Chapter 8: The Name Behind the Number
I stopped walking.
"Tell me," I said.
"The number is registered to a prepaid account," Carol Deane said.
"But the billing address attached to the account is not Melisande's home address."
"Whose is it?"
A short pause.
"It belongs to a woman named Harriet Voss."
The name landed strangely.
"Voss," I repeated.
"Patricia Voss.
The awards committee coordinator."
"Her sister-in-law," Carol Deane said.
"Harriet Voss sits on the district school board.
She has done for eleven years.
She oversees class placement reviews, discretionary funding, and — this is relevant — appeals for academic award nominations."
I stood very still on the pavement outside Melisande's house.
"She's the person who would rule on Ivo's special consideration request," I said.
"Yes," Carol Deane said.
"She is."
I thought about Melisande texting under the table.
The speed of it.
The deliberateness.
"How long have Melisande and Harriet Voss known each other?" I asked.
"I don't have that answer yet," Carol Deane said.
"But I intend to find it.
What I can tell you right now is that the text you received constitutes an attempt to intimidate a party involved in an active welfare review.
That is not a minor matter."
"What happens now?"
"I've already escalated this to my supervisor and flagged it to the district authority.
Harriet Voss will be contacted.
The board will be notified that one of its members may have attempted to interfere in a child welfare case." Another pause.
"I want to be honest with you.
This part moves more slowly than today did.
Institutions protect themselves.
But the record exists now.
It cannot be undone."
"And Ivo's nomination?"
"Patricia Voss — the committee coordinator — has already been informed that her sister-in-law may have a conflict of interest in any decision regarding Ivo's case.
Patricia was not aware of the connection between Harriet and Melisande.
She was, from what I could tell, genuinely upset."
I exhaled slowly.
"She's going to push for the special consideration herself," Carol Deane said.
"Independently of the board.
She has that authority within the committee structure.
Harriet Voss cannot block it from her current position, especially not now."
Roderick's car was still in the driveway.
Through the window I could see Ivo in the passenger seat, his head bent over something — a book, maybe, or his hands.
Just a boy, sitting quietly, waiting.
"I want to ask you something," I said to Carol Deane.
"Go ahead."
"How often does it go this far?
A child losing awards, a suppressed nomination, a school board member sending threatening texts.
How often does all of that happen over one boy's medals?"
Carol Deane was quiet for a moment.
"More often than it should," she said.
"But less often does someone have a camera, a teacher who kept records for twelve months, and a child brave enough to say what happened out loud."
I looked at Ivo through the car window.
"He didn't think he was being brave," I said.
"He thought he was just telling the truth."
"That's usually what bravery looks like," Carol Deane said.
She told me to expect a formal update within forty-eight hours and ended the call.
I stood on the pavement for another moment.
The afternoon had gone grey and cool.
Somewhere down the street a dog was barking at something it couldn't reach.
I walked to Roderick's car and tapped on the passenger window.
Ivo rolled it down.
"Everything okay?" he asked.
"Getting there," I said.
"The people who needed to know the right things now know them."
He thought about this.
"Is Aunt Melisande going to be in trouble?"
"Yes," I said.
"Real trouble.
The kind that doesn't go away quickly."
He nodded.
He didn't look pleased by it.
He didn't look sorry either.
He just looked like a child processing a fact.
"Okay," he said.
Then: "Can we stop somewhere and get something to eat?
I didn't have lunch."
I looked at Roderick over the roof of the car.
He almost smiled.
"Yes," I said.
"We absolutely can."
But as I opened the back door and got in, my phone buzzed one final time.
Not a call.
Not a text.
An email.
From the regional academic awards committee.
Addressed to me, forwarded from Mrs.
May you like
Hargrove.
The subject line read: *Re: Ivo — Urgent Committee Decision.*
