Chapter 2 - The Father Who Arrived Too Late
Adults took over quickly.
A man pulled me backward before I cut my arms badly on the glass.
Edward unlocked the car with shaking hands.
Someone opened the rear door.
Benji sagged sideways in his car seat.
A woman from the tower started crying.
Another man attacked the small fire with an extinguisher.
Paramedics arrived.
Police.
Firefighters.
Noise everywhere.
Edward stayed beside Benji.
“Buddy.”
Nothing.
“Benji, Daddy’s here.”
The little boy’s eyes fluttered.
Then closed again.
I stood barefoot beside my dropped candy box because one shoe had come off somewhere near the car.
Nobody noticed me until the security guard pointed.
“That kid vandalized the vehicle.”
I stared at him.
One officer looked at the broken window.
Then at the smoke.
Then at me.
“She broke it to get the child out?”
The guard answered:
“She was told repeatedly to step away.”
The officer’s expression changed.
“By you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
The guard hesitated.
Edward heard that.
He turned slowly.
His son was being loaded into the ambulance.
“What do you mean you told her to step away?”
The guard straightened.
“Mr. Caswell, I was controlling the scene.”
“My son was inside.”
“I was about to contact you.”
Edward stared at him.
“About to?”
The guard said nothing.
The officer asked his name.
“Wade Mercer.”
I knew that name.
Not why.
Just the sound.
Mercer.
Somewhere in Mom’s apartment there was an envelope with that name written on it.
I suddenly became afraid.
Then Edward noticed me properly.
Dirty yellow shirt.
Candy box on the pavement.
Rock still in my hand.
Blood along two fingers from glass.
“How old are you?”
“Six.”
“Where are your parents?”
“My mom’s sick.”
“Where?”
I gave him our street.
The police officer frowned.
“You came here alone?”
I looked down.
“Yes.”
That started another problem.
A six-year-old child wandering downtown alone was not something adults could ignore simply because she had done something brave.
A patrol officer was assigned to take me home.
Before I left, Edward crouched in front of me.
His expensive trousers touched dirty pavement.
“What’s your name?”
“Maya.”
“Maya what?”
“Ortiz.”
Something behind us changed.
Wade Mercer stopped speaking to another officer.
Edward held out his hand.
“Thank you, Maya Ortiz.”
I did not take it.
“My mom says not to go anywhere with strangers.”
For the first time that morning, Edward almost smiled.
“Your mom sounds smart.”
“She is.”
Then I remembered.
“Do you know her?”
“Who?”
“My mom.”
“No.”
I pointed at Wade.
“He does.”
The smile disappeared from Edward’s face.
Wade immediately said:
“I’ve never seen this child before.”
I looked straight at him.
“You said you’d ruin my mother too.”
May you like
Every nearby conversation stopped.
And for the first time, Wade Mercer looked scared.
