Cogent

THIRTY

"What do we do?" Mikael spoke quietly as the three of them stood near the door, each one glancing periodically at Kaleb who was trying to push his face between the couch cushions to avoid their eyes.

Carter held up a hand. "Get him to talk." He stated. "Obviously."

"How? He doesn't talk. I told you," Keith hissed.

"Then we find his brother, and we get him to talk," Carter suggested.

"Did you find his brother in the files?" Mikael inquired suddenly. She glanced at Keith. "What was his name again?"

"Noah. Noah...Felten? Flatten? Vulcan? I can't remember." Mikael gave him a look of pure disappointment. "It never mattered before!" he snapped defensively.

"Well, it matters now," Carter elongated the final word and pointed at the pile of papers. "Go through those and see if you recognize any of them. These files all have addresses and we need to find out where he lives if we want to find him."

"Assuming they have the same last name, then according to Kaleb's file, his brother is Noah Fulton and they live...here," Mikael held up the paper and pointed at the address. "You guys know where that is?"

Keith nodded. "It's the other side of the tracks. Down by the baseball field that nobody uses anymore." He glanced up at them with a smile, proud of himself.

"I'll go, and you two stay here with the kid," Carter brushed by them both and grabbed the door handle.

"What if he runs?" Mikael asked, concerned.

"Then stop him," Carter answered as if it were obvious.

"Not Kaleb," she snapped. "Noah. If you approach him and he runs, he'll know we're looking for him and he'll be harder to find."

"Who says he's going to run?"

"He'll run," Keith stated confidently. "Fast."

"And then what?" Mikael sighed.

"I'll...I-I don't know, what do you want me to say?" Carter held up his hands in defeat.

"I think I should go. Children are a lot less threatened by women."

"Bullshit." Carter snapped.

"There has been a lot of research behind it and in my experience, it's true. I can get through to a patient about sixty-eight percent faster than my male colleagues can, excluding those with prejudice against women."

Keith stuck out his bottom lip in thought. "What do you do for a living?"

"I'm a psychiatrist."

"Nice."

"Not so nice. She shrinks her way through life. It's very suffocating after a while," Carter complained.

"Oh, tell me how you really feel." Mikael glared at him.

"Are you two...?" Keith held up two fingers and then crossed them. "Dating?" he finished.

"What? No," Carter replied too quickly.

Mikael's eyes widened as she stared at him. "Really?" she blinked.

"I mean," Carter swallowed. "Kind of."

Mikael smiled sweetly. "Interesting."

"So, uh, who is going for the kid?"

"I am," they said in unison.

Keith looked from one face to another before throwing up his hands. "Why don't I go? Noah trusts me, and I can get him back here without any trouble."