“It wasn't me. I didn't set foot in the library today.”
A male student suddenly shoved his way in through the door.
“You're lying!”
“I saw it! I saw it with my own eyes!”
He jabbed a finger at Christian and shouted the words.
“At one thirty this afternoon, I happened to be passing the north fire stairwell of the library. I heard a girl screaming inside. The second I ran over, I saw Christian bolt out of there in a total panic!”
Layla looked at the boy and wept even more piteously.
“John Finch, thank you for being willing to stand up and speak for me……”
John threw out his chest, the very picture of a hero rescuing a damsel.
Roland immediately turned to me, one cold sneer after another.
“Desiree, there's a witness and there's evidence. What else do you have to say?”
Keith rushed forward and clutched my arm in a death grip, his face a mess of tears and snot.
“Desiree, I'm begging you! Just make our son confess, quick! Try for some leniency.”
He turned to the officer.
“Officer, we confess! We'll pay! However much it takes, we'll pay!”
John helped Layla to her feet.
She looked at me, her voice frail, yet every word aimed at the heart.
“Ma'am, I know you want to protect your son, but facts are facts.”
“As long as Christian is willing to kneel and apologize to me in front of the whole school, and give up all of his scholarships and his graduate school admission slot……”
She paused, then let out a sigh.
“I can go to the police station and drop the charges, sign a statement of forgiveness, and keep him out of prison.”
The students around us instantly broke into thunderous applause.
“Layla is such a kind soul!”
“Scum like him deserves to die, and she's still willing to give him a chance!”
“Christian, get down on your knees and thank her already!”
Every ounce of malice, every bit of the pressure, hit its peak in that moment.
I smoothed down my clothes, my tone level.
“Layla.”
“You just said the camera on the north side of the library had been broken for a month. Right?”
Layla froze for a beat, and glanced instinctively at Dean Whitney.
Dean Whitney gave a cold snort.
“Ms. Fox, what more is there to argue? The maintenance logs from the facilities department state it plainly. That camera really was broken.”
I smiled.
“Dean Whitney, I suppose a busy man like you forgets things easily.”
I pulled a document stamped with a red seal out of my bag and slapped it straight down on Roland's desk.
“Yesterday afternoon, in Christian's parent's name, I donated a three-million-dollar 4K panoramic, blind-spot-free security surveillance system to Kingsport University.”
The expression on Layla's face went rigid.
I stared into her eyes and spaced out every word.
“As luck would have it, the north fire stairwell of the library was one of the priority zones in the first round of installation.”
“At twelve noon exactly today, the installation team finished calibration, and the whole system went live on the network.”
