deserve to be left out in the cold like they did last night, and I'm guessing your mother isn't being treated well either. Hopefully she'll be released soon. If she needs somewhere to stay, she'll be welcome to stay with us."
"Thank you. That's very kind of you. I'll wait here for you."
"Yes, see you in a bit." Adam ended the call.
Adam arrived home with his laptop and they put the camera's card into it to download the pictures. Percy was quite glad that he hadn't used the camera to take pictures of William in less clothing than what his father'd probably seen him in for a while. He suppressed a grin when he thought of how embarrassing it could have been.
When Adam saw the pictures of the kitchen he said, "What disgusting pigs! They could at least clean up after themselves. I'm sure your parents didn't give them permission to help themselves. Maybe a theft charge could be added to the list." When he had gone through all the pictures Percy had taken, he emailed them off to the lawyer and then phoned him. When the receptionist answered, he began to explain who he was and that he had sent an email to the lawyer.
"One moment and I'll see if Mr. Bridgewater can take your call." The receptionist interrupted him. There was a short wait before she came back on the line. "I'll put you through now."
Adam didn't have time to thank her before he heard the sounds of the call being transferred.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Chesterton. Miss Freeman tells me you have some information for me."
"Good afternoon, Mr Bridgewater. I wasn't expecting to be able to speak to you. I was trying to explain to Miss Freeman that I've emailed you some photographs. Percy managed to get into his house today and took them. He tells me that he entered and left the house without those who were searching in both of his parents' studies realising that he was there. I can tell you that he is both angry and upset with this affair," Adam told the lawyer.
"I'm sure he would be. Can you ask him if he can meet with me so I can hear first-hand what he has experienced?"
"He's sitting right here with me," Adam replied and then put his phone onto speaker. "I've put my phone onto speaker so you can hear each other. Percy, Mr. Bridgewater would like to meet with you to hear what you have been through. Are you willing to meet him?"
"Yes, I am," Percy answered.
"Good, young man. When can you be available to meet with me?" Bridgewater asked.
"Any time, I guess. I don't think I will go back to school until my mother and father are released," Percy replied.
"I don't know, but until we know what all this is about, we can't begin to guess when one or the other could be released, so you might have to think about getting back to school. Perhaps we could still make allowances for tomorrow. Do you think you could get to my office for ten o'clock, tomorrow morning?" Bridgewater asked.
"I don't know where your office is," Percy said.
"I'll get you there, I've already taken tomorrow off to see what I can do to help you," Adam said.
"Okay then, I'll be there," Percy said.
"Fantastic. I'll expect you then, and you can explain some of these photographs to me then," Bridgewater said. "Now don't worry. I'll be seeing what I can find out. Hopefully I will have some information to share tomorrow."
After the conversation ended and Adam had broken the connection on his phone, he turned to Percy and said, "You've done incredibly well with all this. I'm very proud of you and I'm sure your mother will be too. Have you had any lunch?"
"No, not yet."
"Come on. Let's be decadent and go out for a hamburger or would you prefer KFC?"
"I could just as easy fix us some sandwiches here if you want to relax before going back to work," Percy offered.
"I'm not going back to work. I've taken the rest of the week off."
"That's very kind of you. I'm sure you didn't need to do that."
"Perhaps not. But you need some support and you're not getting it from anyone outside this family. One day I might need your help, and I know you'll give it. So please accept what I can do for you today."
"Thank you." Percy found he didn't have a voice to say more than that.
Adam saw his struggle and put his arm around Percy's shoulders. "If you think crying would help, do so. I'm not going to tell anyone. This is a tough time for you and crying might bring a bit of relief."