Chapter 7
The forensic technician placed markers near the bucket, the shed, and the blue splatter pattern across the gravel.
No graphic labels.
No spectacle.
Just method.
The investigators photographed the security camera, the black SUV, the shed roofline, the paint trail, and the distance between the courtyard and the school entrance.
Caleb watched them work while keeping Maya wrapped against him.
He wanted to carry her away.
But Marcus had told him not to let the school isolate her or rush the scene into confusion.
So he stayed.
Maya’s breathing eased slightly, but her shivering worsened.
One investigator removed a clean emergency blanket from a sealed pack and held it out.
“Mr. Rourke, may I place this around her shoulders without disturbing the paint pattern on her clothing?”
Caleb looked at Maya.
She nodded weakly.
The investigator moved slowly, explaining every step.
That made Maya cry.
Not loudly.
Just a soft breaking sound.
Caleb understood.
After being grabbed, filmed, covered, and ignored, being asked permission felt almost unbearable.
Grant watched from near the shed, no longer smirking.
His phone remained in his hand, but two investigators stood close enough that he did not dare move it.
Principal Shore tried again.
“Grant is a minor. You cannot simply seize student property.”
Marcus looked at her.
“No one has seized anything.”
“Then why are you surrounding him?”
“To prevent deletion while we clarify who recorded what.”
Grant’s face twitched.
Caleb saw the fear bloom.
“Deleted clips can still be recovered,” Marcus added calmly.
Grant swallowed.
Principal Shore’s eyes flashed toward him.
There it was again.
The school worried not that Grant had recorded cruelty, but that he might not have hidden it correctly.
Caleb’s anger returned, sharper.
Maya whispered, “They laughed.”
He bent close.
“Who?”
Her fingers curled into his shirt.
“Grant and Bryce and Owen. Grant said blue was the scholarship color.”
Caleb closed his eyes.
For one second.
Then opened them.
He would not explode.
Not while Maya needed him steady.
Marcus watched from several feet away, clearly hearing but not pressing.
“Whenever she is ready,” he said, “we’ll take her statement with medical support.”
Principal Shore whispered, “This is going to ruin us.”
Caleb looked at her.
May you like
“No. You did that in the first twenty-four minutes.”
Read Chapter 8 👉 Because Principal Shore finally said what she feared most, and it was not Maya’s pain.
