Chapter 9 - THEY CAME FOR MIAThe child-protection investigators arrived at the hospital carrying clipboards and careful expressions.
Their lead caseworker, Sharon Bell, spoke gently but firmly.
“We received allegations of inadequate supervision, unstable housing, and exploitation of a minor following a highly publicized event.”
Ruth stood beside Mia.
“My granddaughter saved a child.”
“That is not under dispute.”
“Then why are you treating us like criminals?”
“We have to evaluate the report.”
Richard entered the consultation room.
“Who filed it?”
“The report was anonymous.”
“Anonymous accusations nearly resulted in Mia’s arrest yesterday.”
Sharon looked at him.
“Mr. Harrison, your involvement creates additional concerns.”
“My involvement?”
“An extremely wealthy adult has placed a vulnerable child in private housing, surrounded her with security personnel, and connected her to an active corporate investigation.”
“I protected her after someone planted jewelry in her backpack.”
“Your intentions may be positive. The situation remains inappropriate.”
Ruth squeezed Mia’s hand.
“We can return to the shelter.”
“The shelter has temporarily suspended your placement due to the media presence.”
Ruth’s face went pale.
“Where are we supposed to go?”
“We can arrange emergency foster care for Mia while we assess your circumstances.”
Mia stepped behind her grandmother.
“No.”
Ruth’s voice trembled.
“You will not take her.”
“This is temporary.”
“That is what they said when Angela entered foster care at twelve. Temporary became three years.”
Sharon softened.
“I understand this is frightening.”
“No, you understand paperwork.”
Mia pressed her face against Ruth’s coat.
Richard called his attorneys, but the legal team warned him not to interfere aggressively. Any appearance of coercion could worsen Ruth’s case.
For the first time, Richard’s money was not merely useless.
It was evidence against him.
Ethan learned what was happening through the half-open hospital door.
“They’re taking Mia?”
Dr. Morales adjusted his blanket.
“The adults are trying to find a safe solution.”
“She’s safe with us.”
“It’s complicated.”
“Adults say that when something is wrong and they don’t want to fix it.”
Dr. Morales had no answer.
By late afternoon, a judge authorized Mia’s temporary placement in a licensed foster home pending a hearing.
Ruth was allowed to help her pack.
Mia placed three things inside her purple backpack: Angela’s photograph, the saved apple from Richard’s apartment, and Captain Orion.
Ethan objected when she took the robot.
“You gave it to me,” Mia reminded him.
“I gave it to you to fix.”
“You said explorers shouldn’t be alone.”
Ethan looked away.
“Keep it.”
Richard walked them to the hospital exit.
Reporters shouted from behind barriers.
Mia held Ruth’s hand until a caseworker separated them beside the car.
“Grandma!”
“It’s all right,” Ruth said, though her face showed that nothing was all right. “You listen to the caseworker. I will see you tomorrow.”
“You promise?”
Ruth looked at Richard.
He remembered what Mia had said about promises.
“I promise,” Ruth answered.
The foster home belonged to Mark and Evelyn Page, a quiet couple in Cambridge who had cared for children for more than a decade.
The house was warm. The bedroom prepared for Mia contained books, clean clothes, and a night-light shaped like a moon.
Evelyn offered hot chocolate.
Mia refused.
She sat on the bed with her backpack in her lap and Captain Orion beside her.
At midnight, the robot’s speaker crackled.
Mia sat upright.
A woman’s voice whispered through the damaged circuit.
“Mia.”
She froze.
It sounded like her mother.
“Mia, listen carefully.”
The recording was faint and broken.
“If something happens to me, the notebook is not in the bank.”
Mia gripped the robot.
“Mom?”
“The bank box is a decoy. The truth is where you learned to read.”
Static swallowed the rest.
Mia replayed the message three times.
Where you learned to read.
Her mother had taught her letters at the East Boston Community Library.
Inside a children’s book about a rabbit who repaired broken stars.
Angela had checked out the same book again and again.
Mia climbed from the bed and dressed in silence.
She knew leaving was wrong.
She also knew adults were searching the wrong place.
Captain Orion’s battery indicator flashed.
A tracking application opened on a tiny hidden screen.
The destination had already been programmed.
EAST BOSTON COMMUNITY LIBRARY.
Mia placed the robot in her backpack and opened the bedroom window.
The first-floor roof was low enough to reach a tree.
She climbed down carefully.
A security camera caught her leaving at 12:38 a.m., but the alert did not reach the Pages.
Someone had disabled their internet connection eleven minutes earlier.
Mia walked three blocks before a black sedan stopped beside her.
The rear window lowered.
Rebecca Vale sat inside.
Mia recognized her from photographs in Ethan’s bedroom.
“You’re Ethan’s nanny.”
Rebecca smiled.
“I used to be.”
“Why are you here?”
“Your mother asked me to protect the notebook.”
Mia backed away.
Rebecca opened the car door.
“You’re going to the library, aren’t you?”
Mia’s hand tightened around her backpack strap.
“How do you know?”
“Because Angela told me what she hid there.”
Rebecca’s face seemed kind.
Her voice was warm.
But Mia remembered something her mother had once taught her.
Dangerous people did not always look dangerous.
Sometimes they looked like the person you had been hoping to find.
Mia took another step backward.
Rebecca’s smile disappeared.
“Get in the car.”
The passenger door opened.
A man stepped onto the sidewalk behind Mia.
She turned to run.
He grabbed her backpack.
The safety pins tore through the fabric.
Captain Orion fell onto the pavement, rolled beneath a parked car, and disappeared into darkness.
Rebecca pulled Mia into the sedan.
The vehicle sped away.
Under the parked car, Captain Orion’s damaged tracker activated.
At the hospital, Ethan’s tablet began to beep.
He opened his eyes.
A map glowed on the screen.
May you like
Captain Orion was moving.
But Mia was not moving with him.
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