Nadia softened slightly.
“Then maybe next week.”
Meanwhile, police investigators returned to the watch.
The “Rolex” had been entered into evidence as the stolen property.
A property technician noticed the serial engraving looked wrong.
The department contacted an authorized dealer.
Within hours, they confirmed the watch was not genuine.
A high-quality replica.
Maybe worth a few hundred dollars.
That did not prove Malik’s innocence by itself.
It created a new problem.
Bryce’s original report described the item as a genuine Rolex purchased in Switzerland for approximately fifteen thousand dollars.
The serial number Bryce provided from a photograph of the supposed original did not match the replica recovered from Malik’s locker.
Detective Marisol Grant was assigned to re-interview Bryce.
She was not connected to Drexler’s team.
She began at the beginning.
“Where did your father buy the watch?”
“Switzerland.”
“When?”
“Last summer.”
“Do you have the box?”
“At home.”
“Certificate?”
“My dad does.”
“Why is the watch recovered at school fake?”
Bryce’s confidence cracked.
“It isn’t.”
“We verified it.”
“You’re wrong.”
“Then let’s ask your father.”
That frightened him.
Detective Grant noticed.
“Bryce.”
Silence.
“Did your father know you brought the watch to school?”
Another silence.
“Did he know you lost it?”
Bryce looked down.
There it was.
A different case was beginning.
Garrett Langford arrived forty minutes later with an attorney.
He was angry before entering the room.
“My son reported a theft.”
The attorney raised one hand.
“Garrett.”
“No. This is ridiculous.”
Grant placed two evidence photographs on the table.
One of the replica.
One Bryce had previously provided of the genuine watch.
“They are not the same watch.”
Garrett stopped.
He looked at Bryce.
“Where is my watch?”
Bryce said nothing.
“Bryce.”
“I lost it.”
Garrett’s face changed.
“When?”
“Last week.”
“You told me it was stolen yesterday.”
Bryce’s attorney leaned toward him.
“Do not answer further until we speak privately.”
They did.
Forty minutes later, the shape of the truth emerged.
Bryce had worn his father’s real Rolex to a party the previous weekend without permission.
He lost it.
He was terrified Garrett would find out.
He bought a replica through an older student who sold counterfeit luxury items.
Then Bryce created a story.
At first, he planned simply to tell his father the watch had been stolen from school.
Then he decided the story needed a suspect.
Malik was already someone Bryce resented.
The previous week, Malik had beaten him in qualifying times for the final relay slot at an upcoming invitational.
The two had argued after practice.
Bryce told friends Malik “thought he was better than everybody.”
On Friday morning, Bryce entered the gym wing while Malik was in class.
Another student, Tyler Morris, admitted later that Bryce asked him to keep watch near the hall.
Bryce slipped the replica into Malik’s locker through a gap where the upper vent panel had loosened from previous damage.
Then he reported the theft.
He expected Malik to be questioned.
Suspended.
Embarrassed.
He said he never thought Malik would be physically hurt.
Detective Grant did not allow that sentence to become absolution.
“You reported a serious theft.”
“I know.”
“You identified another student as the person you believed responsible.”
“Yes.”
“You intentionally placed an item in his assigned locker.”
Bryce began crying.
“I wanted to scare him.”
“Your intention and the consequences are both going to matter.”
The case moved to the juvenile prosecutor’s office.
Nobody dragged Bryce from his home on camera.
Nobody paraded him through school.
His attorney arranged a surrender and interview.
That difference did not go unnoticed by Malik when he learned about it.