Deadly Intent (5 page)

“If I had to guess I’d say trauma or abuse certainly played a large part in his lack of communication. He’s saying a few words now, and he usually answers my questions with a nod or a shake. Great improvement in such a short time.”

“I agree.” Lizzie increased her speed. “Come on, step it up, old lady.”

“No. I like this speed.”

“No pain. No gain.” Lizzie yelled over her shoulder.

Maven increased her speed. “And I can’t believe you called me old. You’re older than I am.”

“Prove it.” Lizzie ran faster.

As they neared the swing sets, Maven searched for Moses.

Her heart skipped a beat.

A man was standing beside him and looked as if he was talking to Moses.

Moses jumped off the swing and backed away from the man.

The man moved toward him.

Maven raced toward them.

The man reached for the boy’s arm.

Even from her distance, she could hear his scream. Maven ran faster. “Lizzie.”

“I see them.” Lizzie yelled as she sped up. The distance between Maven and her lengthened as Lizzie sprinted towards them.

Still screaming, Moses ran towards Lizzie. The man started after him, but when he saw Lizzie running towards them, he turned and ran in the opposite direction.

Moses ran past Lizzie to Maven. He launched himself into her arms, screaming and sobbing, trembling and obviously terrified.

Maven sat on the grass and cradled him in her arms. “It’s OK, sweetie. You’re safe. I’m right here.” She kept her gaze on the parking lot, but couldn’t see Lizzie, who’d run off to try to catch the man.

Maven rocked Moses. “It’s OK, you’re safe. Nobody’s going to hurt you.”

A few minutes later, Lizzie reappeared, out of breath. “I couldn’t find him.” She gasped through the words. “Not sure if he got in a car and left or he ran into the woods. I wasn’t about to follow him in there.”

Moses was still whimpering, but calmer.

Maven covered Moses’s ear and pressed him close so he couldn’t hear. “You don’t think he was going to hurt him, do you?” she whispered.

With hands on her hips, Lizzie still stared off in the direction of the parking lot. “I’m not sure.”

“Maybe he was just being friendly, but Moses isn’t good with strangers,” Maven said. “He probably just started running after him to calm him down, but when he saw us decided to leave.”

“That fast?”

“Well, come on. He was a man in a park and a kid was screaming. I can’t blame him for leaving even if he didn’t do anything wrong.”

“But what if he did or he planned to?”

Maven’s stomach lurched. Why would anyone want to hurt Moses? Of course, someone had abandoned him. “Should we call the police?”

Lizzie nodded and pulled out her cell phone.

“We’re going home,” Maven said. “You can handle this. Moses needs to get back to his room and calm down. If they want to take a report from me, they can call or come over to the house.”

“Good idea.” Lizzie squatted down to eye level with Moses. “You did good, little man. I’m so proud of you for running to Maven. That was the right thing to do.”

He nodded, but said nothing.

“Can I give you a hug, Moses?” Lizzie held her arms out to him.

He stared for a moment, and then stood up.

Maven’s eyes filled with tears as the two hugged. Such a precious child. What a difference a week could make. Maven stood up as well.

After the hug, Moses moved back to Maven.

She held out her hand. “Let’s go home, Moses.”

He stared at her for a long moment, and then slipped his hand into hers.

Maven bit back tears as they walked through the park hand in hand.

13

“Knock, knock.” A familiar voice called through her screen door.

“Come on in, Paul.”

He walked in with a carton of ice cream. “Heard there was some trouble at the park today.” He held up the carton. “Need a little pick-me-up?”

Knowing a detective on the Wooster City force was sometimes a nice thing.

“Sounds good. Are you here to take my statement?”

He nodded. “We can do that later. How are things here?”

“It’s been a little rough. He’s done the screaming thing a few times, but he’s quiet now. He’s in a fetal position in the middle of his toy circle.”

“Poor guy. And just when he was getting settled in and doing so well. I hope he doesn’t regress too much.” He smiled as he gave her a probing look. “How are you?”

