“Have a seat,” he said, indicating the chair across from him. “Do you want some coffee? They make a wicked house blend. Or if you’re hungry, the caramel apple pie here is excell—” He looked away, frowning. “Sorry, I’m rambling.”
After a young waiter filled their mugs with the Borealis house blend, Matthew leaned forward. “Your husband couldn’t make it?”
“He’s tied up with… business meetings.”
There was an awkward silence before the man said, “I heard.”
“Hard not to. It’s all over the news.”
Matthew took a sip of coffee. “I’m sorry.”
“Philip always wanted to live like a king.” The words were out of her mouth before she realized what she was saying.
“What about you?” Matthew asked.
“I’m no queen. I only need one thing. My son.”
Her hand trembled as she lifted the mug, and Matthew did something unexpected. He reached across the table and grasped her hand. His warm touch drew a soft gasp from her. Not knowing what else to do, she stared at the hand that covered hers. It was strong and tanned, except for the pale circle of skin on his left ring finger.
“We’ll find them,” he said. “Both of them. As soon as we get a break, a witness—”
She snatched her hand back.
How could she look this man in the eye? He wanted a witness and had no idea he was having coffee with one. The humiliation and uncertainty was eating her alive.
What if I told him?
The answer hit her immediately.
Then Sam will die.
Matthew cocked his head, watching her. “I hope we hear something soon.”
“Me too,” she said tiredly. “Did you see anything? When Cortnie was taken?”
“I was asleep. Didn’t even know she was gone until the next morning.” He stared into his coffee mug. “She always had coffee with me before school.” He smiled. “Hot chocolate for her.”
For the next half hour, they swapped stories. She told him about Sam’s obsession with bats. How he’d quit little league because he believed the wooden bats were related to his furry ‘friends’.
“The next day, he drew faces on a bat that Philip bought on eBay.” At Matthew’s puzzled look, she grinned. “A baseball bat. It was autographed by the Toronto Blue Jays.”
“Yikes. That probably didn’t go over well.”
“No. Not at all.”
Needing a moment to clear her head, she waved to the server and pushed her mug toward him. Matthew did the same. The kid filled both mugs, then left them a handful of creamers.
“Cortnie’s obsession is books,” Mathew said, stirring his coffee. “She’s read every Harry Potter. Sometimes I’d find her reading under her blankets. With a flashlight. She also reads those Cup of Soup books.”
Sadie snickered.
“What?” he asked.
“Chicken Soup books.”
He gave her a rueful look. “Figures you’d know about those books. You’re a woman.”
She shook her head. “I’m a writer.”
“What do you write?”
“Fiction. Mainly mysteries. Right now, though, I’m working on an illustrated children’s book for Sam…” Her smile faded.
“He’ll read it,” Matthew said softly.
Sadie’s gaze flickered to the window.
A woman in a teal jacket stood on the street corner. Her white-blond hair shone in the sunlight as she waited for the crosswalk light to flash. A young boy held her hand. He had his back to Sadie, but his hair reminded her of Sam’s.
She frowned. Even his build is like—
The boy turned abruptly, his familiar eyes latching onto hers. His mouth opened and he mouthed one word.
Mommy.
Her heart splintered into a million miniscule pieces.
“Sam?”
She lurched to her feet, oblivious to the spilled coffee pooling on the table and the strange looks from Matthew.
“Sadie, what’s wrong?” he asked, standing quickly.
Brushing past him, she flew out the door and veered around the corner. Across the street, the woman in the teal jacket meandered down the sidewalk, staring into shop windows every now and then. Alone.
Zigzagging between cars, Sadie ignored the blaring horns as she ran toward the woman, grabbed her arm and spun her around.
“Hey!” the blond yelled. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Where is he?” Sadie demanded.
“Who?”
“Sam! The boy you were with.”
The woman eyed her as if Sadie were a street beggar. “Are you nuts? I wasn’t with any boy.”
Sadie gaped at her, speechless. Something was wrong—off. The woman’s hair didn’t seem quite as pale up close, and she seemed younger than the woman Sadie had spotted from inside Borealis Café.
But she’s wearing a teal jacket.
She twisted around, searching the sidewalk. But there was no other blond-haired woman in teal.
“Sadie, what’s going on?” Matthew said, rushing toward her.
Bitter tears trailed down her cheeks. “I saw him. Sam! He was walking with her.” She whipped her head around, but the woman was gone. “Where did she go?”
“Look, Sadie, why don’t I drive you home?”
“I’m not crazy, Matthew! I saw Sam. I swear it.”
He gently took her arm. “I believe you.”
“He looked at me and said… Mommy.”
“I imagine seeing Cortnie sometimes,” he murmured, steering her across the street. “At the park. At her school. But it’s never really her.”
“I didn’t imagine it,” she argued. “It was Sam.”
Matthew sighed. “Sadie, do you want to talk—?”
“No. I just want to go home.”
“Do you want me to drive you?”
“No, I’m fine.” She rolled her eyes. “Well, as fine as I can be under these circumstances.”
He took her car keys from her fumbling fingers, unlocked the car door and waited while she climbed in. Then he passed her the keys and a business card.
“My home, office and cell numbers.”
She thanked him, then sped away. As she watched him in the rearview mirror, Matthew Bornyk stood motionless, a miserable expression on his handsome face.
No father should ever look that way.
Unable to help herself, she drove around the block three times, looking for the blond-haired woman in the teal jacket. But there was no sign of her. Or Sam.
When Sadie arrived home, she sat on the cold cement steps of the front porch, mindlessly sipping a cup of coffee while scanning the cars that passed by. After an hour, she could have sworn she had seen Sam three times. But in her heart she knew it wasn’t him. Her baby was gone, taken by a madman, and with each passing moment she was more and more convinced that she needed to tell the police what she knew.
Maybe tomorrow.
The rest of the day dragged on. She paced around the house, the cordless phone attached to her belt.
“In case there’s any news of Sam,” she said to Leah, who had dropped by.
“You can’t just wait by the phone every day, Sadie. You should get out, get some fresh air.”
Sadie stared at her. “What do you expect me to do? Go tanning? Or out for coffee?”
“No, I didn’t mean it like that,” Leah said, throwing her hands up defensively. “I just don’t want to see you holed up in your house for days on end. It’s not… healthy.”
“I can’t act as if nothing’s wrong, Leah. Not when somewhere out there my son is waiting to be found.”
“They’ll find him.”
Leah hugged her, but Sadie felt smothered and pulled away.
Her friend didn’t understand. No one did.
That evening, she vacuumed Sam’s room.
“For when he comes home,” she told Philip firmly.