Officer Emmanuel “Manny” Hart didn’t expect movement in the garbage heap, just the familiar rustle of wind along the alley he walked every sleepless night. But tonight, something shifted under broken cardboard, quick and deliberate. His pulse jumped as he stepped closer, flashlight trembling in his grip.
A low growl rolled out from the shadows, freezing him in place. Two yellow eyes glinted between plastic bags—an animal crouched low, braced over something hidden. Manny’s instincts warned of danger, yet the creature’s trembling paused him momentarily.
He lowered the beam, inch by slow inch, until it caught a small, pale hand sticking out from beneath the trash. Manny’s breath stopped in his lungs. The dog stood over a little child—curled tight, unmoving, and ice-cold. His worst suspicion slammed into him at once: someone had left a child here!