Chapter 7 - EMMA'S VERSION
Claire wanted every detail.
Emma did not.
At first Claire kept asking.
“Did Diane press something?”
“Did Rex beep first?”
“How close were you?”
“Was Diane outside?”
Emma started crying.
“I don’t know!”
Claire stopped.
Her pediatric therapist later told her:
“Evidence gathering is an adult job.”
Claire nodded.
Emma was eight.
She remembered fear, not timestamps.
So Claire changed questions.
“Do you feel safe walking home?”
“No.”
“Do you want me at the bus stop?”
“Yes.”
Done.
Emma later volunteered one memory.
Diane sometimes stood on her porch holding a small remote.
When Emma crossed the yard, Diane would say:
“Go around.”
Emma usually ignored her.
Then Rex would start barking.
Emma thought Diane was pressing a garage-door opener.
That detail matched the trainer’s description of the collar remote.
But Claire did not turn Emma into the key witness.
The logs mattered more.
Adult records should carry adult accountability.
Claire’s doorbell clips created another uncomfortable fact.
Emma had sometimes teased Rex.
Not cruelly.
Childishly.
She once stood outside the safe line and said:
“Rex, you can’t get me.”
Then laughed when he barked.
Claire watched the clip and felt embarrassed.
She asked Emma:
“Did you do this a lot?”
Emma looked down.
“Sometimes.”
“Why?”
“Because Diane was mean.”
“That doesn’t make it okay.”
“I know.”
Claire included the clip in the evidence package anyway.
Grace later said:
“Good.”
Claire frowned.
“It helps Diane.”
“It helps credibility.”
Emma’s behavior could be relevant without transferring responsibility for safe dog management to an eight-year-old.
The bite happened later after Diane had received explicit warnings.
Still, Claire did not want to build a case by pretending Emma had behaved perfectly.
May you like
Children rarely do.
Safety systems are supposed to account for that.
