Chapter 1 - THE CAMERA MRS. HART THOUGHT WAS DEAD
The ruler struck the desk so hard Logan Morgan jumped against the classroom wall.
“Cry quieter,” Mrs. Hart said. “Nobody’s watching.”
The five-year-old wiped his face with both hands.
He wasn’t hurt.
He was terrified.
Across town, Claire Morgan stared at the security feed on her laptop from a conference room at the insurance company where she worked.
For several seconds, she could not understand what she was seeing.
Logan’s kindergarten teacher stood over him with a wooden ruler.
The other children had already gone to lunch.
Logan was alone with her.
Claire had opened the feed only because Logan’s school had recently launched a parent-access pilot for certain classrooms. She had wanted to check whether he had remembered to bring his dinosaur sweatshirt home.
Instead, she watched Mrs. Hart strike the desk again.
Logan squeezed his eyes shut.
“Mom said cameras keep us safe,” he whispered.
Mrs. Hart laughed.
Then something moved above her.
A burgundy cloth that had been wrapped around the classroom camera slowly slipped loose.
The lens underneath became visible.
Mrs. Hart looked up.
Her face changed.
Claire stood so quickly her chair rolled backward.
“Get me Daniel Brooks,” she told her assistant. “Now.”
On the screen, Mrs. Hart ripped the cloth down.
“Who touched this?”
Logan stared at her.
He clearly had no idea.
The classroom door opened.
Daniel Brooks, the school director, entered.
Claire saw him take the cloth from Mrs. Hart.
He turned it over.
A small stitched inventory tag caught his attention.
Then he looked at the camera.
Then at Mrs. Hart.
“This was never assigned to your room.”
Mrs. Hart went pale.
Brooks turned the cloth over again.
His fingers found something hidden inside the hem.
He did not show it to Mrs. Hart.
He put it directly into his pocket.
Claire leaned toward her laptop.
She had expected him to protect her son.
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Instead, the director looked frightened too.
And that was the moment Claire understood the problem was bigger than one cruel teacher.
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