put my arm around him and held on.
“We’ll take a thirty-minute recess,” Judge Halloway said. “Counsel and both parties, I’ll want to see you in chambers. We’ll review this together.”
EzoicShe looked at Nolan one more time.
“And somebody,” she said, “get this young man a cup of hot chocolate.”
Part Seven: In ChambersThe judge’s chambers were small and warm, with bookshelves to the ceiling and a framed photograph of two golden retrievers on the desk.
Grant sat in a chair by the window. Mr. Carroway sat beside him
with his briefcase on his lap. I sat across from them with my folder. A court officer set up a laptop on the corner of the judge’s desk.
EzoicNolan stayed in the hallway with a court-appointed guardian, a kind woman named Mrs. Delgado, who had brought him hot chocolate and a coloring book about national parks.
The officer put the memory card into the laptop.
There were dozens of short videos on it. Dinosaur battles. A video of a squirrel outside Grant’s window. A video of Nolan explaining the planets
to his stuffed rabbit.
Then a long one. Twenty-three minutes. Dated the previous Saturday at 8:14 p.m.
EzoicThe judge clicked play.
At first, all you could see was a plastic T-rex standing on a wooden desk. Nolan’s voice made roaring sounds from off camera. Then a stegosaurus came into the frame, and there was a battle, with a lot of very serious sound effects.
Then you heard a door open.
Then Grant’s voice.
“Hey, Jerry. Yeah, it’s me.”
The camera was behind a desk lamp. You could see