“I don’t mind saying it was scary when I saw the man chasing him, but I’ve calmed down now. I’m not sure the guy meant him any harm.” Maven called back to Moses. “Sweetie, Paul’s here and he’s brought us some ice cream.”

A moment later, little feet pattered down the hall. Moses ran to him and stood quietly in front of him.

Paul squatted down and showed him the container. “Hey, buddy. How about some ice cream?”

Paul was a good father with his own children, she expected nothing less in his interactions with the boy.

Moses climbed up on his stool.

They
ooh
ed and
ahh
ed over the ice cream until Moses finally picked up his spoon. He took a bite and smiled his approval at the peanut butter and fudge swirl. After their snack, Moses ran back to his room.

Paul and Maven sat at the kitchen island.

Paul scooped another helping of ice cream in his bowl. “So, what happened?”

“We’re not exactly sure. We were jogging. Moses ran on up ahead. He goes right to the swing set every time so I don’t worry too much about it. As we got closer, we saw a man standing beside him. The man appeared to be talking to him, and then reached for Moses’s arm. Moses ran away from the swings and started screaming.”

“What about the man?”

“I didn’t get a good look at him before he ran. He was just too far away. My theory is that he was just being friendly, but Moses freaked out. You know how Moses is with people and it would be worse with strangers. It probably scared the man so he left. Rather quickly, but I can’t say that I blame him. I might have done the same thing in his shoes.”

Paul nodded, but he looked worried. “That’s true, but he should have known better than to approach a child he didn’t know.”

“Well, it’s my own fault. I shouldn’t have let Moses go running off on his own.”

“That’s what kids do, Maven. Nothing wrong with giving him some independence.”

“I don’t know about that. It didn’t turn out well.”

“You’re too hard on yourself.”

“Well someone needs to be. I need to stop pushing him to change and let him be him. One thing I’ve learned in the past few weeks, teaching is a good thing, but sometimes all a child needs or wants is love and acceptance.”

Paul stared at her. “That is such an awesome statement. Some parents go their whole lives without learning that lesson. You are an amazing woman, Maven.” He winked. “Are you sure you won’t change your mind about that date?”

A warm feeling blossomed. “I don’t want to ruin our friendship.”

“Who says we’ll ruin it?”

In spite of being uncomfortable, she forced herself to continue. “For two good reasons. One, I’m not ready to date again. And two, you are. There are a lot of good wom—”

He held up a hand. “I don’t want a lot of good women. Just one. I’m a patient man, Maven. No reason to rush things.”

She had to make him understand that nothing would happen between them romantically. “And I’m sure she’s out there right now waiting for you to find her.” She smiled, hoping to ease the situation. “And there’s always Lizzie.”

He grinned back. “Yep, there’s always Lizzie.”

14

The next morning, Maven took a quick shower before mixing up some pancakes.

The breakfast was Moses’s favorite, mostly because of the amount of syrup he poured on them. The boy was sleeping longer than usual. Yesterday’s drama must have exhausted him.

She went in to wake him up. Maven looked across the room at his empty bed. She’d not heard him get up. Maybe he was in the bathroom. She walked across the hall and knocked on the closed door. “Moses.”

No response.

Her stomach twisted.
Stay calm. Nothing to panic about.
She called his name again and waited. Finally, she opened the bathroom door. The room was empty. Refusing to give in to the panic, she walked through the house twice, checked the basement, and then the garage. By the time she got to the garage, all thoughts of staying calm had been forgotten.

She called his name, checked the inside of the car, and then the trunk. Her mind blanked for a moment, and then cleared.

Paul might still be home.

She hit the garage door opener, but having no patience to wait for it to open all the way, she bent down and crawled under it. She ran up the neighboring steps and hit Paul’s doorbell three times—hard.

The door opened.

He was dressed and ready to go to work. “What’s wrong?”

“I can’t find Moses.” Her breath came in little gasps as she explained.

“Let’s go check the house again.”

“You go ahead, I want to look out here. Sometimes, kids have been known to wander.”

“Has he ever gone outside by himself before?”

“No, but there’s a first time for everything.”

