In a tear-streaked, voice-cracking moment that has left an entire province stunned, Daniel Martell, the stepfather of missing six-year-old Lilly and eight-year-old Jack Sullivan, stood on his snow-covered front step yesterday afternoon and issued a public plea that instantly set social media ablaze.

“I’ll do the polygraph right now. Right this minute. Hook me up in the back of a cruiser if you have to,” Martell shouted to a small group of reporters who had gathered after word leaked that he had voluntarily requested the lie-detector test days ago. “I’ve got nothing to hide, and every hour you wait is another hour those babies are cold and scared. Just test me and let me back out there searching!”

The raw, 42-second outburst – captured on multiple phones and viewed more than 400,000 times overnight – has divided Nova Scotia like nothing else in the two-week nightmare. Some are calling Martell a desperate, grieving parent willing to do anything to clear his name and refocus the search. Others are whispering that no innocent person ever begs this loudly for a polygraph unless they have already rehearsed every possible question.

What nobody disputes is the timeline, and it is chilling.

Multiple sources close to the family confirm that Martell first asked RCMP investigators for a polygraph on November 15 – just three days after Lilly and Jack vanished from the home he shared with their mother, Melissa Sullivan, and the children. He reportedly repeated the request on November 18, November 20, and again on November 22, each time allegedly being told, “It’s scheduled soon” or “We’ll let you know.”

Only now, thirteen days into the disappearance and after intense public pressure, have police apparently confirmed that the test will finally take place “within the next few days.”

That delay is what sent Martell over the edge yesterday.

Standing in the same driveway where searchers once parked ATVs and cadaver dogs, Martell – still wearing the same red-and-black flannel shirt he’s had on in every public appearance since Day One – pointed toward the mobile command center 300 yards down the road and screamed: “They’ve had me sitting here doing nothing while my kids are God-knows-where! If they think I had anything to do with this, wire me up and watch the needles stay flat!”

His voice broke on the last word. Then he dropped to his knees in the snow, sobbing uncontrollably as Melissa Sullivan rushed out and pulled him back inside.

The outburst has ignited a firestorm of speculation.

Longtime Brookfield residents remember that Daniel Martell moved in with Melissa and the children only 14 months ago after a whirlwind romance. Some quietly point out that Jack, in particular, had been acting “withdrawn” in the weeks before he vanished, according to one minor hockey parent who asked not to be named. Others counter that Martell was the one who frantically knocked on neighbors’ doors at 10:30 p.m. on November 12, begging them to help search the moment he realized the kids weren’t in their beds.

Yet the polygraph delay has fueled darker theories. Veteran true-crime watchers on private Facebook groups are posting side-by-side photos: Martell calmly smoking on the porch the morning after the disappearance versus yesterday’s meltdown, asking whether the cracks are finally showing.

One retired RCMP polygraph examiner, speaking anonymously to a Halifax radio station, dropped a bombshell that has been shared thousands of times: “If an investigator believes a family member is involved, they will sometimes deliberately delay the polygraph to increase stress and see if the person cracks or changes their story first. It’s a tactic. Not saying that’s what’s happening here… but thirteen days is a very long time to make someone wait when they keep begging for the test.”

Late last night, RCMP issued a terse two-sentence statement: “Polygraph examinations are one of many investigative tools. Scheduling is based on operational requirements.”

They did not explain why a man who says he’s willing to be tested immediately has been left waiting nearly two weeks.

As another Maritimes winter storm barrels in, bringing high winds and a flash-freeze warning, the people of Colchester County are left with a haunting image burned into their minds: a 38-year-old stepfather on his knees in the snow, begging police to prove he didn’t hurt the children he calls “my babies,” while somewhere out in the frozen darkness, two small pairs of boots have left no footprints for almost two weeks.

Tonight, hundreds of porch lights remain on across Nova Scotia in silent vigil. Many of those lights belong to people who now admit they’re not sure whether they’re burning for Lilly and Jack… or to help police see the driveway a little more clearly when they finally come to hook Daniel Martell up to the machine he’s been demanding for thirteen agonizing days.

One way or another, Nova Scotia is about to get answers.

The only question is whose story will fall apart when the needles start dancing.