Chapter 7 - THE PAPER TRAIL
Leah photographed the form and sent it to Sofia.
Within twenty minutes, Sofia called back.
"Don't touch it more than you already have. Put it in a plastic sleeve."
"Why?"
"Because whoever left it wanted you to know they're falsifying records."
The next day, Leah went to the district office with an attorney from a parent advocacy group. Rafael attended by video call. Marcus Price came too.
District investigator Dr. Priya Shah listened, then asked the question everyone had avoided.
"Mr. Ortiz, how long did you record before entering the room?"
"Thirty-seven seconds."
Leah looked at him.
It was the first time she had heard the exact number.
"Thirty-seven?"
Rafael's face tightened.
"I needed enough to show what was happening. When Kendrick reached for Maisie's wrist, I went in."
Leah looked down.
For a moment, the room felt divided by those thirty-seven seconds.
Dr. Shah said, "Mrs. Carter, you can be angry about the delay and still recognize the evidentiary value. Both can be true."
Leah nodded, but slowly.
Then the lawyer slid the predated discipline form across the table.
Dr. Shah's expression changed.
"Where did this come from?"
"Someone left it at my door."
Dr. Shah picked it up by the edges.
"This document has an internal routing code. Only administrators and two office staff members can generate it."
Rafael leaned closer to the screen.
"Which administrators?"
Dr. Shah did not answer immediately.
Instead, she opened her laptop and typed.
Then she looked up.
"Principal Bell generated three discipline forms for Maisie yesterday morning."
Leah went still.
"Three?"
"One for self-harm. One for aggression toward staff."
"And the third?"
Dr. Shah's face hardened.
"A recommendation for emergency removal from school."
Before Leah could speak, her phone rang.
May you like
It was Maisie's after-school program.
"Mrs. Carter," the director said, "Maisie never arrived."
