12/01/2025
I wasn’t expecting anyone that evening, so when I opened the door and saw two police officers, my stomach dropped.
“This can’t be right,” I managed to say, but one of them simply shook his head.
“Ma’am, your daughter contacted us,” he said.
I turned around. Emma was standing in the hallway, crying, her hands trembling.
“Mom,” she said between sobs, “I need to tell you something…...When I answered the knock, two police officers stood on my porch. Their uniforms looked too crisp against the fading orange sky. “This can’t be right,” I said, half laughing, half trembling. But one of them—tall, fair-haired, with a calm professional tone—shook his head. “Ma’am, your daughter reached out to us.”
For a moment, the world tilted. My hand still rested on the doorknob as I turned toward the living room. Emma stood there, twelve years old, clutching her stuffed rabbit. Her eyes were red and swollen. “Mom,” she whispered, “I have to tell you something…”
The room seemed to shrink. My pulse thudded in my ears. “Sweetheart, what’s going on?” I asked, stepping closer, but the officer raised a hand gently. “Maybe let her speak.”
Emma’s voice cracked as she spoke, “You said not to talk about what happened… but I had to.” My knees nearly gave out. “Emma—what did you tell them?” I demanded, but her tears only came harder.
The officer cleared his throat. “Mrs. Collins, your daughter called our department early this afternoon. She reported something about your husband—Mr. Daniel Collins.” I froze. My husband was supposed to be at work in Seattle until Friday.
“I don’t understand,” I said. “What about Daniel?”
The younger officer exchanged a look with his partner. “She said she saw him hurt someone.”
The silence that followed was unbearable. A passing car’s headlights sliced across the room, flashing over family photos—Daniel and Emma at the beach, us at Thanksgiving. My throat felt like sandpaper. “That’s impossible,” I muttered. “My husband wouldn’t—he’s a doctor, for God’s sake.”
But Emma was shaking uncontrollably now, her words spilling through sobs. “It was in the garage, Mom. Last night. I heard noises. I saw blood on his hands.”
Every piece of me wanted to deny it, to shout that it was a misunderstanding. Yet I remembered how Daniel had come home late, irritable, his sleeves rolled up, the faint smell of metal clinging to him. I’d dismissed it as exhaustion.
The officer stepped forward. “We need to ask you some questions, ma’am. May we come in?”
I opened my mouth but no words came. Behind me, Emma reached for my hand. I felt it trembling in mine.
And that was how it began—the night my perfect life split open at the seams..... Watch: [in comment] - Made with AI