"But I have something you need."
She pulled a flash drive from her pocket.
Nora stared at it.
"What is that?"
"Everything."
They opened the drive on Nora's laptop.
Inside were hundreds of files.
Emails.
Invoices.
Messages.
Meeting notes.
Bank statements.
Nora's breathing became shallow.
Victoria sat beside her.
"I found them last week."
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"I was scared."
"You should have been."
Victoria looked at the screen.
"My father has been moving foundation money through three organizations."
"Why?"
"To make it look like charitable spending."
Nora clicked an email.
A message from Richard Sterling.
The subject line was simple.
CONTROL THE VOTE.
Nora opened it.
The message contained instructions.
Get the student committee to favor the leadership initiative.
Ensure the robotics program does not receive majority support.
Use Victoria as student spokesperson.
Nora stared.
"Why robotics?"
Victoria looked away.
"Because your brother's program was becoming popular."
"What does that have to do with my father?"
"He wanted the grant."
"For what?"
"An expansion project."
"What project?"
Victoria didn't answer.
Nora searched the files.
Then found a proposal.
A new community sports complex.
Funded partly by school grants.
Managed by a company owned by Richard Sterling.
Nora stared at the document.
"They wanted the school to pay for their project."
Victoria nodded.
"Yes."
"Using student money."
"Yes."
Nora closed her eyes.
For a moment, she couldn't speak.
Then she said,
"Why didn't you just tell the truth?"
Victoria laughed bitterly.
"Because my whole life, my father taught me that truth was whatever the powerful person could make everyone believe."
Nora looked at her.
"And now?"
Victoria wiped her eyes.
"Now I think he was wrong."
The next day, Nora took the flash drive to Principal Howard.
He called the district immediately.
By noon, investigators arrived.
By three, the school foundation board had called an emergency meeting.
By five, Richard Sterling's attorney was threatening legal action.
But Nora had something they didn't know about.
The original ballot box.
It had never been opened.
Because the vote had been postponed.
The ballots were still sealed.
The district investigator inspected the box.
Then opened it under supervision.
The result was shocking.
More than fifty ballots had been added after the official voting period.
All were printed on different paper.
Many contained identical handwriting.
And nearly all supported the same program.
Richard Sterling's program.
The investigators compared the ballot signatures with student attendance records.
Twenty-three students whose names appeared on the ballots had not even been at the fundraiser.
One had been out of state.
Another had been in the hospital.
Another was a freshman who had never attended the school event.
The evidence was overwhelming.
But there was one more question.
Who had physically placed the ballots inside the box?
The security footage answered it.
Victoria.
But she wasn't alone.
A staff member stood beside her.
Nora recognized him.
Mr. Dalton.
The school foundation's financial coordinator.
He had been the person approving every payment.
When confronted, Dalton denied everything.