Chapter Ten.

Jack left the do not disturb sign on the door and went to settle the bill in cash.

When he returned to the room he wanted to collect Kate and leave immediately.

He reconfirmed the late checkout and stressed his wife shouldn't be disturbed.

The woman handed over the photographs and marriage certificate. Jack glanced through the album on the way to the car. Kate looked like a wide-eyed doe in the arms of a smiling hunter. Jack chuckled and stowed the album and the certificate along with their bags.

His final action was to remove the Suburban's license plate. As he lifted it free, the elderly couple who'd seen them the day before came out to their car.

"Good morning. How's your fiancee?" the woman asked.

"Wife now. Much better, thanks. Bought her a personalized plate as a wedding present."

"What a great idea. Honey, why didn't you think of that?"

"I thought the ring was enough."

"That's just the beginning," she said.

The man rolled his eyes at Jack.

Jack went shopping. He replenished the bottled water supply, bought a few perishable items and a small bag of ice to keep them chilled inside the cooler. He stocked up on soda, candy, cookies and fruit, picked out a couple of toy cars, a small T-shirt with a dinosaur on the front, and a large, ugly soft toy. According to the label it was the lovable monster everyone wants as part of their family. Back at the Suburban, he lifted a San Antonio thrift store child seat from underneath one of the boxes, and secured it in place.

Before he set off for Sunshine Plaza, Jack removed his light green shirt to reveal a yellow V-necked T with Florida printed across it in big green letters. He put on a pair of wire-rimmed sunglasses and a blue baseball cap, glanced in the rear view mirror, and smiled.

The shopping plaza was busy. Jack drove around looking for a good place to leave the car. Not too far from the restaurant, nor too close. He settled on a spot near another dark Suburban.

There was no reason for anyone to take a particular interest in a man in a baseball cap and sunglasses who walked into McDonald's. Lines snaked back all along the counter, kids with balloons running everywhere, lots of shouting, lots of noise. Jack joined the longest line at the far end so he could watch everyone and everything. He ordered a Big Mac, fries, coffee and a chicken nugget Happy Meal with a toy, and then made for a table near the door. He put the Happy Meal box in front of the seat next to him. He'd declined the tray. No way was he leaving prints.

He ate his burger slowly, one eye on a cute blond kid dressed as a cowboy. Jack munched a couple of fries and watched as the boy struggled to spin a plastic gun on his finger. He was surprised they'd allow a toy weapon in the place. A gun would have made Kate more cooperative and that old guy easier to kill but Jack was fond of his knife.

He felt eyes on him and turned to see a boy on his own at the next table, looking not at Jack, but at the Happy Meal box.

"Hi," Jack said with a smile.

The child looked down. Three years old, blond hair, big eyes, beautiful. Fuck, this was him. His son.

"You hungry?" Jack asked.

No response.

"Is your momma getting you something?" Jack glanced toward the counter.

Still busy. He opened the box and took out the toy, a plastic spinning thing.

"Want this?" The boy's eyes opened wider. Jack removed the wrapping and held out the toy.

The eyes said yes, but the mouth said nothing.

"You can take it, s'okay." The mother would most likely appear any second.

She'd probably put the kid there to secure a table while she stood in line. The boy got down from his seat and took the few paces to Jack's side.

"Here you go."

The fingers softly brushed Jack's as he took the toy.

"Samuel! What do you think you're doing? I said stay put!" The boy scuttled back to his seat as a woman strode toward him, a younger child, a girl in a frilly dress, clamped on her hip like a pink growth.

"Sorry if he was bothering you. Sammy, give that back right now!" She put her tray on the table.

"I wanted a Happy Meal." The boy finally spoke. Jack liked his voice.

"Well, you don't get a Happy Meal. Sit still this time while I get the drinks." What a bitch. Her straw blond hair was frizzy and unkempt, an inch of dark roots showing. Overweight and dressed like a slut, her fat midriff rolled over the top of her skirt. Jack looked away as she returned with the drinks, the snotty pink thing still on her hip.

"I said give that back." She snatched the toy and offered it Jack.

He clenched his fists under the table. "He can have it." Jack changed the accent and pitch of his voice. More Boston than Texas. Just in case. "The meal, too, if he likes."

"You don't want it?" The woman raised her eyebrows.

"My son's at the party." Jack gave a small wave to the cowboy conveniently looking the other way. "We got here early and he's starving. You know what they're like." He waited for the sympathetic nod. "I bought this for him, now he's too busy to eat." Jack turned on his smile and this time the woman smiled back.

"It'll go to waste if you don't take it."

"What about the toy? Doesn't your son want it?"

"They get one at the party." Jack thought it a reasonable guess.

"Oh, well, thanks."

Jack continued to eat. He had to be patient. The opportunity might not happen or it might come without him having to make it happen. The woman barely settled down before Jack heard her swear.

"Shit, Kirin! We just got our meal. Why didn't you tell me before? Sammy, don't move. Don't let anyone clear this away." She moved past Jack's table, her daughter in her arms and then hesitated.

"Would you mind keeping an eye on him while I take her to the bathroom?"

