“The cheek swab that was submitted to the DNA laboratory, under Mateo’s name,” she said, into the appalled silence, “did not come from Mateo’s mouth.”

Arthur took a slow, unsteady step toward her.

“Then whose swab was it, Carmen?”

And Carmen’s voice trembled — not with fear, but with a righteous fury she had clearly been holding for a very long time.

“It came from Maya,” she said.

“From your six-year-old daughter.”