Chapter 8 - FRIDAY'S HEARING
Friday was three days away.
The district had scheduled a review meeting to decide whether I could return to teaching while its investigation continued.
I brought Rachel every message Robert sent.
She told me to stop reading comments online.
I tried.
But at two in the morning I found a picture of myself standing beside my students at last year's tournament.
Someone had covered their faces with black squares and written: KEEP HER AWAY.
I sat on our bedroom floor until the sun came up.
At school, Coach Flores called me from the gym.
“Your club asked where you were,” he said.
“What did you tell them?”
“That adults are responsible for checking facts before judging people.”
My eyes burned.
He added that a parent had offered to give a statement about my work with students, if the district wanted one.
I asked him not to involve children in the online fight.
“Good,” he said.
“That sounds like you.”
Meanwhile, Rachel obtained a copy of Robert's police complaint.
He claimed I'd slammed David into a wall, injured his shoulder, and threatened the entire family.
David had not reported an injury.
The apartment-building security camera showed him carrying groceries with both arms the next day, but that proved little by itself.
The strongest proof was still missing: the full recording.
David admitted he had installed his father's security system the previous spring.
“Can you get the original?” Rachel asked.
“I don't know if Dad removed my access.”
“Find out without accessing anything you're not authorized to see,” she said.
That night David opened the account app.
The screen showed a single device and a gray box beneath it.
ACCOUNT OWNER: SUSAN MILLER.
His mother stared.
May you like
“That's my email address.”
Then David whispered, “Dad never changed it.”
