Felix came around the corner in sweatpants, half-awake. “What the heck is this?”
“We’d like to come inside,” Officer Phil said, eyes steady.
“We need to talk.”
“You can’t just barge in here,” Felix said, stepping between us.
Officer Mason spoke for the first time.
“Sir, this is related to an active missing person case. The bracelet matches a piece of evidence filed under your daughter’s name. She disappeared on the 17th of May, ten years ago.”
“That’s not evidence,” Felix snapped. “It’s junk. It’s circumstantial —”
“You can’t just barge in here.”
“Sir,” Officer Phil interrupted, calm but firm. “We’re going to need you to step outside. This conversation will be easier if we separate you both.”
My heart dropped. “Wait, what? Why would —”
“Please,” Phil said gently, turning to me. “Where is the bracelet right now?”
I pointed to the table, where I’d laid it carefully the night before. Mason picked it up with gloved hands and placed it in an evidence bag.
“Where is the bracelet right now?”
“It was logged in the original file,” Phil explained. “Your daughter was confirmed to be wearing it when she vanished.”
“But how did you know who I was?”
“That stall’s been on our radar,” Phil said. “Stolen property. When my guy saw the bracelet, he called it in — then the vendor sold it to you before we could grab it.”
“That stall’s been on our radar.”
