“Or trying to frighten you.”

“Can you find Marlene?”

“We’re working on it.”

That afternoon I drove Piper to her first therapy appointment.

I sat in the waiting room with a child’s puzzle on my lap, unable to finish a single corner.

When her therapist, Dr.

Leila Morgan, came out, she didn’t tell me what Piper had said in the room.

She simply said Piper was beginning to feel safe enough to talk and that we should avoid pressing her for details.