I’d never seen it before.
Nobody touched anything after that. While another unit was called, Officer Patel sat with Ethan again. This time, he asked me not to interrupt.
The story came out slowly.
The man had approached Ethan four times.
He knew Ryan had coached soccer.
He knew Ryan called Ethan “Buddy.”
He knew about the fishing trip Ryan had promised to take him on when he was older.
Two days earlier, he’d given Ethan the case and told him to keep it hidden. He’d also put the little disc behind Ethan’s ear and called it their “secret key.”
“He said he’d see me again Monday after school,” Ethan said.
“Why?”
Ethan shook his head. “So we’d talk. He said the key belonged to Dad,” Ethan whispered.
“He thought Mom might throw it away.”
I felt as though someone had struck me.
“I would never throw away something from your dad.”
