Chapter 2 - Four Days Before the Fall
Dr. Avery asked Claire to remain at school.
Jackson was suspended pending a formal hearing.
Michael Reed left with two district attorneys.
Principal Brooks shut himself in his office.
By lunchtime, rumors had spread through Ridgemont.
The video had not.
Emily kept her promise.
She had sent it only to Dr. Avery.
That mattered to Claire.
She had no desire to become another humiliation clip for strangers to consume.
At one o’clock, Dr. Avery rolled a chair beside Claire’s desk.
“You received anonymous messages?”
Claire handed over her phone.
Avery studied the inspection form.
“Have you seen this before?”
“No.”
“Michael Reed signed it.”
“Yes.”
“His committee doesn’t normally sign individual repairs.”
Claire frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“The facilities chair signs quarterly certification summaries. Not maintenance completion forms.”
“Then why is his signature there?”
Avery enlarged the image.
“Could be forged.”
“Or not.”
“Exactly.”
Claire liked Avery already.
She distinguished what they knew from what they suspected.
“Tell me about the accident again.”
Claire had repeated the story so many times it felt rehearsed.
August eighteenth.
6:40 p.m.
She remained late preparing materials for orientation.
The main hallway was closed for floor waxing, so she used the auditorium service staircase.
Halfway down, she grabbed the rail.
It pulled away.
She fell several steps.
Her leg twisted beneath her.
No head injury.
No one else present.
Custodian Rafael Gomez found her after hearing her call for help.
“The rail came completely out?” Avery asked.
“Top bracket first.”
“Did you photograph it?”
“No. I was busy screaming.”
Avery nodded.
“Fair.”
“Maintenance photographed it later.”
“I’ve requested those photos.”
Claire stared at the anonymous message.
“What does ‘not the first person they knew could get hurt’ mean?”
“I don’t know yet.”
Emily appeared at the classroom door.
“Ms. Parker?”
“You should be in lunch.”
“I’m going.”
She hesitated.
“Jackson said something last week.”
Avery turned.
“What?”
Emily stepped inside.
“We were doing group work. He was talking to Connor Davis.”
Claire remembered Connor.
Football player.
Jackson’s closest friend.
“Jackson said his dad was going to make the district ‘finally do something about Parker.’”
Claire’s stomach tightened.
“What did you think he meant?”
“That you’d reported Jackson again.”
Claire had.
Three times.
Incomplete assignments.
Disruptive behavior.
Harassing another student.
Michael Reed had complained twice about “teacher bias.”
Emily continued.
“Then Connor asked, ‘What if she sues over the stairs?’”
Claire stopped.
“How would Connor know anything about that?”
Emily shook her head.
“Jackson said, ‘She won’t. Dad said Parker knows better.’”
Dr. Avery wrote it down.
Claire felt cold.
“I have never spoken to Michael Reed about suing.”
“Did the district ask you to sign anything after the accident?” Avery asked.
Claire thought.
“Workers’ compensation forms. Medical authorization.”
“Settlement?”
“No.”
“Waiver?”
“No.”
Then she remembered.
“Actually…”
A district risk-management representative had visited the hospital.
He brought documents.
Claire had been medicated.
Her sister refused to let her sign anything.
“What documents?”
“I don’t know. My sister took them home.”
Avery’s expression sharpened.
“Get them.”
Claire called her sister, Rebecca.
The papers were still in a folder.
Rebecca photographed the first page.
EMPLOYEE INJURY RESOLUTION AND CONFIDENTIAL RELEASE
Claire stared.
“Why was I given a confidentiality release before anyone investigated?”
Avery didn’t answer.
Her phone rang.
She stepped away.
Claire read the document.
In exchange for $12,500 beyond workers’ compensation, she would release the district and its contractors from additional claims relating to the staircase accident.
She had never signed.
At the bottom was the name of the district risk consultant.
Meridian School Risk Services.
Claire searched the company.
One of its executives:
Michael Reed.
Her breath caught.
Michael Reed did not merely oversee facilities.
His private company advised the district about liability.
Dr. Avery returned.
Her face had changed.
“What?”
“Maintenance records from the auditorium were altered after your accident.”
Claire stared.
“How?”
“A repair request dated August tenth was closed in the system on August fourteenth.”
“That matches the anonymous form.”
“Yes.”
“But the technician assigned to it says he never repaired the handrail.”
Claire’s pulse quickened.
“Who closed the ticket?”
Avery looked at her.
“An administrator account.”
“Whose?”
“Facilities Committee access.”
Michael Reed.
Maybe.
Not proven.
Then Avery added:
“There’s more.”
She placed her phone on Claire’s desk.
A photograph showed another district employee report from June.
Two months before Claire fell.
Loose handrail — Auditorium Stairwell B. Immediate repair recommended.
Claire read the name of the employee who filed it.
Rafael Gomez.
The custodian who later found her after the fall.
She looked at Avery.
“They knew.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Avery’s voice became quieter.
“That is what we’re going to establish.”
Claire stared at the report.
Then her phone buzzed again.
The anonymous sender.
May you like
Ask Rafael why his June complaint disappeared.
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