Chapter 2 - NINETY-FIVE DEGREES
Emma’s heart rhythm became unstable in the ambulance.
The paramedic cut away part of her shirt to reach the monitor leads. One adhesive patch had been moved from its correct position. Another was barely attached.
“Was the device tampered with?” I asked.
“I can’t answer yet.”
He placed cooling packs near Emma’s neck and under her arms.
Her small hand found two fingers of mine.
“Don’t leave.”
“I’m right here.”
At Mercy Children’s Hospital, Dr. Miriam Patel ordered fluids, cardiac monitoring, bloodwork, and an immediate medication-level test.
Emma had congenital long-QT syndrome. Heat, dehydration, stress, and missed medication could trigger a lethal arrhythmia.
Diana knew that.
Her facility had received a complete medical plan.
Internal Affairs reached the hospital before the test results.
Captain Elise Morgan entered the consultation room with a county attorney and a state investigator.
I had expected them.
Mrs. Gable’s phone had captured the slap.
So had a security camera above Diana’s porch.
“Robert,” Morgan said, “you need to surrender your badge and duty weapon pending investigation.”
I looked toward Emma’s room.
“You’re suspending me now?”
“You struck a civilian after the child was no longer in her control.”
“Diana chained my daughter outside.”
“And that will be investigated separately.”
The sentence angered me because it was correct.
I removed my badge.
Then my weapon.
Morgan sealed both inside an evidence bag.
“You may remain with Emma as her father. You are not acting as sheriff.”
The distinction cut deeper than I expected.
Diana arrived at another hospital with a bruised cheek and no serious injury.
Her attorney filed a complaint alleging assault, unlawful property destruction, and abuse of official power.
She also produced an emergency placement order claiming Emma had been placed in her custody for seventy-two hours because I abandoned her during a law-enforcement crisis.
I had signed no such order.
I had signed a one-night medical-respite agreement with Cedar County Family Support after a barricaded gunman kept me on duty for twenty hours.
Emma was supposed to stay at the licensed Hopewell Respite Center.
No private residence was listed.
Dr. Patel returned with the first results.
Emma’s prescribed beta-blocker level was nearly absent.
“She missed at least two doses,” Patel said.
“The medication went with her.”
“The bottle is not among the belongings delivered by ambulance.”
I called Hopewell.
Their director said Emma never arrived.
County records showed she had been transferred directly to Diana Harrington under a judicial authorization issued at 2:13 that morning.
The order bore my electronic signature.
It also contained a note:
FATHER REQUESTS STRICT BEHAVIORAL COMPLIANCE DUE TO CHILD’S MANIPULATIVE USE OF CARDIAC SYMPTOMS.
I stared at the screen.
I had never described my daughter that way.
Then Dr. Patel opened the monitor’s event log.
The first cardiac alarm had begun at 1:06 p.m.
Someone silenced it manually.
May you like
The second alarm began only when I entered the yard.
Diana had ignored the first warning for nearly three hours.
