Chapter 15
“I can play on the swings? And on the slides?” Sam asked, his eyes wide as he stood at the edge of the playground taking in the sight in front of him.
“You sure can.” In one of his new books, a little girl met a little boy at a playground, and they became friends. When Sam told her he’d never been to a place like that, she’d loaded him in the car and brought him here.
“Nobody will yell at me for playing here?”
“You can play here to your heart’s content…well, until it’s time to go home and start dinner. Ryan’s coming over tonight.”
His eyes lit up. “He is? I can read the new words I learned today to him.”
“I know he’ll be impressed.” She’d only planned to spend an hour or so on teaching him new words this morning, but he hadn’t wanted to quit, so they’d worked on his lessons until lunch. “What do you want to play on first?”
His gaze swept the playground. “The swings. Will you push me like the girl pushed the boy in my book?”
“Sure.” She followed him to the swing set. There was another little boy about Sam’s age on one of the swings, and he was by himself. She glanced around, hoping someone was here, keeping an eye on him. There was a woman sitting on a bench, and she seemed to be watching the boy.
When Sam got on the swing next to the boy, he shyly smiled. “Hi.”
The boy grinned. “Are you going to swing, too?”
Sam nodded. “Matti’s going to push me.”
“Can she push me, too?”
That was how she ended up pushing two little boys while wondering why the boy’s mother—or maybe it was his nanny—sat over there on the bench and let a stranger play with her child. The woman had her phone out, and seemed to be texting, no longer paying attention to the boy.
“My name’s Robbie. What’s yours?”
“I’m Sam. I’ve never been here before.”
Matti listened to them get to know each other while she alternated pushing the swings.
“Want to go on the seesaw?” Robbie asked.
“Yes.” Sam glanced back at her. “Can I?”
“Okay. I’m going to sit on that bench over there while you play with Robbie.” She wanted to find out if the woman was here with Robbie, because if she wasn’t, then he was here by himself and that didn’t work for her.
There was a group of five older kids at the other end of the park, three girls and two boys.
She could hear their laughter as they joked around with each other.
Other than that, no one else was in the park.
The woman had to be here with Robbie, but she wanted to make sure, so she walked over to the bench.
When she sat down, the woman smiled, and Matti smiled back. She was younger than Matti had thought from a distance, so maybe the nanny? “Hi, I’m Matti. Your son’s a sweetie.”
“Thanks. He’s my brother. He can be sweet when he wants to be. I’m Amy.”
“Ah, a brother.” Explained why she wasn’t as attentive as a mother would be. “I have four of those. All older and bossy and constantly sticking their noses in my business.”
Amy comically shuddered. “Four of them and older? No thank you.”
“Nice to meet you.” She watched the boys as they went up and down on the seesaw, loving the sound of Sam’s carefree laughter.
“Do you live close by?” It would be nice for Sam to have a friend to play with when he came here…
not that he would be coming here after she turned him over to his foster family.
She ignored the pang of regret that came with that thought.
“We live in an apartment a few blocks over. Robbie’s got a lot of energy, so I bring him here sometimes when he needs room to work off some of that hyperactivity. He’s my half brother. Both our fathers are losers. Mom works hard to take care of us, so I try to help out as much as I can.”
“That’s admirable.” The boys jumped off the seesaw and moved to the merry-go-round. It was a bit farther away, but still in full view.
Amy shrugged. “I worry about who’ll take care of him while Mom’s working when I leave next year for college.”
“I’m a social worker, and I know of some resources that could help. You have email, right?”
“Who doesn’t?”
Matti chuckled. “True. Put my number in your phone and text me your email address. I’ll send you some links to places you can contact.”
“Really? That’s awesome.” She put Matti’s number in her phone, then sent a text. “Thank you so much.” She frowned as something caught her attention. “Who’s that man talking to the boys? I’ve never seen him here before.”
Matti followed Amy’s gaze to see a man who looked out of place in a children’s playground speaking to the boys. He wore sunglasses and a ball cap pulled low over his forehead. His attention was on Sam. Fear crept up her spine because she knew, just knew, that Sam was in danger.
“Call 911,” she told Amy as she stood.
