Part 6
Rachel pushed her sister’s wheelchair through the side entrance while Ellie walked beside them. The little girl wore overalls with a stitched cherry on one knee and shoes that blinked blue beneath each heel. Dana followed with a folder under her arm, then realized she had brought it from habit and had no reason to open it.
Ranger was waiting near the front of Courtroom 2C. Ellie spotted him before anyone could announce that they had arrived.
She hurried down the aisle. Ranger folded his legs before she reached him, and she wrapped herself against the ruff below his ears. His tail tapped the floor as his handler waited for her to let go.
Judge Bell approached in a cardigan and ordinary shoes. She eased herself down onto one knee beside them, taking care with the movement. Ellie looked past her toward the witness stand.
“Can I stay down here?”
“Right here is fine,” the judge said. “I’ve brought you something.”
Someone in the clerk’s office had made a keepsake certificate on thick paper, with a gold seal and a green ribbon. Ellie’s name appeared beneath the words FOR COURAGE.
Ellie touched the ribbon. The judge placed the paper in her hands.
“You get to keep it.”
Ellie looked at Ranger before looking back up. “Where’s his paper?”
The bailiff came forward with a smaller certificate, a paw print stamped along its lower edge. Ranger’s handler attached it to his vest for a photograph, and the people gathered around Bethany’s wheelchair applauded gently.
Ellie held her certificate higher so the camera could see it. She didn’t shrink from the clapping.
Ortiz approached afterward with a stuffed German Shepherd. A turquoise ribbon was tied beneath its pointed ears. He told Ellie Ranger had sent the gift, and she inspected the toy before turning an incredulous look on the real dog.
“But he hasn’t got money pockets.”
Ortiz’s grave expression gave way. “That’s the part I was useful for.”
Ellie laughed, a quick, surprised giggle that made her mother bring her right hand to her mouth. Dana heard it while she was standing near the rail. She looked toward Bethany and found her smiling through tears, watching her daughter hold the toy up for Ranger to inspect.
For once, nobody needed to ask Ellie anything. She continued laughing at the idea of the dog needing somebody else’s pockets, and Dana let herself listen.
In the weeks that followed, Grant’s attorneys contested the charges. The payment trail and communications gave prosecutors the evidence to obtain Derek’s indictment. The prosecution continued building its case from records and physical evidence.
Ellie’s drawings and statements were preserved. Han and Cho successfully argued for limits on further demands for her testimony, and the court accepted the need to protect her from repeated appearances.
Ranger resumed his work. Children mailed him pictures, uneven hearts, and cards bearing painted paw prints. A box of tennis balls reached the police department with a handwritten address identifying him as the dog who helped the little girl.
His handler saved the cards in a drawer until there wasn’t room for them all. A few went up above Ranger’s kennel, where the dog continued sleeping between assignments, unaware of the attention his patience had earned.
Dana kept the drawing with the purple flower in her office. On difficult days, she noticed where Ellie had pressed the crayon so hard it had almost pierced the paper. Before opening the next file, she glanced at the girl standing beside the dog, a flower in her hand.
Bethany’s recovery took longer than any visit or ceremony. First she walked a little farther with help; later she managed short distances by herself. Speech became easier, though fatigue still shortened her sentences. Memories of the attack arrived in pieces, and some days she had no wish to examine them.
Ellie learned that her mother could be home and still need rest. Bethany learned when leaving a hall light on helped her daughter sleep. On quiet afternoons at Rachel’s, they sat together on the porch, sharing grapes cut into quarters, with no need to fill the time by talking.
Nearly two months after Ellie’s first morning in court, Dana came down the courthouse steps after a hearing and saw Bethany beside the plaza walkway. One hand rested on her daughter’s shoulder. A victim advocate had stopped Rachel a few yards farther along.
Ranger and his handler were crossing the plaza for a scheduled school visit. Ellie saw them and raised both arms, waving so enthusiastically that Bethany had to move her hand out of the way.
The handler changed direction. Ranger came over at an eager trot, then sat before Ellie and received the hug she had ready for him. She had brought the stuffed shepherd, whose ribbon was beginning to look as well handled as Pip’s ears.
Bethany bent as far as she comfortably could and smoothed Ellie’s hair.
“You did a hard thing, sweetheart.”
Ellie stayed against the dog. “Ranger did it with me.”
Her mother stroked his head. “I know he did.”
Ellie fastened the toy’s turquoise ribbon around her wrist. She took her mother’s hand and was allowed to hold a short portion of Ranger’s leash while his handler kept control. They began crossing the plaza together at Bethany’s pace, with Rachel close behind.
Dana remained on the steps. Halfway across the open space, a single strike of the courthouse bell sounded above them.
Ellie raised her face toward the tower. Her hand remained in her mother’s, and the leash stayed easy between her fingers. When Bethany took another step, the child took one beside her.