He had hidden the camera inside the bear after Julian forbade him from using it during “adult conversations.”

The judge did not call Noah back into the public hearing.

Instead, she considered the child advocate’s report and permitted counsel to question the advocate about her methods.

That arrangement spared Noah the spectacle of his parents testing his memory like a faulty machine.

Julian’s attorney argued that his client had been trying to prepare a young child for difficult questions.

There was a narrow truth inside that defense: children should know what to expect in a new place.