Chapter 10 - The Confrontation Begins
After Rhett had eaten a snack and agreed to sit with the support specialist for a few more minutes, Deputy Mills asked to speak with me in an adjacent office.
My parents and sister were waiting there.
My mother, Delphine, wore a bright floral resort cover-up over a blue swimsuit. Her sunglasses were pushed on top of her head. My father, Roland, sat beside her in a golf shirt and sandals, his face flushed with irritation. Isolde stood near the wall, checking her phone.
None of them looked like people who had spent the afternoon desperately searching for a lost child. They looked like vacationers delayed by an inconvenient administrative process.
My mother stood when I entered. “This has gone far enough, Bri.”
Deputy Mills raised one hand. “Mrs. Kessler, please remain seated.”
She looked offended by the instruction but lowered herself back into the chair.
My father spoke first. “Rhett is fine. We all agree the situation should have been handled differently, but your mother did not intend for this to become such a production.”
I looked at him. “Did you leave the park knowing Rhett was still inside the restroom?”
His eyes shifted toward my mother. “It was a group decision.”
“That is not an answer.”
“We believed he would be assisted.”
“Did you know he was still there?”
“Yes,” my mother interrupted. “We knew. There was no mystery about it.”
The deputy turned toward her. “You knowingly departed without the child?”
“We went back to the resort for lunch.”
“How did you expect him to locate you?”
“He had a phone number on his backpack.”
My mother said it with complete confidence, as though my emergency card had been permission for her to leave.
Deputy Mills stared at her for a moment. “That card was intended to help if an accidental separation occurred.”
“And it worked,” she replied.
May you like
The room became silent. My mother had always relied on certainty. She delivered every explanation as though tone alone could turn it into truth.
But official rooms did not operate by her rules.