"Sure." It was meant to be. A woman this ignorant didn't deserve to raise his son. The moment the restroom door closed, Jack moved. It was almost too easy.

The offer of another toy and they strolled hand in hand across the parking lot.

Jack carried the remains of his meal and Sammy clutched the box.

Jack's heart raced. He yanked open the rear door and lifted the kid onto the back seat. "Look under that blanket for your toy and then stay there so you can jump out and surprise Mommy."

He did exactly as he was told and Jack smiled. He got in the front, pulled off his sunglasses and cap, tossed them to the floor, and then bent below the level of the window to change. When he sat up, he buttoned his green shirt.

As he pulled out of the Plaza, Jack let out a whoop of glee.

The boy didn't stay under the blanket for long. After a few moments, he sat up and started to eat the fries, one of the toy cars clutched in his hand.

"Where's Mommy?" he asked.

"I'm taking you to her."

"Where are we going?"

"To Mommy. Want some candy?" Jack reached back, holding out three M&Ms with a smaller yellow pill.

Sammy ate them and then took another handful of fries from the box. He suddenly gasped. "I'm not supposed to have candy until after I eat."

"We won't tell Mommy. Our secret."

"If I eat all my nuggets, maybe she won't get mad."

"Good idea," Jack said.

"Mommy gets mad if I'm not buckled in my seat."

"We want to surprise her. Lie down so she can't see you."

"Okay."

He lay down and continued to eat. Jack sighed. If only Kate was as cooperative.

By the time they reached the motel, the boy was almost asleep. Jack got out and opened the rear door.

"Look what I bought for you. Let's take this old thing off." He changed him out of the orange T-shirt into the one with the dinosaur.

Sammy settled down on the seat, and Jack laid the blanket over him. He put the boy's top into a bag together with his Florida T-shirt, hat and sunglasses and pushed them under a box in the rear. Picking up his knife from the side pocket, he used it to refasten the registration plate before returning to the room.

Kate woke as he peeled the tape from her mouth. Jack held a bottle of water to her lips and tipped it. As she swallowed, he pinched her nose, slipping a yellow pill into her mouth before tipping up the bottle again. He kept pouring until all the water was gone, most of it sinking into the pillow under her head.

"What...?" Kate mumbled.

She was still zoned out. The pill was probably overkill. He cut the ties at her wrists, putting the remains in his pocket before dragging her arms back to her sides. Kate gasped in pain.

"Get dressed." He tossed over the yellow dress she'd worn the day before and watched to see what she'd do when she saw the ring on her finger.

Kate picked up her sandals and stopped moving. As she started to pull off the ring, he caught her hand.

She struggled to get free. "I don't want it." Jack twisted her wrist to bring her arm up the middle of her back and Kate yelped.

"If you take it off, I'll take off one of your fingers. Understand?" Kate whimpered and nodded. He let her go. As she stood rubbing her wrist, Jack picked up her new glasses and placed them on her face.

"I've got a wedding present in the car. Bet you'll never guess what it is."

Thad Skinner heard the scream from his office and rushed into the restaurant.

One of his staff had their arm around a sobbing, almost hysterical customer.

"What's wrong?" Thad asked.

"My son, Sammy, he's missing."

Thad breathed out. Missing children turn up. He'd have been far more worried about a mouse's head in a burger.

"Don't worry, we'll find him. He couldn't have gone far. What's his name?

What's he wearing?"

By the time they'd searched the restaurant, including the storeroom and the outdoor playground with its green dragon slide, time had ticked by. Old customers left and new ones arrived. Amy Howe was a quivering wreck in his office and her daughter sobbed as well because her mother clutched her too tight.

Thad tried to get Amy to loosen her hold, but she gripped harder.

Thad only called the Plaza Security when he was satisfied the boy wasn't in the restaurant. He had no children of his own, but he knew kids disappeared all the time. They wandered away from playgrounds, even from daycare centers and generally, someone found them. He'd made the mistake of overreacting the last time a mother panicked. He called the police and the kid had turned up under one of the tables. He'd felt a complete fool.

Minutes ticked by.

"Where is he? Where is he?" Amy repeated.

"They'll find him, don't worry," Thad said. "Security's checking everywhere, including the service areas at the rear."

Easy with little ones like Baskin-Robbins, but not so easy with Wal-Mart. Still, Thad felt confident the kid would come walking through the door any moment.

Only he didn't.

By the time the police arrived, Thad's assurances that Sammy would stroll up wondering what all the fuss was about, had worn thin. Forty-five minutes had passed since the boy was last seen by his mother. Amy was incapable of speaking to her husband, so Thad had to do it. He tried to sound upbeat, but knew the father feared the worst because he was beginning to feel that way himself. The guy would end up driving much too fast to get to the plaza and yet it wouldn't be fast enough. His son was gone.

When a child's face appeared at the car window, Kate froze. Jack dragged her the last few yards, opened the rear door and pushed her inside.

"You're not my mommy." The boy's eyes opened and closed as he struggled to stay awake.

Jack started the engine and reversed out of the parking space. "Fasten him into the seat."

"My God, what have you done?" Kate said in a choked whisper.