‘Mrs Palmer says you miss a lot of work, especially on Fridays. Is it because of the physical therapy?’
Mrs Patterson looks at Mrs Palmer for a second, and then she turns back to the police chief and smiles.
She has stolen Max and is sitting in front of a police chief, and she is smiling.
‘Yes,’ she says. ‘I mean, sometimes I’m ill, and sometimes I have doctor’s appointments.’ She pauses, takes a deep breath, and then says, ‘No one knows this, but I have lupus, and it’s caused me to have some health problems over the past couple years. Sometimes a five-day work week is just too much for me.’
Mrs Palmer makes a little gasping sound. ‘Ruth, I had no idea.’
She reaches out and touches Mrs Patterson on the shoulder. It’s the kind of touch that Max’s mother would like to give to Max when he is upset, if Max would ever let her touch him like that. I can’t believe that she is touching Mrs Patterson like this. Max disappears and Mrs Patterson says she has something called lupus and suddenly Mrs Palmer wants to hug her and pat her on the shoulder.
‘It’s okay,’ Mrs Patterson says to Mrs Palmer. ‘I didn’t want people to worry.’
‘Is there anything that you can tell us that might help us find Max?’ the police chief asks. He sounds a little annoyed, and I am glad.
‘I can’t think of anything,’ Mrs Patterson says. ‘Max has never been a runner, but he’s always been a curious boy, and he asks lots of questions about the forest. But I can’t imagine that he would go there alone.’
‘A runner?’ the police chief asks.
Mrs Palmer speaks this time. ‘Some of our special needs children have a propensity for running away from us. If they make it to the doors, they will sometimes run for the street. But Max isn’t a runner.’
‘Max has never been a runner?’ the police chief asks.
‘No,’ Mrs Patterson says. ‘Never.’
I can’t believe how calm she is. Maybe lupus makes people good liars.
The police chief looks down at his yellow pad. He clears his throat. I don’t know how I know, but I can tell that he is about to ask important questions now. Tougher questions.
‘Max was supposed to go from Mrs Gosk’s class to the Learning Center today, but he never made it there. Is this a walk he usually does by himself?’
‘Sometimes,’ Mrs Patterson says, but that is not true. I am always with him when he walks to the Learning Center. ‘If I’m in school, I’ll pick him up, but he doesn’t need an escort.’
‘We are trying to get Max to be more independent,’ Mrs Palmer says. ‘So even when Ruth is here, we will sometimes have Max travel around the building on his own.’
‘But on Fridays,’ Mrs Patterson says, ‘I am scheduled to work with Max in the Learning Center, so I would normally escort him there because I need to be there, too.’
‘Do you think it’s possible that Max could have left Mrs Gosk’s class early?’
‘Maybe,’ Mrs Patterson says. ‘He can’t read an analog clock. Did Donna send him on time?’
‘She says she did,’ the police chief says. ‘I’m just wondering if she could have sent him early by mistake, or if he could’ve left the class without telling her or without her noticing.’
‘It’s possible.’
‘She’s lying!’ I shout, only because I can’t stop myself. Mrs Gosk never sends kids early. If anything, she forgets to send them at all. She gets too busy with her books and her teaching. And Max would never leave the room without permission. Never ever.
The more Mrs Patterson lies, the more frightened I become. She is so good at it.
‘What about Max’s parents?’ the police chief asks. ‘Is there anything I should know about them?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘How are they as parents? Do they get along? Do they get Max to school on time? Does he seem well cared for? Things like that.’
‘I don’t understand,’ Mrs Patterson says. ‘Do you think they did something to Max? I thought he was at school today.’
‘He was, and it’s likely he just went for a walk and he’ll turn up any minute, playing on someone’s backyard swing set or hiding in the forest. But if Max didn’t take a walk, then someone took him, and it’s almost always someone who the child knows. Most often a family member. Can you think of anyone who might want to take Max? Could his parents be involved?’
Mrs Patterson doesn’t answer this question as quickly as the others, and the police chief notices. He leans forward at the same time I do. He thinks he is about to hear something important, and I do, too. But the police chief thinks that he is about to get an important fact.
