Freshman Just Wanted Dinner — Until Three Bullies Made a Mistake That Cost Them Everything
Chapter 27
Theme:
Font Size:
24px
"I pulled it Saturday morning," Dot said. "After that regular showed me the forum post on his phone. I saved the full file manually so it wouldn't override." She paused. "I also made a copy on a separate drive, and I emailed a copy to my personal account."Claire looked at her. "You thought of that Saturday?" Claire said."I have been running this place for thirty-five years," Dot said simply. "I know what evidence is."She led Claire to the back office: a small room behind the kitchen, a desk with a computer that was a few years old but functional, two filing cabinets, a whiteboard with the weekly schedule written in blue marker. Dot pulled up the footage on the screen. The timestamp said Friday, October 18th, beginning at 8:47.They watched. The camera angle was wide: it covered the front half of the dining room from a position near the ceiling above the register. You could see Claire's table clearly; you could see the booth beside it just as clearly.You could see Tyler, Brandon, and Marcus come in at 8:47. You could see Tyler's eyes find the sticker on Claire's laptop. You could see his expression: not the expression he wore for most of the evening—the one that appeared for approximately three seconds when he registered the Eleanor Matthews Scholar sticker. The one that looked like recognition, not surprise.Recognition.Claire leaned forward. "He knew," she said."Keep watching," Dot said.At 8:51, Tyler had his phone out under the table. He was typing. Then he appeared to be reading something. Then he typed again. At 8:53, he stood up and walked toward the restrooms at the back of the diner. He was on a call; you could see him talking. He was on the call for four minutes. He came back to the table at 8:57.At 9:02, he knocked over the water glass. It was not accidental: the angle of the camera made this unambiguous. His elbow did not slip; he reached deliberately across the edge of his own table, he extended his arm, and he knocked the glass.Then, at 9:16, Marcus had his phone on the table, partially concealed under a folded napkin. His hands were moving; he was typing something with his thumbs.Claire straightened up. "That's the timestamp," she said. "The IT director told Carol the screenshots were created between 8:43 and 9:23.""Who was Tyler calling?" Dot said."I don't know yet," Claire said. "But Carol might be able to find out."She looked at the footage for another moment: the clarity of it, the straightforward documentary truth of a camera that had been recording the whole time and had no opinion about what it saw."Can you give me the drive?" Claire said."It's already in your bag," Dot said. "I put it there when I let you in."