Behind the counter, Junia had pressed both her palms over Livia’s ears.

Cordell did not go to the lock.

He picked up the desk phone instead and told dispatch, calmly, that the parent named in the missing-child call was now at the station and that he had two children requesting protection inside, and he asked them to note the time.

Then he faced the glass.

The man held up his phone as though it were a badge.

“I’m Dr.