But my son had told her.
Before I arrived.
He had told an adult he trusted that he was having trouble breathing after being hurt, and she had known that before she ever took my phone.
I looked at her.
She did not deny it.
She did not crouch beside him.
She did not ask him another question.
She tightened her grip on my phone and said, “He was crying. Kids say things when they’re upset.”
That sentence changed the room for me.
It meant this was not simply a disagreement about what to do after I arrived.
She had already made a decision before I walked in.
