Chapter 1
I came home early and saw my five-year-old son’s red sneaker sticking out of a garbage bag beside the curb. Then I heard him crying from inside it.
I screamed his name and ran toward the street.
“Ethan!”
The bag moved.
“Mommy!”
My hands started shaking so badly I could barely tear the plastic open.
My son was inside with his wrists tied loosely together and tears all over his face.
I pulled him out and held him against my chest.
“Who did this to you?”
He pointed toward our house.
“Vanessa.”
My husband’s new wife.
My son’s stepmother.
Before I could even process it, the garbage truck turned onto our street.
The driver slowed when he saw me kneeling beside the bags.
Vanessa came rushing out of the house.
“What are you doing here?”
I stood up with Ethan in my arms.
“What did you do to my son?”
Her face changed for half a second.
Then she smiled.
“He climbed in there himself.”
Ethan buried his face against my shoulder.
“No, Mommy.”
Vanessa stepped closer.
“He lies all the time.”
I looked at the marks around his wrists.
Then I noticed something else.
A strip of silver tape was still stuck to the side of the bag.
Vanessa reached for it.
I slapped her hand away.
“Don’t touch anything.”
The garbage truck driver climbed down from his cab.
“Ma’am,” he said quietly, “I think you need to see this.”
He held up his phone.
“My truck camera recorded the curb before I got here.”
Vanessa suddenly stopped moving.
The driver pressed play.
On the screen, Vanessa appeared carrying the bag toward the trash pile.
May you like
And then my son’s tiny voice could be heard from inside.
“Please don’t leave me here.”
