I returned home from deployment three weeks ahead of schedule to surprise my husband and our four-year-old daughter

For a moment, it seemed as if the entire room tilted around me.

“No.”

“Did you sign any document granting Patricia Nolan authority to relocate Lily outside Virginia?”

“No.”

“Did you ever agree to surrender your parental rights?”

An icy sensation spread through my chest.

“Absolutely not.”

Officer Bell slipped the document into an evidence sleeve.

“Then we have a serious problem.”

My phone call with Derek was still connected.

For the first time since our conversation had started, he was no longer yelling.

He was simply listening.

“Derek,” I said, struggling to keep my voice controlled, “why is there a document claiming I gave your mother custody of our daughter?”

A long, heavy silence followed.

Then he finally spoke.

“You weren’t supposed to find that.”

I turned toward Officer Bell.

He had heard those words just as clearly as I had.

“What did you just say?” I demanded.