Chapter 9 - I Refused to Become Bait, Until My Son’s Drawing Revealed Where the Missing Families Were Being Held
I was tired of being useful to powerful men.
Roman wanted me hidden.
Park wanted me available for questioning.
Tyler wanted forgiveness.
I wanted Leo.
So I asked for his school folder.
The police had collected it from our apartment.
Inside were drawings of dinosaurs and trains.
One picture showed a red house.
A black bridge crossed behind it.
Three windows faced a railroad track.
I remembered Leo drawing that house twice.
He said a lady had shown him photographs.
At the time, I thought he meant a teacher.
Park studied the bridge.
She found a matching structure near Calumet.
We drove there with an emergency response team.
I stayed in the command vehicle.
Every minute felt like an hour.
Officers entered the house at 6:17.
At 6:21, a child came outside.
Not Leo.
A little girl wearing red boots.
She held an empty lunchbox.
Two more children followed.
Their guardian had abandoned them that morning.
Park told me they were safe.
I was grateful.
I was furious.
Leo was not among them.
Inside, police found another drawing.
It showed the same house.
But the bridge had been crossed out.
Beneath it, Leo had written one word.
GRANDMA.
My mother had died before he could remember her.
May you like
I stared at his uneven letters.
Who had taught him that name?
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