Chapter 5 - The Parent Who Wouldn't Delete the VideoJenna Price received the first threatening email at 6:14 on Monday morning.
It arrived through her personal account.
Your unauthorized recording has caused significant reputational harm. Preserve all materials and refrain from distributing defamatory allegations.
The message came from a law office she had never heard of.
Jenna read it while making toast for her daughter.
Maya sat at the kitchen table, swinging her legs.
"Mom?"
"Yes, honey?"
"Is Ethan coming to school?"
"I think so."
"Everybody was talking about his trophy."
Jenna closed the laptop.
"What were they saying?"
"That he almost got hurt because he was bad."
Jenna knelt beside her.
"Did you see what happened?"
Maya nodded.
"His stepmom kicked it."
"Then you know he wasn't being bad."
Maya's face crumpled.
"Can somebody tell everybody?"
Jenna looked toward her closed computer.
"Somebody will."
She had not uploaded the recording to social media. On Friday, she had sent Daniel the original clip. Later, at Principal Ellis's request, she had provided the school with a separate copy for its incident review.
By Sunday evening, portions of that copy had apparently reached other parents.
Jenna had asked the principal who received access.
There had been no satisfactory answer.
Now Celeste's representatives were implying Jenna had done something wrong.
She called Daniel.
He answered on the first ring.
"Celeste has lawyers contacting me," Jenna said.
"What did they threaten?"
She read the email aloud.
Daniel exhaled.
"I'm sorry."
"I'm not calling for an apology. I'm calling because I'm not deleting anything."
"Don't. Preserve the original file. I've retained counsel, and I'll ask them to contact you about keeping a reliable copy."
"Good."
Jenna hesitated.
"There's something else."
She had served as PTA treasurer for two years.
It was a volunteer position involving small fundraising events, book fairs, and grants from local businesses.
The school often received equipment through programs sponsored by Mercer Learning Systems.
Usually, Jenna simply saw the final amounts listed in school reports.
But after the accident, she had noticed the Northstar Educational Supply logo on the delivery cartons.
The same logo appeared on several donation acknowledgments she had received earlier that year.
"Why is that strange?" Daniel asked.
"It might not be. But we raised twelve thousand dollars for the science lab last spring. Your company supposedly matched it, and a vendor donated additional equipment. The school newsletter described a renovation worth almost ninety thousand."
"That sounds right."
"Except the equipment list looks like what we bought five years ago."
Daniel remained silent.
"And the school was billed for storage and handling even though parents collected most of the supplies ourselves."
"Do you have the paperwork?"
"Only what the PTA was given. I won't take confidential school records, but I'll forward my own copies."
"Please do."
After hanging up, Jenna opened the folder labeled Science Lab Campaign.
She found invoices.
Acknowledgments.
Photographs of deliveries.
A receipt signed by Principal Ellis.
And one document that made her stop.
An installation acknowledgment claimed that Northstar workers had spent forty-eight hours assembling advanced robotics benches.
Jenna remembered those benches.
She and six other parents had assembled them during a Saturday volunteer event.
No contractor had been present.
She opened a photograph from that day.
There was Ms. Harris.
Maya.
Ethan.
Three fathers holding instruction manuals.
And Jenna herself, laughing beside a half-built table.
The photograph was timestamped.
She saved a copy.
At school, Claire Harris was confronting a different problem.
Principal Ellis had asked her to revise her statement.
"The wording is unnecessarily accusatory," Ellis explained.
They were sitting in the principal's office.
Claire's original report stated that she observed Celeste kick the trophy and Ethan run after it into the service lane.
The proposed revision stated that the trophy had moved unexpectedly during an interaction between a guardian and child.
"That's not what I saw," Claire said.
"Nobody is asking you to lie."
"You're asking me to remove the action that caused the danger."
Ellis folded her hands.
"Mrs. Mercer is an influential donor."
Claire stared at her.
"Ethan is seven."
"Claire, there are institutional considerations."
"Then the institution has a problem."
Ellis's expression hardened.
"I would advise you to be careful."
Claire stood.
"I am being careful. That's why I'm keeping my original report."
She left the office with a copy in her hands.
In the hallway, she encountered Ethan.
He was standing near the classroom door holding Maya's hand.
Maya saw her first.
"Ms. Harris, Ethan says he doesn't want to win anything again."
Claire crouched.
"Is that true?"
Ethan stared at the floor.
"People get mad."
Claire felt something ache behind her ribs.
"Sometimes people react badly when someone else does something wonderful," she said. "But their reaction doesn't change what you accomplished."
Ethan didn't answer.
Maya squeezed his hand.
"I liked your machine."
A tiny smile appeared.
It vanished almost immediately.
That afternoon, Jenna forwarded Daniel the PTA documents.
She included the photograph of the volunteer assembly day.
Her accompanying message was brief.
If Northstar was paid for this work, someone needs to explain why.
Daniel opened the attachments.
He recognized the vendor name.
Northstar had received hundreds of purchase orders from Mercer Learning Systems during Celeste's tenure as CFO.
He searched the company's vendor database.
The Northstar account was restricted to finance administration.
The approving executive listed beside the most recent payments was Celeste Mercer.
Below that was a secondary contact.
Grant Vale.
May you like
Daniel knew Grant was Celeste's brother.
What he had not known was that his company had been paying him so much money.
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