His brother Jason, who took the call, told Nicholas to walk home.

The basketball court was roughly a mile and a half from the house — not an unreasonable distance.

Nicholas never arrived home.

Beverly reported him missing.

San Antonio police opened a case, but the trajectory of the investigation was shaped from the beginning by what they knew about Nicholas: a troubled thirteen-year-old with a juvenile record, a court date the next day, and a history of conflict with authority.

The working assumption, stated and unstated, was that Nicholas had run away to avoid his court appearance.