Chapter 6 - The Scholarship TrapThree days later, Sadie returned to Franklin Ridge High School.
Her mother was beside her.
So was a detective.
Sadie was not allowed inside the hospital room.
Not yet.
She sat in the pediatric intensive care waiting area with Megan and Evan, staring at a vending machine nobody had touched in hours.
Mr. Whitaker was downstairs giving another statement.
Principal Danner had been placed on administrative leave.
Her husband, Marcus Danner, was nowhere to be found.
The revelation had shocked Franklin Ridge.
Marcus Danner and Daniel Whitaker were half brothers.
Their mother had remarried when Daniel was eleven, and Marcus had taken his stepfather’s last name.
Very few people in town knew they were related.
Sadie certainly had not.
Evan tapped his knee nervously.
“She asked for me.”
“How do you know?”
“Her mom texted.”
Sadie looked at him.
“Did Leah tell you everything?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“She said the fewer people who knew, the safer we were.”
“That worked well.”
Evan flinched.
Sadie immediately regretted it.
“Sorry.”
“No. You’re right.”
He looked exhausted.
“I should’ve told somebody.”
“You were scared.”
“So was she.”
Megan returned carrying coffee.
“Officer Keller is coming.”
Sadie stood.
“What did Leah say?”
“I don’t know.”
Keller entered several minutes later.
The expression on his face told Sadie it was serious.
“Leah remembers what happened.”
Sadie moved closer.
“Did she take the liquid herself?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She thought it was an electrolyte concentrate.”
Evan frowned.
“What?”
Keller looked at him.
“Someone replaced the bottle in her backpack.”
Sadie felt sick.
“So somebody wanted her to drink it.”
“That appears likely.”
“What was inside?”
“A mixture containing a sedative and another substance intended to cause a severe reaction.”
Megan’s hand tightened around Sadie’s shoulder.
“Enough to kill her?”
“Potentially.”
Evan sat down hard.
Sadie’s mind raced.
“Did Leah see who switched it?”
“No.”
“Then how do we prove it?”
“She remembers something else.”
Keller reached into his folder.
“At 7:34 yesterday morning, Leah met Principal Danner outside the chemistry lab.”
Sadie froze.
“What?”
“Principal Danner told her someone wanted to discuss the scholarship privately.”
“Who?”
“She wouldn’t say.”
“Did Leah follow her?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“The faculty storage corridor behind the lab.”
Keller paused.
“Marcus Danner was waiting.”
Evan swore under his breath.
“What happened?”
“He told Leah she had misunderstood the financial records.”
“And she believed him?”
“No.”
Sadie almost smiled.
That sounded like Leah.
“Then what?”
“Marcus threatened her father.”
“Because he works for Marcus.”
“Yes.”
“He said he could make it look like Greg Benson stole the medication.”
Sadie clenched her jaw.
“Leah recorded him, didn’t she?”
Keller’s expression changed.
“How did you know?”
“She records everything important.”
Evan looked at Sadie.
“She does?”
“She recorded our scholarship argument.”
Sadie suddenly understood something.
“The edited video.”
Keller nodded.
“We think whoever created that edited clip may have stolen the original from Leah’s phone or cloud account.”
“Where’s the recording with Marcus?”
“Missing.”
“Of course.”
“But Leah says she made a backup.”
Sadie leaned forward.
“Where?”
“She doesn’t remember.”
Evan closed his eyes.
“She was obsessed with hiding copies.”
Keller looked at him.
“You didn’t know where?”
“No.”
Sadie thought about Leah’s notebook.
The formulas.
The strange initials.
The dates.
“What if the chemistry notes weren’t chemistry notes?”
Keller turned.
“What?”
“Leah knew people might search her notebook. What if she disguised information as formulas?”
Mr. Whitaker arrived just then.
“I wondered the same thing.”
He carried a photocopy of Leah’s notebook page.
Sadie pointed.
“Those symbols.”
Whitaker nodded.
“They’re not valid formulas.”
Keller looked annoyed.
“You didn’t mention that.”
“I didn’t realize until I reviewed the copy.”
He spread the paper on a table.
“Some look chemical enough to fool a casual reader. But these groups?”
He circled several characters.
“They’re coordinates.”
Sadie leaned closer.
“Coordinates to what?”
Whitaker wrote them out properly.
Evan pulled out his phone.
A map appeared.
The location was less than three miles away.
Franklin Ridge Community Park.
Specifically, the old baseball field.
Sadie knew it immediately.
“My middle school team used to play there.”
Evan zoomed in.
“The coordinates point behind home plate.”
Keller called two officers.
They reached the field twenty minutes later.
Sadie and the others were told to remain in the car while investigators searched.
Behind the bleachers stood an old electrical utility box.
Inside it, taped beneath a metal panel, police found a flash drive.
Keller returned to the vehicle holding the evidence bag.
“Leah was smarter than whoever tried to hurt her.”
Back at the station, investigators copied the drive.
Most files were spreadsheets.
Shipment numbers.
Invoices.
Audio recordings.
Photographs.
One folder was labeled:
FRANKLIN RIDGE — STUDENTS.
Sadie opened her mouth.
“Why students?”
Keller clicked.
A list appeared.
Twenty-three names.
Every name belonged to a student.
Some Sadie recognized.
Some had graduated.
Beside each was a date and amount.
Evan pointed.
“What are those numbers?”
Whitaker stared.
“I don’t know.”
Keller scrolled.
Then stopped.
Sadie’s name appeared near the bottom.
SADIE MONROE — $18,000 — PENDING.
Megan went pale.
“What does that mean?”
Nobody answered.
Then Keller opened another document.
It was a scholarship agreement.
The Ridge Educational Scholarship Fund had promised $18,000 to Sadie Monroe.
Except the money had never been awarded.
And below Sadie’s name was a handwritten note.
REJECT IF SHE REFUSES.
Sadie felt cold.
“Refuses what?”
Whitaker suddenly turned toward Evan.
“Where is the science competition waiver?”
“What?”
“The state competition paperwork Sadie signed last month.”
Sadie frowned.
“What does that have to do with this?”
Whitaker looked at her.
“Because Marcus’s foundation didn’t just sponsor the scholarship.”
He swallowed.
“They owned commercial rights to any project students developed using their funding.”
Sadie stared at him.
Then everything became clear.
Her battery research.
Leah’s water purification design.
The projects of dozens of students.
The scholarship wasn’t generosity.
It was a pipeline.
Marcus Danner had been using teenagers to develop ideas.
Then taking ownership.
And when Leah discovered the stolen medication, she had also discovered something potentially much larger.
Keller opened one final file.
A scanned contract.
At the bottom was Sadie’s signature.
Sadie leaned closer.
“I never signed that.”
Megan looked at the document.
The signature looked perfect.
Keller’s phone rang.
He answered.
“Yes?”
His face hardened.
“When?”
He hung up.
“Marcus Danner’s vehicle was found.”
“Where?”
“At the airport.”
“Did he leave?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Keller grabbed his coat.
“Because his car was abandoned.”
Sadie watched him.
“And Marcus?”
May you like
Keller looked directly at her.
“He’s missing.”
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