My pulse was seventy-two beats a minute, steady and even under my skin.

At a quarter to two, the heavy oak doors at the rear of Courtroom 3B swung open.

Mrs.

Gable, the child advocate, came down the carpeted center aisle with a green folder under her arm.

Sophie walked next to her in her dark blue velvet coat, holding her gray stuffed rabbit by its left ear.

Grant sat up straight in his chair and put on his familiar warm expression as Sophie came in.

Sophie didn’t look over at her father’s table.