Michael heard him through the glass.
“You can’t take them without me,” he shouted.
Daniel stepped closer to the door but did not unlock it.
“The children requested protection,” he said. “Medical care comes first.”
Michael lifted his phone as though the screen could command the room.
“I have the prescription.”
Emma rose behind the desk.
Daniel turned, but she was already pointing at the backpack in Michael’s hand.
“There’s another one in the front pocket,” she said.
Michael looked down.
That was the second mistake.
His first had been assuming the girls would stay silent.
His second was confirming, with one glance, that Emma knew exactly what was inside the bag.
Daniel requested that Michael set the backpack on the ground.
Michael refused.
Another officer arrived through the side entrance and joined Daniel in the lobby.
Only then did Daniel open the outer side door, keeping the main entrance locked.
Michael took one step backward toward the SUV.
The station camera captured the time.
4:24 p.m.
He tried to push the backpack through the open vehicle window.
The second officer stopped him before he could.
There was no chase.
There was no struggle.
There was only a wet backpack placed on the station counter while Michael stood several feet away, breathing hard and insisting that everything inside belonged to him.
Daniel wore gloves before opening the front pocket.
He found a second empty oral syringe wrapped in a paper towel.
Inside the towel was half of a torn pharmacy label.
The patient name was missing.
The transaction number was not.
Daniel matched the remaining digits to the record already printed beside the first sealed syringe.
The label did not belong to Olivia.
Megan looked up from the stretcher.
“Who was it prescribed for?”
Daniel turned the page.
The order had been issued under Michael’s credential, but the patient field listed an adult.
Not either child.
Michael began talking faster.
He said the pharmacy had made a packaging error.
He said he had used a safe household amount.
He said Olivia was dramatic.
He said Emma copied everything her sister did.
Each explanation created a new question.
