Great part, Wendy. And great story, so far. I've been eagerly anticipating each new section, even though I've been totally delinquent in commenting. You've captured the emotions of the characters so perfectly and you've shown the evolution of their relationship seamlessly and flawlessly, even though it has occured over the course of just one day. It's amazing what sharing a traumatic experience does to people and how it affects their thinking and I think you're capturing that perfectly.
One thing you might want to keep in mind for the police plotline - cops can entire private property without a search warrant in the US if they do so either under exigent circumstances or to obtain evanescent evidence, both of which may apply to this case. A cop can entire a private building in hot pursuit of a dangerous suspect, or when he or she has reason to believe that someone is in danger and needs immediate assistance. If delaying would create a substantial public danger, the cop doesn't need to waste time getting a warrant. The second issue, evanescent evidence, is also in play here because of the immediate need to seize and analyze any chemicals found to try to match the poison.
Even if a really great lawyer managed to get the results of the warantless search tossed out, there's no way Henderson would get into trouble for his actions because they are clearly in good faith and more than reasonable. As an Inspector (which is actually a very high police rank - above Captain), Henderson would no doubt know all of this. I hope this is useful, and more importantly, I can't wait for more!
