Chapter 3 - THE BOY FROM ROOM FOURTEEN
The call came from a prepaid phone last used near Harbor House, a shelter funded by the Hale Foundation. Victoria arrived unannounced with Grant and two security officers.
The director, Denise Cole, did not welcome the inspection.
“Donors do not get unrestricted access to residents,” she said.
“My foundation owns this building.”
“Your foundation pays the mortgage. The people inside still have rights.”
Room Fourteen had been vacated that morning. Staff knew the occupants as Sarah Reed and her seven-year-old son, Tommy. Sarah had provided no identification beyond a temporary state card. She avoided cameras and wore a scarf high around her face.
Tommy was described as polite, watchful, and unusually serious. He attended the shelter school for eleven days. In a drawing exercise about family, he made three figures: himself, his mother, and a blonde woman wearing a pale ribbon.
Denise produced the drawing only after a subpoena threat. On the bottom, Tommy had written carefully:
Aunt Victoria will know when she sees me.
Victoria’s stomach tightened.
“Who told him I was his aunt?”
“His mother, I assume.”
Security footage showed Sarah and Tommy leaving through the rear entrance. The woman kept her face turned away. Tommy was barefoot despite the cold pavement.
“Why wasn’t he wearing shoes?” Victoria demanded.
Denise’s expression hardened. “Because the emergency pair we gave him split. Your foundation rejected our footwear request last quarter while approving sixty thousand dollars for luncheon flowers.”
Victoria ignored the accusation. She enlarged the final frame.
May you like
Tommy’s hand was inside his pocket, gripping the edge of an old ribbon.
The cloth had the same hand-stitched silver border Rebecca once made for her daughters.
