Look Again - Lisa Scottoline [108]
“Bye, Willie!” the last one said, sitting at the desk nearest the elevator.
Will scowled. “That’s not my name.”
Ellen hit the button to go down. “Let’s forgive her and go to the gift shop.”
“Yay!” Will said, and the elevator came, the doors opening. “I want to push the button!”
“What do you say?” Ellen stepped inside, and Will twisted himself to lean down toward the button panel.
“Please!” he said, and the doors slid closed. When they opened again, Ellen stepped out of the cab and looked for a sign to the gift shop.
“There she is!” a man said, and she looked over, startled. People were rushing toward her, and she raised a hand.
“I have no comment, boys. Not now, not ever.”
“We’re not the press, Ms. Gleeson,” the man said. “I’m Special Agent Manning from the FBI and this is Special Agent Orr.”
Chapter Eighty-three
“Oh,” Ellen said, surprised. She noticed for the first time that a few uniformed cops stood behind them, one of whom she recognized from last night. The young one. Something was wrong. Her mouth went dry.
“Mommy, where’s the gift shop?”
“In a minute, sweetie.” Ellen asked the first FBI agent, “What are you doing here?”
“Is this boy Will Gleeson?”
“Yes.”
“We’re here to take him into protective custody.”
“What? Why?” Ellen was dumbfounded. “He doesn’t need protecting. He’s with me.”
“As you know, he’s Timothy Braverman, a child of Carol and William Braverman, kidnapped in Miami, and we’re here to facilitate his return.”
“What? Here? Now?” Ellen’s arms tightened on Will. Her thoughts tumbled one over the other in confusion. She hadn’t expected this, not yet. “He hasn’t even eaten. He has no shoes. We have to go home.”
“Ms. Gleeson, we are authorized to take the child. Here are the papers, you can take a look.” Special Agent Manning extended a packet of blue-backed paper folded in thirds, and Ellen glanced at the caption. The letters WARRANT and SEIZURE swam before her eyes. She found herself looking for an exit, but the only one lay ahead. The press clustered outside. Reporters watched them through the glass doors. Camera flashes fired like explosions. Ellen started to panic.
“Wait, listen, I know Bill Braverman. I was going to get his number from the police and set up a timetable that’s best for Will.”
“Ma’am, we’re here at the request of Mr. Braverman. I’m sorry but, by law, you can’t keep the child. We have to make certain that you don’t abscond with him.”
“We’re going to the gift shop, Mommy!” Will said loudly, his voice trembling with new anxiety.
“I won’t abscond with him, I promise. I know I have to make a transfer, but just not yet. Not this way. I wanted to explain it to him, and he hasn’t even had breakfast, and my father—”
“Ms. Gleeson, we have to take him now. Please don’t make this harder on the child than it already is.” Special Agent Manning held out his hands, but Ellen stepped back with Will.
“I’m not giving him up this way. I’m still his mother. I have a lawyer. I would have called him last night, but I wanted to make sure Will wasn’t hurt.”
“I told you we’d have a problem,” said a voice from behind the FBI agents, and Bill Braverman emerged from the back of the group, flanked by an older man in a suit. “I told you she’d try to run.”
“I’m not trying to run!” Ellen shouted, shocked. “I just didn’t think we’d be doing it this morning, right now. He just got out of the hospital. I need to talk to him, to prepare him—”
“Mommy, who are they?” Will asked, clutching her shoulder.
Bill pushed next to the FBI agents, his dark eyes cool and his expression hardened. He had on different clothes from last night, and he was all business. “I’m his father, and I have a legal right to him. Right now.”
“We have to talk about it. The timing, I mean.”
“No, we don’t.”
“Mommy, what?” Will started to cry.
“Bill, look at him, think of him,” Ellen said, desperate. She couldn’t believe this was happening. It was her against all of them. “This is the craziest way to do this. This is