Chapter 11 - THE OFFICE
Dad called Mia instead of texting.
“Stay outside the room,” he told her. “We’re on our way.”
Rebecca drove. Dad called Officer Harris, who said she could stop by the house. We arrived a few minutes after her.
Denise was standing in Dad’s office with a folder in her hand. Mia waited in the hallway. No one was shouting.
“I’m taking copies of the financial records for my attorney,” Denise said.
Dad held out his hand. “Those originals belong here. You can request copies.”
Denise looked at me. “You got what you wanted.”
“I wanted to graduate in my dress,” I said. “I wanted to read my own mail.”
“That scholarship will make you think you’re better than everyone.”
“It means I get to study design.”
Officer Harris asked Denise to put down the folder. Denise did, but her hands trembled with anger.
Dad told her he wanted her to stay elsewhere while they worked out what came next. She looked at Mia.
“Are you coming with me?”
Mia glanced at my bedroom door, then at the stairs. “I need some time.”
Denise’s expression hardened. “You’re choosing them.”
“I’m staying here tonight,” Mia said.
Denise left with her suitcase and the clothes she had already packed. Officer Harris took notes about the forged withdrawal, the missing mail, and the damaged dress. She explained what information she needed from Westbridge and the shipping store.
When she left, our house was quiet.
Dad made sandwiches nobody wanted. Rebecca sat with me at the table and looked through Mom’s sketchbook.
Mia appeared in the doorway. “I found something else.”
She held up an old phone.
“Mom told me to throw it out last month. I didn’t.”
May you like
“Why?” Dad asked.
“Because she used it to record her calls.” Mia looked at me. “There’s one about Claire’s scholarship.”
