know,” I said. “But I’m going to make sure you’re safe while we find out.”
Owen’s eyes dropped to the floor.
Lily whispered, “She said we had to sit still.”
“How long ago did she say that?”
“She said until someone came,” Owen answered, his voice small but steady.
“Who was supposed to come?”
He shrugged.
Lily’s fingers tightened around mine. “Nobody.”
Marco stepped closer, his expression tight. He had worked for me eight years. I had seen him face armed men without blinking, negotiate deals with people twice his size, and drive through Chicago snowstorms as if ice were no more serious than rain.
But he could not look at those children without swallowing hard.
“Airport police are on their way,” he said quietly.
I nodded.
Lily’s eyes darted toward him, then back to me. “Are we in trouble?”
The question landed in my chest like a stone.
“No,”
I said immediately. “You are not in trouble.”
“Because we didn’t move,” Owen said. “We stayed where she told us.”
“I know you did.”
“We weren’t bad,” Lily added, almost pleading.
I turned fully toward them, lowering my voice so only they could hear. “Listen to me. None of this happened because you were bad. Nothing about this is your fault.”
Owen looked at me for a long moment, then hugged his bear so tightly the seams stretched.
Children did not always believe what adults said.
Sometimes they believed what had been repeated to them most.
Two airport police officers approached with calm faces and careful steps. One was a woman with kind brown eyes and silver at her temples. Her badge read Daniels. The other, younger and taller, kept his distance, as though he knew too many uniforms at once might frighten them.
Officer Daniels crouched a few feet
away.
“Hi there,” she said gently. “I’m Officer Daniels. Are you Lily and Owen?”
Lily leaned slightly into my side but nodded.
“We’re going to help figure out what happened, okay?”
Owen asked, “Do we have to go in a police car?”
“Not unless we need to,” Daniels said. “Right now, we just want to make sure you’re safe.”
Safe.
That word seemed to move through the children without landing.
I knew what that felt like.
Safety was just a word until someone proved it.
Daniels glanced at me. “You witnessed the woman leave them?”
“Yes.”
“Relationship?”
“None.”
