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Max blows out a breath. "This is tough as hell. But I'm grateful you told me."
"Do you want us to find your son when we infiltrate the warehouse?"
"Yes." Max fights back tears. "It’d mean everything to me. My wife and I could get back together."
"Give me a few more details about your son."
Max nods. "I'll tell you anything."
"What grade was he in when he disappeared?"
"Ninth grade."
"How tall was he?"
"Five foot ten. The doctors think he had another four inches left in him. My wife and I are both German so we have tall genes in our family."
"Did he go by any other names than Nolan?"
Max takes a sip of his tonic water. "We called him Sparrow when he was good. That was his favorite nickname."
"Did he have any special toys?"
"I don't know what you mean."
"Stuffed animals. Comfort blankets. Items like that."
Max grits his teeth. "If you're asking if my son was a sissy who carried around stuffed animals at fourteen, you're sorely mistaken. He was a strong young man."
I squeeze Max's hand. "Inner strength has nothing to do with whether or not one likes stuffed animals. Your son can be a fighter who still has a special animal he cuddled with."
"Now that I think about it, he kept a stuffed sparrow on his bed." Max clenches his jaw.
I make a mental note of this. "Do you have any pictures of Nolan that you didn't give the media?"
Max opens his phone and slides it to me. "I took this the week he disappeared. I kept it out of the news because it was too special to me. It's at his grandfather's birthday party."
I peer at the picture. It shows a fourteen-year-old boy holding a kitten with a birthday cake in the background. He smiles at the camera and flashes the photographer a thumbs up.
I note a birthmark on his left cheek that I didn't spot in the online photos.
I tap the picture. "Did he always have this birthmark?"
"He did. My brother has one just like it. He must've got it from my side of the family."
"This wasn't in the pictures online."
"I can't tell you why." Max shrugs. "It could be the lighting. Or you didn't see it because of the resolution of the image."
"Send this to me." I stare into Max's eyes. "I must study it."
Max sends me the picture. "Is there anything else I can give you?" His voice is desperate. "I can tell you his favorite foods. His interests. He breakdanced in his free time and intended to get his Eagle Scout medal."
I shake my head. "I'll keep my eyes peeled for a boy with a birthmark on his left cheek who goes by Nolan or Sparrow. I don’t need anything else."
"I think he brought his stuffed sparrow to the park with him that day." Max grits his teeth.
"Did you find it in his room after he disappeared?" I prod.
