“We do,” Sarah said. “But they will try to say Grace did that to herself.”

I looked down at my hands.

The skin around my wrists was still pink and raw.

“I will testify,” I said.

Leo turned around to look at me.

“Grace, you don’t have to put yourself through that,” he said.

“Yes, I do,” I said.

“I want them to look at me while I tell the judge what they did.”

Sarah nodded slowly, her expression grim.

“It won’t be easy,” Sarah said. “Their lawyer will be vicious.”

“I don’t care,” I said.

Three days later, we were discharged from the hospital.

Leo drove us to a small, furnished apartment on the north side of town.

It was far away from the tree-lined streets where Josephine lived.

The apartment smelled of fresh paint and carpet cleaner.

It was small, but it was safe.

Every night, Leo locked the deadbolt and placed a wooden chair under the handle.

Every night, I woke up sweating, thinking I heard Josephine’s footsteps in the hall.

The week of the preliminary hearing arrived with a sudden snowstorm.