Chapter 7
The interview was set for Thursday at nine, same courtroom, but they put me in a witness room down the hall so I wouldn't be in the hallway when they brought Lexi in. Patel had told me Judge Whitaker did these in-camera talks in chambers, not on the bench, with only the guardian ad litem present and the court reporter. No parents. No lawyers. I sat on a vinyl chair that was bolted to the floor and watched the clock over the door tick.
Diane Keller arrived first. She was the guardian ad litem, mid-fifties, short hair, a navy cardigan with a pin shaped like a small silver feather. She'd done the home visits the week before, had seen the air mattress at Daniel's apartment and the blank wall where Lexi's bedding should have been. She knocked lightly on the witness room door even though it was open.
"She's here," she said. "Bailiff's walking her in now. You doing okay?"
I nodded. My hands were on my belly. Seven months and a week now, and Lexi had asked the night before if the baby could hear her through my sweater. I could feel the tightening around the bottom of my ribs whenever I got nervous.
"I told her it would be short," I said. "And that Ms. Keller and the judge just wanted to hear how school was."
"That's exactly right," Diane said. "Judge Whitaker is good at this. She won't push."
In the hall I heard a door open and a small voice. Lexi's sneakers squeaked. I didn't get up. Patel had been clear I should not come out and wave or call to her. Daniel wasn't in the hallway either. Yates had kept him in the attorney conference room at the other end. I heard the courtroom doors close softly and then Diane slipped out and closed my door halfway, like she was giving me privacy without fully shutting me in.
I waited forty-two minutes. I counted the tiles, I drank the water from the paper cup they gave me, I texted Patel that I was still in the witness room even though she already knew. At one point the bailiff walked past and gave me a short nod. The air conditioner rattled.
When Diane came back, she didn't come straight in. She knocked again and stood in the doorway. Her face was even.
"She did well," she said. "Really well. Judge let her draw while they talked. She talked about the bedroom, about the photos."
My throat got tight. "Did she say where they were taken?"
Diane nodded once. "In living room, she said. Daddy's phone. She said Kelsey took some of them. She didn't like it, Emma. She said she hid under the blanket when they laughed."
I felt my eyes sting and I pressed my palm harder against my side where the baby was kicking.
"She said she told you she didn't want to go back on Sunday nights," Diane added quietly. "Judge asked her what she wanted to happen now. She said she wanted to stay with you and not have pictures taken anymore."
Patel came down the hall then, holding her legal pad. She looked at Diane, then at me, and I knew they'd already spoken in the hall for thirty seconds before Diane came to me.
Judge Whitaker didn't call us back into the courtroom. She sent her clerk out with a minute order. Keller read it aloud to us in the witness room doorway. Lexi's statements were consistent with the context of the sealed photographs in Exhibit One, the clerk said, and corroborated that the child experienced distress related to the father's residence. No finding on abuse yet, but enough to move the case forward. Judge Whitaker was ordering a full custody evaluation with Dr. Susan Park, a licensed psychologist, and continuing temporary primary custody with me. Daniel's visits remained supervised at the exchange center.
"Lexi's back with her grandmother in the lobby," the clerk said. "Judge said you can go out the side hall so you don't pass each other."
I stood up slowly and Diane handed me my purse.
"Thank you for not making her do this in open court," I said. My voice was lower than I meant it to be.
May you like
Diane touched my forearm. "You protected her well today. Both the photos and this. That envelope stays sealed until Dr. Park and the judge decide how to use it."
I walked the side hall with Patel. My shoes were quiet on the linoleum. At the end, near the stairwell, I could hear Lexi laughing once, a short, nervous laugh, and my mother's voice answering her. I didn't turn to look, because I knew if I saw her I'd start crying and she would too.