“Not for Moses, and certainly not after yesterday. He’d want to stay close to you. You’re his safety zone.”

She stared at Paul, barely able to breathe. “You don’t think that man followed us back here and took him, do you?”

Paul put a hand on her shoulder. “I have no reason to think that at all. That’s not what I meant.”

His words were probably meant to reassure her, but they didn’t.

~*~

Maven sat on the steps of her porch watching the drama unfold. The tissues in her hand were shredded and damp.

Neighbors and police were out searching the area.

Lizzie pulled up and ran to Maven, throwing her arms around her friend. “Maven, this isn’t your fault.”

“Then whose fault is it?” Maven wiped at her wet cheeks. “He’s my responsibility.”

“We don’t even know what happened yet. Don’t jump to conclusions. Kids do this all the time. You see it on the news. Maybe he went to the park. He loves the park.”

“Not after yesterday.” Maven’s voice was dull. “You saw him. He was terrified. I think that man followed us home. It had to have been him. It’s just too much of a coincidence that he’s missing after the park incident.”

“It’s too early to jump to conclusions.”

Tears leaked out. Maven shook her head. “Maybe for you, but not for me. I’m absolutely certain that man took him.” Her voice faltered. “It’s all my fault. I should have been more careful.” She walked into the house.

Lizzie followed. “Stop saying that.”

“But it’s true.” Maven flopped on the sofa. “I heard him screaming last night, but just as I was getting up to check on him he stopped. So I didn’t go in. If I had, I could have stopped it.”

“First, we don’t know what happened. And second, I would have done the same thing in the middle of the night. Even if the man took him, that doesn’t mean Moses is in any danger.”

Maven stared open-mouthed for a moment. “Of course he is. A grown man only kidnaps a young boy for one reason.”

“That’s not true. He may have been the man who deserted him in the first place.”

Maven’s racing heart stilled. “Really? I hadn’t thought of that. Could that be true?”

“It was actually my first thought when you called. I wondered about that at the park yesterday but didn’t say anything. He might have regretted abandoning him and just wanted to take him home. He didn’t want to deal with the police. Moses might be home right now, safe and sound.”

Maven swiped at the tears. “Even so, if that’s the case, he doesn’t deserve Moses. He left that little boy in a park all alone at night. Anything could have happened to him.”

“I agree with you. I’m just saying that’s a possibility.”

“I suppose that’s the lesser of two evils, but I still don’t like it. How could he have found Moses?”

“Well, there were those newscasts about him. And remember, the one showed the two of you in the park playing on the swings. Maybe he got the idea that you two come to the park a lot so he showed up looking for him.”

“Why wouldn’t he just contact Children’s Services?”

“Because he knew that he’d be in trouble legally. There are places to drop a child off and not get in trouble. A park at night isn’t one of them. He probably was just hoping he could scoop him up and take him back home and nobody would ever know what he did.”

“And he wouldn’t be held accountable for his actions.”

“That, too.”

15

A week later, Maven woke up but didn’t move from her bed. Her head was pounding, her stomach ached, and her heart was broken. Seven days filled with anxiety and worry. Seven days filled with searching. Seven days, and still no Moses. Seven days filled with answering questions.

From the police, the FBI, and then finally, the media.

No one had a clue.

No fingerprints, no witnesses, nothing.

If Moses had been abducted, the man was good. He hadn’t left one shred of evidence behind.

With no evidence, everyone had a theory. One group believed he’d been taken back home and the other group felt he’d been kidnapped for other reasons.

She’d known the arrangement with Moses was only temporary, but she’d never expected it to end this way. Her heart had taken in the little boy, engaged before she even knew it. Everyone talked about not giving up hope. But without one good lead, Maven knew Moses would probably not be found. All she could do was pray for him.

Depression was sneaking its way back into her soul. She recognized it from that dark time when in a six month period her husband died, she developed Bell’s palsy, and then lost her job. In the midst of her despair, she’d turned away from God, angry and bitter. She refused to do that this time. This time she would stick close to Him. Without God, she couldn’t make it.