Harris opened the final envelope.
Inside was a court document.
His eyes moved across the page.
Then he whispered:
“This isn’t just a custody case.”
His partner frowned.
“What is it?”
Harris turned the document around.
At the top was a restraining order.
The protected parties were the mother and her children.
The respondent was the twins’ father.
And beneath his name was a photograph.
The same man from the mother’s picture.
Harris stared at it.
Then his radio crackled.
“Unit Twelve, we have an update from the hospital.”
Harris grabbed the radio.
“Go ahead.”
“The mother is conscious.”
Harris exhaled.
“Can she speak?”
A pause.
Then the dispatcher said:
“She asked for her daughter.”
Harris closed the blue box.
“Tell the hospital we’re coming.”
He took one final look at the photograph.
The man in it wasn’t simply the twins’ father.
He was someone the officers already knew.
