Back at home, Malik sat at the kitchen table, still processing everything they’d learned at the coffee shop. Darlene paced the living room, her fingers twisting nervously as Gio reviewed the emails Ms. Avery had given them. “There’s something else you need to see,” Darlene said suddenly, stopping her pacing. She disappeared into her bedroom and returned with a thick black ledger, its corners worn smooth from handling. “I didn’t think it was important before, but now—”
Malik leaned forward. “What is it?” “Two years ago, I did bookkeeping for Caleb Halford.” Darlene set the ledger down, her hand resting on its cover. “There were these payments I couldn’t quite make sense of, going to Cedar River Security.” Gio’s expression sharpened. “Cedar River? That’s run by Benton’s cousin, Marcus.”
“I thought Halford was just moving money around for property taxes,” Darlene continued, opening the ledger to show columns of neat figures. “You know how developers do. But look at the amounts. The timing.” Malik studied the pages. Regular payments, all just under ten thousand dollars, flowing from Halford’s development company to Cedar River Security. “What does this mean?”
Gio’s finger traced down the columns, his jaw tightening. “This isn’t tax management. It’s laundering. Clean money goes to Cedar River, comes back out dirty for bribes and payoffs.” He looked up at Darlene. “You kept copies?” “Everything’s in here.” She tapped the ledger. “I always document everything, just in case.”
Malik pulled out his phone and started photographing pages. “These numbers match the dates in those emails. When they started talking about security concerns at school.” “It’s all connected,” Gio said grimly. “The fight wasn’t random. They needed incidents. Disruptions. Anything to justify bringing in Cedar River Security full-time.”
“Create enough problems,” Malik pieced it together. “And the state has to step in.” “Then Halford swoops in with his charter-school proposal,” Darlene added. “And his handpicked security contractor.” Malik’s fingers flew across his phone screen, capturing every page. “We have to show people. This proves the whole thing was planned.”
“It’s not that simple,” Gio cautioned, his voice low. “These numbers, they’re dangerous. People have disappeared for less.” “We can’t just sit on this,” Malik argued. “They tried to ruin my life to push their scheme through.” Darlene touched his shoulder. “Your father’s right. We need to be careful how we use this.”
“The sheriff. The superintendent. Halford. They’re all connected,” Gio explained. “This ledger threatens millions in contracts, years of kickbacks. They won’t just roll over.” Malik stood up, frustration evident in every movement. “So what? We let them get away with it? Let them keep targeting kids like me?”
“No,” Gio said firmly. “We use it smart. Build our case. Find more proof. Make it so big they can’t bury it.” “I kept these records because something felt wrong,” Darlene said. “But I never imagined it went this deep.” The ledger lay open between them, its pages filled with evidence of corruption that reached from their kitchen table all the way to the highest offices in town.