Grant’s recorded voice came out of the overhead speakers, clear and loud enough to reach the empty back row.

“Let’s practice one more time before we go into the building, Sophie,” Grant’s recorded voice said.

No one in the room moved or said a word.

“Tell me what you’re going to say to the lady in the blue dress,” the recorded voice went on.

There was a three-second pause on the tape, filled only with the faint hum of Grant’s car engine in the background.

“I tell her Mommy stays in her room and cries all day,” Sophie’s recorded voice answered through the speaker.