I think it’s going to be an important lie.
‘I’ve always worried about Max being here at school.’
She talks like she is lifting a heavy backpack. All her words sound heavy and light at the same time.
‘Max is a very sensitive boy and he doesn’t have any friends. Kids pick on him from time to time. Sometimes he loses track of what he is doing and is unsafe. Runs out in front of a school bus or forgets that he’s allergic to tree nuts. I don’t know if I would send Max to a public school if I were his parent. I think it’s too dangerous. I have a hard time thinking that good parents would send a boy like Max to school.’
Mrs Patterson pauses. She’s looking at her shoes. I don’t think she realizes what she has been saying, because when she looks back up, she seems surprised to be looking at the police chief.
‘But I don’t think they would do anything to hurt Max,’ she says.
Too quickly, I think.
Mrs Patterson doesn’t like Max’s mom and dad. I didn’t know that before, but I do now. And I don’t think she wanted anyone to know it.
‘But there is nothing specific about his parents that would cause you concern?’ the police chief asks. ‘Other than that they send Max to a public school?’
Mrs Patterson pauses, and then says, ‘No.’
The police chief asks Mrs Patterson questions about the Learning Center teachers, Max’s classmates, and everyone else who Max sees every day, which is not too many people. She says that she cannot imagine anyone at school taking Max.
The police chief just nods.
‘I’m going to ask you to walk the path that Max usually takes to the Learning Center with one of my officers, to see if anything jogs your memory. If it does, you’ll let me know. And he’s going to get some contact information from you, and ask you a few questions about anyone else who Max might come into contact with on a daily basis. Okay?’
‘Okay,’ Mrs Patterson says. ‘Would it be all right if I go home, after I answer his questions? At least for a little while. The physical therapy and the doctor’s appointment took a lot out of me, and I’d like to rest. Or maybe I could just lie down on a couch in the faculty room if you’d prefer I stay at school.’
‘No, that’s fine. We’ll contact you if we need anything. If Max doesn’t turn up by this evening, we’ll probably need to talk to you again. Sometimes people don’t realize what they might know that could help us.’
‘I’ll do whatever I can to help,’ Mrs Patterson says. She starts to rise from the couch and then stops. ‘You think you’re going to find him. Right?’
‘I hope so,’ the police chief says. ‘Like I said, I think he’ll probably turn up within the hour, playing in someone’s backyard. So yes, I think we’ll find him.’
I know I will.
I’m going home with Mrs Patterson.
CHAPTER 25
Max’s mom and dad are standing behind the counter in the office. I see them first because I walk out of Mrs Palmer’s office first. Then Mrs Patterson sees them, but I don’t think she recognizes their faces. I don’t think she even knows them. She stole their son and told the police chief that they are bad parents and she doesn’t even know who they are. I don’t think Max’s parents know who she is either. They know her name, but they have never seen her face to face until now. They have meetings wit
h people like Mrs McGinn and Mrs Riner and Mrs Gosk.
Not Mrs Patterson. Never paraprofessionals.
Mrs Patterson doesn’t stop to talk to them. She walks to the left, out the office’s side door, where a policeman is waiting for her. He’s an old man with a brown spot on his neck, and he doesn’t look like he could stop a bad guy even if the bad guy was Mrs Patterson, which she is.
Then Mrs Palmer comes out of her office, and she sees Max’s parents.
‘Mr and Mrs Delaney,’ she says, sounding surprised. She walks over to the counter and opens the swinging door that separates the space where regular people stand from the space where the office people stand. ‘Come in. Please.’
Max’s mom is usually the boss, but she does not look like the boss right now. Her hands are shaking, and her face is pale. She looks limp, a little bit like a doll. I know it sounds silly, but even her curly hair looks less curly. She doesn’t look sharp like she usually does. She looks scared. Hungry, even. Hungry for news, I think.
