Chapter 12 - The Boy With the Other Name

The brass tag was old, scratched, and warm from Marcus's clenched fist. On the back was a five-digit inventory code. Nia recognized its format immediately.

"That's a personnel badge number," she said. "Not an equipment tag."

"Why would a six-year-old have a badge?" I asked.

"Because someone wanted the system to treat him like an object," Katherine said quietly.

Investigators documented the tag and traced the number through archived data. It led to a transfer entry classified as a dependent relocation, then to a canceled invoice from a transportation contractor. The paperwork didn't prove what happened to Mateo, but it gave the search a destination: Cedar Ridge, Oregon.

Katherine contacted local authorities and a nonprofit that assisted trafficking survivors. While they followed that lead, I sat alone in Ruth's church basement, turning Mom's pink hair ribbon between my fingers.

I remembered the last evening I'd seen her. She made spaghetti even though we'd run out of tomato sauce and laughed when I complained. She promised to be home by breakfast. I went to bed angry because she wouldn't tell me why she looked scared.

For twenty-two years, I'd held on to that anger because it was easier than wondering whether she'd chosen not to return.

Ruth entered carrying two cups of tea. "She tried to call," she said.

I looked up. "When?"

"After the fire. I heard her voice once. She said people were after her and she couldn't risk coming back. I told her you were safe. Then the call dropped."

"You let me bury her."

Ruth sat beside me, tears on her cheeks. "I did. I thought it was the only way to keep you alive. I was afraid all the time. Fear made me cruel in a different way."

I couldn't forgive her then. But I stayed, because I needed to hear everything.

At 7:12 that night, Katherine called.

"Investigators located someone in Oregon who used the name Mateo Holloway," she said. "He's twenty-eight now. He says he knows Sofia."

"Where is she?"

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A long silence.

"Elena, he says he has been waiting for you to ask."