“You’ve done your homework.” Alanna stopped chewing on her lip when she tasted a tinge of blood.

“I have. Listen, there’s nothing more I can do without your help. I can’t defend someone who doesn’t want to be defended. Tell Greer I said hi …” Her lawyer started to rise from the table.

Alanna sighed, sitting back down. “I entered the foster care system when I was four. My parents went out for a hike and never came back. I still remember I was watching cartoons when the woman who was babysitting me freaked out when they were late picking me up. Instead of my parents coming back, a police officer and a woman from Social Services came to tell me that they wouldn’t be back. They had fallen off a path, which had been declared unsafe. I don’t know how familiar you are with group homes, but believe me, especially in a large city, it was a hell of an adjustment.”

“I can imagine.”

Alanna grimaced. “I don’t think you can. It was horrible. The older children picked on the younger ones. Foster homes were few and far between, and they usually picked the cute ones, or the children who could contribute to chores, who don’t require as much supervision. I was sent to two foster homes, and they didn’t last because, both times, my foster family found themselves expecting.” Alanna folded her hands over each other to hide their trembling. “I met Kate when I was six.”

“Kate?”

Mrs. Bates picked up her ink pen and started writing on the legal pad.

“Elizabeth’s mother.”

“What’s her full name?”

“Kate Easton.”

“That’s not the name I found listed as the name for Elizabeth’s mother.”

“Kate adopted Elizabeth.”

“Legally?”

“I believe so.” Alanna shrugged. “But, with Kate, anything is possible.”

“You met Ms. Easton when you were in foster care?”

“She was older than me”—Alanna nodded—“and had been in and out foster homes since she was a baby. She took me under her wing, kept the older children from hurting me, but more than that, she called me her little sister. I didn’t feel so alone anymore. I felt loved for the first time since my parents had died.

“When a foster family was found for her, it devastated me. I cried for several days. It was like losing my parents all over again. I felt as if the rug had been pulled out from under me again. About a month later, when Kate came back from lunch, she was there. She told me they had sent her back because of her behavior. She told me she had deliberately misbehaved just so she would be sent back. She told me she had missed her little sister. I fell for her lies hook, line, and sinker.” Alanna shook her head at herself in self-disgust.