Chapter 8 - THE EMPTY BLANKET—Where is the boy? —Daniela demanded, rushing over to the attending paramedic, who looked dazed and disoriented, rubbing the back of his neck.
—I... I don't know, Officer Cruz, —the paramedic stammered, wincing in pain. —Someone came up from behind me in the shadows, struck me with something heavy, and when I came to... the boy was gone.
Daniela scanned the perimeter. The police tape fluttered uselessly in the midnight breeze. The neighborhood was eerily silent, save for the crackle of flames still being contained by the fire department inside Doña Rosa’s front room.
Commander Méndez rushed over, coughing from the smoke inhalation.
—Cruz, we have a Code Red! Secure the block! How the hell did he slip past our perimeter?
—He didn't slip past us, Commander, —Daniela said, her voice trembling with a terrifying realization as she stared down at the open ambulance doors. —Mateo didn't run away. Someone inside this neighborhood... someone we trust... helped him disappear.
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She knelt down and inspected the ground near the rear tire of the ambulance. Lying in the dirt was a small, worn-out sneaker—the exact pair Mateo had been wearing when he first approached her outside the elementary school.
And tucked neatly inside the laces was a folded piece of lined notebook paper.
