Detectives did that, and a forensic interviewer did that, and a lab did that, and an assistant county attorney named Laura Montgomery did more of it than anybody.

What I did was believe a seven-year-old for eleven minutes, write down what she said in her own words, put a piece of plastic in a bag and write the time on it, and decline to open a door.

People have called that heroism.

It is not.

It is the job, done at the ordinary level, on a day when it mattered.

The thing that keeps me up is not what I did that Thursday.