Chapter 8 - Seven Names
Detective Vega asked Emma not to investigate independently.
Emma promised.
Then she did something slightly different.
She listened.
Word had spread that Maya Chen was cooperating.
Once that happened, other students began approaching Emma.
Not police.
Not administrators.
Emma.
The first was Noah Bell, a fifteen-year-old sophomore who waited outside her chemistry class.
“They had a video of my dad getting arrested,” he said.
Emma stared at him.
“For what?”
“DUI. Two years ago.”
“I’m sorry.”
“They threatened to post it with my address.”
“Did you pay them?”
“Seventy-five dollars.”
The second was Hannah Cole.
“They got screenshots of messages where I was talking about my eating habits,” she whispered.
Emma immediately stopped her from explaining further.
“You don’t have to tell me details.”
“They wanted a hundred dollars.”
“Did you report it?”
Hannah shook her head.
The third was Mateo Ruiz—not related to Officer Ruiz—whose father worked construction.
“They threatened to post where my dad’s crew worked because some of the workers didn’t have papers.”
Emma’s stomach turned.
“How much?”
“Three hundred.”
“Did you pay?”
“My brother did.”
Emma told each person the same thing.
“Please go to Detective Vega or Ms. Alvarez. Don’t give me evidence. Don’t send me private files unless police tell you to.”
By the end of the day, seven names had surfaced.
Exactly as Zoe had said.
Ms. Alvarez established a private reporting room in the counseling wing.
Principal Howard brought in an outside district investigator.
Vance was placed on administrative leave.
The school board temporarily removed Dana Reed from any discussions related to the case.
Still, Madison remained out of school and publicly silent.
Her attorney was not.
Malcolm Price issued a statement accusing unnamed students of “collective scapegoating fueled by social media hysteria.”
Emma read it once.
Then deleted the screenshot.
She was learning not to feed herself poison.
Lucy returned to school on Monday.
Emma walked beside her through the front doors.
Students stared.
Lucy gripped her backpack straps.
“You don’t have to stay with me.”
“I know.”
“You have class upstairs.”
“I know.”
Lucy stopped.
“Emma.”
“What?”
“I don’t want to become the girl everyone whispers about.”
Emma looked at her sister.
“What do you want to become?”
Lucy thought.
“Someone who still likes school.”
Emma smiled sadly.
“Then we work on that.”
At lunch, they ate in Ms. Alvarez’s office.
It wasn’t permanent.
Just safe.
Lucy told Emma about a science project.
For eleven minutes, they didn’t mention Madison.
It felt like a victory.
Then Ms. Alvarez entered holding a printout.
“Police recovered data from Lucy’s phone.”
Lucy went still.
Emma set down her sandwich.
“What did they find?”
“Detective Vega wants to tell you herself.”
That afternoon, the family met Vega at the station.
She showed them still images recovered from Lucy’s screen recording.
The Scoreboard chat contained forty-six active members.
Most had no administrative power.
Three did.
Madison Reed.
Kyle Benton.
And an account called Rook17.
“Who’s Rook?” Emma asked.
“We don’t know yet.”
“What did the account do?”
Vega scrolled.
Rook rarely posted jokes.
Instead, Rook tracked payments.
Dates.
Amounts.
Status.
PAID.
REFUSED.
POST FRIDAY.
REMOVE AFTER PAYMENT.
Claire looked sick.
“An adult?”
“Possibly. Or a student pretending to be one.”
Lucy pointed at the screen.
“Scroll up.”
Vega did.
Lucy leaned closer.
“There.”
A message from Madison:
Rook says stop using school devices. Vance is getting nervous.
Emma’s pulse jumped.
“Vance knew.”
Vega held up a hand.
“It suggests Madison believed Vance knew something. It does not prove what he knew.”
Another message appeared.
Kyle:
Dana said everything needs to stay clean until fundraiser closes.
Emma stared at it.
Claire whispered, “Dana.”
Vega nodded.
“We’re examining that.”
“What fundraiser?” Emma asked.
“The athletic building campaign.”
Howard’s building.
The one Vance had allegedly protected Madison for.
Vega pulled up district financial records.
“Twenty-two thousand dollars in digital gift cards were purchased through fundraiser-related accounts over nine months.”
Claire frowned.
“Why would a fundraiser buy gift cards?”
“Volunteer incentives. Raffle prizes. Vendor thank-yous. It can be legitimate.”
“But?”
“Some serial numbers match cards reported by victims.”
Nobody spoke.
Emma felt the story shift beneath her feet.
The students had been paying Scoreboard with gift cards.
At least some of those gift cards had entered or originated from accounts linked to a legitimate school fundraiser.
“How?” Emma whispered.
“We don’t know yet.”
Lucy stared at the spreadsheet.
Then she pointed again.
“What does that mean?”
Beside several payments was a two-letter code.
DR.
Emma looked at Detective Vega.
“Dana Reed?”
“Maybe.”
Claire asked, “Or Madison Reed?”
“Also possible.”
Emma remembered Kyle saying Dana had given Madison a password.
She remembered Dana’s warning to Principal Howard.
Remember what happened last semester.
Vega shut the laptop.
“We’re not going to jump ahead of the evidence.”
But as Emma stood to leave, Lucy tugged her sleeve.
“Emma.”
“What?”
“The anonymous account that messaged you.”
Emma frowned.
“What about it?”
“It said Madison didn’t start Scoreboard.”
“Yes.”
Lucy’s face had gone pale.
“What if Rook did?”
Emma looked back at the dark laptop screen.
Someone had built the payment system.
Someone had known which school accounts could hide the cards.
Someone had warned Madison when administrators got nervous.
May you like
And suddenly Emma wondered whether Scoreboard had ever been just a cruel teenage game.
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