The little girl hadn’t spoken since the night her mother was found on the kitchen floor! Then the court dog lowered his head-and she whispered one sentence toward the defense table…

spoke to her first, using a voice that belonged less to the bench than to a grandmother at a kitchen table.

“Lily, my name is Judge Whitcomb. Do you know where you are?”

Lily rubbed Boone’s ear between two fingers and did not answer.

“That’s all right,” the judge said. “You don’t have to look at me. You can talk to Boone if that helps.”

Lily leaned toward continue reading …