Chương 4
Charlotte reached into her hoodie pocket as though expecting to find a phone she did not own.
“Where is she?”
Douglas’s mouth tightened.
“At home.”
Charlotte looked at Terrence.
“She’s not home.”
Douglas went still.
Terrence felt the shape of the situation shift again.
“What do you mean?”
Charlotte’s breathing had become shallow.
“She went to Aunt Beth’s yesterday.”
Douglas said, “She came back.”
“No.”
“Yes, she did.”
“No, she didn’t.”
“Charlotte.”
“You told us she was still mad.”
Douglas glanced at Maya.
The controlled physician’s face returned, but too late.
“Children misunderstand adult conversations.”
Charlotte shouted for the first time.
“You said she left because of us.”
Delilah began crying on the stretcher.
Denise immediately moved them toward the ambulance.
Terrence stepped between Douglas and the girls.
“You’re done talking to them.”
Douglas’s expression sharpened.
“You have no authority to make that determination.”
“Then we can let a judge decide whether I was overly cautious.”
The rear ambulance doors closed.
Charlotte’s face disappeared behind the rain-streaked window.
Terrence watched until the vehicle pulled away.
He hated sending her without a familiar adult, but keeping her at the station with Douglas outside was worse.
Denise had promised to keep the twins together.
Maya’s partner arrived and began documenting the scene.
Douglas looked at the departing ambulance.
For the first time, something resembling genuine distress crossed his face.
It vanished when Terrence spoke.
“Where is your wife?”
Douglas turned.
“My marriage is none of your business.”
“You made it our business when you told Charlotte her mother was at home.”
“She is.”
“Then give us a number.”
Douglas laughed under his breath.
“You think I’m going to hand over my wife’s private contact information because my daughters threw a tantrum?”
Terrence felt his temper rise.
Maya noticed.
She moved half a step closer, not enough to embarrass him, just enough to remind him someone else was there.
Terrence lowered his voice.
“Your seven-year-old was transported for a suspected overdose.”
“A prescribed dose.”
“Your pharmacy says otherwise.”
Something flickered in Douglas’s eyes.
There it was.
Not confusion.
Not surprise.
Recognition.
“You spoke to the pharmacy?”
“Yes.”
“What exactly did they tell you?”
Terrence did not answer.
Douglas wet his lips.
“They made an error.”
“You told them the dose was intentional.”
“The pharmacist misunderstood the clinical context.”
“What clinical context?”
Douglas folded his arms.
“I am not discussing protected medical information in a parking lot.”
“Then you can discuss it inside.”
“I’m leaving.”
Maya said, “No, you’re not.”
Douglas looked from her to Terrence.
“Am I under arrest?”
“Not at this moment.”
“Then legally, I am free to go.”
Maya’s mouth tightened.
Terrence knew the problem.
Suspicion was growing fast, but suspicion was not a magic set of handcuffs.
They had a child’s statement, an overdose concern, and a questionable prescription, but the medical facts were still incomplete.
If Douglas walked away, forcing him to remain could create its own problem.
Terrence said, “We need a statement from you.”
“You can schedule one through my attorney.”
He turned toward the SUV.
Maya said, “Your vehicle may be held if we establish it contains evidence.”
Douglas stopped.
He looked over his shoulder.
“Establish it.”
Then he kept walking.
Terrence watched him reach the driver’s door.
Maya murmured, “He wants to go home.”
“Yeah.”
“And there’s another syringe in the refrigerator.”
“Yeah.”
“We need the warrant.”
Terrence was already reaching for his phone.
Douglas got into the SUV but did not start it.
Instead, he sat behind the wheel and began typing.
Terrence called the watch commander, then the on-call detective supervisor.
The rain intensified while he explained the emergency facts in clipped sentences.
Child ingestion.
Suspect parent.
Prescription discrepancy.
Second labeled syringe reportedly inside residence.
Possible endangered sibling.
Possible evidence destruction.
The detective supervisor told him to preserve the scene, document everything, and get the address verified.
Maya ran the vehicle registration.
The Sinclair home was on Bellweather Court, eleven minutes away without traffic.
Douglas’s SUV started.
Terrence moved toward it.
Douglas lowered the window three inches.
“You can’t block me.”
“No.”
“So move.”
Terrence stood aside.
Douglas pulled out too fast, tires spitting water across the curb.
Maya was already speaking into her radio.
“Unit Twelve, maintain visual only, no stop unless independently justified.”
A patrol unit acknowledged.
Terrence looked at her.
“You think he’ll destroy it.”
“I think he already texted somebody to.”
That possibility chilled him more than watching Douglas leave.
Inside the station, the ordinary mess of the afternoon remained exactly where it had been.
A half-eaten granola bar sat beside the keyboard.
The parking report was still open.
Someone had left a pink umbrella dripping into the lost-property bucket.
Terrence stared at those things for a second because his mind needed something that was not a child, a syringe, or a father lying through glass.
Then he saw Charlotte’s sneaker in front of the counter.
She had left without putting it back on.
He picked it up by the heel.
The loose insole hung partly free.
Something white was wedged beneath it.
Terrence set the shoe on clean paper and used gloves this time.
He lifted the insole.
A folded piece of notebook paper came out.
Maya leaned over his shoulder.
“Please tell me that’s a shopping list.”
Terrence unfolded it.
The handwriting was large and uneven.
It was a child’s.
Three lines had been written in purple marker.
MOM SAID IF DADDY GIVES US THE SLEEPY STUFF CALL AUNT BETH.
DADDY TOOK MOM’S PHONE.
AUNT BETH LIVES BY THE RED WATER TOWER.
Maya read it twice.
“Charlotte wrote this?”
“Looks that way.”
“Why hide it?”
Terrence looked at the shoe.
“Same reason she hid the syringe.”
The station phone rang.
The hospital number appeared on the display.
Terrence answered immediately.
A nurse identified herself from the emergency department and transferred him to a physician.
Delilah had arrived conscious but significantly sedated.
May you like
They were monitoring her closely, running toxicology studies, and consulting poison control.
Terrence asked the question he had been afraid to ask.
