I looked at the marks on her wrists and smoothed her hair.

“Not unless a judge says it’s safe,” I told her. “You’re protected now. Nobody is going to hurt you again.”

She pressed her face into my jacket. “She told me nobody would believe me. She called me a liar.”

Detective Davies stepped forward from the hallway, her expression hardening.

I kept my voice flat and certain so my daughter could lean on it.

“Everyone believed you tonight,” I said. “Mrs. McDaniel believed you. The police believed you. The doctors believed you. And I will always believe you.”