Chapter 7 - The Foundation

The name on the page changed the room.

Keene Family Educational Initiative.

Ben read it twice.

"Your foundation?"

Principal Keene straightened his tie. "A nonprofit created by my family to support student enrichment. Completely separate from district operations."

Lena shook her head.

"It isn't separate when you use school contact lists to solicit parents."

Keene turned on her. "You have no idea what you're talking about."

"I mailed the letters."

Dr. Voss lifted one printed sheet.

The donation levels were labeled Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Patriot Partner.

Ben's eyes narrowed at the last one.

Patriot Partner required a five-thousand-dollar annual contribution and promised "priority access to leadership enrichment placements."

"What is a leadership placement?" David asked.

Ms. Harrow answered slowly. "Advanced summer programs. Special recommendation letters. Student ambassador positions."

Lena nodded. "Families who donated got pushed to the top. Families who complained about it... started having problems."

Ben looked at Clara's project folder.

"I didn't donate."

"Neither did I," David said.

Ms. Harrow opened the grading folder again and pulled several forms. "Tyler Mason's mother questioned the fundraiser in September. Emily's father refused to buy a table at the gala. Clara's grandmother..."

She stopped.

Ben turned sharply. "What about Clara's grandmother?"

"Margaret emailed the school two weeks ago asking why Clara had been removed from the Veterans Day assembly."

Ben knew nothing about that.

Clara had never mentioned it.

"Removed from what?"

Ms. Harrow looked even more uncomfortable.

"She was supposed to read a short paragraph about military families. Mr. Keene replaced her with another student."

Keene laughed without humor. "Because her presentation was unverified."

Ben stared at him.

"You changed my status to dead. Then used the false record to call her story unverified."

"You cannot prove I changed anything."

Dr. Voss's phone rang.

She answered, listened, and wrote something down.

"District IT has isolated the terminal used for the edits."

Keene's confidence returned. "Good. Then this nonsense can end."

Dr. Voss looked up.

"The terminal is in your office."

Nobody spoke.

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Keene reached for his phone.

But his phone was gone.