It is Max’s dad who looks like the boss now. He has his arm around Max’s mom, and he is looking around the office like Mrs Gosk looks when she is taking attendance. Checking to see who is here and who is not.
They move past the counter and toward Mrs Palmer’s office, but I don’t think Max’s mom would be moving if Max’s dad was not pushing her along.
‘Do you have any news?’ Max’s dad asks before they even make it to Mrs Palmer’s office.
He sounds like the boss, too. His words are like arrows. They shoot straight at Mrs Palmer, and you can tell that they are full of extra stuff. He isn’t just asking a question. He is yelling at Mrs Palmer for losing Max even though he is not yelling and all he did was ask if there was any news.
‘Come into my office,’ Mrs Palmer says. ‘Chief Norton is waiting, and he can answer all your questions.’
‘Chief Norton wasn’t here when Max disappeared,’ Max’s dad says.
More arrows. Sharp ones.
‘Please,’ Mrs Palmer says. ‘Step inside.’
We step into Mrs Palmer’s office. This time Max’s parents sit on the couch where Mrs Patterson and Mrs Palmer were sitting a couple minutes ago. I wish I could tell them that they are sitting in the same place where the person who stole Max was sitting a few minutes ago.
Mrs Palmer moves over to the couch where the police chief is still sitting. There is no room for me, so I stand beside the couch that Max’s parents are sitting on. Even though there are no sides here, because there is no bad guy in the room like before, I still feel like there are sides, and something tells me that I want to be on Max’s parents’ side.
The police chief stands up to shake Max’s parents’ hands. He introduces himself and then everyone sits down except me.
‘Mr and Mrs Delaney, I’m Chief Norton. I’ve taken charge of the search for your son. Let me tell you where we are so far.’
Max’s mom nods but Max’s dad doesn’t. He doesn’t move at all. I think he does this on purpose. If he moved, if he even nodded, then there would be no more sides in the room. Everyone would be on the same side. They would be a team.
He doesn’t move an inch.
The police chief tells Max’s parents about the search of the school and the people who are searching the neighborhood. He says that they are operating under the assumption that Max has run away and will be found soon, which sounds like he is hoping that Max has run away and will be found soon, otherwise he will not know what to do.
‘Max has never run away before,’ Max’s dad says.
‘No,’ the police chief says. ‘But his teachers think it’s possible, and it’s more likely than any other scenario.’
‘Like what?’ Max’s dad asks.
‘I’m sorry?’ the police chief says.
‘What other scenarios are you talking about?’
The police chief pauses for a moment. When he speaks, his words come slowly. ‘Well, it’s far more likely that he ran away from the school than he was abducted.’
Max’s mom lets out a tiny whimper when he says abducted.
‘I don’t mean to frighten you, Mrs Delaney. Like I said, I expect my phone to ring at any moment, telling me they found Max playing in someone’s backyard or lost in a patch of woods behind a neighbor’s house. But if he isn’t found, we will have to look into the possibility that someone has taken him. I’ve already started the preliminary work in the event that this ends up being the situation. We’re exploring both possibilities simultaneously, just in case.’
‘Is it possible that he ran away and then got picked up by someone while he was on the street?’
Mrs Palmer asks this question, and I can tell by the look on her face and the police chief’s face that they both wish she had not asked it. At least not in front of Max’s parents. She looks at Max’s mom, who looks like she is about to cry. ‘I’m sorry,’ she says. ‘I don’t mean to frighten you.’
‘It’s not likely,’ the police chief says. ‘It would be quite a coincidence if Max decided to run away at the same time a child abductor was driving by the school. But we’re looking into all options, interviewing all staff members that come into contact with Max and trying to see if someone new has recently come into contact with him.’
‘Why was Max alone?’ Max’s mom asks.
This is a good question. An arrow question that should have hit Mrs Palmer right between the eyes, but instead the question sounds like jello. There’s nothing behind it. Max’s mom even looks like jello. She is all wobbly and weak.
