CHAPTER 4 — Patricia's Last Lie
Leo refused to let go of his father's hand.
Even after paramedics wrapped him in a blanket and gave him warm water, his fingers remained locked around Daniel's sleeve.
His eyes never left Patricia.
She sat inside the back of a police cruiser, staring blankly through the window.
When Detective Ramos gently asked Leo whether Patricia had kidnapped him...
the little boy slowly shook his head.
"No."
Everyone looked confused.
"It wasn't Aunt Patty."
Daniel frowned.
"Then why did she hide your backpack?"
Leo swallowed.
"Because she thought they would kill me if anyone found out."
The detective leaned closer.
"Who are 'they'?"
Leo's tiny voice barely rose above a whisper.
"The men who wear the bird."
"The bird?"
"They had black tattoos... right here."
He pointed to his neck.
"They called themselves Los Cuervos."
The detectives exchanged uneasy glances.
That name had appeared in several unsolved child-abduction investigations across central Mexico.
No one expected a seven-year-old boy to know it.
Patricia suddenly burst into tears.
"I told them I wouldn't talk!"
She looked directly at Daniel.
"I never wanted any of this."
"You lied to us for ten months," Daniel said quietly.
"I lied because Leo was still alive."
Silence filled the room.
"I thought if I obeyed them... they'd eventually let him go."
Mariana's face hardened.
"You watched us bury an empty coffin."
Patricia collapsed into sobs.
"And I have to live with that every day."
But before anyone could ask another question...
Detective Ramos received a call.
His expression changed instantly.
"What?"
He looked toward Daniel.
"The safe house where we were keeping the construction contractor..."
"...has just been attacked."
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The only witness who knew the kidnappers' identities...
was dead.
