The girl’s movements were slow but careful. She drank quickly when Evan handed her a glass, emptying it in hurried gulps.
“Hungry?” Evan asked. The girl nodded, jerky, unpracticed. Evan heated canned beans, the only non-instant food in the apartment and brought a warm washcloth to clean the grime from the child’s face.
His eyes fell on the girl’s left wrist, wrapped in black electrical tape.
“What’s this?” he asked softly.
The girl yanked her arm back, cradling it protectively. Evan raised his hands in surrender. “I won’t touch it. Promise.”
A glimmer caught his eye as the tape peeled slightly. Beneath it, a glint of metal shone in the lamplight, a bracelet. Not costume jewelry. Platinum, studded with diamonds. A symbol of wealth no child in the streets should ever possess.
The girl whispered her name: “Sophie.”
Evan’s stomach knotted. The name rang a bell, an investigation he had chased months ago, a headline splashed across newspapers. He grabbed his laptop and searched quickly: missing girl Sophie, Rivershore.
The results were immediate. An official alert: Sophie Lytton, age 7, daughter of Lytton Pharmaceuticals CEO, reported missing September 10th.