Chapter 2
I called 911 with one hand while keeping the other wrapped around Leo’s wrist.
The dispatcher kept asking questions.
Was he conscious?
Was he injured?
Was the person responsible still inside the house?
I looked at Elena.
“Yes.”
Her head snapped up.
“David—”
“Don’t move.”
She flinched.
I had never spoken to my sister that way.
I had also never known my sister could steal a child.
Maya crouched beside me.
“Leo?”
A weak sound came from below.
“Maya?”
She covered her mouth.
“It’s me.”
I heard something that sounded almost like a laugh.
“You got bigger.”
Maya started sobbing.
I wanted to reach through the hole and pull him out immediately, but I could see enough now to know the space below wasn’t simple.
There was concrete beneath the boards.
A narrow cavity had been built between the original foundation and a raised floor.
Someone had created it intentionally.
That realization made me sick.
“Leo, can you move?”
“My leg hurts.”
“Okay. Don’t try.”
Sirens reached us minutes later.
Elena stood.
I pointed at her.
“Sit down.”
“I can explain.”
“You can explain to the police.”
Her face changed.
“Please don’t let them take me before I tell you.”
I almost laughed.
“My son has been missing for fourteen months.”
“I know.”
“You watched us bury an empty box at the memorial.”
“I know.”
“You watched Sarah nearly die from grief.”
“I know.”
I stood.
“Then there is nothing you can tell me that I want to hear.”
Police entered first.
Then firefighters.
Then paramedics.
The living room filled with people.
The perfect house finally looked what it was.
A crime scene.
A firefighter widened the opening carefully.
One officer pulled Maya away while I stayed close enough for Leo to hear me.
“I’m right here, buddy.”
“Don’t leave.”
“I won’t.”
When they finally lifted him out, I nearly collapsed.
He weighed almost nothing.
His hair had grown unevenly down his neck.
His clothes were too small.
His face was pale and hollow.
There were bruises on his knees.
His lips were cracked.
But his eyes—
His eyes were still Leo’s.
He looked straight at me.
“Dad.”
I reached for him, but a paramedic blocked me.
“Let us stabilize him.”
“He’s my son.”
“I know.”
Leo panicked.
“No! Dad!”
I pushed past.
“I’m here.”
He grabbed my shirt.
“Don’t let her put me back.”
Every officer in the room heard him.
So did Elena.
Her face went white.
An officer stepped toward her.
“Elena Vance, put your hands behind your back.”
She started crying.
“No, wait.”
“You are being detained.”
“David!”
I didn’t look at her.
“David, there’s more!”
That got my attention.
The officer tightened the cuffs.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
Elena shook her head rapidly.
“Not here.”
My stomach dropped.
“What did you do?”
“I wasn’t the only one.”
The room went still.
An officer immediately pulled her toward the front door.
“Who else?”
Elena pressed her lips together.
“Tell me!”
She looked straight into my eyes.
“Ask your father.”
I felt the floor tilt.
My father.
Robert Vance.
The man whose property Leo had disappeared from.
The man who had financed search parties.
The man who had publicly offered a hundred-thousand-dollar reward.
The man who still called me every Sunday asking whether detectives had developed new leads.
“No.”
Elena lowered her head.
That was all.
Police took her outside.
I followed Leo to the ambulance.
Maya climbed in beside me after an officer confirmed she could come.
Sarah was two hours away.
I called her.
She answered on the first ring.
“David?”
Her voice was tired.
I couldn’t speak.
“What happened?”
I looked at Leo on the stretcher.
His eyes were half closed.
There was dirt along his cheek.
But he was breathing.
“Sarah.”
Something in my voice terrified her.
“Is Maya okay?”
“Yes.”
“Then what?”
I swallowed.
“We found him.”
Silence.
“What?”
“We found Leo.”
The scream that came through the phone made Maya cry again.
Sarah kept repeating his name.
“Alive?” she finally managed.
“Yes.”
“Oh God.”
“He’s alive.”
“Where?”
“We’re going to the hospital.”
“I’m coming.”
I closed my eyes.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“Elena had him.”
Nothing.
Then—
“No.”
I understood.
That had been my first response too.
“No, David.”
“She had him under the house.”
“No.”
“She built a hidden space.”
“Stop.”
“I saw him.”
“She helped us look.”
“I know.”
“She slept in our house.”
“I know.”
“She held me.”
“I know.”
Sarah started making a sound that barely resembled crying.
I wanted to comfort her.
But I was barely holding myself together.
At the hospital, doctors rushed Leo inside.
Maya and I waited.
Twenty minutes later, two detectives arrived.
Detective Ruiz had worked Leo’s case from the beginning.
He looked older.
So did I.
When he saw me, his eyes filled.
“I heard.”
I nodded.
“He’s alive.”
Ruiz sat beside me.
“We have Elena in custody.”
“She said my father was involved.”
“I know.”
I turned sharply.
“What do you mean, you know?”
“She said it during transport.”
“Have you called him?”
Ruiz’s expression changed.
“We sent officers to his property.”
A cold pressure formed behind my ribs.
“And?”
“They found the house empty.”
I stood.
“What about his phone?”
“Off.”
“His truck?”
“Gone.”
My hands curled into fists.
Ruiz lowered his voice.
“David, I need you to prepare yourself.”
“For what?”
“We searched Elena’s home after you left.”
I stared at him.
“What did you find?”
“A second concealed room.”
My mouth went dry.
“Was someone inside?”
“No.”
That should have relieved me.
It didn’t.
Ruiz leaned closer.
“But there were restraints.”
Maya was sitting only feet away.
I glanced at her.
She was coloring on a hospital form, pretending not to listen.
“Anything else?”
Ruiz hesitated.
“A wall covered in photographs.”
“Of who?”
He swallowed.
“Your family.”
I felt ice move through my blood.
“Mostly Leo.”
May you like
He paused.
“And Maya.”
