the directions, spoke to Randy once more, then hung up.
“He’s all right,” she cried, the strain of the last week draining from her eyes. “Oh, Jim, he’s all right!” She hurled herself into his arms, hugging him tightly. “He’s back, Jim. Our son’s back.” And then, seeing Carl Bronski standing in the doorway, his face sober, she drew away from Jim. “Carl? Is something wrong?”
“I don’t know,” the policeman said. “I hope not. But it could be a trick.”
Her happiness deserting her as fast as it had come, Lucy sank back onto her chair. “A trick?”
“What did he say?”
Lucy repeated Randy’s words as closely as she could remember them. When she was done, Bronski nodded. “So he ran away after all,” he said softly.
“But he wants to come home now,” Lucy replied. “It’s not a trick—I know it isn’t.” She turned to Jim, and her voice suddenly grew shy. “Come with me, Jim. Let’s go get him together.” She looked from Jim to Bronski, then back at Jim again. “It’s over. Oh, God, it’s over. I’ll get my coat, and my purse, and then—” She ran out of the room, and the two men heard her rummaging in the closet for her coat.
“It isn’t over at all,” Bronski said softly. Jim Corliss looked puzzled. “It still might all be a trick,” Bronski went on. Then, while Jim watched, Bronski picked up the telephone book, flipped through the pages, and finally dialed a number. He spoke briefly, then weighed his options. Finally, he decided to gamble on his instincts. “Okay,” he told Jim. “I don’t think the call was a fake, so I’ll let you two go get Randy by yourselves. I can wait until you get him home to hear his story. But keep something in mind, Jim.” His voice dropped so Lucy would not overhear his words. “He said he ran away because he was afraid he was going to die. But he didn’t say he ran away from home. He—well, he might just as easily have run away from whoever took him.”
“If anyone took him,” Jim countered.
“There’s still Adam Rogers, and God knows how many others.”
Jim sighed, knowing Bronski was right. “Okay. But don’t tell that to Lucy right now, will you? Let her have a few minutes. It’s been so rough—”
“I won’t,” Bronski promised. “Tell you what—I’ll stay here and man the phone in case Sally or Malone calls. And see if you can keep Randy from talking until you get him back here, all right? I’d like to hear what he has to say first hand.”
As they drove through the night toward Langston and the diner where Randy was waiting, Lucy slowly became aware that Jim was not sharing her happiness. At last she could bear it no longer.
“What’s wrong?” she asked. “What did Carl say to you while I was getting my coat?”
“Nothing.”
Lucy looked at him carefully. Even in the dim light, she could see the worry in his face.
“Don’t lie to me, Jim. Not now. Please?”
Jim forced a smile and patted her hand as it rested on his thigh “There’s nothing, sweetheart. Really.”
But Lucy was not convinced. They drove on in silence, and twenty minutes later, in the distance, they saw a flashing neon sign.
“That must be it,” Jim said softly.
Lucy leaned anxiously forward in the seat, her excitement growing as they pulled into the parking lot next to the diner. She was out of the car even before Jim had finished parking it, running toward the front door. Then she was inside, and there was Randy, sitting with a heavy set, middle-aged man who wore a greasy chef’s hat. Recognizing his mother, Randy leaped off his chair.
“Mom! Oh, Mom, I was so scared!” He was in her arms, burying his face in her breast, the tears he had been holding back all night finally flowing.
“It’s all right, sweetheart,” Lucy whispered. “I’m here now, and it’s all right.” She patted him gently and held him, rocking him slowly back and forth until his sobbing subsided. Then, as Jim came through the front door, she whispered to him again. “I have a surprise for you.”
He looked up at her through his tears. “A surprise? What?”
“Turn around.”
Randy turned around. Lucy expected him to tear himself loose from her arms and run to his father. Instead, she felt him stiffen.
“Dad?” he said uncertainly.
“It’s me, son,” Jim replied. He held his arms out to Randy, but Randy only shrank closer to his mother.
“Don’t make me go back there,”