“Why? What’s happening?”
“Just call.” The man grabbed Sam’s arm. “Hey!” She started running. “Let him go.”
The man darted a glance at her, then snatched up Sam.
“Matti!” Sam screamed.
She raced toward them. Sam was fighting like a little wildcat, kicking and punching the man with his feet and fists. Not that he was doing any damage, more like a pesky gnat, but he was causing the man to stumble as he ran toward the street.
“Stop,” she yelled. “Let him go.” There was a car at the street with the engine running and a man behind the wheel, and she was sure that car was the kidnapper’s goal.
If they got Sam in that car… No, she couldn’t let that happen.
“Stop! Police!” She hoped claiming she was police would make the man have second thoughts about taking Sam. It didn’t. He kept running.
One boy who’d been hanging out with the teens she’d noticed earlier stepped forward. “He’s kidnapping that kid,” he called out to the others. He and the other boy and one of the girls started running at the man.
They were closer and faster than her, and when they caught up with the man, the two boys tackled him. Sam went flying across the ground, and the girl went to him. She picked Sam up and turned toward Matti.
Sam was crying and calling her name.
“Oh, God, thank you,” Matti said when she reached them. “Thank you so much.” Sirens sounded in the distance, and the relief she felt at hearing that sound and these kids saving Sam almost brought her to her knees.
“I think he’s okay,” the girl said as Matti took him from her.
“Matti,” Sam said as he wrapped himself around her and buried his face in her neck. “The mean man tried to take me.”
“It’s okay, sweetie. I have you now and you’re safe.” At least one of the men would be behind bars.
“He’s getting away,” the girl said.
Matti gasped at seeing the man running toward the car. He jumped in, and the car sped away.
The two boys came over. “We tried to hold him down, but he was like trying to wrestle a greased pig. Impossible.”
“You okay, kid?” the other boy asked.
Sam lifted his head. “You saved me.”
“They sure did,” Matti said. “I don’t know how to thank you.”
Both boys shrugged as if saving a child from being kidnapped was no big deal. It was. It totally was. Two police cars screeched to a halt, and she turned toward them. The uniformed officers exited their cars and headed their way. She knew both of them.
“Matti,” one said at seeing and recognizing her. “What’s going on?”
When the three teens started to walk away, she said, “Wait. You guys are heroes, but you’re also witnesses and need to give a statement.” They stopped, and the other two girls joined them.
“Hi, Jackson. Tucker. A man tried to kidnap Sam. Can you call dispatch and tell them to send Wyatt over if he’s available?”
“Sure.”
While he was doing that, one of the girls who’d stayed behind said, “I got it all on video.” After Jackson finished with dispatch, she held out her phone.
Both officers leaned in to watch the video. “Who is that man?” Tucker asked. “Do you know him?”
“No, but I know of him,” Matti said. “He’s part of Wyatt’s case.”
“Dispatch said he’s on the way,” Jackson said. “So let’s wait for him.”
Amy walked up, holding Robbie’s hand. “That was so scary. Robbie’s upset, so I’m going to take him home.”
“Okay, but first, I need to ask him what the man said to them.” She was familiar with police procedures, having so many cops in the family, and they’d want to compare what Robbie remembered with what Sam did.
She set Sam’s feet on the ground but kept her arm around him.
“Can you tell the nice policemen what the man said to you?”
Robbie lifted his eyes to the two officers. “He asked if one of us was Sam. I said, ‘He is,’ but Sam said, ‘Don’t tell him.’ But he didn’t say it fast enough, so I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to.” Tears filled his eyes. “I’m sorry.”
“Hey,” she said. “You didn’t know, so you didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I’m not mad at you, Robbie,” Sam said.
She was proud of Sam for saying that. He could have been bratty toward Robbie for what happened. “Is it all right if she takes Robbie home now?” she asked the two cops.
“I need your contact information,” Jackson said to Amy. “The detective on the case might need to follow up with you.”
Amy gave him her address and phone number, then she left.
When a ping sounded that she had a text, Matti read the message from Ryan. He’d sent one earlier that she’d somehow missed. She texted him back.
At the park with Sam. Something happened. Might be here a while. Call you later.