“No, ma’am.”
He held up several documents.
“We obtained bank records this morning.”
Marlene froze.
The detective continued.
“Funds from university scholarship accounts were transferred into an account registered under your consulting business.”
Color drained from her face.
“That… that’s impossible.”
“It isn’t.”
He produced another page.
“Thirty-two transfers over fourteen months.”
One of the trustees leaned toward another and whispered something with obvious disbelief.
Students all around the auditorium began taking out their phones.
The woman who had laughed at me only minutes earlier quietly sat back down.
Marlene suddenly pointed toward Caleb.
“He handled all the paperwork!”
Caleb stared at her in horror.
“You told me nobody would ever check!”
“I never said that!”
“You absolutely did!”
Vanessa turned toward both of them.
“What are you doing?”
The family who had spent years standing together against everyone else had begun tearing itself apart in front of hundreds of witnesses.
The detectives didn’t interrupt.
They simply let them talk.
Every desperate accusation became another confession.
Principal Morrison waited until the shouting subsided.
“There is one more matter.”
He looked toward the front row.
“Mrs. Evelyn Harper?”
