Chapter 4 - What Eli Saw
Bryce dropped the phone and whispered, “He’s still here.”
Officer Granger picked it up.
The message remained on the screen.
I’M STILL INSIDE THE SCHOOL.
Then a third message appeared.
YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU TALK.
Bryce stopped crying.
He looked terrified.
Mom immediately turned to Granger.
“Lock the school down safely. Nobody searches alone.”
Granger nodded.
For the first time, he didn't argue with her.
Caldwell called the front office.
Dana moved us into a nearby conference room away from windows and exterior doors.
Veronica followed.
Bryce refused to sit beside her.
That mattered.
I sat next to Eli.
He had his hands over his ears.
“You okay?”
He nodded even though he obviously wasn't.
I didn't push.
Mom had taught me another thing that morning without saying it.
Sometimes helping someone meant letting them decide when to speak.
Ten minutes later, police confirmed the building was secure.
No unknown adult was found.
Whoever sent the message was either hiding extremely well or bluffing.
Dana examined the flash drive recovered from the records room.
“Encrypted.”
“Can you open it?” Caldwell asked.
“Eventually.”
Bryce spoke.
“I know the password.”
Veronica closed her eyes.
Nobody said anything.
Bryce looked at her.
“You knew.”
“No.”
“You knew something.”
“I knew your father was involved with Voss.”
My stomach tightened.
Bryce's father had never been mentioned.
Caldwell stared at Veronica.
“Thomas?”
She nodded.
Thomas Holloway.
The man whose family name was printed on the banner announcing the new athletic complex.
The donor everyone thanked at assemblies.
The man whose money seemed to open every door in Lincoln Ridge.
Bryce looked sick.
“My dad told me to scare Eli.”
Eli's breathing changed.
I touched the edge of the chair between us, not him.
Bryce continued.
“Eli saw Dad and Voss exchanging something behind the gym.”
“What?” Granger asked.
“I don't know.”
“Money?”
“I don't know!”
His voice broke.
Veronica reached for him.
He moved away.
“He told me Eli misunderstood. He said if Eli started telling people, the school project could get canceled and hundreds of kids would lose everything because of one weird kid who didn't understand what he saw.”
Eli looked down.
Bryce's face crumpled.
“I believed him.”
Mom said quietly, “And then?”
“I started bothering Eli.”
“Why?”
“To make him scared of talking.”
Eli whispered, “It worked.”
Bryce looked at him.
“I’m sorry.”
Eli didn't answer.
He didn't owe him one.
Dana placed the flash drive on the table.
“Password.”
Bryce swallowed.
“Northstar27.”
Dana typed it.
The drive opened.
Folders appeared.
Invoices.
Construction contracts.
Security records.
Student disciplinary reports.
Caldwell leaned closer.
“Why are student files on that drive?”
Dana opened one.
Eli Parker.
Another.
Talia Reed.
My stomach dropped.
“My file?”
The modification date was this morning.
Before the stairwell incident.
Mom went completely still.
Dana opened it.
There was a prepared disciplinary template.
My name.
My grade.
My demographic information.
And one sentence:
STUDENT HAS HISTORY OF AGGRESSIVE CONDUCT.
“That’s false,” Caldwell said immediately.
“I've never been disciplined,” I said.
“I know.”
The document had been created at 8:14 that morning.
The incident with Bryce happened after lunch.
Someone had prepared the accusation hours before it happened.
Mom looked at me.
Then at Bryce.
“This wasn't spontaneous.”
Bryce shook his head.
“I didn't know about that.”
Veronica whispered, “Neither did I.”
Dana opened another folder.
Dozens of student names.
Complaints altered.
Reports deleted.
Incidents rewritten.
Most involved students whose families lacked influence at the school.
Caldwell sat silently.
“I signed some of these.”
“Did you read them?” Mom asked.
He looked ashamed.
“Not closely enough.”
There it was.
Not evil.
Something more ordinary.
Convenience.
Cowardice.
Trusting people because questioning them was uncomfortable.
And kids paid for it.
Dana opened a folder labeled CONTRACTS.
The athletic complex budget had been inflated.
Millions of dollars moved through subcontractors.
Several were linked to Thomas Holloway.
Caldwell looked toward Veronica.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
This time I believed her.
Her face had changed.
Whatever arrogance had filled her earlier was gone.
“My husband told me the donations were ours.”
Dana continued.
Payments from the district.
Transfers.
Invoices.
Then a document bearing Gerald Voss's authorization.
Granger said, “This looks like fraud.”
Dana nodded.
“And Eli saw something connecting them.”
Everyone looked at him.
Eli's fingers twisted together.
Mom sat across from him.
Not too close.
“What did you see?”
He closed his eyes.
“A blue folder.”
“What was inside?”
“Money.”
“How much?”
“I don't know.”
“Anything else?”
“A list.”
“What kind?”
“Names.”
“Did you read them?”
“Some.”
He looked at me.
“Yours.”
My breath stopped.
“Mine?”
He nodded.
“Your mom's too.”
Mom's expression changed.
Barely.
But I knew her.
That frightened her.
“Where was this?”
“Behind the gym.”
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“What did Voss say?”
Eli squeezed his eyes shut.
“Thomas said your mom had to be kept away.”
Mom leaned forward.
“Kept away from what?”
“The school.”
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
Dana and Mom exchanged a look.
Suddenly this wasn't just about stolen construction money.
Someone knew who my mother was before I ever mentioned it.
Someone had my name prepared in a false disciplinary report.
Someone had expected something to happen to me today.
The realization made my skin cold.
“Mom.”
“I know.”
She reached across the table.
I took her hand.
Then Dana's phone rang.
She answered.
Listened.
Her eyes narrowed.
“Send it.”
A photograph arrived.
She turned the screen toward Mom.
“What?” I asked.
Mom didn't answer.
I stood enough to see.
It was a still image from the front entrance camera.
A man had entered the school that morning wearing a maintenance uniform.
The same man who had run from the records room.
This image showed his face clearly.
Veronica covered her mouth.
Bryce whispered, “Uncle Ray.”
Granger looked at her.
“Raymond Holloway?”
Veronica nodded.
“My husband's brother.”
Dana stared at the photo.
“When was this taken?”
“Seven forty-two this morning.”
Before my false report was created.
Before Bryce confronted Eli.
Before Officer Granger arrived.
Raymond Holloway had been inside the school before all of it.
Then Mom's phone buzzed.
One message.
Unknown number.
She read it.
Her jaw tightened.
“What does it say?” I asked.
She turned the screen.
Four words.
CHECK TALIA’S SCHOOL LOCKER.
My heart began pounding.
Mom looked toward the hallway.
I suddenly remembered something.
That morning, when I'd opened my locker, the door had already been slightly ajar.
I had assumed I hadn't closed it properly the day before.
Now I wasn't so sure.
We reached the locker corridor with Granger and Dana.
Nobody touched anything.
My locker was number 214.
The door was closed.
Dana pulled on gloves.
She opened it carefully.
Books.
Jacket.
Lunch bag.
Then she stopped.
Something had been taped beneath the top shelf.
A white envelope.
My name was written across it.
TALIA REED.
Mom carefully opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
It showed her leaving our apartment.
On the back were seven handwritten words.
YOUR MOTHER ISN’T THE TARGET.
I stared at Mom.
She turned the photograph over again.
May you like
There was one more line beneath it.
YOU ARE.
