Chapter 5 - The Missing Files
Up in Room 404, the heavy atmosphere felt suffocating. Eleanor Vance stepped away from Leo, smoothing down her dark blazer with trembling fingers as the classroom door swung fully open to reveal the school janitor pushing a mop bucket through the frame.
"Everything alright in here, Mrs. Vance?" the old man asked, squinting through his thick glasses at the tense group of students and the visibly shaken teacher. "Principal’s office called down, said the east wing security loop dropped offline for a few minutes."
"It was just a technical glitch with the wiring, Arthur," Eleanor said, her voice regaining a chilling veneer of professional calm. "Nothing to worry about. The students were just wrapping up their makeup assignment."
Leo kept his head down, using his gray zip-up hoodie sleeve to wipe the remaining tear tracks from his freckled face. Maya watched the janitor carefully, knowing that if Arthur noticed the dangling power cord or the bruise on Leo’s cheek, the fragile lie would instantly fall apart. But Arthur merely nodded, muttered something about faulty building maintenance, and wheeled his bucket past them toward the supply closet.
As soon as the door clicked shut again, Leo looked up, his eyes burning with a mixture of fear and defiance. "You can’t hide what’s on the server, Mrs. Vance. My dad audits the district’s digital archive every month. He’s going to see the missing allocation reports for the athletic fund."
Eleanor’s face hardened into a mask of pure ice. "Your father already knows about the allocation reports, Leo. In fact, he’s the one who authorized them to be moved to the offshore account in the first place. You just happened to look in the wrong folder at the wrong time."
Maya gasped softly, her hand flying to her mouth. The revelation hung in the air like poison. It wasn't just a rogue teacher abusing her power; it was a massive, district-wide embezzlement scheme involving the highest levels of local government, and they had accidentally stumbled right into the middle of it.
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Before Leo could respond, Eleanor’s phone buzzed aggressively in her pocket. She pulled it out, glanced at the screen, and her face went completely white. The text message was short, coming from an unknown internal extension: The security feed is back online. Thomas is currently in the basement office.
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