*
That’s not howhe had intended the child swap to go. When he’d questioned his group, he’d heard about the child from another one. This wasn’t the child everybody was looking for but another one, a little boy. He desperately wanted him. But apparently, when this asshole realized the cops were trailing all pedophiles from the most recent Amber Alert, he had dropped the boy somewhere in a public place.
He’d talked to the asshole only an hour earlier, tried to get the youngster for himself, but the perv had refused, said he was going downtown to drop him there. It had taken a bit to get the directions, but, as soon as he had, he’d seen the boy up ahead. Almost in reach. And he’d been so close, so damn close. Then he saw the woman racing toward him, shouting, and knew he would be too late.
Had she seen him? He really hoped not because he didn’t want to deal with that right now. He’d kill her if he needed to. He’d killed others for less. It was all about secrecy… and staying away from the cops. He didn’t even stick around long enough to see what she’d done with the child, but he knew instinctively that she would care for him and would make sure he was okay.
He’d have done the same. He’d have looked after him, and the child would have been grateful too. That was all he wanted anyway—somebody who would love him. At least some of the time that’s what he wanted. Other times he didn’t even know what the hell he wanted.
So be it.
He quickly dialed his sister’s number. “What do you want at this hour?” she groaned. He stared at the phone. “I didn’t even think about that,” he said. “What time is it?”
“It’s got to be close to midnight,” she said. As she fumbled around on her side of the call, she said, “Damn it, bro. It’s two in the morning.”
“I need to talk,” he said. She sighed, and he could imagine her sinking down again into her pillows, lying there, with her eyes closed.
“About what?”
“I almost got a little boy tonight.”
“Almost?”Silence. “Normally you don’t tell me about your failures.”
“Well, in a way it’s a success,” he said, “so I’m trying to find the good part.”
“You’re very confusing tonight,” she said.
“I heard that another pedophile had this little boy but was running scared with the Amber Alert. You know registered pedos in the kidnapping area are rousted first,” he said. “I’m fairly well-known for shaking them down, so, when I put out the word that I was looking for the little boy, I was hoping that he would just give him to me.”
“And he didn’t?”
“No, he didn’t,” he said. “He let him go in some damn dark corner of downtown. A tiny little boy just left in the doorway like that,” he said. “Who the hell would do that? He just deserted him on the street corner. Anybody could have picked him up.”
A half snort came from the other side of the phone.
“What the hell?” he said. “Are you laughing at me?”
“I’m laughing at the pedophile who stuck a child on the street corner, and you’re worried aboutjust anybodygetting him.”
He thought about it and then said, “Good one. Yeah, very funny. You’re right. But I would have looked after him.”
“Of course you would have,” she said in a soothing voice.
He needed that. She let him rant and yell until he’d finally wound down. “See? That’s why I called you,” he said. “I needed this talk.”
“I’m glad to help,” she said, “but could you possibly avoid calling so late? This was a lot, even for you.”
“Well, I keep trying,” he said, “but tonight was different.” By the time he finished talking, his sister wasn’t answering anymore. “Sis, are you still there?” He heard a murmur come over the phone, and he glared at it. “The least you can do is listen to me.”
“I tried,” she said, “but now I’m asleep, so goodbye.”
And instead of theclickof the phone, he heard the phone drop and knew his sister was off to dreamland, as he should be.
But it had been a busy night. He’d gotten rid of the broken China Doll, but he’d missed his chance at getting a little boy who would have looked up to him and would have been beyond happy to have been taken care of by him. Now he was all alone in his damn apartment, and he hated it. Something was so depressing about being here. At least while the China Doll was here, he hadn’t felt quite so lonely. Of course it was broken, but, even broken, it was something. Now he had nothing again.
He frowned at that; he hadn’t heard whether the seven-year-old Leonard had been found or not, and that worried him. It worried him because still other pedophiles were out there. Hell, he knew many of them. He should get his pick of the kids. He hadn’t shaken down a couple other pervs yet; maybe he needed to. Maybe somebody else had Leonard that he didn’t know anything about.
As he thought about it, he wondered if Leonard’s family wasn’t doing this for some other reason. He hated it when families used kids to fill their pockets. Talk about abuse. He loved his kids. When families did something like that, it made life impossible and miserable for their kids. Nobody ever charged the parents. Nobody ever gave a shit about the poor kids then. No, it was all about whathedid wrong. It was ridiculous.