Amanda called, her voice electric: “Turn on Channel 5.

Now.” The screen showed a chaotic scene outside a courthouse annex — cruisers, a CPS van, and a cluster of microphones, and standing at them, gaunt and shaking but clear-eyed, was Bernadette.

Chapter 24 — On the Record

“My name is Bernadette Dorsey,” she said, her voice cracking but carrying over the wind.

“I came in this morning with a caseworker and two detectives, and I gave a statement.

My husband has been hurting my daughter.