“Nine-one-one. What’s your emergency?”
“Please, he’s taken my son. I’m in the Finchey’s Mall car park on the first floor. He took my son and sped off in a van.”
“Do you know who took your son?”
“No!” I screeched. “He was at the mall yesterday and has obviously been following me.”
“How old is your son?”
“He’s only three. Please,” I sobbed. “Please help me.”
“Can you give me any information on the van…make, color, the license plate?”
“The van was blue.” I told her how much of the plate I could remember and she thanked me, telling me an officer would be with me shortly.
As soon as I hung up, I tried dialing my home phone three times before I actually got through. I was shaking so badly, my eyes brimming with tears, that I couldn’t punch in the right numbers.
Dean answered after two rings. “Dean!” I could hardly breathe, hardly function. I looked around as Dean was shouting my name into the phone. “He’s taken Jeremy. He’s taken our baby!” My knees buckled beneath me as I tried to catch my breath. “I need to find him. I need—”
“Tyler, who took Jeremy?” I could hear the panic in his voice.
“The man from yesterday. That Charlie guy. He had a London accent.”
“Fuck! Tyler, what did he look like?”
I tried to remember his face. “He was young. I think in his very early twenties, if not younger. He had blonde hair, dark eyes. His smile was so evil, Dean. Who is he, and why has he taken our son?”
Dean was silent for a moment. In that instant, I knew he knew exactly who it was. “You brought him here with you, didn’t you, Dean?” Tears streamed down my face as my breathing hitched.
“Tyler, I will never let any harm come to him. I swear. I will get him back, if it’s the last thing I do.”
“Who is he?” I virtually screeched.
“Antonio Pinzano, Jr.”
The name was somehow familiar, but I couldn’t remember where I had heard it. I tried to scramble my brain, but the more I thought, the more that arsehole was getting away with my son. “What does he want, Dean?”
Dean sighed. “He wants me, Tyler. He thinks I killed his father.”
“Did you?”
“Tyler—”
“Don’t fuck with me, Dean! Did you kill his father?”
Dean sighed. “Yes. He killed my parents, Tyler. I had no other choice.”
“No other choice?” I screamed. “You had a choice and now that choice has resulted in our son being in danger. Is that what you wanted? Was it worth it?” I hung up, not wanting to know the answer. I was angry with him and desperately wanted to find Jeremy. The more I stood there waiting, the more time was being wasted.
In a panic, I looked around and saw a police car in the distance. I raced to it with all the energy I had in me. The police officer driving saw my panic and came to an abrupt halt. I ran around to the passenger side just as his partner was getting out of the car. By now, the tears were streaming down my face. “Please. My son…” I grabbed him and sobbed into his chest before grabbing his collar. “You have to find my son.”
The officer grabbed my shoulders gently. “Okay, ma’am. You need to take a deep breath and tell me everything that happened.”
He tried his best to look as calm as possible, but I was far from calm. I thought my head would explode. In an attempt to try and do my level best to remember everything, I took a deep breath and nodded.
“I was in the mall getting my son some new Spiderman trainers. You know, the ones that light up when you walk?”
He nodded as he looked over at the other officer, who was writing something on his pad. “That’s good. Can you tell me what happened next?”
I took another deep breath. “We took the lift down to here. I’m parked just over there.” I pointed to my Land Rover Evoke parked a couple of aisles down. “Once we were out of the lift, Jeremy sprinted off. He wanted to show me how quickly his trainers lit up when he ran.”
“So he was wearing those Spiderman trainers?”
I nodded with a sob. I would buy him all the trainers in the world if I could just have him back in my arms again.
“He got about halfway to the car when this blue van pulled up out of nowhere. A man I met yesterday got out, picked Jeremy up, and jumped back into the van. They sped off and that’s when I called you.”
The officer nodded with a reassuring smile. “I understand you gave the nine-one-one operator the license plate?” I nodded. “We have people tracing it right now. Can you tell me more about this man who took Jeremy?”