Abduction! Read Free Page B

said, “She’s on her way. Matt was supposed to go home as usual.”
    “I don’t like this,” Mrs. Jules said.
    Apprehension crawled up Bonnie’s arms and across the back of her neck.
    “Let’s not panic yet,” Mr. Quinn said. “I’ve had situations before where a youngster gets in trouble at school and doesn’t want to go home, or they get invited to play at a friend’s house and forget to call. Sometimes, especially with the kindergartners, they get on the wrong bus. Then they have to ride the whole route before they’re brought back here. One student fell asleep on the bus and wasn’t found until the driver had already parked in the bus barn.”
    Bonnie could easily have disputed each of Mr. Quinn’s theories. Matt never got in trouble at school, and he wasn’t allowed to go anywhere with a friend unless Mom had arranged it. Certainly he wouldn’t have boarded the wrong bus; they had ridden bus number two all year. She didn’t argue with the principal, though. It was Mr. Quinn’s first year at this school, so he didn’t know Bonnie. She knew he was only trying to make everyone feel more optimistic.
    While Bonnie looked out the office window, hoping to see Matt approach, Mr. Quinn called each of the bus drivers.
    Matt was not on any of the busses.
    The black fog of Bonnie’s old dream seemed to hover at the edge of the school yard.

P uppy kisses! Puppy kisses!” Matt said.
    The old dog, wriggling with happiness, slurped the boy’s face.
    How disgusting, Denny thought as he watched in the rearview mirror. He had never understood why some people act as if their dogs were part of the family. Besides getting unsanitary slobber on the kid’s face, the mutt was probably shedding all over the backseat.
    “Pookie doesn’t act hurt,” Matt said. “Are you sure he got hit by a car?”
    “He feels better because you’re here,” Denny said. He stuck two fingers inside the wig and scratched his scalp. It was too warm to have an extra head of hair.
    “Why are you going this way?” Matt asked. “Pookie’s vet isn’t this way.”
    “We aren’t taking him to the vet. You said the dog is okay.”
    “Then where are we going?”
    “Home.”
    “Home isn’t this way, either.”
    “I know where I’m going,” Denny said. “This is a shortcut.” He glanced in the rearview mirror again. The boy stared back, one hand fingering his earlobe.
    The boy’s nervous, Denny thought. I need to put him at ease, but how?
    Denny had no idea what to say. He didn’t know anything about kids. What should he talk about? He tried to think how Celia and Winston handled their boys.
    Denny leaned over, opened the glove compartment, and felt inside. He picked up a large chocolate bar and tossed it into the backseat.
    “Here you go,” he said. “Something to munch on.”
    “I’m not allowed to eat chocolate,” Matt said.
    “You are now.”
    “Really?”
    “Yep. When you’re with me, I make the rules and I say every kid needs some chocolate now and then. Go ahead. Take a bite.”
    “Won’t I get hives?”
    “Hives? From a candy bar? No way.”
    Matt ripped the wrapper open and took a bite. “Yum,” he said. “It’s good.” He took another bite.
    Pookie whined.
    “Pookie wants some,” Matt said.
    “So give him a piece.”
    “Mom says chocolate is bad for dogs.”
    “Well, that shows how much she doesn’t know. Would you want to eat nothing but dog food all the time?”
    “No.”
    “Neither does Pookie.”
    Matt broke off a piece of chocolate and gave it to Pookie, who swallowed it whole and immediately begged for more.
    “He likes it,” Matt said. “So do I.”
    “Of course you do. Everybody likes chocolate. Chocolate is one of life’s great pleasures.”
    “Want a bite?” Matt asked.
    “No, thanks. I had my own candy bar a little while ago.” Denny smiled, congratulating himself for thinking of the candy.
    Imagine a kid who never eats chocolate bars.
    Anita had always worried too much