Chapter 8 - The Camera Nobody Wanted
Principal Merritt called the inventory photo a clerical mistake. "Students sign equipment in and out under staff supervision all the time."
Nia wasn't in the meeting; she had asked to be spared another confrontation. Her adviser, Mr. Ellis, came instead. He opened the equipment log and pointed to a serial number belonging to a portable camera used for school announcements.
"This one was checked out the morning of the incident," he said. "It wasn't returned."
"Then file a missing-property report," Merritt answered.
"I did. You closed it yourself."
Silence sat heavily between them.
Emma didn't mistake that exchange for proof of a conspiracy. It was proof that people in charge had questions to answer. The district's outside investigator, attorney Lena Ruiz, requested the log, badge-access report, and backup files. Merritt agreed, but her expression suggested every second cost her.
At lunch, Olivia's friends surrounded Emma's table. One girl asked whether Emma planned to buy the whole school next. Maya stood up, but Emma touched her sleeve.
"You can sit with us," Emma told the girl. "Or you can leave us alone."
The girl blinked. Nobody had offered her a choice before.
That afternoon a school employee slid a plain envelope beneath Ruiz's office door. Inside was a memory card labeled CAFETERIA / 11:36. The card contained an unedited second angle of Olivia's attack and footage of Charles Harper speaking to Merritt afterward.
"We can make this disappear," Charles said, his voice just audible over the lunchroom fans.
"The money problem won't disappear," Merritt answered.
Emma watched the clip with Ruiz and her father. For the first time, the bully wasn't the only person she was afraid of.
Ruiz stopped playback and said, "That phrase could refer to many things. I need the full recording."
May you like
The next minute of footage was missing.
And the person who had supplied the card was nowhere to be found.
