Chapter 12 - The Detective
At six-thirty, a tall man in a dark suit tapped on the open glass door of Room 4.
"Mrs. Vance?"
I turned away from the bed, wiping my face with the back of my hand. "Yes?"
"I'm Detective Vance with the Travis County Sheriff's Office," he said, holding up a badge.
"I need to ask you some questions about what happened at your home today."
My chest tightened instantly. "Questions?"
"It's standard protocol when a child suffers a life-threatening event or cardiac arrest at home," he explained smoothly.
He pulled a small notepad from his jacket pocket.
"The paramedics noted that Leo was found on the front porch in extreme heat."
"Can you walk me through the timeline of the afternoon?"
I looked at Leo's still form in the bed, the hiss of the ventilator filling the quiet room.
I could lie. I could say he snuck outside while I was in the bathroom.
I could say the door malfunctioned, that the lock jammed.
I looked at the detective's calm, observant eyes, and the weight of my cowardice crushed me.
"He was having a tantrum," I said, my voice barely above a whisper.
"I put him on the porch for a five-minute timeout."
Detective Vance wrote that down without expression. "Was the front door locked?"
"Yes."
"Did he have access to his rescue inhaler while on the porch?"
May you like
I swallowed hard, the taste of copper filling my mouth.
"No," I whispered. "I took it away from him."
