Excerpt:

The stern tone of Mrs. D’Amato came though the phone. “Mr. Benedict, yelling is not going to help.”

“You lost my fucking children.”

Lisa grabbed her purse. Virginia and Saeed parted for her to get through the door. Through the phone she could hear the conversation on the other end like she was already there.

“Your children are not objects that can be moved around like furniture as you like. They move on their own.”

“You can’t talk to me like that.”

“No sir, you can’t talk to us like that. Now give me the phone so I can talk to the boys custodial parent before I have to have security waste time on you that would be better spent looking for your sons.”

Thank God Stevie’s teacher was married to a rock star. She was not impressed or intimidated by Jared. In the background, Lisa could hear Miss Perkins sobbing.

So, I was writing this scene and is there any scenario more terrifying to a parent (or teacher) than having kids disappear? I have had kids get picked up from school under odd circumstances (see my free read It’s a Beautiful Day In the Neighborhood) and that weekend sucked until I saw that little girl walk into school the following week. For the scene, I had the complication of Lisa’s ex-husband picking the boys up and discovering them gone. He’s a jackass and I knew I needed someone to stand up to him.  Then it dawned on me, I have a character who was an elementary teacher and as the wife of a rock star she would be in the perfect position to deal with Jared’s ranting. I also wondered what happened to her. Maureen loved teaching and I couldn’t imagine that she would have walked away no matter how wealthy her husband was. And that’s why Maureen D’Amato ended up teaching Lisa’s son.