Maggie was only thirty feet from the line of people at the pizza counter in the food court inside the Plymouth Meeting Mall. As she walked by the large glass doors that opened to the parking lot, she saw two teenage girls standing just outside the entrance. They were talking to a man with a puppy. She watched as the girls took turns holding the dog. Then, as they passed Maggie on their way into the mall, she heard them talking about how adorable the puppy was. “Wasn’t that man nice?” one of the girls said. “I wish my dad felt that way about dogs and would let me get a puppy.”
Maggie looked out the glass doors at the man holding the puppy; he turned the dog in her direction and lifted a paw, as if to wave at Maggie. She stood glued to the glass door, smiling at the tiny pile of fur in the man’s arms. She opened the glass door just a couple of inches. “He’s so cute. What’s his name?” Maggie asked.
“I just got him today, and I haven’t named him yet. I’m taking ideas, though. What do you think I should call him?” John William asked sweetly.
“I don’t know,” Maggie said shyly, not able to take her eyes off the fluffy mound of fur.
“Would you like to hold him?” John William offered.
“I would, but I really shouldn’t. I can’t leave the mall,” she explained.
“You’re not leaving the mall. I’m standing five feet away from the door. What’s the difference whether you’re standing five feet inside or outside of the door? Besides, I’m not allowed to bring him inside,” John William said.
Just then, the puppy gave a small bark at Maggie.
“See, he likes you. I think he wants you to hold him,” John William told her.
Maggie looked around and then over her shoulder across the food court at McDonald’s. She saw her mother and brother in a long line waiting to place their order. Deciding they’d be quite a while, she agreed.
“OK, but just for a minute. If my mom finds out I went outside, she’ll ground me for sure,” Maggie explained.
She stood next to John William, and he handed her the puppy. It immediately started to lick her face.
“See, he loves you already. What’s your name?” he asked.
“Maggie. He’s the cutest puppy ever.” She kissed the top of the dog’s head and handed him back to John William. “I have to go back in. Thanks for letting me hold him,” she said.
John William took the puppy from her and set him on the ground. To his delight, the dog did exactly what he’d hoped. It ran off toward the parking lot.
“Oh my God,” John William exclaimed, pretending to be worried. “He’s gonna get killed by a car. Please help me catch him!” he yelled to Maggie as he ran in the direction of the dog.
Without thinking it through, Maggie darted off to help rescue the puppy. She was running behind John William when he turned. “You run down that lane, and I’ll meet you at the far end. That way, he can’t get away,” he rasped.
Maggie ran between two cars and down the lane to the very end, where she stood behind a red van. When John William met her, he was carrying the puppy. “Thanks for your help. He could have been killed,” he said and handed the puppy to her.
She took him into her arms again. “Pup, you could’ve been killed. You have to be more careful,” she cooed.
“This is my van,” John William told her as he opened the back door.
Maggie looked inside and saw a small dog crate.
“Why don’t you put him in the crate for me, and I’ll get his bowl from the front seat. I want to give him some water. He must be thirsty from all that running around,” he said with a smile.
Maggie watched as John William started toward the front of his van. Only then did she climb in to put the puppy in the crate, but before she made it that far, she was wrapped in an overpowering embrace. She panicked; the desire to flee surged through her body.
John William shoved her toward the crate, and she quickly scurried to find her footing. He was right next to her when he yanked a rag doused in chloroform from a small bucket on the floor of the van. He grabbed her around the waist and put the rag over her mouth and nose. She was unconscious in seconds.
When Maggie woke up, she was lying in the back of the van, hog-tied and gagged. Her head was pounding and the motion of the van churned the nausea that swirled in her belly. As her vision began to clear, she saw a young boy lying next to her, bound and gagged in the same way. The boy was much younger than she was—five or six, she guessed. He lay lifelessly, and she hoped he wasn’t dead.
Maggie started to weep. She thought about how stupid she was to follow the man outside. Her mother had warned specifically about adults using pets to lure children in so they could steal them.
Then she thought about her mother. Why had she insisted that she was old enough to get pizza by herself? Her mom had said no at first, but Maggie had begged, “Come on, Mom. I’m not a baby. I’m eleven years old. I can walk to the other side of the food court by myself.”
Lorraine, Maggie’s mother, wanted to show her daughter that she trusted her and finally agreed. When Maggie headed to the pizza line, her mother took her younger brother, Keith, to McDonald’s for a happy meal.
Maggie wanted the other kids at the food court to think she was cool. The fifth-grade girls from her class, who always left Maggie out, were celebrating a birthday with a pizza party at the food court. She wanted to show them that she had independence and was too good to join their stupid little group.
Still, in the back of the van with a man she didn’t know, she tried to keep herself calm. The little boy lying next to her finally woke up. He looked at her pleadingly, but there was nothing she could do to help. She tried to keep her eyes from revealing her own fear, but it was a wasted effort.
Suddenly, the van came to a stop, and the back doors opened. John William reached in and clamped his large hand on one of Maggie’s ankles. Then he reached down with a knife and cut the thick rope that kept her legs and arms tied together. He pulled her out of the van and into a field, putting one of her arms behind her back. She felt the handcuffs fasten on her right wrist and then her left. The cold steel of the cuff cut into her flesh, and she looked at John William for mercy.
Ignoring her, John William did the same to the small boy, who was crying and squirming in an attempt to escape. John William slapped the boy, and after the child fell to the ground, he put his dirty white sneaker on the child’s back while he handcuffed him.
Maggie looked around frantically for someone who could help them. Since it was dark outside, she knew they had been in the van for a long time. John William took each of them by the arm and dragged them down a dirt path with high grass on either side. Maggie could see a stark, stone building ahead. The building was as frightening as the man who had taken her from the mall. It stood like an abandoned castle against the moonlit night sky.