Then phones came out.
Wren looked down and started wiping at the badge with both hands, frantic but silent, as if speed alone could undo what had happened.
I was already moving toward Chloe when the speakers shrieked.
Phones came out.
Feedback ripped through the gym.
Everyone turned.
Susan was standing at the DJ table with a microphone in one shaking hand. Her face had gone pale.
“Chloe,” she said. “Do you even know who that policeman is to you?”
Chloe blinked, laughing once in disbelief. “Mom, what are you doing?”
“He would not be ashamed of her.” She paused. “He would be ashamed of you.”
“Do you even know who that policeman is to you?”
Chloe’s smile started to falter. “What are you talking about?”
“You were little, you don’t remember, and I never told you what happened because I wanted to protect you,” Susan said. “I never wanted you to know how close we came to losing you. There was an accident. You were in the back seat. I couldn’t get to you because the door was crushed.”
The room leaned in.
“The car was smoking. They told me later it could have caught fire any second.” Her voice shook. “He didn’t wait. He broke the window and pulled you out with his bare hands. You were screaming. He just kept saying, ‘You’re safe now. You’re safe now.'”
“I never told you what happened.”
Then she pointed.
At Wren.
At the badge.
“I recognized the badge number the moment I saw it. That officer was the man who pulled you out of that car.”
Chloe stared at her mother. “No.”
