Promises to Keep by Elizabeth Haynes

was found. They arrested two adult males, apparently. Jo knows nothing else. She has reached the end of something, she realizes. It could all have been so different, if Sam had only listened, if she had only tried to understand. Instead she has missed the point completely. The system that’s designed to help is actually making things worse. If you want to make a difference to a child’s life, you have to do it yourself. You can’t rely on anyone else. You just can’t. Jo has spent most of the night in tears and now fresh ones fall, for Mohammed, whom she couldn’t save, and for his little brother, who has slipped through her fingers. But he at least is alive; he still has a chance. If only he would come back. If only she could get him to trust her. While she waits, she can at least pack. She stands awkwardly, stiff from a sleepless night, and looks out of the kitchen window to see Dixie at the bottom of the garden, staring at the shed. His tail is wagging.