2 chapters
All chapters tagged with Bruises
A message arrives from Tara. Dramatic, accusatory, the kind of thing she sends often enough that it reads like noise. The phrase about leaving her daughter is a warning. Steve doesn't recognize it yet.
During Visit 15, Steve and two other adults discover bruises on Evie consistent with deliberate injury. Both parents report the bruises as concerning. Tara tells the Attorney for the Child. Steve tells his attorneys, and then the police. Within ten days, the story migrates three times — from concerning to normal to "utterly untrue" — and the court accepts the final version. Months later, Tara's own attorney recuses from the case.