Ch. 41 The First Thread Unravels
I tap the thumb-drive on the table, wondering what to do with all that information I've collected.
The one thing I've learned since the Richard/Haley Ingram case is following the money will always lead you somewhere.
And it did.
Madison Kent. Withdrawing exactly $2000 every single month since she was in college.
Her college expenses have other withdrawals too, but the $2000 is always withdrawn on the fifth of every single month.
Except, in the last decade or so, all her other expenses are via credit card—and she lives and extremely frugal life. She stays in a house her father bought for her—so she's not even paying rent.
Nothing explains the specific withdrawal.
I need to narrow down the people who might have had access to the answer keys, to Madison, and still be authorised on school grounds.
Not only that, I also need to look into the people around her, and what involvement they might have had in this perpetual fraud.
The warrant to dig into Madison's father came through just half an hour back. It'll take me at least a few hours to get access and start pulling all that data.
It's time to call in the cavalry.
—------------------
I suppress a yawn as I head towards Keith's door. I already know the code and start punching it in.
I was up all night, and ended up sleeping in.
And now I'm extremely late for lunch. It's already 2 pm. I missed it.
I am just stepping into Keith's living room when a tiny whirlwind of brown hair crashes into me.
"I'm so sorry if we hurt you, Marcus!" Her voice is muffled against my chest, but it still makes me smile.
Keith steps forward and pulls us both into a crushing hug.
"I'm really glad you came."
I blink in surprise.
Kenneth and Legend pile on too, and I'm finding it really hard to breathe. My eyes widen when I spot Kyle planning to take a running jump to be part of the group hug.
I quickly disengage. I don't have the time for broken bones.
Kyle looks distinctly dissatisfied.
I look at all of them, and something deep within me—an old tightness—dissipates.
Maybe—maybe it's okay if family calls you out on things they doubt.
Maybe it doesn't mean they don't trust you...
Even when I was upset, they didn't give up on me. They didn't abandon me.
I'm glad I have them.
"Guys, I need your help." I pull out a thumb drive with data on all teachers throughout the four years Madison was at WPA.
It's a veritable mountain.
They all look at each other, while Kyle and Frany look curious and lost.
"I'm ordering pizzas." Legend pulls out his phone.
"I'll put on some coffee." Keith disappears into the kitchen.
"I'll get the tech." Ella grabs Kyle and Frany to help her get laptops.
Kenneth looks around the living room, at the furniture placed so spread out. He sighs with a smile.
"I'll set up the furniture like it was the last time."
Tears prick my eyes. I'm not alone. And neither is Celeste.
—----------------------
"I think I have it!" Kyle's voice calls from across the room, and we all rush towards him.
"You'll know we can cast this information on Keith's extra-large, super new TV, right?"
We all look at each other. Kyle rolls his eyes, powers on the TV and instructs us to all sit down.
"For a family of techies, we are really primitive." He hits a button and the data springs up for all of us to see.
"I've been following the girls' cheerleading coach's finances. I couldn't find anything to tie her to Madison during those high school years, but I found something better. She had bills—medical debt that had been escalating during those years.
"So while you guys were swimming in useless data, I did some digging of my own."
I raise my eyebrow at him.
He catches my look and stares back at me in mock disappointment.
"You do know I'm your assistant, don't you?"
I roll my eyes. "Sometimes I think you're a tech deity descended specifically to torture me."
Frany catches my mumbling and giggles. I shush her, but Kyle catches me, eyes narrowed.
Does he think we're blind?
He turns his head back to the TV and continues holding court.
"I found a loan under the coach's name that she used to pay back the medical debt. But she's been paying that loan shark about $2000 every month for the last nearly thirteen years. I don't get why Madison didn't just pay off her loan completely, though?"
"Too large of a paper trail. And her name would get associated with a loan shark."
It's Kenneth who responds.
We all sit in silence, processing what we just learned.
All this while, I've been digging into her dad's accounts, and something else has caught my eye.
"So guys, I've been digging into Dr. William Kent's financials. Two things have stood out.
"Every college that she's gotten into, he's made donations to until she's graduated. And, he has one account that has been used to buy clothes, cosmetics, and has multiple cash withdrawals across the years."
Kenneth turns to me. "You think Madison has access to that account."
"Yeah. I mean, I doubt William Kent uses—what's this—Charlotte Tilbury blushes and lipsticks."
"Hey, no shade if he does!" Legend blows me a raspberry and I raise my hands in surrender.
"I've been looking into something different." Legend takes over. "I've been searching for news of Madison, or her father. Dr. William Kent is a very well known name in the Medical industry.
"And I think I found something."
He casts an image onto the TV, a photograph of Madison, her father, and another man in a suit. It's a little grainy, but it looks like it's a fund raiser.
"Meet Dr. Abernathy, Dean of Madison's medical college. You know what's interesting? He filed for bankruptcy about six months after Madison would have graduated."
I'm already dialing Christopher's number.
"Chris, we need a warrant for Dr. Abernathy's financials."
He agrees and hangs up.
"Let's start digging."
—----------------------
Three hours later, we're all still glued to our laptops.
I called Celeste, told her what we were up to and asked if she cared to join us, but she declined.
She was busy laying out the campaign for ADAI—for when we fixed the Coleman debacle.
I have a feeling she wants to move past the whole Madison thing.
Keith and Ella both pipe up at the same time—
"I have something—"
Ella gestures for Keith to go first.
"William Kent has been making consistent investments in Abernathy's wife's business since around Madison's first exam, if her transcripts are anything to go by.
"Different amounts and different accounts each time."
That clearly links Abernathy's wellbeing to the Kents' benevolence.
Ella's eyebrows fly. "That's interesting. Abernathy's wife has been making bi-annual payments to one particular account since Madison's exams started. I wouldn't have caught it, but the payments are always a week before the exams."
I doubt the Kents' goodwill was for free. And Abernathy wouldn't want himself expressly tied to anyone directly involved in helping Madison cheat.
She shares those details with me, and I start compiling everything we've found into an encrypted email that I send to Chris.
"Did we just find proof that Celeste is innocent?" Frany's query shakes us all out of our thoughts.
"Maybe?" Ella looks towards me. I do have the most dealings with the law.
"Honestly, it's circumstantial at best. A confession would be the best, and with what we've compiled, Christopher should be able to get it."
Everybody looks thoughtful as we process how much still remains to be looked into.
Legend pipes up from my side. "Does that mean we cracked it? And it only took an afternoon?"
Kyle looks smug. "Of course. You guys didn't have me the last time you were hunting for clues in useless data. Why?"
The doorbell rings and Legend goes to get it. He returns with a pile of ten boxes, and we hear his muffled voice from beyond that.
"I might have ordered some food again..."
We all look at each other in horrified silence before Keith looks at all of us helplessly.
"Dinner, anyone?"
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