A Minnie Mouse T-shirt.
Sunglasses.
A small autograph book.
She held it up.
“I saved money for this.”
My chest hurt.
“How much?”
“Twenty-three dollars.”
“What were you going to buy?”
“A princess pen.”
I swallowed.
Then she showed me something else.
A drawing.
Four stick figures in front of a castle.
Daddy.
Mama.
Skyla.
Alex.
The drawing had been folded carefully.
I looked away for a second.
Anger had arrived now.
Full.
Hot.
But anger is only useful when you control where it goes.
I stood.
“Pack some clothes.”
Her eyes widened.
“Where are we going?”
“With me.”
“To your house?”
“First.”
“Then maybe somewhere else.”
“Disney?”
I froze.
She looked hopeful.
Not demanding.
Just hopeful.
I thought about Anthony.
Natalie.
Alex.
I thought about the promise I made at 2:00 a.m.
I’m going to find out.
Then I smiled.
“We’ll see.”
By 10:30, I had spoken with the responding officer.
He gave me the incident report number.