Kidnapped

Chapter 5

"Puppy kisses! Puppy kisses!" Max said.

The old dog, wriggling with happiness, slurped the boy's face.

How disgusting, Daniel 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.

"Poochie doesn't act hurt," Max said. "Are you sure he got hit by a car?"

"He feel better because you're here," Daniel 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. "Poochie'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," Daniel 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, Daniel thought. I need to put him at ease, but how?

Daniel had no idea what to say. He didn't know anything about kids. What should he talk about? He tried to think how Cassandra and Walter handled their boys.

Daniel 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."

Max ripped the wrapper open and took a bite. "Yum," he said. "It's good." He took another bite.

Poochie whined.

"Poochie wants some," Max 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 bog food all the time?"

"No."

"Neither does Poochie."

Matt broke off a piece of chocolate and gave it to Poochie, who swallowed it whole and immediately begged for more.

"He likes it," Max 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." Daniel smiled, congratulating himself for thinking of the candy.

Imagine a kid who never eats chocolate bars.

Rita had always worried too much about health. Once when he'd given Elizabeth a sip of his beer, Rita acted as if he'd tried to poison the girl.

As he drove, Daniel glanced frequently at Max, who continued to share the chocolate bar with the dog. Daniel felt no surge of fatherly affection, no pride because this handsome boy was his son. He felt only relief that he had succeeded in getting Matt away from the school without being questioned.