My jaw tightened until my teeth ached. Something white-hot ignited in my chest. I couldn’t let it out. Not yet.

“Document everything. High-resolution photographs, evidentiary file.”

I stepped into the corridor and dialed Miller’s direct line.

“Miller.” He’d barely picked up. “The hospital just confirmed my father has been restrained with zip-ties for nearly a week. You ignored physical evidence of long-term elder abuse standing in your own lobby.”

He started to stammer an excuse. I didn’t give him the oxygen.

“Listen carefully, officer. You are in violation of mandatory state and federal elder abuse reporting requirements. If you don’t preserve the evidence at that house and file an accurate revised report in the next ten minutes, I escalate to Internal Affairs and the District Attorney.