“Mom… Dad… gone,” she murmured once. “Loud night. Then quiet.”
Daniel searched missing children reports. Nothing. It was as if Ava and Noah didn’t exist.
Then suspicion found him.
His supervisor, Captain William Brooks, summoned him.
“Hayes, about that call on Jefferson Street. You reported nothing unusual.”
“That’s correct, Captain.”
Brooks leaned forward. “We received a tip from a neighbor. She saw a little girl and a baby get into a patrol car.”
Daniel felt the blood drain from his face.
“I saw them,” he admitted. “They were alone. I couldn’t leave them there.”
“And where are they now?” Brooks asked.
“At my house.”
Silence thickened the office air.
“You understand this is kidnapping, Hayes? Insubordination. You could lose everything.”
“I understand,” Daniel said quietly. “But they were suffering.”
Before Brooks could respond, Sergeant Megan Carter stepped in holding a file.