Chapter 9 - Jordan’s Father
Jordan Price rarely mentioned their father.
Maya knew only that he worked “in administration somewhere.”
Now she learned where.
Ethan Price had been Hawthorne Academy’s chief financial officer until the previous spring.
He left suddenly for what the school called “family reasons.”
Jordan had told everyone he accepted another job.
That was not true.
“He was fired,” Jordan said.
They sat in Maya’s kitchen that night with Sandra.
Jordan stared at the copied receipt.
“Why?”
Sandra asked gently.
Jordan’s jaw tightened.
“He wouldn’t tell me.”
“Did you ask?”
“A hundred times.”
Maya thought of all Jordan’s anonymous-source obsession.
All the saved complaints.
“You started tracking Voss because of him.”
Jordan nodded.
“After Dad left, he kept saying Hawthorne was dangerous in a boring way.”
Maya frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“He said nobody thinks spreadsheets can hurt you.”
Sandra looked at the receipt.
“Apparently they can.”
Jordan continued.
“I thought he discovered donor favoritism.”
“Did he?”
“I don’t know.”
“Can we ask him?”
Jordan laughed bitterly.
“He barely talks to me about school.”
“Why?”
“Because he signed an agreement.”
Sandra looked up.
“Severance?”
“Confidentiality.”
That complicated things.
Nobody wanted Ethan violating a legal agreement without counsel.
Headmaster Hale’s outside lawyers contacted him formally the next morning.
By afternoon, Ethan Price arrived at Hawthorne.
Jordan refused to attend the first interview.
“I’m not his source.”
Maya went with Sandra because her records remained involved.
Ethan was forty-five, with Jordan’s same careful eyes.
He looked at Richard Morgan first.
Then Taylor.
Then Maya.
“I’m sorry.”
Maya asked, “For what?”
“That I left before fixing it.”
Richard said, “Did you authorize payments under my daughter’s name?”
“No.”
“Did you know?”
“Yes.”
Taylor stood.
“You knew someone was using my name?”
“I discovered it shortly before I left.”
“And you said nothing?”
“I reported it.”
“To whom?”
“Dean Voss.”
Taylor laughed in disbelief.
“Seriously?”
“I didn’t understand her involvement yet.”
Ethan explained.
The Morgan Foundation had legitimately donated large annual sums to Hawthorne.
Voss created internal subaccounts carrying donor-family names.
She then moved portions of unrestricted student-affairs funds through those labels.
It made expenditures look donor-directed.
“Why?” Sandra asked.
“To avoid review.”
“For what spending?”
Ethan looked ashamed.
“Some legitimate. Some questionable.”
Student gift cards.
Private travel.
Consultant payments.
Confidential settlements.
“Settlements for what?” Maya asked.
“Families leaving quietly.”
The room went still.
Amara.
Lucas.
Others.
“Did you pay Amara’s family?” Maya asked.
“No.”
“Lucas?”
Ethan hesitated.
“His parents received a tuition refund and signed a nondisparagement agreement.”
Jordan’s voice came from the doorway.
Everyone turned.
They had changed their mind about attending.
“Did you sign it?”
Ethan looked at them.
“No.”
“Did you know?”
“Yes.”
Jordan’s face hardened.
“Then why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because you were fifteen.”
“So?”
“I was trying to protect you.”
Jordan laughed once.
The same sentence.
Every adult.
Every secret.
Protection.
Ethan flinched.
Jordan continued.
“You let me stay at a school where the person who fired you could read my anonymous messages.”
“I didn’t know about the media access.”
“But you knew Voss retaliated.”
“Yes.”
“And you left me here.”
Ethan’s eyes filled.
“I thought if I fought the termination, she would target you.”
Jordan went silent.
Maya understood the terrible logic.
Wrong.
But understandable.
Ethan looked at Headmaster Hale.
“I reported irregularities to the board audit committee.”
Richard frowned.
“I was on that committee.”
“No.”
Ethan looked at him.
“You were removed from that meeting.”
Richard stared.
“By whom?”
“Board Chair Charles Whitmore.”
Taylor whispered, “Uncle Charles?”
Lauren Morgan’s brother-in-law.
Maya felt another layer shift.
Richard asked, “Why?”
“Conflict of interest. The accounts used your family name.”
“I was never told.”
“I assumed you were.”
Ethan opened an old email.
The audit committee had scheduled an investigation.
Two days later, it was canceled.
By Headmaster Hale’s predecessor.
Arthur Pembroke.
Hale read silently.
“Pembroke told the board there was no evidence.”
“There was.”
“Where is it?”
Ethan looked toward the theater basement.
“Voss took my originals when security escorted me out.”
Maya frowned.
“But the cabinet—”
“Wasn’t everything.”
Silence.
Ethan continued.
“I kept one copy.”
Jordan stared.
“What?”
“At home.”
Their face changed from anger to disbelief.
“You had evidence this whole time?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Ethan looked at them.
“In the attic.”
Jordan stood.
“You let me spend nine months trying to prove something you had in a box?”
“I was afraid.”
“Of Voss?”
“No.”
Ethan’s answer silenced everyone.
“Of the board member protecting her.”
Richard stared.
“Who?”
Ethan looked at Taylor.
Then toward Richard.
“Charles Whitmore.”
Lauren’s brother-in-law.
Taylor’s uncle by marriage.
The man whose wife Taylor was currently staying with.
May you like
And suddenly the safest place Taylor thought she had left was connected to the person who may have kept Dean Voss protected for years.
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