Chapter 4 - Stolen Hours
Sofia Martinez cried when Ms. Morgan showed her the records.
Not because of Cameron.
Because of her grandmother.
“I did those hours with her.”
Ms. Morgan sat across from Sofia in Principal Torres’s office the next morning.
Sofia’s grandmother, Elena Martinez, had attended literacy classes at Eastwood Community Center after immigrating from Guatemala.
Sofia started volunteering there partly to help her.
She kept going after Elena learned enough English to manage independently.
“Every Tuesday and Thursday,” Sofia said.
Her hands shook.
“I tutored elementary kids until six.”
Ms. Morgan nodded.
“The center logs support that.”
Sofia looked at Principal Torres.
“Then why does my school account say sixty-four?”
“We’re investigating.”
Sofia laughed through tears.
“That means you don’t know.”
“No,” Torres said.
“We don’t.”
Ms. Morgan appreciated the honesty.
Sofia wiped her face.
“Does Cameron have them?”
“Some dates overlap.”
“So yes.”
“We need to establish who entered them.”
Sofia looked angry now.
“He wasn’t there.”
“I know.”
“He came once.”
Ms. Morgan remembered.
Cameron had attended a photography event at Eastwood.
Ninety minutes.
He took pictures with children.
Richard Blake posted them online.
Caption:
Leadership means showing up.
Ms. Morgan felt sick remembering it.
Dr. Shah interviewed Sofia separately from Cameron’s case.
Then Jamal Price.
Then Chloe Bennett.
Then Marcus Green.
Four students whose service logs had lost hours.
All four were scholarship or reduced-lunch students.
That pattern drew attention immediately.
Ms. Morgan hated how obvious it looked.
She also knew patterns could mislead.
They needed records.
Dr. Shah obtained database audit logs.
Most edits came from one administrative account.
EROWE.
Assistant Principal Ellis Rowe.
Cameron’s messages suddenly mattered more.
Keep her focused on you.
Mason has 2 minutes.
Rowe had apparently helped plan the retrieval.
But why risk teenagers?
Principal Torres asked the same question.
Dr. Shah answered:
“Because adults sometimes use students for tasks they can later describe as student misconduct.”
Ms. Morgan thought of Richard.
Teenagers make stupid decisions.
Convenient.
Rowe’s attorney issued a statement.
He had used administrative access only to correct service documentation supplied by the Blake Foundation.
He denied transferring hours deliberately.
He claimed the blue flash drive contained confidential student information Ms. Morgan should not have exported.
“That’s why he wanted it?” Ms. Morgan asked.
Dr. Shah shook her head.
“That is his claim.”
“And the key?”
“He says he never gave Cameron a key.”
Lily’s observation was not recorded.
Cameron could confirm it.
Would he?
Nobody knew.
Richard Blake had instructed his son not to speak beyond the chalk incident.
At school, students had already picked sides.
FREE CAMERON appeared in marker on a bathroom mirror.
Someone else wrote:
RETURN SOFIA’S HOURS.
A student gossip account posted Lily’s chalk video without permission.
Ms. Morgan saw it during lunch.
The caption:
PRIVILEGED STAR ATTACKS DISABLED TEACHER AFTER SHE EXPOSES FRAUD.
Half of that sentence was unsupported.
Cameron was privileged.
He had attacked her.
He had not been proven to know about fraud.
The comments were worse.
LOCK HIM UP.
WHAT A PSYCHO.
HIS DAD BOUGHT HIS WHOLE LIFE.
Another commenter wrote:
MS MORGAN IS SUCH AN INSPIRATION FOR TEACHING IN A WHEELCHAIR.
That irritated her almost as much.
She did not teach despite a wheelchair.
She taught while using one.
Lily entered Room 214 after lunch.
“You saw it.”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t post it.”
“I know.”
“I only sent it to Torres.”
“I believe you.”
Lily sat.
“Should I say something?”
“About what?”
“That the account exaggerated.”
Ms. Morgan considered.
“Yes.”
Lily looked surprised.
“Even about Cameron?”
“Especially about Cameron.”
“But he did what he did.”
“Yes.”
“And he was trying to steal the drive.”
“He may have known about that plan.”
“He had it.”
“Yes.”
Ms. Morgan leaned forward.
“But knowing some facts does not give us permission to invent the rest.”
Lily absorbed that.
She posted:
I recorded the classroom incident. I did not post the video publicly. The district is investigating separate concerns. Please stop adding claims that have not been established.
People immediately accused her of protecting Cameron.
She almost deleted the post.
Ms. Morgan stopped her.
“Truth becomes inconvenient when people have already chosen the story they prefer.”
Lily looked at her.
“Is that from something?”
“No.”
“It sounds like something.”
“I teach English. It’s an occupational hazard.”
Lily smiled.
Then her phone buzzed.
Message from an unknown number.
STOP DIGGING INTO BLAKE HOURS.
She showed Ms. Morgan.
A second message arrived.
YOU’LL COST PEOPLE MORE THAN YOU UNDERSTAND.
Ms. Morgan’s face changed.
“Don’t respond.”
Principal Torres preserved the messages.
District security traced nothing useful.
The number was virtual.
But that evening, another email reached Ms. Morgan.
This one came from Eastwood Literacy Center director Carla Ruiz.
Subject:
Something you need to know.
Carla wrote:
Three years ago, Richard Blake offered Eastwood additional grant money if we agreed to verify student service summaries prepared by the foundation instead of our own logs.
I refused.
The following year our grant was cut in half.
Ms. Morgan read the email twice.
Then one sentence at the bottom.
I kept his message.
May you like
Now there was evidence Richard Blake had personally attempted to influence service verification years before Cameron ever threw a piece of chalk.
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