Chapter 5 - THE PHONE ON THE NETWORK
Vanessa's face lost its color.
Daniel noticed.
"What phone?" he asked.
Vanessa crossed her arms. "This is ridiculous. Half the building is on that Wi-Fi."
The technician shook his head. "Staff Wi-Fi needs a code. We changed it this morning."
Mr. Cole said, "I gave it to three people."
"Who?" Officer Ramirez asked.
"Me, Jason in tech, and Vanessa. She said she needed it to livestream rehearsal clips for the parent committee."
Claire felt Mia's fingers tighten around hers.
Vanessa laughed again, but there was no confidence in it now. "That proves I had access. It doesn't prove I deleted anything."
Officer Ramirez nodded. "Correct."
Daniel rubbed both hands over his face. "Vanessa, did you touch the camera system?"
"No."
"Look at me."
"I said no."
Vanessa snapped, "Daniel, be careful."
He looked at her sharply. "Careful about what?"
"About letting Claire turn this into something it isn't."
Claire's patience broke. "I did not put a handprint on my child's face."
Officer Ramirez moved closer. "Ms. Hart, I'm asking you to voluntarily show us your phone."
Vanessa took a step back. "No."
"You have that right."
"Good."
"But do not delete anything."
"I'm leaving."
"You are not under arrest," Ramirez said. "But we still need your statement."
Then a teenage girl wearing a black stage-crew shirt pushed through the gathering crowd.
"Mr. Cole?" she said. "I think you need to hear this."
Her name was Emma, sixteen years old, assistant sound operator, braces and all.
She held up a small digital recorder.
"I record the stage feed separately for backup," she said. "The microphone wasn't just live."
Vanessa stared at the recorder.
Emma pressed play.
A rustle of fabric came through the tiny speaker.
Then Mia's frightened voice.
"Please give me my bow back."
And Vanessa answered, clear as glass:
"Maybe I will when you learn how to stop being such a disappointment."
Daniel's face collapsed.
May you like
Then the recording continued.
A slap cracked through the speaker.
