“Good.”

He rested the puppy against his chest and leaned back in the chair.

For a few minutes, he looked like a tired child waiting for adults to finish their work.

That was what he should have been allowed to be all along.

The Vermont officers verified the location information and coordinated the legal and operational basis for their response.

Any required court authorization and emergency decisions belonged to them, grounded in the information they could establish.

It was not an order I could produce by calling it a wellness check.