Chapter 8: The Prescription Trail
While the interviews proceeded, the investigation into the pharmacy record widened. The dispensing pharmacy confirmed that the benzodiazepine oral solution had been filled earlier that afternoon under Michael Carter’s prescribing credentials. The quantity matched a single-patient adult or adolescent dose far exceeding any standard pediatric recommendation for a seven-year-old. No corresponding diagnosis, specialist referral, or prior pediatric prescription for either twin appeared in the linked records available to the hospital and to child services.
Michael Carter’s attorney submitted a written claim that the medication had been intended for legitimate use and that the children had misunderstood a routine parental decision. The claim did not explain the instruction not to tell, the pocket checks, the recovery of the empty syringe from a child’s shoe, or the simultaneous missing-child report that described the girls as having “refused their medicine and wandered off.” Detectives noted the discrepancy and added it to the file.
Daniel’s original report and the station camera footage of the girls’ arrival were formally entered into the investigative package. The timestamp proved they had reached the station and requested protection before the father’s missing-child call was even logged. That sequence undercut any later assertion that the girls had been removed from parental care without cause.
