Chapter 9 - The Witness
The name Robert Kline changed the investigation.
Until then, David’s actions could still be framed as an angry parent retaliating against a teacher.
Now the edited clip touched a pending public contract.
District counsel referred the matter to the school board’s independent ethics officer.
Robert Kline temporarily recused himself from vendor decisions.
David called the move “political theater.”
Lucas watched the statement on television from Mara’s sofa.
His father stood outside Turner Strategic Media headquarters.
Cameras surrounded him.
“I have never asked any public official to act improperly,” David said. “I shared legitimate concerns about a teacher’s conduct with another parent and community member.”
A reporter asked whether he edited the clip deceptively.
David answered, “I reject that characterization.”
Lucas muted the television.
Mara looked at him.
“You don’t have to watch.”
“I do.”
“No.”
Lucas frowned.
“Everyone keeps telling me I don’t have to do things.”
“That’s because you keep acting like suffering is evidence you’re serious.”
He looked at her.
She tossed him the remote.
“Go play a game. Do homework. Be thirteen for an hour.”
He almost argued.
Then he went upstairs and played soccer online with Mason.
For forty-five minutes they did not discuss Claire, David, investigations, or ethics.
It felt criminally normal.
The next day Lucas gave a formal recorded statement to the district’s outside investigator, attorney Melissa Grant.
Mara attended as his support person.
David’s attorney asked to attend.
Lucas said no.
Because David was not being interviewed as his parent.
He was part of the subject matter.
Melissa explained everything before recording.
“You can ask for a break.”
Lucas nodded.
“You can say you don’t remember.”
He nodded again.
“Do not guess because you think an answer would help Ms. Morgan or hurt your father.”
Lucas looked at her.
“What if I know something makes him look bad?”
“Your job is still the same.”
“Tell the truth.”
“Yes.”
It sounded simple.
It was not.
Melissa asked about the night of the recording.
Lucas described giving David the tablet.
He described the next morning when David told him he had “handled the privacy problem.”
He described seeing the viral clip at school and asking David whether it was theirs.
“What did he say?”
“He said, ‘People need to see what teachers get away with.’”
“Did you ask about the missing beginning?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
Lucas swallowed.
“He said nobody cared who started it.”
Melissa paused.
“Are you certain those were his words?”
Lucas closed his eyes.
Kitchen.
Morning light.
David pouring coffee.
The clip playing on Lucas’s phone.
Nobody cares who started it. They care what the adult did.
“Yes.”
Melissa continued.
“Did your father ever ask you to make a statement?”
Lucas described the printed document.
Mara had photographed it before David removed the paper from the kitchen.
Melissa displayed the image.
“Is this the statement?”
“Yes.”
“Did you sign it?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because it said I wasn’t qualified to know whether the video was misleading.”
“Are you qualified?”
Lucas almost smiled.
“I’m qualified to know the words were in a different order.”
Melissa did not smile.
Good investigators, Lucas was learning, avoided rewarding particular answers.
Then came the hardest question.
“Do you believe your father intended to cause Ms. Morgan professional harm?”
Lucas stared at the table.
“I don’t know what he intended.”
“You may explain.”
“He says he was defending himself.”
“Do you believe him?”
“That’s different.”
Melissa waited.
Lucas thought carefully.
“My dad knew people would be angry at her.”
“Yes.”
“He knew the edited version made her look worse.”
“Yes.”
“He knew she filed a complaint about him.”
“Yes.”
Lucas’s eyes burned.
“I think he wanted people not to trust her.”
Melissa nodded.
She did not say whether that met some legal definition.
The interview ended after ninety minutes.
Outside, Lucas found Claire waiting for another appointment.
They stopped several feet apart.
“Hi,” she said.
“Hi.”
Neither knew what was permitted.
Finally Claire said, “How are you?”
“Tired.”
“Me too.”
He looked at her.
“I’m sorry.”
Claire’s expression changed.
“For what?”
“I gave him the video.”
“You gave your father something because you trusted him.”
“I should’ve gone to Principal Ward.”
“Maybe.”
Lucas looked surprised.
She continued.
“You know more now than you knew then. That doesn’t mean thirteen-year-old you was supposed to predict every adult decision.”
“I’m still thirteen.”
A tiny smile.
“Exactly.”
Lucas glanced toward the conference room.
“Are you mad at me?”
“No.”
“At my dad?”
Claire looked away.
“Yes.”
The honesty helped.
“Do you hate him?”
“That’s not useful to me.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means I’m trying to decide what I need, not what emotion would punish him best.”
Lucas thought about that.
The elevator opened.
Robert Kline stepped out with an attorney.
He saw Claire.
Then Lucas.
His expression tightened.
Lucas noticed a folder beneath Kline’s arm.
On top was a printed email.
Only one line was visible before Kline turned it over.
But Lucas saw the sender.
DAVID TURNER.
And the subject line.
RE: MORGAN — USE BEFORE THURSDAY VOTE.
Lucas stopped walking.
May you like
Thursday.
The vendor committee had been scheduled to vote on David’s company contract the day after Claire’s video went viral.
