Emily reached over and twirled the frayed left ear of her stuffed rabbit.

“Is my dad coming over to the house today?” Emily asked.

“No, sweetheart,” Sarah said.

“There are officers at the house right now.”

At one o’clock, Assistant State Attorney Mark Vance laid his fountain pen on top of a thick manila folder.

Officer María López stood at the window that looked down on the county courthouse parking lot, her shoulder radio clip catching the afternoon sun.

“Pendelton’s filing an emergency bail motion at two thirty,” Mark said.