Continuation

Red and blue lights splashed across the pavement as the crowd gathered. Whispers floated above the crowd as neighbors stared with wide eyes in anticipation. The boy had been missing for days and it looked like the happy ending to this tragedy had died with the missing boy.

A woman was escorted by the grizzled police sergeant. Despite the years on the job and countless similar scenes, the pain in his face was visible as he led the woman towards the police cruisers.

A hush settled over the crowd as a scream ripped through the air. As the scream trailed off the silence was palpable, then a buzz picked up in the crowd. Such a sad thing, parents shouldn’t have to bury their children, some said. Who would do such a thing? Others wondered.

The mother was pulled away from the scene and led to a cruiser. The sergeant looking over the scene shambled back towards the boy who was lying next to the stoop of the brownstone. The boy looked to be sleeping curled up on his side with his head resting on his jacket. There wasn’t a mark on his body and the paramedics were baffled as to what caused the death. No signs of trauma or abuse. No blood, no bullet holes, nothing that indicated a crime had occurred. Not that it mattered. The boy was dead and there was no changing that. The sergeant clenched a fist and cursed