Officer Reynolds smiled warmly, pointing lightly at the badge on his chest. “I am, and you can tell by this and by my uniform. I am here to help.”
She nodded slowly, as though confirming something important in her own mind. Her tiny hands twisted together, and she took a deep breath that sounded far too heavy for someone her size.
“I did something very bad,” she said, tears spilling over again as her voice cracked.
“That is okay,” he replied calmly, never raising his voice. “You can tell me what happened.”
She hesitated, then looked up at him with pure fear in her eyes. “Will you put me in jail,” she asked. “Because bad people go to jail.”
Officer Reynolds paused, choosing his words carefully. “That depends on what happened, but you are safe here, and you are not in trouble for telling the truth.”
That was all it took for the dam to break. The little girl burst into sobs, clutching at her mother’s leg as if the ground beneath her might disappear.
“I hurt my baby brother,” she cried. “I hit his leg when I was mad, really hard, and now he has a big bruise. I think he is going to die, and it is my fault. Please do not put me in jail.”