Chapter 3 - Lucas Never Transferred From School
Principal Brooks checked the enrollment system.
Lucas had not transferred.
His record said he had been withdrawn by his mother, Rachel Martin.
Rachel answered Daniel’s attorney’s call within minutes.
She was stunned.
“I never withdrew him.”
Lucas had been home for three weeks because Rachel believed he had been suspended.
She had received an official-looking letter saying Lucas was under investigation for stealing fundraiser money.
The letter instructed her not to contact other parents while the school completed its review.
Principal Brooks had never issued it.
The signatures were forged.
Lucas’s backpack contained the fundraiser envelopes Sophie had seen.
But Rachel said Lucas had never possessed them.
The school resource officer preserved the bag as evidence.
Ms. Carter insisted someone planted it.
Then Mr. Reed spoke.
He had seen Ms. Carter carrying the blue backpack into the room before students arrived.
Why had he not reported it?
He had tried.
He emailed Principal Brooks at 7:42 that morning.
She never received the message.
The school’s internal email system showed it had been deleted by an administrator account.
That account belonged to Vice Principal Thomas Hale.
Thomas was not on campus.
He had called in sick.
Daniel looked at Principal Brooks.
“What does Lucas have to do with Sophie’s hair?”
Nobody knew yet.
Then Sophie remembered what Ms. Carter had said just before raising the scissors.
“You think nobody will know it was you if you change one thing?”
Daniel frowned.
Sophie explained.
Earlier that morning, she had photographed the envelopes under the desk.
Ms. Carter saw her.
Sophie hid her phone inside her long braid.
Ms. Carter demanded the phone.
When Sophie refused, the teacher grabbed the braid and threatened to cut it open.
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The scissors had never been about a haircut.
Ms. Carter believed evidence was hidden inside Sophie’s hair.
