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Mitch sat in his office, his team around him. His shirt was stained with blood and his eye bruised. He listened to Adam Forster’s report with disbelief.
“So the family never saw Eli Hoefer,” Mitch reiterated. “He came to pick up Benjamin, left a note and took the kid?”
“Precisely,” said Adam.
“The German mother …” Ellen looked to Adam.
“Antje,” he filled in the blanks.
“Yes, Antje,” Ellen continued, “she must have been worried sick. She’s looked after this little boy from the age of two to seven and suddenly he’s gone with no goodbye, no ensuring he has all he needs. It’s appallingly cruel.”
“Maybe he genuinely didn’t want them to see him like that, but I would have been so grateful to them for looking after Benjamin I’d want to thank them,” Nick said.
“It’s definitely odd,” Mit
