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northern PA. Mountain Top.”
    Bennie had never heard of it. It sounded like a fake name. “Where is that?”
    â€œNear the Poconos. It’s not that far, a two-hour drive, tops. Please, you have to help me.”
    â€œSir, there are major differences between the juvenile system and the adult criminal justice system. The procedures are different, the court rules are different.”
    â€œHow? What’s the difference? One’s just the junior version of the other, isn’t it?”
    â€œNo, not at all.” Bennie knew it was a common misconception, as if juvenile justice were the kiddie table of the law. “The juvenile justice system isn’t adversarial at all. The proceeding isn’t a trial, which results in a conviction of a crime. It’s an adjudication hearing, and when a child is adjudicated delinquent, the idea isn’t to convict and punish them, but to rehabilitate them, because they’re still young enough. That’s why adjudication hearings, unlike criminal trials, aren’t public.”
    â€œI know, they’re secret!”
    â€œNo, just private, to protect the juvenile’s identity. Their names in the case captions are in initials only, and the records are kept sealed.”
    â€œJason doesn’t need rehabilitating. He’s a great kid.”
    Bennie couldn’t ignore the pain in his voice. “I’m sure, but the judge made a determination, and they don’t even put a kid in out-of-home placement unless they’ve already considered the less restrictive alternatives. It’s called restorative justice.”
    â€œWhat’s the difference if you call it a sentence or placement, and they put him in jail!”
    Bennie didn’t have a quick reply. “I do think you need help, but I’m not an expert. Unlike a lot of states, our juvenile justice system is decentralized, and a lot of power is given to the juvenile court judges in the counties.”
    â€œYou sound like an expert.”
    â€œAll lawyers sound like experts when they’re not. You need a local lawyer. He’ll know the ins and outs, and the judges tend to favor county lawyers. They’ll consider me an outsider—”
    â€œBut that’s what’s good about you. It’s like a club up here, and they all know each other, and I’m on the outside looking in!”
    Bennie knew the feeling. She’d felt like an outsider her whole life. “Did you try the public defender?”
    â€œYes, and they won’t help me. I read about you in the newspaper, it said you take on the cases for the little guy. Well, I’m the little guy.”
    Bennie knew which article he was talking about. She had cringed when the reporter had written that phrase.
    â€œYou have to help me. I got nowhere else to go. He’s my boy, my only boy. He’s all I got. His mother died, and she had a way with him. The two of them, they were thick as thieves. Ever since she’s gone, it’s like, he’s lost.”
    Bennie felt the words resonate in her chest. Her mother had died only recently, and she still missed her, every day.
    â€œPlease, I’m begging you. Just come up and talk to me, I can pay you, I’ll pay you. I need my son home. He’s been in jail one night already. He never even slept away.”
    Bennie couldn’t believe it. A twelve-year-old boy who’d just lost his mother, sitting in a cell.
    â€œCan I just have an hour of your time?”
    â€œRowf!” Bear barked, bounding into the conference room, the stress ball in his mouth.

 
    CHAPTER FIVE
    Bennie set off at six o’clock, and darkness fell as she drove north on Route 476 in congested rush-hour traffic, traveling past Quakertown and Allentown, where the elevation began to change, higher and more up and down as she got closer to the Pocono Mountains. Snow blanketed the sides of the highway, since the outskirts had gotten more snowfall than