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She clasped and unclasped her hands and thought about alerting the office or security, but the man had done nothing wrong. He just made her uncomfortable, and Anne wondered if her imagination was going crazy, especially after Cheryl was so dismissive of Silas and his needs.
The one thing Anne contemplated was that if the man came back, she’d have someone from KnightGuard Security come over during the next recess and see if there was any validity to her unease. Sam would be on board with that, especially after Alex almost got kidnapped last year. However, Anne didn’t have extra money to pay for security. Besides, she wasn’t sure the school would approve of that.
Stan, the present security guard, was getting up in years. He retired from a security company and got bored staying home before he came to the school. While he was a sweetheart, he’d probably have a heart attack running after someone.
“Did you see a man standing by a tree a short time ago?” Anne asked Zoe, her teaching assistant.
Zoe looked over at the fence. “I don’t see anyone.”
Anne huffed. “Oh, he was standing there for a good five minutes, but he’s gone now.”
“Hmmm. I’m sorry. I didn’t see anyone.”
Well, that answered her question. Anne’s mind had been working overtime since Silas and the new boy, whose father had a restraining order against him, arrived. Kids shouldn’t have to worry about danger, but it was everywhere. Maybe after snacks, she’d have another talk about stranger danger.
It wouldn’t hurt to refresh their memories. Anne never wanted to be in the position again of not paying attention and losing a child.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Martin Cassidy calmly walked past the elementary school, trying hard not to glance at the kids on the playground. The high-pitched voices of the kids playing rang in his ear and annoyed him. He was grateful he didn’t have to deal with that daily.
He’d been watching the playground for several days, timing when the kindergarten class was outside and doing surveillance to determine if the kid was at the school.
Martin didn’t think the teacher saw him hiding behind a tree, but he wasn’t taking any risks. He was never going back to prison after just getting out. Besides, security was beefed up at the school. There was no way he could see grabbing the kid from the playground and getting away with him. Again, he needed to make sure the kid had the bear.
Martin wouldn’t even be stalking little kids if that bitch he had been living with before he went to prison hadn’t died. After two long years of his life with her and the rug rat, he was still left with nothing. Well, nothing of value. The sex had been great, but sex didn’t buy food, get you an apartment, or prevent the police from finding you.
After being released from the joint, Martin learned Cecelia died after he went to her apartment building in an iffy neighborhood, not unlike the one he grew up in. It looked the same. It was a four-story brick structure with broken windows and graffiti on the side. Who cared if Jo gave a blow job? Or that Angell—clever with double LL’s, that one—was bitching?
He hurried in, still no security, and hunted down the next-door neighbor, a creepy older man who had the hots for Cecelia, who informed him she had died.
Martin often wondered why she stopped visiting and he could never get her on the phone. It wasn’t as if he could even ask the warden for a day pass to find out why, and wasn’t that a joke? Oh, please, Warden Sucksalot, please, can I leave prison and find my girlfriend? Not only wouldn’t he get out, but he’d be the butt of jokes forever.
Martin had figured Cecelia had moved on to another sucker. He didn’t give a hoot about Cecelia dying, but he had a big issue that needed to be resolved.
He was desperate and stupid when he hid his stash in the bear he gave the kid. Although, the kid was what? A year and a half or two years old when he gave it to him? Thankfully he was too young to remember Martin.
The police had been bearing down on him for an unrelated job, and his two cowardly partners disappeared into the bowels of Black Pointe.
Martin never asked, nor did he care, where Jinx and Bobby went. He was too busy trying to save himself.
The neighbor claimed Cecelia left nothing behind and did not know what happened to the kid.
Hopefully, the kid still had the teddy bear containing his part of the split from the heist.
Martin wasted no time wondering if his two partners got away—he didn’t care. His mama always told him to worry about himself, not other people. He’d taken her advice, and look where that got him. Four years of living with Big Bubba. Four years of avoiding being someone’s bitch just because he had a slender build. Four years of sleeping with one eye open. Four years of hell.
That was enough to change any man, Martin thought as he quickened his pace. He replayed the last few weeks in his mind. Cecelia died and had no friends or family, so where would the kid go? Foster home. Hopefully, the state would keep him in the same town. Martin couldn’t even claim that the kid was his. Cecelia never knew who the father was. It could have been any number of men.
It took some time, but he charmed a couple of the staff at the agency. Dating a mousy woman who worked there had yielded him information about where the kid was shuffled off to. So what if he had to lie and tell her she was beautiful and everything he wanted in a woman? It wouldn’t be the first time he flattered a woman to get information.
The bonus was the sex. He only had his hand to keep him company in jail, and only when he was sure everyone was asleep. It wasn’t enough. The woman was desperate for a man and so responsive. He missed the sex.
Which brought him to this school today. The woman had given him the name of one foster home, but by the time he got there, the kid had been returned to the agency and was now at another home.
Unfortunately, the agency woman was fired when her boss found out that she had given information to Martin. He could only get an update on the school the kid would be enrolled at. And double crap, the kid was five years old. He left for prison when the kid was a year and a half or maybe two. Martin hoped he had changed little. The agency woman didn’t have a picture but told him the kid had black hair and brown eyes. Martin saw several kids playing who fit that description.
Martin huffed. He needed help. Somehow, he’d have to contact Jinx and Bobby. He was the only unfortunate member of that threesome who got caught and sent to jail.
