My husband snapped, “She’s seven. She’s confused.”
The officer told him to stop speaking to her.
Paramedics lifted Dad onto a stretcher. As they carried him out, something slipped from his jacket and landed on the floor.
His phone.
The screen was still lit.
An officer picked it up, looked at it, then looked directly at my husband.
“Sir, don’t move.”
My husband stopped talking.
I asked what was wrong.
The officer turned the phone so I could see the screen.
Then he said, “Ma’am, your father was already connected to 911 before he came through that door.”
Part 2
For a moment, I couldn’t understand what the officer had just told me.
My father had called 911 before he entered the bedroom.
That meant he hadn’t simply stumbled into a terrible situation. He had heard something, seen something, or feared something serious enough to call for help before he ever crossed that doorway.