Police Teasers

12b

Monday (07.43), 06 April 2020

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The two boys seemed to run while laughing. They had just disturbed a Labrador-like dog to make the dog bark angrily from behind the iron fence of a luxury house.

After running for a hundred meters, the two seven-year-old boys stopped with gasping breaths. Laughter was still heard from the tiny lips of the two.

“Eh, Matt. You see those dog eyes? It looks bigger than a pimpong ball. He must be very angry.” Said one of the boys in a fiery manner.

The one being spoken to just chuckled while nodding confirming.

“Luck only Mr. Morton is gone. If not, we're done. He would have gone berserk like a bull if he knew his dog was being bullied.” The boy returned.

Again the boy called Matt only responded with a nod and a laugh.

“Now where do we want to play?”

Matt was silent and then held his stomach. “Max, I'm hungry. We'll just go home.”

The boy called Max scowled. “Why are you hungry? We're not even satisfied playing.”

“Max, I'm really hungry. We can still play again after eating.”

Max doesn't want to go home yet. There is nothing fun in their little house. Their parents often quarrel because they have no money. Max really can't live in that house. Fortunately, there was Matt who always accompanied him.

“Alright, let's go home.” Max finally got lazy. “But after that we will play until dark.” Max continues with excitement. One of the things he likes, their parents will never look for them even though it is night. Not like other kids' parents.

“Sure.” Matt grins happily.

They also walked home while occasionally jumping up and down and disturbing each other.

A few meters from a small house in the slum, they were silent to notice a luxurious car that looks wrong parked in front of the house.

The two boys looked at each other in confusion. Finally Max shrugged his shoulders while holding Matt's arm towards the house.

The sound of the mother's laughter sounded as soon as they entered through the front door. Their mother's voice was indeed quite loud, what else if they were angry.

“Eh, Matt. Why am I even afraid to hear mom's laughter?” whispered Max.

Matt smiled amusedly. “You should be happy because mom is not as angry as usual.”

I don't know why Max got so agitated when they got deeper into the house into the living room where the sound was coming from. It feels like Max wants to pull Matt back out of the house.

“Ah, look. That's them home.” Say their father with a big smile. “Come!” sternly with a soft tone.

The two boys walked towards the three people who were sitting in the living room. Matt seemed excited to approach their father while Max clearly felt reluctant.

“Matt dear, sit next to father.” Their mother ruled.

Max's astonishment deepened due to ‘sayang’'s call and his parents' attitude towards Matt. Though he himself knew that both his parents hated Matt for some reason.

Max was still speechless watching his father embrace Matt as the boy sat beside him. Suddenly the mother's hand pulled Max's arm so he could sit next to her.

“This is named Matthew.” Obviously the father was to the stranger.

“Hallo, Matthew.” A man who Max thinks looks more beautiful than handsome.

Matthew smiled as he accepted the man's hand. “Hallo too, Mr—” Matt looked up at his father asking for an explanation.

“Mr. Brian Timothy.” Obviously the father.

“Call only Brian.” The man insists.

Still with a big smile Matt repeated. “Hallo also, Brian.”

“Smart boy.” Praise Brian while shuffling Matt's hair, then his gaze turns to the other boy in the room. “And what's your name, son?”

“Maxwell.” Clear Max brief.

Matt looked at his brother and smiled calmly. He also noticed the change in attitude of the brother who is usually hyperactive and chatty becomes more reserved.

“They are very similar. Looks like I won't be able to tell them apart.” Brian chuckles.

“People call them identical twins. We also cannot distinguish them physically. But if you've lived with them for years, you'll know that their personalities are so different that they can easily tell the two apart The mother explained.

Brian nodded in understanding. “Since you played where?” Brian tried to get along with the twin boys.

Matt is waiting for Max to explain because Max is usually the most chatty and always starts the conversation. But this time Max is tight-lipped. Silence occurred until the father gently nudged Matt's arm.

“Oh, we played on the field after that walk in the playground. Then we accidentally saw Mr. Morton was driving out of his house with a high fence and a fierce dog near the park. So we disturbed the dog until it got angry. After that, hmm... I whine at Max to go home because I'm hungry.”

“Really? Looks like you guys had enough fun today.” Brian ruffled Matt's hair again. “Is your brother really that quiet?”

Matt grins. “Normally the most chatty Max.”

“Then why is he just silent now? Is my face so creepy that she's scared?”

“It's not like that, Mr. Timothy.” The twins' father interrupted. “Max is a little unwell. He's more reserved when he's sick.”

“No problem. I was just teasing them.” Brian smiled calmly then glanced at his watch. “I don't think I can wait any longer. I have to go now.”

“Of course, Mr. Timothy.” The twins father stood up as Brian Timothy stood up.

“All the stuff have you moved to my car? Nothing left?” brian asked as he checked the contents of a large black bag beside him.

This time the mother nodded. “Already, Mr. Timothy. I checked it myself.”

“Thank you for your help.” Said Brian as he reached out handing the black bag over to the father's hand.

“We are supposed to thank.” Timpal the mother.

“Matt where to go?” for the first time since the twins met Brian, Max began talking and expressing emotion.

“From now on Matt will stay with me.”

“Why?” this time Matt asked.

“Because your place is supposed to be with me.”

“Tapi—”

“I'll explain in detail later, after we get home.”

Fearing that the twins were thwarting the transaction process among the parents, the father gestured for Brian to bring Matt along immediately. “You should go home now. Looks like it'll rain soon.”

