Chapter 3
Sarah reached the hospital before midnight.
She ran through the emergency department still wearing house slippers.
The moment she saw me, she grabbed my arms.
“Where is he?”
“Doctors are still examining him.”
“I need to see him.”
“They’re going to bring us in.”
“Why aren’t they letting me see my child?”
Her voice rose.
People turned.
I pulled her close.
“He’s alive.”
She hit my chest.
Not hard.
Once.
Then again.
“You left without me.”
“Elena said the weekend would help Maya.”
“You left without me.”
“You were exhausted.”
“I should’ve been there.”
I caught her wrists.
“Sarah.”
She crumpled against me.
“I should have been there.”
“No.”
“I missed fourteen months.”
“So did I.”
That was the truth neither of us knew how to survive.
A doctor approached.
“Mr. and Mrs. Vance?”
Sarah jumped.
“Yes.”
“Your son is stable.”
She covered her mouth.
“He is severely underweight and dehydrated. He has vitamin deficiencies, muscle weakness, an untreated injury to his left ankle, and signs of prolonged confinement.”
Sarah’s knees buckled.
I held her.
“Is there permanent damage?” I asked.
“We don’t know yet.”
“Can we see him?”
“Yes.”
Leo looked even smaller in the hospital bed.
Clean sheets made his thinness more obvious.
A nurse had wiped most of the dirt from his face.
Sarah stopped in the doorway.
He turned.
For one second, neither moved.
Then his lower lip shook.
“Mom?”
Sarah made a broken sound and rushed forward.
She didn’t grab him.
That surprised me.
Instead she stopped beside the bed and asked:
“Can I hug you?”
Leo nodded.
She folded over him.
I had imagined this reunion a thousand times.
In my imagination, we all cried.
Leo told us everything.
The nightmare ended.
Reality was different.
He stiffened when Sarah touched his back.
His hands shook when the door closed.
He startled when the air conditioner clicked on.
When a nurse moved toward the bed, he whispered:
“Tell me first.”
The nurse immediately stopped.
“Of course.”
Maya climbed carefully onto a chair.
“I heard you.”
Leo looked at her.
“When?”
“Today.”
He shook his head.
“No. Before.”
She frowned.
“What?”
“I tapped before.”
My skin prickled.
“How long?”
Leo stared at his blanket.
“A lot.”
“Could you hear people above you?”
He nodded.
“Elena walked loud.”
Sarah closed her eyes.
“I heard you too sometimes.”
Maya’s voice became tiny.
We all turned.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“At Grandpa’s house.”
My stomach tightened.
“Before Leo disappeared?”
She shook her head.
“After.”
Sarah stared at me.
“Maya.”
“At Grandpa’s house, I heard knocking under the guest room.”
My heart started pounding.
“When?”
“The Christmas when Mommy stayed home.”
That had been seven months after Leo vanished.
I remembered that Christmas.
Sarah had been too depressed to travel.
I took Maya to Dad’s place for one night.
I had slept in the guest room.
Maya had slept beside me.
She had complained about noises.
I told her it was pipes.
I nearly vomited.
“Leo,” I said carefully. “Were you ever at Grandpa’s house after you disappeared?”
His face changed.
That was my answer.
Sarah grabbed my arm.
“Leo?”
He whispered:
“Yes.”
Everything inside me went cold.
“Did Grandpa know you were there?”
Leo started breathing faster.
The monitors changed.
A nurse stepped forward.
“We should stop.”
I wanted answers.
I wanted every answer immediately.
But my son’s face had gone gray.
I forced myself backward.
“It’s okay.”
He looked at me.
“You believe me?”
“Yes.”
“Grandpa said you wouldn’t.”
Sarah made a sound behind me.
“What did he say?”
“Later,” the nurse said firmly.
I nodded.
“Later.”
Detective Ruiz waited outside.
I told him what Leo had said.
His jaw tightened.
“We’re getting a warrant for your father’s estate.”
“You already went there.”
“For a welfare check. This will be different.”
“Search the floors.”
“We will.”
“And walls.”
“Yes.”
“Everything.”
“We will.”
Sarah came out.
Her face had changed.
The grief was still there.
But now anger had joined it.
“Why?” she asked Ruiz.
“We don’t know.”
“Elena had no children. She adored Leo. Why would she do this?”
Ruiz glanced toward Maya.
“Can someone stay with her?”
I found a nurse.
Then the three of us stepped into a consultation room.
Ruiz placed a photo on the table.
It showed the hidden room from Elena’s house.
Photographs covered one wall.
Leo at school.
Leo riding his bike.
Leo asleep at our house.
Leo playing soccer.
Maya leaving kindergarten.
Maya at a playground.
Sarah whispered:
“Oh my God.”
“These were taken over approximately two years.”
I stared.
“That started before Leo disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“Who took them?”
“We’re processing everything.”
Sarah pointed.
“What’s that?”
In the corner of the photo sat a plastic storage container.
Ruiz slid another image forward.
Inside were dozens of items.
Leo’s drawings.
One of Maya’s hair ribbons.
A family Christmas card.
A spare key to our house.
Sarah stood so fast the chair fell.
“Elena had a key?”
“I never gave her one.”
I had.
Months before Leo disappeared.
When Sarah and I went to Denver for our anniversary, I had given Elena a spare key to water plants.
She told me she had returned it.
She hadn’t.
Ruiz’s phone rang.
He answered.
His expression hardened.
“When?”
He looked at me.
“Secure it. Nobody touches anything.”
He hung up.
“What?”
Ruiz exhaled.
“They found something at your father’s property.”
“What?”
“A concealed basement access under the guest room.”
Maya had been right.
My legs went weak.
Ruiz continued.
“There’s evidence someone was kept there.”
Sarah began crying.
“Is my father there?” I asked.
“No.”
“Then where is he?”
“We don’t know.”
Ruiz paused.
“But we found a handwritten schedule.”
“What schedule?”
He looked straight at me.
“Dates Leo was moved between the two houses.”
I felt numb.
Then Ruiz added the part that frightened me most.
“The final entry is dated tomorrow.”
“What does it say?”
He hesitated.
May you like
Then he answered.
“Move Maya.”
