“What if I say it and nobody believes me?” And I thought of a crowded bus, and angry strangers, and how close I had come to pulling her down those steps.

“Then you say it again, louder,” I told her.

“And you keep saying it, louder and louder, until you find someone who listens.

And I promise you that I will always be someone who listens.” Months later the case went to trial, and the mountain of it spoke for itself: the recorded threats, the one-dollar transfer with its written extortion, the forged note, the rental receipt, Stephanie’s texts, Colette’s testimony, Raymond’s confession, Renata’s phone.

And Abigail’s deposition, taken with a child psychologist so she never had to sit in that room — her small clear voice coming through the speaker: First he needs the mother’s signature, and then the kid can be taken later. I closed my eyes and wept, because those words no longer sounded like a frightened child.