Officer Discreetly Follows Lost Boy, Then Breaks Down When He Discovers the Truth

Near dusk, Leo reached a soup kitchen by the freight road, the kind of place that serves meals without asking too many questions. Sean lingered beneath an awning while rain tapped against metal gutters overhead. Leo went inside for less than a minute, then came back out speaking to a volunteer in a plastic poncho. Sean couldn't hear the full exchange over the growling trucks, only fragments: "used to come by," "not lately," "maybe by the river." The volunteer pointed down a service road curving toward the industrial waterfront. Leo looked at the photo again, tightened his backpack straps, and headed that way.