"I heard what happened," she said, sitting beside him. "Both things: the suspension and Dell."
Elijah nodded numbly. "They think I did it. They think I destroyed the piano."
"Nobody who knows you believes that," Alicia insisted. "This is Cartwright's doing. He's trying to discredit you."
"Why?" Elijah asked, genuine confusion in his voice. "Why does he hate me so much?"
Alicia shook her head. "I don't know, but I'm going to find out." She pulled out her phone. "The security footage doesn't just corrupt itself. Someone deleted it, which means there was something on it they didn't want anyone to see."
"How can you prove that?"
"I can't," she admitted. "Not yet. But the system keeps logs of who accesses the files. My cousin works in IT for the district. I think it's time I called in a favor."
That evening, as Elijah walked home along the familiar route, he was surprised to see a familiar truck parked outside his grandmother's apartment building. Troy Manning stepped out, looking uncomfortable in the unfamiliar neighborhood.
"What are you doing here?" Elijah asked wearily.
Troy shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "I heard about what happened. The suspension."
"Come to gloat?"
"No," Troy said, looking genuinely distressed. "I came to tell you... I saw something last night after practice. I was heading to my car when I saw someone sneaking around near the music wing."
Elijah's heart raced. "Who?"
"I don't know for sure," Troy hedged. "It was dark, and they were moving fast. But..." He took a deep breath. "It wasn't a student. It was someone older. A teacher, maybe."
"Did you tell Cartwright?"