Chapter 14 - The Weekend
Police found no usable fingerprints at the foundation office.
The intruder had worn gloves.
Security footage showed a hooded figure entering through a service stairwell using a valid temporary access code.
The code had been generated from a contractor account.
A contractor previously hired by Bennett Development.
Andrew denied involvement.
Sarah wanted to believe the break-in proved him responsible.
Malik warned her against forcing evidence into her anger.
“Suspicion is not proof.”
“He asked Mia where the backup was.”
“That matters.”
“And hours later someone broke in.”
“That matters more.”
“So?”
“So we document both and let investigators connect what can actually be connected.”
Sarah hated his discipline because she knew it was correct.
Friday brought Mia’s first court-ordered weekend with Andrew.
The exchange happened at a supervised family center.
Andrew arrived alone.
Mia held Sarah’s hand.
“I don’t want to go.”
Sarah crouched.
“If you feel unsafe, you call me. If Dad talks about the case, you tell the supervisor.”
“Can’t you just say no?”
Sarah’s throat tightened.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because the judge made a temporary rule.”
Mia stared at the gray building.
“Adults make bad rules.”
“Sometimes.”
Andrew waited across the lobby.
Sarah walked Mia halfway.
Andrew knelt.
“Hi, sweetheart.”
Mia did not hug him.
He looked hurt.
Sarah refused to rescue him from the feeling.
The weekend was limited to daytime visits because of the pending investigation.
Andrew took Mia to his rented townhouse.
For two hours he behaved like the father she remembered.
Pancakes.
A movie.
A half-finished puzzle they used to do together.
Then he ruined it.
“Your mom hates me.”
Mia froze.
The supervisor seated across the room looked up.
Andrew corrected himself.
“Sorry. That wasn’t appropriate.”
Mia moved a puzzle piece.
“Mom says you made bad choices.”
Andrew’s jaw tightened.
“She says that?”
“I heard her tell Grandma.”
Sarah’s mother lived in Florida and had flown up after the storm.
Andrew leaned back.
“Your mother makes choices too.”
The supervisor spoke.
“Mr. Bennett, please avoid discussing adult disputes.”
Andrew nodded.
An hour later he went upstairs to take a business call.
Mia wandered toward the hallway bathroom.
A home office door stood open.
On the desk was a thick envelope.
CYPRESS OPTION — HAWTHORNE EAST CAMPUS
Mia stopped.
She knew the word Cypress.
Everyone around her had been saying it for weeks.
She took out the inexpensive tablet Sarah had given her for schoolwork.
No secret recording.
No audio.
She simply photographed the front page visible on the desk.
Then another page.
A property map.
One paragraph had been highlighted:
Purchaser may assign contract to Orchard Residential Partners upon closing.
Orchard again.
Footsteps sounded upstairs.
Mia backed away.
Andrew appeared.
His eyes went to the tablet.
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing.”
“Mia.”
She held it behind her.
Andrew walked toward her.
“Give me the tablet.”
“No.”
The supervisor appeared at the end of the hallway.
“Is there a problem?”
Andrew stopped.
He forced a smile.
“No.”
Mia walked quickly toward the supervisor.
Andrew said, “She was taking pictures of confidential documents.”
The supervisor looked at Mia.
“Were you?”
Mia hesitated.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because they said Cypress was part of what Dad did.”
Andrew’s face became red.
“This is exactly what I meant. Sarah has turned her into an investigator.”
Mia shouted, “Mom told me not to!”
Silence.
Andrew stopped.
Mia began crying.
“I did it because you keep lying!”
The supervisor ended the visit early.
Sarah arrived twenty minutes later.
Mia ran into her arms.
Andrew stood across the parking lot.
“You’re poisoning her against me.”
Sarah held Mia.
“She found your Cypress papers.”
“You sent her to search my home.”
“No.”
“She photographed confidential documents.”
“I told her not to investigate adults.”
Andrew looked at Mia.
“Delete them.”
Mia stepped behind Sarah.
Andrew’s attorney later demanded the photographs be deleted.
Malik agreed Mia should not retain images acquired by wandering into private documents and told Sarah not to use them until legal issues were evaluated.
But one fact Mia had seen could not be unseen.
Cypress could assign the east-campus purchase contract to an Orchard-related residential company.
The fake vendor and the land buyer were not separate schemes.
They were one structure.
And the closing date printed on the document was six weeks away.
Sarah showed the date to Malik.
“If the sale closes, Andrew’s group controls the land.”
“And the school gets twenty-four-point-five million.”
“For property worth nearly forty.”
“Correct.”
“Then they can pay debts, distribute profits and bury the trail.”
“Some trail will remain.”
“But recovering property becomes harder.”
“Yes.”
Sarah looked at the calendar.
Six weeks.
Then Jonathan called.
His voice was urgent.
“The board moved the vote.”
“When?”
“Ten days.”
Sarah stood.
“What happened to six weeks?”
“Diane says Hawthorne needs certainty before year-end.”
“Can they approve it?”
“With me removed? Yes.”
“What about the Morgan restrictions?”
“They claim the amendment is valid.”
Sarah stared at the forged document on her desk.
The entire conspiracy now had a deadline.
May you like
Ten days.
And Diane controlled the board.
