Chapter 5 - Laura Reed
Laura Reed arrived at Westbridge High forty minutes later accompanied by an attorney.
She did not look embarrassed.
She looked furious.
Amanda had met her perhaps a dozen times at fundraisers and parent conferences. Laura was elegant, controlled, and famous locally for turning charitable donations into newspaper photographs.
She chaired the Reed Education Foundation, which had financed Westbridge’s renovated science wing and pledged another three million dollars toward a performing arts center.
She entered Principal Harris’s office as if arriving for a board meeting.
“Where is my daughter?”
“In a supervised conference room,” Harris said.
“I’m taking her home.”
“She has been placed on emergency suspension pending investigation.”
Laura’s attorney touched her elbow.
“Let me handle this.”
Laura ignored him.
Her eyes found Amanda.
For the first time, her composure slipped.
“You.”
Amanda almost smiled.
“Me.”
Laura’s attorney stepped forward.
“Ms. Foster, given the circumstances, it would be better if—”
“No,” Maya Torres said. “It would be better if nobody addressed a potential witness without counsel present.”
Laura looked at Owen.
“You brought her here?”
“I brought the evidence.”
“Family evidence.”
“Evidence that our daughter may have caused someone’s injury.”
Laura lowered her voice.
“You don’t know what you’re doing.”
“For the first time in six weeks, I think I do.”
Something intimate and vicious passed between them.
Amanda realized this fight had begun long before today.
Laura turned back to Harris.
“Savannah is seventeen. Teenagers make idiotic choices. You allowed an auditorium full of students to watch private communications involving a minor.”
Harris’s expression tightened.
“The screen was supposed to display only the first photograph while Savannah was escorted offstage. Your daughter seized the microphone and began publicly degrading Ms. Foster before we could intervene safely.”
“So this humiliation was an accident?”
The irony was breathtaking.
Amanda spoke.
“Interesting word.”
Laura looked at her.
Amanda held her gaze.
“Accident.”
Laura’s mouth tightened.
“You should be careful, Ms. Foster.”
“About what?”
“Turning incomplete information into accusations.”
“I didn’t accuse you of anything.”
“No?”
“No. Your messages did that.”
Owen exhaled.
“Laura, stop.”
She ignored him.
Maya lifted Amanda’s phone.
“Did you send these texts?”
Laura glanced at the screen.
“I advised Ms. Foster to consider settlement options.”
“You threatened her career.”
“I stated a reality.”
“What settlement?”
Laura’s attorney finally intervened.
“My client will not answer further questions today.”
Laura stared at Amanda.
“Then perhaps I can speak to Ms. Foster alone.”
“No,” Maya said.
Amanda surprised everyone.
“Yes.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Amanda.”
“I’ll keep the door open.”
Maya studied her.
“Three minutes.”
Laura followed Amanda into the adjoining office.
Amanda positioned her wheelchair beside the desk.
Laura closed the door halfway.
“Your husband seems determined to burn down his own family,” Amanda said.
“You have no idea what my husband is determined to do.”
“Then explain it.”
Laura folded her arms.
“My daughter made a cruel joke that got out of control.”
“She poured water on a corridor floor and had someone remove a warning sign.”
“According to another frightened teenager trying to save herself.”
“She also admitted it in messages.”
“Teenagers exaggerate in messages.”
“And Mercer?”
Laura’s face gave nothing away.
Amanda continued.
“You contacted him before surveillance footage disappeared.”
“I contacted an administrator because my child was hysterical.”
“Then my plagiarism report vanished.”
Laura’s eyes flickered.
There.
Small.
But real.
“You know about that,” Amanda said.
“I know Savannah disputed your accusation.”
“She copied twenty-three passages.”
“So you say.”
“I kept the source comparison.”
Laura paused.
“You’re what, thirty-nine?”
“Thirty-eight.”
“You have a promising career.”
Amanda laughed softly.
“Was that supposed to frighten me?”
“It was supposed to remind you that prolonged public disputes destroy everyone involved.”
“Your daughter already made it public.”
“She’s a child.”
“She is seventeen.”
“She is still my child.”
“And I was still a person when she watched me hit that floor.”
Laura’s composure finally cracked.
“I never told her to hurt you.”
Amanda stared.
It was the first sentence Laura had spoken that sounded true.
“I believe you.”
Laura seemed surprised.
Amanda continued.
“But you helped her hide it.”
Silence.
“If that’s true,” Amanda said, “you didn’t protect your daughter. You taught her that consequences are something poorer and less powerful people have.”
Laura’s face hardened again.
“You think this is about money.”
“I think you made sure money was in the room.”
Amanda started toward the door.
Laura spoke behind her.
“Two hundred fifty thousand dollars.”
Amanda stopped.
“Excuse me?”
“A private settlement. Medical expenses, lost income, emotional damages. You resign quietly at the end of the semester. No civil claim against Savannah. No public campaign against the foundation.”
Amanda slowly turned.
Laura mistook her silence for consideration.
“We could have papers drafted tonight.”
Amanda looked at her for several seconds.
Then she opened the office door completely.
“Maya?”
The investigator looked up.
Amanda smiled without humor.
“Mrs. Reed would like to tell you about the quarter-million-dollar offer she just made me.”
Laura’s face went white.
And in the hallway beyond them, Savannah was standing beside a security officer.
She had heard every word.
But she was not looking at Amanda.
May you like
She was staring at her mother.
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