Excerpt:

Children moved along the sidewalks, dressed in colorful costumes. Among them was a little girl of about five, golden hair curled to perfection, dressed in a pink princess costume. She was with her mother, but surely that would change; surely the mother’s attention would slip away for just a split second.

The chance came after the girl had skipped up to a house, when the mother met up with someone she apparently knew. She stopped to chat, and her attention was turned away from the little girl as she made her way back from the house with her candy prize safe in her bucket. The mother glanced back to see her pretty little princess disappear into a clump of bushes. “Katelyn? Katelyn, come back out this instant!” she called, then stormed into the bushes after her. But it was too late, and the child was gone; only a pointed pink hat remained on the ground.