Chapter 4 - Noah Wakes
Noah Alvarez opened his eyes Tuesday evening.
His mother called Sophia immediately.
“He asked for you.”
County Memorial smelled of disinfectant and burnt coffee.
Sophia found Noah in a small room on the fourth floor with his left wrist in a cast and bruising along one side of his face.
Nothing about him looked like the boy who had teased her about terrible cafeteria pizza four days earlier.
Isabel Alvarez sat beside the bed.
When Sophia entered, Isabel stood and hugged her.
It surprised Sophia.
“Thank you for calling the police.”
Sophia’s throat tightened.
“I should’ve called sooner.”
“No.”
Isabel pulled back.
“You were scared too.”
Noah watched them.
His voice was rough.
“Did they find my phone?”
Sophia shook her head.
“No.”
His eyes closed.
“Jason took it.”
“You remember?”
“Pieces.”
Sophia sat beside him.
“Do you remember leaving the school?”
Noah frowned.
“Connor.”
“What about him?”
“He helped me stand.”
Sophia leaned closer.
Noah struggled.
“Jason kept saying we couldn’t call an ambulance because it would bring police.”
“And Connor?”
“He wanted to.”
“Where did they take you?”
“I don’t know. Jason said we had to move away from the cameras.”
Sophia felt sick.
“You were injured.”
“I know.”
Isabel’s expression hardened.
“They left my son in a parking lot.”
Noah turned toward Sophia.
“Did you get the book?”
Sophia’s pulse jumped.
“Yes.”
His relief was immediate.
“You found the card.”
“We gave it to Detective Ramirez.”
Noah nodded.
“Good.”
“What’s on it?”
He looked toward his mother.
Then back at Sophia.
“Receipts. Emails. Screenshots.”
“From the booster office?”
“Some.”
“How did you get them?”
“I was scanning boxes.”
He shifted carefully.
“There was a binder labeled equipment purchases. Half the receipts didn’t match the spreadsheet. They said the football program bought training equipment from companies that don’t even sell sports equipment.”
Sophia frowned.
“How did you know?”
“My uncle orders supplies for his store. One vendor name looked familiar.”
“What company?”
“North Ridge Logistics.”
Sophia shook her head.
Noah continued.
“It’s registered to a mailbox.”
“And Richard?”
“Several payments went through Miller Development first.”
Noah had photographed documents.
Then he had discovered something even stranger.
A spreadsheet containing payments labeled COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP REIMBURSEMENTS.
Some recipients were legitimate businesses.
Others appeared fake.
One line contained Laura Bennett’s employee number.
Sophia went cold.
“My mom?”
Noah nodded.
“Not her name. Her employee ID.”
“For what?”
“I don’t know.”
“How much?”
“Forty-eight thousand.”
Sophia remembered the backdated invoice.
Noah saw her reaction.
“She knows.”
“She signed something she shouldn’t have.”
Isabel inhaled.
Sophia continued.
“She told me today.”
Noah looked almost relieved.
“I was afraid Richard had paid her.”
“No.”
Sophia’s voice came sharper than intended.
“She made a mistake. That’s different.”
Noah nodded.
“I know.”
Sophia realized she was defending her mother while also forcing herself to accept an uncomfortable truth.
Laura had done something wrong.
Richard might have used it.
Both could be true.
“What else is on the card?” Sophia asked.
“Screenshots of messages.”
“Whose?”
Noah swallowed.
“Jason’s.”
Sophia stared.
“How did you get Jason’s messages?”
“I didn’t.”
Noah explained that a booster office tablet had been used by student volunteers during fundraising events.
Jason had logged into a messaging application months earlier and never signed out.
Noah had discovered a conversation between Jason and Connor.
At first, it was ordinary teenage talk.
Then the messages changed.
Jason bragged that his father could “make school problems disappear.”
He told Connor not to worry about stolen fundraiser cash because “Dad fixes numbers.”
And two weeks earlier, Jason wrote:
BENNETT’S MOM IS DIGGING AGAIN.
Connor replied:
HOW DO YOU KNOW?
Jason:
MY DAD SAID SHE NEEDS A REASON TO STOP.
Sophia’s palms went cold.
“Did Jason know you copied them?”
“I think he saw me with the tablet Friday afternoon.”
“And that night?”
“He texted me to meet him.”
“You went?”
Noah looked embarrassed.
“He said he’d leave you alone if I deleted everything.”
Sophia stared.
“You went because of me?”
“No.”
His answer came too fast.
Then he gave a weak smile.
“Not entirely.”
Sophia’s eyes burned.
“You idiot.”
“Yeah.”
“That was incredibly stupid.”
“Also yeah.”
Isabel quietly left the room, giving them privacy.
Sophia looked at Noah’s cast.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because Jason already hated you.”
“He hates anyone he can’t control.”
“I thought I could handle him.”
“You couldn’t.”
Noah looked at her.
“Neither could you.”
The truth stung.
Then Noah said, “But maybe neither of us has to handle him alone anymore.”
Sophia thought of Maya.
Detective Ramirez.
Isabel.
Even the students recording in the cafeteria.
She nodded.
Before leaving, she asked one final question.
“Connor warned me today.”
Noah’s expression changed.
“What did he say?”
“That Jason isn’t the person I should be afraid of.”
Noah stared toward the hospital door.
“When I was on the ground, Jason called somebody.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“What did he say?”
Noah closed his eyes, concentrating.
Then his face tightened.
“He said, ‘Dad, something happened.’”
Sophia waited.
Noah opened his eyes.
“And then Jason said, ‘No, she saw me.’”
Sophia felt the air leave her lungs.
“She?”
“You.”
A silence settled between them.
Then Noah whispered the part he had remembered only minutes before Sophia arrived.
May you like
“His father told him not to call 911.”
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