Chapter 3 - THE GLASS DOOR
The police station looked warmer from the outside.
Emma shoved the glass door open.
Olivia stumbled behind her.
“Please!” Emma screamed. “Help my sister!”
Officer Daniel Reed came around the front desk.
Olivia bent over, clutching her stomach.
Daniel caught her.
“What happened?”
Emma pulled the syringe from inside her shoe.
Her hands shook violently.
“Daddy forced her to swallow it!”
Daniel looked at the syringe.
“What did he give her?”
“I don’t know.”
Olivia began crying.
Daniel called paramedics.
Then he crouched.
“Where’s your father now?”
Emma shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
“Your mother?”
Emma’s face changed.
“Gone.”
Daniel did not push.
He entered the pharmacy code printed on the syringe.
A name appeared.
MICHAEL CARTER.
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
The medication was prescribed to an adult.
Not a child.
Then Emma looked through the glass doors.
Her face drained of color.
“Daddy…”
Michael was crossing the parking lot.
Fast.
He reached the door.
Locked.
He yanked the handle.
“OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!”
Olivia sobbed.
Daniel immediately moved the girls behind him.
Michael slammed his palm against the glass.
Then something strange happened.
His rage disappeared.
He smiled.
A fake smile.
“Stop being naughty,” he called. “Come home. Now.”
Emma hugged Olivia.
Daniel stepped closer to the glass.
“Mr. Carter, step away from the door.”
Michael looked at him.
“Those are my daughters.”
“They’re staying inside.”
Michael’s eyes hardened.
“You have no idea what you’re doing.”
Daniel looked at the syringe.
“I have some idea.”
Michael slowly reached into his jacket.
Daniel tensed.
Michael pulled out a folded court document.
He pressed it against the glass.
TEMPORARY SOLE CUSTODY ORDER.
Daniel read the heading.
Michael smiled again.
“My wife abducted them once already.”
Emma stared at him.
“That’s a lie!”
Michael’s gaze snapped toward her.
Then back to Daniel.
“My wife is unstable. She coached Emma. She drugged Olivia before she disappeared.”
Daniel frowned.
“Where is your wife?”
Michael’s smile faded.
“Missing.”
Emma whispered:
“No.”
Daniel looked back.
Emma’s eyes were huge.
“Mommy didn’t go missing.”
Michael went pale.
May you like
Emma continued:
“Daddy locked her in the garage.”
