Piper sat down so suddenly the chair legs screamed against the floor.
And then her second phone began ringing.
On the screen, one word appeared.
Mum.
Part 6: The Woman Who Came Smiling
Mrs. Lockwood arrived like she had never hurried in her life.
Her cream coat was spotless despite the rain outside, and her smile belonged to someone entering a room where she expected everyone else to apologize. She paused just inside the workshop, looked at Piper, then at me, then at the district compliance officer.
“My daughter has been under terrible pressure,” she said before anyone asked her anything.
Piper stared at the floor.
Principal Moreau’s expression didn’t change. “Mrs. Lockwood, your daughter is accused of physically striking another student and attempting to destroy evidence.”
Mrs. Lockwood gave a soft, offended laugh. “Accused by whom?”
No one answered.
Because the answer was everyone.
Ms. Klein tapped her tablet. “We also need to discuss the clinic supply records.”
Mrs. Lockwood’s smile thinned.
“That is a donor accounting matter,” she said. “Not a school discipline issue.”
“It became a school discipline issue,” Ms. Klein replied, “when a student appears to have been framed for a supply shortage.”
Mrs. Lockwood looked at me then.
Really looked.
Not like I was hurt. Not like I was seventeen. Like I was an inconvenience with a pulse.
“Nell, is it?” she said. “You must understand how serious false accusations can be.”
I felt Ms. Ward shift beside me.
But I answered before anyone could rescue me.
“Yes,” I said. “That’s why I checked the source.”
Mrs. Lockwood’s eyes sharpened.
Piper whispered, “Mum, stop.”
It was the first human thing I had heard from her all day.
Mrs. Lockwood ignored her. “My daughter organizes half the student charity work in this school. She has no reason to steal supplies.”
“Not steal,” Ms. Klein said. “Redirect.”
The word hit the room differently.
Redirect.
Ms. Klein opened a file.
Rows of numbers appeared. Shipments of gloves, antiseptic, emergency blankets, wound dressings. Some marked delivered. Some marked repacked. Some marked allocated to off-site storage.
Except the off-site storage address wasn’t a clinic.
It belonged to Lockwood Outreach Media, a private charity branding office run by Piper’s family.
Principal Moreau went very still.