‘Max’s paraprofessional was out today, and Max had walked to the Learning Center many times on his own,’ Mrs Palmer says. ‘In fact, one of his IEP goals is to become more independent in regards to moving around the building and following a schedule, so it wasn’t unusual for him to be traveling from his classroom to the Learning Center alone.’
‘And that’s when you think he disappeared?’ Max’s father asks. ‘In between his classroom and the Learning Center?’
‘Yes,’ the police chief says, speaking quickly. I think he wants Mrs Palmer to be quiet, so he is covering up all the spaces where she could speak. ‘Max was last seen in his regular classroom. He never made it to the Learning Center, but since his paraprofessional was absent today, the Learning Center teachers didn’t notice that Max had never arrived, since she is the one who works with him there. And his teacher, Mrs Gosk, assumed that your son was in the Learning Center, so Max could’ve been gone for as long as two hours before anyone noticed.’
Max’s dad runs his hands through his hair. He does this when he is stopping himself from saying something bad. He does this a lot when he argues with Max’s mom. Usually right before he slams the screen door and leaves.
‘We’d like to get some information from you,’ the police chief says. ‘Names of people who come into contact with Max on a regular basis. Anyone new in his life. Daily routines. Any medical information we might need to know.’
‘You said you thought you’d find him any minute,’ Max’s mom says.
‘Yes, I know, and I still believe that. We have more than two hundred people searching the area right now, and the media are spreading the word for us as well.’
The police chief is about to say something else when there is a knock on the door and a policewoman pokes her head inside the office.
‘Mrs Patterson is ready to go home unless you need her.’
‘Nothing on the walk-through?’ the police chief asks.
‘No.’
‘And we have her contact information?’
‘Yes.’
‘Fine then,’ he says. ‘She can go.’
‘You’re letting the bad guy go!’ I shout, but no one hears me.
It is like when Max’s dad or Sally shout at the television as they watch a detective let the bad guy go free by mistake, except on TV the bad guys usually get caught. This is the real world, and I don’t think the television rules work here. Bad guys like Tommy Swinden and Mrs Patterson can w
in in the real world. All that Max has is me, and I am useless.
‘Okay, I’ll send her home,’ the policewoman says.
That means it is time for me to go, too, even though a big part of me wants to stay here with Max’s mom. The only way to help her is to help Max, but leaving her now seems wrong. She seems so weak. Like only half of her is here.
Still, I have to find my friend.
I pass through the office door and re-enter the main office. I do not see Mrs Patterson. The policewoman who told Chief Norton that Mrs Patterson was ready to leave is on the phone now. She is sitting at the desk where the secretary lady usually sits. I don’t know where Mrs Patterson is, but I know where she parks her car, and I’m worried that she might already be walking to the parking lot so I start to run out of the office when I hear the policewoman say, ‘You can tell her that she can go now. But tell her that she needs to leave her phone on in case we need her.’ She says this to the person on the other end of the telephone.
Good. Mrs Patterson hasn’t left yet.
Still, I want to be inside her car before she gets there, so I run.
I once knew an imaginary friend who could pop. Instead of walking to a place, he could just disappear from one place and reappear in the other place, as long as he had been to the other place before. I thought this was amazing, because it was like he stopped existing for a second and then existed again a second later. I asked him what it was like to stop existing because I wanted to know if it hurt, but he did not understand my question.
‘I don’t stop existing,’ he said. ‘I just pop from one place to the other.’
‘But what does it feel like to stop existing for that second before you reappear?’
‘It doesn’t feel like anything,’ he said. ‘I just blink my eyes and I am in the new place.’
‘But how does it feel when your body disappears from the place that you start?’
‘It doesn’t feel like anything.’
I could tell that he was getting angry so I stopped asking. I was a little jealous of him for being able to pop, except that he was only as tall as a Barbie doll and his eyes were blue. All blue. No white part at all. It was like he was looking through a pair of dark blue sunglasses, so he could barely see, especially on a cloudy day or when the teacher turned out the lights to show a movie. And he had no name, which is not uncommon in imaginary friends but still a little sad. And he is gone now. He stopped existing over Christmas vacation when Max was still in kindergarten.