Inside was one of his son’s shoes. One of Tod’s shoes.
Just the shoe.
Only the shoe. That was all.
Oh, thank God, thank God, thank God.
But then, immediately, the stark and terrifying truth hit him hard. He has Tod. He took him.
“If you do as I say,” the man declared, “I promise I won’t harm him.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“You’ll have to believe me. Or you won’t like what’s going to happen to your son.”
Radar steeled his voice and tried not to sound shaken. “Let me talk to him.”
The line went silent for a moment; then Tod’s voice came on. “Daddy?”
“Tod, are you okay? Did he-”
“I’m okay.”
“Did he touch you? Did he hurt you?”
“No. But I wanna go home.”
The more you love someone, the angrier you’ll be when he’s threatened or attacked.
Well, Radar couldn’t think of a time when he’d been angrier than this.
Before he could ask his son any more questions, there was a shuffling sound as the man took the phone back from Tod.
All Radar could think of was the rest of his family-his wife, Gayle, his daughter, Angie. “What about my wife and daughter?”
“I don’t have them.”
He wanted to lash out at this man, curse him, threaten him, but from investigating the previous crimes, he knew how brutal and ruthless the guy was and he couldn’t bear to think of what might happen to Tod if he ticked him off. He managed to hold back for his son’s sake.
The man went on. “I don’t like the idea of hurting a child and I have no intention of doing so. You can either trust me or not, but if you choose not to do as I ask, I swear I will slice him apart one finger, one toe, one limb, at a time.” Radar realized he was saying this with Tod right there by his side and he felt a fresh gust of anger. “You know I’m serious,” the man said. “Do not test me.”
Rage. Yes. It was there, but there was also a shroud of fear.
Radar reminded himself that none of the other demands had been anything that put anyone in real danger-not digging up the corpse, not even abducting Lionel. The goal hadn’t been to hurt anyone, just to draw attention to another criminal’s previous crimes.
It’ll be alright.
Just do it. Do what he says. For Tod’s sake.
“What is it? What do you want me to do?”
Then the man told Radar his demands.