Brian nodded then immediately carried Matt. The boy in Brian's sling just stared at all the adults taking turns in confusion. Max begins to understand that he will be separated from his twin brother. Soon Max chases after Brian who walks quickly into the yard.

“Mr. Timothy, what's my fault? Why do you want to keep me away from Matt?”

Brian paused for a moment as Max pulled his arm that was holding Matt in his chest. “You're not wrong of anything, son.”

“Then what mistake did Matt make that you wanted to take him?”

“Nobody did anything wrong. I'll explain this to Matt like I said. And you can ask for an explanation from your parents.” Brian tried to speak as softly as possible even though Max's stubborn and rebellious nature began to boil his anger.

Suddenly Max's shoulder was pulled to face his mother who was already kneeling to equalize their height. “Listen, Nak.” Her mother said softly as she stroked Max's cheek. “We can no longer afford your sister's treatment. You know your sister's been in and out of hospitals.”

Max looked at his mother with tears beginning to pool. “But why should he go?”

“Max, he'll just go for a while.” The father, who was also standing next to Max, squeezed the boy's shoulder gently to calm down.

The sound of a roaring car distracts Max. When he turned around, the luxury car parked in front of their small house had already sped away.

“MATT!!!” Max yelled as he ran towards the car it was leaving. “Do not leave me, Matt!!”

Max continues to run after the car that started to disappear from view. With his small steps, the boy continued to chase until his feet stumbled over a rock and he slammed on the ground, sobbing as he called out his twin brother.

“Come, Max. Don't act silly. You made your Father and Mother ashamed.” The father pulled Max's arm so the boy could stand up.

As soon as Max managed to stand up, his gaze was fixed on the black bag of Brian's giving that was still held by his father. Without further ado, Max pulls the bag out of the hands of his father who is not ready to receive an attack. Once a jolt he managed to unzip the bag and was stunned to see the contents. A huge pile of money. Although he was only seven years old, Max understood that money was very important for their lives.

“Dad swap Matt for this money?” Max looked at his parents with tears in his eyes.

“Aish, this boy!” hardik the father while seizing the black bag. “You know what, huh? You just eat, play and spend money. Don't think like an adult.”

The mother tried to mediate. “Please don't scold Max like that. He just feels lost. Later if he's used to it without Matt, he'll be back to how he was.”

“Mother too?” max didn't believe his mother's words. “Mother isn't worried about Matt leaving with someone else? You don't want Matt to come home?”

“Max, Mom said seriously. We can no longer afford Matthew's treatment. Hospital costs are very expensive. Brian Timothy is a rich man. Your sister would have recovered if she was with him because Brian could find Matt a very good doctor to cure her.”

Max started to sound so bad. He doesn't understand any of this. All he knew was about Matt who had left him.

“Together with us, Matt could die slowly because we could no longer afford his treatment. But if with Brian Timothy, Matt can recover completely and no longer need to go to the hospital.” His mother goes back to explaining and makes an emphasis in a few words so that Max can understand his point..

“Max we're big. I'm sure he understands what we mean by doing this.” The father chimed. “We'd better go home now and get ready. I'll take you out to eat.”

“Wow, pleased. Come on Max, we're home.” The mother tried to comfort me again.

The middle-aged woman held Max's arm, pulling slightly for Max to follow her.

Max turned his head for the last time staring at the point in the distance where the luxury car that had brought Matt disappeared. After that he said to see you in his heart and then turned to follow the steps of his parents who first walked home.

***

“Actually, your sister is sick what?” Mr. Nugroho just came into the interrogation room moments before Max ended his story, starting the question.

“According to the doctor who handled it at that time, Matt's heart condition has been weak since birth. I was only able to get information about Matt after I started my first business with Jeremy, Papa Freddy.”

“Lalu—”

“Ratna kidnapped!”

Clearly Freddy was unceremoniously stale as soon as he opened the door of the interrogation room. The three men in the room just looked at each other and looked at Freddy in confusion.

“How can you directly conclude so? Didn't you just drive her to the office this morning? Even this has not arrived lunch time.” Ask mr. Nugroho.

“I just got from the office where Ratna works.” Obviously Freddy. Most of his colleagues had no idea that Freddy was the son of the heir to Keegan Corp. “Meisya receptionist said that there were two police officers who came to see Ratna to inform her that I was being critical in the hospital. Then Ratna went with them. I've tried to contact him many times, but he didn't answer my phone at all.”

“I think she was indeed kidnapped.” Toni Tandas.

“I can't help you guys because there's still another very urgent job. Just hand over as many police personnel as you need.”

“Good, Sir.” Said Toni steady. After Mr. Nugroho came out, Toni asked Freddy. “What kind of details have you got from the witness in his office?”

“Nothing. As soon as I realized Ratna was kidnapped, I immediately headed here.”

Toni looked at Freddy in wonder. “Aren't you very worried about your future wife? Why do you look so calm now.”

“There's no point in being panic now. We just need to find where Ratna was kidnapped, then devise an ambush strategy.” Obviously Freddy's cold.

“I have enough investigation plans to know the location of the victim, but it will take a lot of time. So, do you have a faster backup plan?”

“Ada.” Suddenly Freddy turned to look at Max who had only noticed them. “But this plan needs the help of Uncle Max.”

Max raised one of his eyebrows by asking but then nodded. “Sure. I'll help as I can.”

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♥ Aya Emily ♥