twice before settling for a space the length of a football field from the entrance. “The exercise is good for me,” she muttered, grabbing Danny’s suspenders before he could dash too far ahead of her. For a second, her irritation faded. With his red suspenders, he looked so cute in khaki shorts and navy polo shirt.
“I need a Power Rangers gun, Mommy!”
“So you can shoot somebody? Not today, buddyboy.”
“Awww.”
At the entrance, they followed behind a young mother with an infant and a little boy who looked about Danny’s age. Danny and the boy sized each other up solemnly. Over their heads, both Claire and the mother smiled.
Inside, Danny scoped out the store with practiced skill, then headed like a homing pigeon for the toys. Behind her, the young mother fastened her infant into the shopping cart while her son darted away in the same direction as Danny. His mother gave an exasperated sound, then laughed as she and Claire again made eye contact.
“We’re headed for toys,” Claire said with a shrug.
“It looks like we are, too,” the woman said, still smiling.
The store was busy. Although school wasn’t scheduled to begin for almost a month, supplies were already fully stocked and kids in LaRue were shopping with the same enthusiasm as those in Houston.
As usual when Danny was faced with an excess of choices, he couldn’t make a decision. He picked up and rejected no less than a dozen items when Claire finally lost patience. With her head throbbing, she glanced at her watch.
“We have to get on the road if we’re going to be on time for our visit to Sugarland. Five minutes,” she told him, ignoring his injured expression. “And then we’re out of here. I mean it, Danny.”
The other boy ran up to Danny. “There’s some neat stuff on the next aisle. I found this!” He held up a weapon that might very well be used by real power rangers in the next century. Danny sent her a pleading look and she nodded. “Go take a look, but don’t wander beyond the next aisle. I’m going to pick out an electronic game. They’re on sale.”
“Okay!”
The games were good for a five-year-old confined in a car for a long, boring trip. Unfortunately, it appeared that every other parent in LaRue had had the same idea. The sale table was a jumble of plastic cases. She started looking, thumbing through the leftovers, aware only vaguely of the kids and parents sifting through the merchandise along with her. A couple of minutes later, the young mother appeared with disposable diapers and a few other articles in her cart.
“Have you seen Jeremy?” she asked anxiously.
“Your little boy?” Claire glanced at the intersection and a display of no less than a hundred Mickey Mouse lunch boxes. “He was just here with Danny.” She walked a few steps and looked into the next aisle. Both boys were gone.
A child screamed suddenly. Her heart plunged to her feet at the sound.
Danny!
And like any mother, her first thought was for her child. For a second, she was frozen as the piercing, shrill shrieks ricocheted through the huge store.
It was Danny!
All the blood drained from her body, leaving her sucked empty of everything except a desperate need to find him. Galvanized by fear, Claire darted frantically into the next aisle. Then the next, pulled along by the sound of his shrieks as surely as if she were connected to him by electric wire.
And then his screams ceased and there was only the murmurings of the crowd, the isolated whimpering of a baby. But no Danny.
He wasn’t anywhere she looked. Suddenly she was in Shoes. People were murmuring, looking concerned, checking for their own young ones. Still no sign of Danny. Somewhere nearby, she heard the young mother calling for Jeremy.
“Danny!” she cried desperately. “Where are you?”
Utterly panicked now, she dashed across the main traffic lane into Electronics and there he was.
“Mommy!” He ran up to her and threw his arms around her, holding on with all his might. She dropped her purse and swept him up. He was trembling. For a minute, she wasn’t sure she could stay upright.
Danny leaned back, looking her in the eye. “It was the bad policeman, Mommy! He tried to get me to go with him, but I wouldn’t.”
“Oh, Danny…” She closed her eyes, swallowing the fear that was lodged in her throat.
“I screamed. Just like you tol’ me if a stranger wants to do bad stuff.”
“Yes, yes…” She realized she was rocking back and forth, but his small sturdy body just felt so good right now.
“Is everything all right here, ma’am?” A man touched her elbow and she nearly jumped out of her skin.
“Oh! What? I—I’m not sure.” She drew a deep breath. “Someone just approached my son.”
“It was the bad policeman,” Danny said eagerly. Now that the danger was past, he was wiggling to get down.
“Policeman?” the man repeated.
What should she do? Could Danny really have witnessed something in the hotel courtyard? Something that was bad enough to force the “policeman” to follow them here.
Oh, God.
“Ma’am? Nobody noticed a policeman.” He wore the familiar Star-Mart name tag and was handing Claire’s purse to her. Then he looked at Danny. “Can you describe him, son?”
Danny took a breath. “He was big! He was pulling me real hard, tryin’ to make me go with him. He had a gun!”
The employee managed to hide the quirk of his mouth. “A gun, you say?”
“Uh-huh. I mean, yes, sir.”
“A gun right here in the store?”
“Are you sure, Danny?” Claire gave him a stern look.
“Not here. I mean he had a gun at the hotel, not here.”
Claire caught his hand and squeezed it meaningfully. “I’m sorry about this, Mr…Taylor?” she said, reading the man’s name tag.
“Yes, ma’am. I’m the assistant manager.”
Assistant manager. She tried to think. Oh, God, she was so scared. “Um, yes. Mr. Taylor, my son says somebody—a man—tried to approach him, but apparently he’s gone now.”
“He can’t have gone far,” Taylor said firmly. “I’ll just call security and—”
“No.”
“Pardon me?”
She managed a weak smile. “We’ve caused enough commotion this afternoon, Mr. Taylor. I’m not sure what happened, but…” She shrugged. “I just realized that we’re late for an appointment. Come on, Danny.”
“But Mommy—”
“Come on, Danny.”
“Are you sure, ma’am?” Taylor trailed after her. “If something actually did happen, we really should let the police—”
“No, no. It’s okay. It’s fine.”
They were hurrying past the checkouts when somebody called Danny’s name.
“Hey, Jeremy,” Danny said, waving at his new friend. He tugged at Claire’s hand. “It’s Jeremy, Mommy. Now you’ll believe me, ‘cause he was there and he saw that man try to get me!”
She gave Jeremy’s mother a harassed look. “Did Jeremy see what happened?”
The young woman nodded. “He said a man tried to take