“This automated log proves the central office kept the trunk line open for eight minutes after the handset fell.”

“A judge is going to want more than dispatch paperwork,” Ruth said.

“Then we hand him the child’s own record,” Claire said.

At nine the next morning, the sun was already falling across the blue linoleum floor of the secure visiting room on Monroe Street.

Caseworker Sarah Vance sat at the low wooden play table as eight-year-old Emily Miller drew with a blue crayon.

Emily kept her gray stuffed rabbit tucked under her left arm, its frayed ear lying flat against her shoulder.