Go make everyone comfortable.
Go prove you’re the reliable one.
I looked at the folder again.
“No,” I said.
Officer Daniels watched me.
“I care about them,” I added.
“But if I take over now, my family will use that to prove they were right to leave them expecting me to show up.
I won’t help them rewrite what happened.”
He gave a small nod and wrote something down.
That was when my phone began vibrating across the table.
Mom.
Again.
Officer Daniels glanced at the screen.
“You don’t have to answer.”
“I know.”
The call stopped.
Immediately, another began.
Ryan.
I turned the phone facedown.
The officer asked whether there were other relatives able to take the children safely.
I gave him my parents’ names.
His pen paused.
“Your mother already called.”
I stared at him.
“What did she say?”
“That this was a family misunderstanding.”
Of course she did.
The same phrase people use when the truth sounds worse than the excuse.
“What misunderstanding?” I asked.
“She said everyone assumed you would help because you always had before.”
I felt something cold settle inside me.
“That isn’t an assumption,” I said.
“Not after I said no.”
“No,” Officer Daniels replied.
“It isn’t.”
He didn’t need to say more.
An hour later, I was still at the station when Ryan and Madison arrived.
I knew they were there before I saw them because I heard Ryan’s voice in the hallway.
“This is ridiculous.
Where’s my sister?”
A second voice told him to lower his volume.
Madison spoke next.
“She was supposed to be there.”
I closed my eyes.
There it was.
Not Are the kids okay?
Not We made a terrible mistake.
She was supposed to be there.
Officer Daniels looked toward the door, then back at me.
“You said you don’t want contact with them right now?”
“Correct.”
He stepped outside.
Ryan’s voice became louder.
“Ask her! Olivia always watches them.”
Then Officer Daniels said something too quiet for me to hear.
Silence followed.
