Chapter 13 - APRIL'S PHONE
April was alive.
Barely.
A delivery driver had found her behind the diner after someone shoved her to the ground and stole her purse. She had a concussion and a broken wrist.
Her phone, however, was still in her coat pocket.
Whoever attacked her had missed it.
At the hospital, April refused to speak until Detective Cole arrived.
Then she asked for Rafael too.
"I should've talked last year," she said.
"Talk now," Rafael replied.
April closed her eyes.
"Reset started as a quiet corner. Then Kendrick began using the closet. Bell knew. Mills knew. Reece told everyone our discipline numbers had to stay clean until the grant review."
"Did he order children locked in a closet?" Cole asked.
"Not in those words. He said, 'Handle behavior without generating reportable incidents.' Kendrick took that as permission. Bell let her."
April unlocked her phone.
"I saved things."
There were screenshots of staff messages.
One from Kendrick: If the parents don't know, it isn't an incident.
One from Bell: Keep Reset verbal. No paper trail.
And one from Mills, sent after Landon's father complained: Warren says create documentation showing prior aggression. We need context if Dad escalates.
Leah stared at the message.
"They manufactured a record against a child."
April nodded.
Then she opened an audio file.
Superintendent Reece's voice filled the hospital room.
"You want this grant, you control your building. I don't care how Celeste gets results. I care what lands in writing."
Nobody moved.
Cole asked, "Why were you attacked this morning?"
April swallowed.
"Because I told Dana Mills last night that I was meeting Rafael."
"Why would you tell her?"
April looked ashamed.
"Because she called me first. She said she wanted to come clean too."
Rafael felt cold.
"Where is Mills now?"
April looked at him.
"She said she'd meet me at the diner."
Cole's phone rang.
He answered, listened, and went still.
"We found her car," he said.
May you like
"Where?"
"At the school."
