Chapter 1: Can You Pretend You Know Me?
“Can you pretend you know me?””
The little girl’s fingers closed around Officer Renee Carter’s hand so tightly that Renee felt every tremor in them. Behind the child, a man in a dark jacket moved through the bright American train terminal, scanning the crowd with the desperate concentration of someone who had already lost too much time.
Renee lowered her gaze.
The girl couldn't have been older than eight. Her curly hair was tied back, although several strands had escaped around her damp forehead. She wore a navy cardigan over a plaid skirt, white sneakers, and a small backpack hanging crookedly from one shoulder.
Her chest rose and fell rapidly.
“What's your name, sweetheart?”” Renee asked.
“Aaliyah.””
“Okay, Aaliyah. Look at me.””
The girl lifted her eyes. Tears clung to her eyelashes, but she wasn't crying yet. She was fighting it with everything she had.
Renee had worked enough public-safety shifts to recognize the difference between a child having a tantrum and a child genuinely afraid for her life.
This was fear.
“Stay beside me,” Renee said, placing one protective hand on Aaliyah's shoulder.
The terminal stretched around them, filled with the ordinary sounds of a busy weekday morning. Suitcases rolled across polished floors. Travelers hurried toward departure boards suspended beneath tall windows. At the information booth, a woman in a blue sweater pointed a family toward the correct platform.
Sunlight poured through the glass, illuminating every face.
Nothing about the station looked dangerous.
That made Aaliyah's terror even more unsettling.
Renee crouched slightly, bringing herself closer to the girl's eye level.
“Did someone hurt you?””
Aaliyah shook her head.
“Did you lose your family?””
Another shake.
Renee glanced over the girl's shoulder.
The man was closer now.
He was a Black man in his early forties, tall, with closely cropped hair and a dark jacket zipped halfway up. He carried no suitcase. His jaw was tight, and his eyes moved constantly between Aaliyah and the departure boards.
When he noticed Renee watching, he slowed.
Then Aaliyah grabbed Renee's sleeve with both hands.
“Don't let him take me.””
Renee straightened immediately.
“Is that man following you?””
Aaliyah nodded.
“What's his name?””
“I don't know.””
“Have you seen him before?””
The girl hesitated.
That hesitation mattered.
Across the terminal, the man stopped beside a row of seats. He didn't shout or rush toward them. Instead, he raised one hand as if asking Renee to wait.
Renee stepped in front of Aaliyah.
“Stay behind me,” she instructed.
The man started walking again.
“Officer,” he called, keeping his voice low enough not to alarm the surrounding travelers.
“Please. I need to explain something.””
“You can explain from where you are,” Renee replied.
He stopped several feet away.
Aaliyah disappeared behind Renee's uniform, clutching the fabric at her hip.
The man's expression changed when he saw her hiding. For a moment, something like pain crossed his face.
Then he looked directly at Renee.
“She shouldn't be here alone.””
“That's not an explanation,” Renee said.
“Identify yourself.””
“My name is Damon.””
“Your relationship to the child?””
Damon looked toward the small hand gripping Renee's uniform.
“She told you I'm her father, didn't she?””
Aaliyah's voice came from behind Renee.
“He says he's my dad.””
Damon swallowed.
Renee glanced back at the girl.
“And is he?””
Aaliyah stepped out just enough for Renee to see her face.
“My dad died last year.””
The words landed between them with a weight that made the noise of the terminal seem suddenly distant.
Damon stared at her.
“What?”” he whispered.
Aaliyah's lips trembled.
“My mom showed me his grave.””
Damon shook his head once, slowly, as though the words had struck him physically.
“No. Baby, that's not—”
“Don't call me that!”” Aaliyah cried.
Several travelers turned toward them.
Renee lifted one hand toward Damon.
“Stay right there.””
“I am staying right here,” Damon replied, immediately raising both hands.
“I'm not trying to scare her.””
“Then stop moving.””
He obeyed.
Renee kept her body between him and the child.
“Do you have identification?””
“Yes.””
“Reach for it slowly. Tell me before you move your hands.””
Damon nodded.
“My wallet is in my jacket pocket. My phone is in the other one.””
“Wallet first.””
He moved carefully, withdrawing a worn brown wallet. He opened it and held up his identification without stepping forward.
Renee examined it from where she stood, then motioned for him to keep it visible while she assessed the situation.
“Now your phone,” she said.
Damon took it out.
His thumb hovered over the screen.
“I have a picture,” he said.
“Aaliyah, look at this. Please.””
“I don't want to!””
“I'm not asking you to come to me. Just look.””
He turned the screen outward.
The photograph showed Damon standing beside a Black woman with shoulder-length curls. Aaliyah stood between them, wearing a yellow dress and a bright smile, one hand wrapped around the woman's waist.
It was clearly a recent photograph.
Aaliyah stared at the screen.
Her fingers loosened on Renee's sleeve.
“That was at the park,” she whispered.
Damon nodded.
“Your mother took that picture.””
Renee's eyes narrowed.
“Who is the woman?””
“Her mother. My sister.””
Damon tapped the phone, opening a message thread. He held the screen toward Renee.
A fresh message from a contact saved as *AALIYAH'S MOM* read:
Please find her before she gets on the train.
Renee looked down at Aaliyah.
The little girl had gone completely still.
“My mom never told me I had an uncle,” she whispered.
Damon lowered his phone.
For the first time since approaching them, he stopped looking frightened and began looking angry.
Not at Renee.
Not at Aaliyah.
At something neither of them could see.
“Your mother told you your father was dead,” he said quietly.
“But did she ever tell you what happened the night he died?””
Aaliyah's face drained of color.
Renee watched the girl, then Damon, realizing that the photograph and the message had created a mystery rather than solved one.
Before she could ask another question, Damon's phone vibrated.
He looked at the screen.
His expression changed instantly.
“Officer,” he said, his voice suddenly urgent.
“We have a problem.””
Renee didn't move.
“What problem?””
Damon turned the phone around.
A new message had appeared beneath the first.
Don't let Renee take her to the police station.
Damon stared at Renee.
May you like
Aaliyah slowly looked up at the officer whose hand she was still holding.
And for the first time, the little girl seemed afraid of them both.
