Chapter 4 - The Blue Ledger
The envelope had contained something Principal Keller had not initially mentioned.
A blue accounting ledger.
The Northbridge Education Foundation used digital records for almost everything, but the winter emergency fundraiser had been managed by volunteers.
One retired accountant insisted on maintaining a handwritten reconciliation ledger because, as Keller explained, “Mrs. Dwyer trusts paper more than electricity.”
Grace sat beside Dana in Detective Ortiz’s office Thursday afternoon.
“What was written in it?”
“Donations,” Ortiz said. “Amounts, check numbers, cash counts, and who collected each deposit.”
“And it disappeared with the envelope.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t the school tell us?”
“Because information is sometimes withheld while investigators determine who knows details only the offender should know.”
Grace nodded.
She was learning.
The ledger created a bigger problem.
According to Mrs. Dwyer’s preliminary notes, the fundraiser should have contained more than twenty-two thousand dollars.
Only fourteen thousand eight hundred had been placed in Keller’s office Tuesday.
Seven thousand six hundred dollars was already unaccounted for before the office theft.
Dana leaned forward.
“So somebody may have been taking money before Tuesday.”
“That is one possibility.”
“And the ledger would show where?”
“Potentially.”
Grace remembered Sierra’s face.
You said nobody would know.
Maybe Sierra had not entered the office for fourteen thousand dollars.
Maybe she had entered for a small blue book.
At school, Sierra did not appear.
Her attorney had advised the family to keep her home while police questioned her.
Rumors became worse.
One version claimed Sierra had stolen thirty thousand dollars.
Another claimed Grace and Sierra had planned it together.
A third claimed Mason was secretly dating both of them.
Mason looked offended.
“This school has no respect for believable plotting.”
Grace laughed for the first time all morning.
They sat in the library.
Mason lowered his voice.
“Keller asked me for footage from Monday’s media club rehearsal.”
“Why?”
“I was filming hall transitions for the spring orientation video.”
Grace sat straighter.
“Did you film the chemistry corridor?”
“For about forty seconds.”
“Did you see Sierra?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t reviewed everything.”
“Can we?”
“No.”
Grace frowned.
Mason held up a hand.
“Keller already has the raw files. I’m not contaminating something police might want because we’re impatient.”
Grace stared at him.
“You’ve become annoyingly responsible.”
“Thank you.”
Then he hesitated.
“There is something I remember.”
“What?”
“Monday afternoon Sierra was arguing with her mom outside the foundation office.”
“What foundation office?”
“The room beside the auditorium. Vivian uses it during fundraising weeks.”
“What were they saying?”
“I couldn’t hear most of it.”
“Most?”
Mason looked uncomfortable.
“Sierra said, ‘I’m not doing another thing for you.’”
Grace waited.
“And Vivian said?”
“‘You already benefited from everything I’ve done.’”
Grace frowned.
“That could mean anything.”
“Exactly.”
Mason leaned back.
“That’s why I didn’t make it sound bigger.”
Grace liked him for that.
He was curious without needing every mystery to become an accusation.
After school, Grace met with Ms. Priya Patel, the counselor who supervised Sierra’s student-aide period.
“Could Sierra access my financial documents?”
Ms. Patel’s face tightened.
“Not legitimately.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“No.”
Grace waited.
Patel sighed.
“Student aides scan appointment sheets, organize general forms, and deliver sealed envelopes. Confidential student records are kept in locked cabinets.”
“Who has keys?”
“Counselors.”
“Where are they kept?”
Patel hesitated.
“Grace, the police have already asked these questions.”
“Then you can tell me whether Sierra could have seen my file.”
Patel looked ashamed.
“One key was kept in my desk drawer.”
“Unlocked?”
“Usually locked.”
“Usually.”
“I’ve already reported the weakness.”
Grace felt anger.
“So yes.”
“It was possible.”
“Did my file go missing?”
“No.”
“Was anything disturbed?”
Patel looked toward the door.
“One page had been removed and replaced.”
Grace’s stomach dropped.
“What page?”
“Your household financial summary.”
Of course.
The anonymous account knew the rent problem because someone had accessed that page.
“Did Sierra have access?”
“We cannot prove she took it.”
Grace stood.
“I didn’t ask what you could prove.”
Patel met her eyes.
“Yes. She had opportunity.”
Grace left feeling colder than when she entered.
That evening Detective Ortiz called with another development.
Police had obtained subscriber information for the anonymous threatening number.
It was a prepaid phone.
No direct name.
But its activation location had been captured by store surveillance.
“Who bought it?” Grace asked.
“We don’t know. The purchaser paid cash and wore a baseball cap.”
“Male or female?”
“Appears female.”
Grace waited.
Ortiz continued.
“We also traced the anonymous social-media account. It was created using the same device.”
“So whoever texted me posted about my mother.”
“Yes.”
“Can you locate the phone?”
“If it connects again, possibly.”
Dana folded laundry on the sofa while listening.
Grace asked, “Anything about the checks?”
“Yes.”
Her voice shifted.
“One of the deposited fundraiser checks was endorsed to the Northbridge Education Foundation.”
“That sounds normal.”
“It should be.”
“Should?”
“The bank records show the funds were transferred from the foundation account two days later.”
“To where?”
“A company called Arden Educational Consulting.”
Grace had never heard of it.
Dana had.
She stopped folding.
“What?” Grace asked.
Dana stared at the phone.
“I cleaned Vivian Blake’s office during a foundation gala last year.”
Grace frowned.
“So?”
“There were folders on her desk.”
Dana slowly sat down.
“One said Arden.”
Grace’s pulse quickened.
“You remember that?”
“Because my mother’s name was Arden.”
Ortiz asked, “Mrs. Miller, are you certain?”
“Yes.”
“Did you read anything in the folder?”
“No.”
“Did you remove anything?”
“Of course not.”
Ortiz was silent for a moment.
“Then I’d like to interview you tomorrow.”
Grace looked at her mother.
The mystery had just reached into their home from another direction.
May you like
And for the first time, Sierra Blake was no longer the only Blake investigators were looking at.
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