Chapter 21: Sit Down

The hearing room smelled of floor wax and wet wool, and it was full.

I sat at the table on the left with my lawyer and the folder.

Brad sat on the right with his lawyer, in a suit that did not fit him anymore.

He had lost weight in five weeks.

Nolan sat in the second row of the gallery with my sister, and his forearm was still taped.

Behind them, in a gray coat, sat Mona.

Brad had turned when she came in, and she had held his eyes until he looked away.

The judge was a gray-haired woman with a dry, unhurried voice.

"I have read the filings," she said. "I have read the mediator's notes."

"I have also read the report of the child advocate who met Junie Althouse on Tuesday."

My stomach tightened.

"Mr. Althouse's request that I interview the child alone is denied," the judge said.

"A seven-year-old is not a witness. I will not make her one."

I breathed.

"The advocate's report says that Junie wants to live with her mother."

"It also says she wants to keep seeing her half-brother. I will come back to that."

She folded her hands.

"Mr. Althouse, I'm going to ask you a few plain questions myself. You are under oath."

Brad stood.

"Yes, Your Honor."

"When did your relationship with Mrs. Rohrer begin?"

His lawyer shifted.