‘…can’t touch me,’ he was saying. ‘I own this school and half the town council. That little accident is nothing.’
I pushed the door open.
Richard lounged with his eight-hundred-dollar shoes propped on the principal’s desk, a crystal glass in his hand despite the early hour.
Max sat in a corner, thumbing a gaming device, his face blank and cruel.
Principal Harmon, a man whose spine had been replaced by a wet noodle, was nodding like a bobblehead.
Richard’s eyes narrowed when he saw me. ‘Elena. You look like you haven’t slept. Hard night?’
‘Your son,’ I said, my voice steady even as my heart hammered, ‘pushed my daughter down a flight of stairs and broke her arm. She has a concussion.’
He laughed. Actually laughed. ‘Kids will be kids. Lily is clumsy, just like her mother.’
Max snickered. ‘I pushed her on purpose. She’s a whiny brat. And you know what? I’ll do it again.’
Richard pulled out his checkbook with theatrical slowness. ‘Let’s handle this like adults. How much do you want? Twenty thousand? Thirty?’
I felt bile rise in my throat as he scrawled a number and flicked a check toward me. ‘Forty thousand. Use it for the medical bills and some therapy for her. Maybe for you, too.’
I didn’t pick it up.
‘You really think you can just buy this away?’ I whispered.
He spread his hands. ‘I just did. The police chief is my poker buddy. Any lawyer you hire will be outspent before they draft the complaint. You’re nothing, Elena. You’re the leftover scraps of my past.’
Max stood up and gave me a little wave. ‘Bye, loser.’
That’s when I knew the moment had come.
I reached slowly into my worn brown handbag.
Richard watched, amused. ‘What’s in there? A lottery ticket? That’s about your level.’
My fingers closed around the small rectangular device.
I pulled it out and held it up so the blinking green light was visible to everyone.
‘This,’ I said, ‘is a live recording unit transmitting directly to the DA’s office. Everything you’ve said—the bribe, the confession, the threats—has been recorded.’
Richard’s smile vanished, replaced by a flash of panic before he masked it with anger. ‘That’s inadmissible. You can’t tape people without consent—’
‘Texas is a one-party consent state,’ I cut in. ‘I’m the one party. And I absolutely can.’
Then, with my other hand, I withdrew a thick manila folder.
‘And these,’ I continued, dropping it on the desk with a thud that made Harmon jump, ‘are copies of the financial records linking you to sixteen counts of bribery, money laundering, and conspiracy. My team has everything.’
Harmon’s face went the color of old cheese. ‘I—I didn’t know anything about this—’
I looked at him with pity. ‘The evidence says otherwise, Principal Harmon.’
Richard lunged forward, trying to snatch the folder, but I stepped back just as the door crashed open.
Four uniformed officers and two suits from the Economic Crimes Unit filed in, led by Marisol Reyes in a sharp navy blazer.
‘Richard Sterling,’ she announced, ‘you are under arrest. Hands behind your back.’
He sputtered, cursed, tried to call for his lawyer, but the cuffs were already clicking shut.
Max started wailing—a loud, ragged cry that was equal parts fury and fear. ‘You can’t do this! My dad will buy you all!’
A juvenile officer gently but immovably took his arm. ‘Son, you’re coming with us. There’s help for you if you’ll accept it.’
His gaming tablet fell to the floor, the screen still glowing with some cartoon creature dancing.
Harmon was the last, led away stammering that he was just following orders, that Richard had threatened his family.
I stood in the sudden silence, the scents of bourbon and fear hanging in the air.
Marisol touched my shoulder. ‘We got him, Elena. He’s done.’
I nodded, feeling the shakiness start in my legs now that the adrenaline was fading.
‘I need to get back to the hospital,’ I said, my voice cracking.
She hugged me, and for the first time in years, I cried without shame.
Lily was awake when I returned, sitting up and eating a green Jell-O with determination.
