He pointed a shaking finger directly at my face.

“Are you accusing me of hurting her?” I asked.

Daniel lowered his hand and stepped away from the middle of the hall.

He smoothed the lapels of his dark gray jacket, looking directly at Officer Carter instead of me.

“I just need to know what you were doing while my daughter was chewing on metal,” Daniel said, his voice dropping to that calm, reasonable register he saved for public arguments.

His shirt was crisp beneath the jacket.