“I’m pulling the signed records from the municipal archives right now,” Ruth said.

At three o’clock, caseworker Sarah Vance sat across a little round table from Emily in the family services interview room on Monroe Street.

Emily had on a pale blue sweater that came down past her wrists, her hands hidden inside the sleeves as she twirled the frayed left ear of her gray stuffed rabbit.

“Emily,” Sarah said gently, setting a yellow box of crayons next to a pad of plain white paper.

“The officers found a little plastic switch inside the wall beside your bedroom door.”