PART 14

When the charges against Dolores were announced, I read the news in my car outside a grocery store.

Prosecutors had filed allegations related to child abuse and reckless endangerment; the case would proceed through the courts, where the evidence could be tested.

Dolores disputed the allegations.

I wanted a sentence that would make everything simple: she did it, we had saved Piper, the story was over.

But the legal system moved by hearings, records, motions, and witness interviews.