Chapter 6 - The Man in the Service CorridorKayla had known Julian Mercer her entire life.
They had played basketball in Walter's driveway.
Shared birthday cakes.
Spent Christmas mornings arguing over whose presents were bigger.
Julian was only a year older.
But sometime during high school, something between them had changed.
Julian began talking about money as if it measured people's worth.
He mocked Kayla's thrift-store clothes.
He joked about Walter's old car.
He once told her that working hard was what people did when they didn't know anybody important.
Kayla had dismissed most of it as arrogance.
Now she remembered every word.
"Why did he have your badge?" she asked.
Walter shook his head.
"I never gave it to him."
They had returned home from the library.
Walter sat on the edge of the living room couch while Kayla opened her laptop.
"Could Aunt Denise have given him access?"
"She had administrative privileges. But staff identification cards were controlled by district security."
"Could she request one?"
"Maybe a temporary replacement. I don't know."
Kayla stopped typing.
"Who else was working that day?"
Walter thought for a moment.
"Luis."
"Luis Martinez?"
He nodded.
Luis had worked alongside Walter for eleven years.
He was a quiet maintenance technician who rarely spoke unless he had something useful to say.
Kayla remembered him fixing their kitchen faucet without accepting payment after her mother died.
"Can we call him?"
Walter hesitated.
"He's still employed there."
"I'm not asking him to risk his job."
"Talking about an active investigation might do exactly that."
Kayla stared at her phone.
Then she set it down.
For once, she resisted the urge to act immediately.
"Can you ask whether he's willing to talk, without telling him what to say?"
Walter gave a faint smile.
"That sounds more reasonable."
He called Luis that evening.
The conversation lasted less than a minute.
When Walter hung up, his face was troubled.
"What did he say?"
"That we should stop asking questions."
Kayla sat back.
"Why?"
"He wouldn't explain."
"Maybe somebody warned him."
"Maybe."
Walter put his phone away.
"We can't assume."
Two hours later, someone knocked on their door.
Kayla opened it.
Luis stood on the porch wearing work boots and a dark maintenance jacket.
His face was tense.
"I couldn't say this on the phone," he whispered.
Walter came into the hallway.
"Luis?"
The older man stepped inside only after looking toward the street.
He refused coffee.
He refused to sit.
Instead, he took a folded sheet of paper from his pocket.
"I shouldn't have this at home."
Walter frowned.
"What is it?"
"A copy of a work order."
Kayla moved closer.
The document listed repairs to the auditorium's accessibility entrance.
The same repairs supposedly completed by the outside contractor.
But the work order was still marked OPEN — SAFETY DEFECT UNRESOLVED.
The latest inspection note had been entered the morning after the foundation's second payment.
Luis pointed toward the bottom.
"I reported the handrail again. Somebody closed my ticket in the system, then reopened it after the wheelchair-access complaint."
"Who closed it?" Walter asked.
Luis swallowed.
"The log says the change came from the administrative office."
"Denise?"
"I don't know whose hands were on the keyboard."
Kayla appreciated that he didn't pretend certainty.
"What about Julian?" she asked.
Luis's eyes moved toward Walter.
"He came through the maintenance corridor the afternoon they searched your locker."
Walter leaned against the wall.
"Did you see him go inside?"
"I saw him leaving that section. He had an envelope in his hand when he arrived."
Kayla's heart pounded.
"What kind of envelope?"
"Brown paper. Medium-sized."
"Was it the deposit envelope?"
"I couldn't see what was written on it."
Luis looked miserable.
"I thought he was dropping off school paperwork for his mother."
"Did he have my badge?" Walter asked.
Luis paused.
"I saw a badge hanging from his pocket. I didn't see the name."
That distinction mattered.
Kayla wrote down his exact words rather than improving them in her notes.
"Would you tell an investigator?" she asked.
Luis looked toward the window.
"I have a mortgage. My wife's medical insurance comes through the district. I can't just walk into that office accusing the assistant principal's kid."
Walter stepped forward.
"Nobody's asking you to throw your family away."
"Then what are you asking?"
Walter looked at the work order.
"Only that you don't let them erase what you saw."
Luis nodded slowly.
He agreed to speak with an independent investigator or attorney if contacted through an appropriate process.
Then he returned the paper to his pocket.
"The district still has the original. Don't let anyone say this copy is the only one."
At the door, Luis stopped.
"One more thing."
Kayla turned.
"Julian wasn't alone when he came down that corridor."
Walter's expression changed.
"Who was with him?"
Luis stared at the floor.
"Your daughter, Walter."
May you like
He swallowed.
"Denise walked him to the service entrance herself."
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