The police officer was a little angry.
If he had thought the child was safe waiting outside his own home, and remembered that the child's mom had said she'd be home soon...
And had left the child waiting alone outside...
The child would have been left all by himself for more than an hour...
Before his mom finally came home.
"There was a traffic jam."
The child's mom's expression stiffened for a moment. Then she tugged at the corners of her mouth and said sheepishly,
"Sorry for the wait."
"You didn't actually have to wait here..."
The child's mom was faintly displeased.
He'd chosen to wait here, and now he was acting like she'd taken too long to get back...
The police officer frowned.
"Your child was waiting for you."
Was the point really that he'd waited for her so long?
Her child had waited for her so long!
And he hadn't just waited for her for this past hour or so...
He'd waited the whole day!
"Your child waited a long time for you."
The police officer couldn't help questioning the child's mom. "Didn't you notice he was missing?"
She had actually kept playing with her other child?
He didn't want to believe it either.
But from the little he'd heard in the child's mom's earlier phone call, and the way she and the girl had chatted and laughed on their way back just now...
He couldn't help wondering...
Had he gotten it wrong?
Wasn't this smiling woman, who showed not the slightest hint of worry, the parent of the missing child...
"He's your child too."
The police officer really didn't want to believe...
That this woman could be so cold and neglectful toward her own child...
Why?
"Of course he's my child."
The woman