Chapter Forty-Four
The dead air in the box-like room of Courtroom 101 in Sequim rivaled that of a dry summer day. Maggie recognized the social worker and deputies who’d been at the house to take Ryley sitting in the courtroom. Harper whispered to her and Richard that the chief counsel for Children’s Services was Cliff Roberts and that the proceedings had been facilitated by that department.
The court clerk announced the docket and the arrival of the judge. Both Richard and Maggie stood beside Harper Lee and faced Judge Cooper, a woman with long dark hair threaded with gray, possibly in her early fifties.
The judge scanned the room with a dour expression. “I have in front of me a motion to take the said child, Ryley McCafferty, into custody. Are you the parents?”
Harper spoke for them.
