My husband pushed me down the stairs, and as I lay shattered at the bottom, my mother-in-law called my father and said, “Come get your worthless daughter and take her back.” Dad gave her only one warning: “If she has so much as a scratch, your family will answer for it.” They laughed at him because they had absolutely no idea who my father truly was.

A technical review would determine which files still existed and whether any had been altered.

Detective Ortiz called to explain that process to me.

“We need the original files and the system records.

A copy sent by a family member would be a starting point, not the whole answer.”

“How long?”

“I can’t promise a date.

I can promise we’re asking the right questions.”

Meanwhile, I attended appointments with a trauma counselor named Dr.