Chapter 2 - The Corridor
Principal Harris ended the assembly immediately.
Teachers were ordered to keep students in their seats while administrators cleared the stage. Phones were everywhere despite repeated instructions to put them away.
Savannah stood motionless beside the fallen microphone.
“Come with me,” Principal Harris told her.
Savannah looked at her father.
Owen did not move toward her.
That seemed to hurt more than anything.
“Dad?”
“We’ll talk privately.”
“You brought private messages into my school.”
“I brought evidence.”
Savannah’s face twisted.
“You betrayed me.”
Owen closed his eyes briefly.
“No, Savannah. I stopped helping you hide from what you did.”
Amanda wanted to leave.
Her hands had begun shaking.
Not visibly enough for the students to notice, she hoped, but enough that gripping the wheel rims became difficult.
Her colleague Daniel Kim approached from the first row.
“I’ll get you backstage.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not.”
She almost snapped at him.
Then she saw his face.
Daniel had taught chemistry across the hallway from Amanda for nine years. He had driven her to physical therapy twice when her sister couldn’t get off work. He had installed a small shelf beside her classroom desk because balancing books on her lap annoyed her.
Amanda exhaled.
“Okay.”
He pushed her toward the curtain.
As soon as they disappeared from the students’ view, Amanda whispered, “How long did Harris know?”
“Since this morning.”
“And she let Savannah go onstage?”
Daniel hesitated.
“That part wasn’t planned.”
Amanda turned.
“What?”
“Harris intended to call Savannah into her office before the ceremony. Savannah was already backstage. She told the activities coordinator she had a special presentation for you.”
Amanda looked toward the curtain.
“So everyone froze.”
“Pretty much.”
“Wonderful.”
Daniel crouched slightly beside her.
“Amanda, did you know about any of those messages?”
“No.”
“The caution sign?”
“No.”
Her voice cracked.
“No.”
The service corridor had been nearly empty that afternoon six weeks ago. Amanda remembered rainwater tracked in from a side entrance. She remembered turning the corner with a stack of essays against her chest.
Then her foot had gone out from under her.
There had been no caution sign.
The district incident report had classified it as an accidental fall caused by water from student traffic.
She had accepted that explanation.
Why wouldn’t she?
A knock sounded.
Principal Harris entered the backstage classroom they had been given.
Behind her was Owen Reed.
Amanda stiffened.
“I’m sorry,” Owen said.
She stared at him.
“For which part?”
He absorbed the question.
“For not finding it sooner.”
Harris pulled a chair over.
“The district investigator is coming. I’ve also contacted law enforcement because evidence may have been deliberately destroyed.”
Amanda looked at her.
“Destroyed by Assistant Principal Mercer?”
“We don’t know yet.”
“The message said Mercer handled the recording.”
“We know what Mrs. Reed wrote. We don’t yet know what he actually did.”
Amanda appreciated the precision.
Owen placed his tablet on a table.
“I found the messages because I was trying to locate tax documents from last year. Savannah used that tablet when hers broke. Apparently some of her messages synchronized before she logged out.”
“Six weeks ago?”
“Some were cached locally. Others were in a backup.”
Amanda looked at him.
“And your wife’s message?”
Owen’s mouth tightened.
“Laura and I share certain family accounts. Or we did.”
There was weight in the last sentence.
Harris opened a folder.
“There’s something else you should know.”
Amanda’s stomach tightened.
Harris slid a printed email across the table.
It was from Assistant Principal Colin Mercer to Laura Reed.
Dated two days after Amanda’s accident.
The relevant camera was offline during the incident. The district report will reflect an environmental hazard. No student disciplinary action is indicated.
Amanda read it twice.
Then she looked at Harris.
“Was the camera offline?”
“We’re checking.”
“You signed my incident report.”
“Yes.”
“You told me there was no useful footage.”
“That was what I was told.”
“By Mercer.”
“Yes.”
Amanda turned away.
She suddenly hated the wheelchair.
Not because Savannah had mocked it.
Because six weeks ago she had sat in a hospital room blaming herself.
She had replayed the fall repeatedly.
Had she been careless?
Had she missed the warning sign?
Had she walked too quickly?
She had even apologized to Harris for missing classes.
Now a seventeen-year-old’s messages suggested the entire moment had been engineered.
“What happened before I fell?” she asked Owen.
He looked ashamed although he had not caused it.
“The messages begin the night before.”
“What do they say?”
Owen did not answer immediately.
Amanda’s voice sharpened.
“Mr. Reed.”
He turned the tablet toward her.
The first message was from Savannah.
Tomorrow she gives back the plagiarism report. Let’s remind Saint Foster she doesn’t control everything.
Amanda went very still.
Daniel swore under his breath.
Principal Harris looked at Amanda.
“What plagiarism report?”
Amanda closed her eyes.
Three days before her fall, she had discovered that almost half of Savannah Reed’s final scholarship essay had been copied from an obscure graduate thesis.
She had reported it privately.
Savannah had begged her not to.
Then threatened her.
And Amanda had told no one about that threat except Assistant Principal Mercer.
She opened her eyes.
May you like
“Now I know why she wanted me in that corridor.”
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