A little while later, Elijah stretched his legs and grabbed some papers. After checking them over once more, he stepped outside and locked the door behind before turning. The way to the Wards was a long one, but he wasn't in a huge hurry. The boy had a new coat and was safe, he would find out what happened and what should happen to men who thought it was alright to rob a small child.

The family was just clearing the table after dinner. "Elijah!" said Ben with a smile when he saw the constable. "I'm afraid if ye came for dinner, the food is gone, but we can make ye som't."

"Would you like some tea?" offered Anne.

Bram, meanwhile, put the plates he was holding down and hugged the constable.

Elijah smiled and shook his head slightly. "No no, I'm not here for dinner but thank you. I actually came to see Bram." He looked down at the boy who held him and knelt down to hug him in return. "Are you alright? I was told you and another child ran into some trouble after school today. Can you tell me what happened?" He looked at him, not wanting to give him any information to lead to his answers.

Bram froze. Uh-oh. Once he had gotten home, father hadn't been home yet, and he had realized it was better to tell a smaller lie, since he only had to explain why he was dirty. He had told Anne he had been playing near the river and had slipped. Now he realized Clover had probably followed through with the original plan.

"What trouble?" said Ben suspiciously.

Bram turned red as he thought of what to do. "I didn't want to worry any of ye..." he said.

Elijah rest a hand on his shoulder to ease his worries. "It's alright, Clover told me his side of the story. I just want to hear your side what happened. Perhaps you had more information than he did?"

"Did ye get into a fight with another boy?" Ben asked gravely.

"No!" said Bram, now all the more determined to tell the lie. "We were robbed! Or well, Clover was. They attacked us, and took Clover's coat!"

Elijah nodded as this was the story he'd heard. "Did you get a good look at them? How many and how big would you guess they were? Maybe a rough age if you could tell?"

"There were.... four.... and they were kind of big, but one was kind of skinny."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Ben asked, still looking suspicious.

Bram began to cry and quickly hugged Elijah, to hide his very red face. "I was afraid..." he cried.

Elijah rose his brow and knelt down to look at him. "Are you sure there were four and one was skinny? Please think hard. Grown men attacking kids is very serious so I need to make sure I have the right information. If you can't remember anything, it is ok but tell me what you do clearly know."

Ben frowned, walked over, and knelt by the boy, putting a hand on his back. "It's alright, son."

"I'm not sure..." Bram said, clinging to Elijah again and hiding his face against his shoulder. "We were attacked from behind."