The Professor Who Paid Her Tuition
Chapter 08 - The Professor Who Paid Her Tuition
Sadi had not stepped inside Chicago Lakes School of Law in two years.
The security desk still smelled of printer toner and old coffee.
The marble lobby still had donor names carved into the wall.
She found her own younger self everywhere.
Twenty-two, carrying too many books.
Twenty-three, eating vending-machine crackers between classes.
Twenty-four, sleeping in the library because Teresa’s dialysis appointment began at five.
Roman walked beside her.
People noticed him.
Of course they did.
Sadi stopped near the elevators.
“You should wait downstairs.”
“Why?”
“Because you look like a deposition.”
He almost smiled.
“I’ll stay.”
She sighed.
“Fine.”
Professor David Harlan’s office was on the fourth floor.
Campus security had sealed it after Bianca reported the missing files.
Detective Mara Velez waited outside.
Sadi recognized the name.
“The person you called from Belladonna.”
Roman nodded.
Mara was fifty-three, compact, sharp-eyed, and looked at Roman like she had spent years refusing his invitations to become impressed.
“Ms. Moretti.”
“Sadi.”
“Mara.”
She shook her hand.
“You’re the contract reader.”
“That sounds less flattering than I hoped.”
“Roman said you saved him from federal exposure.”
Roman looked annoyed.
“I said she spotted a clause.”
Mara smiled.
“He hates being saved.”
“Good to know.”
They entered Harlan’s office.
Books remained.
Files did not.
Cabinet drawers stood empty.
Computer gone.
Desk cleared.
Only one photograph remained.
Harlan with his graduating class.
Sadi found herself in the back row.
Twenty-four.
Smiling.
She barely recognized that woman.
“Who cleared the office?” she asked.
Mara answered.
“A law firm.”
“Which?”
“Bellini, Shaw & Mercer.”
Sadi stared.
“Arthur’s firm?”
“His outside counsel.”
Roman’s jaw tightened.
“They had authority?”
“Someone produced a signed instruction from Harlan.”
“Before his death?”
“Dated two weeks ago.”
Sadi leaned against the desk.
“Why would Professor Harlan give Arthur’s lawyers access?”
Mara looked at her.
“That is the question.”
A dean entered.
Dr. Evelyn Price.
Sixty-one.
Sadi remembered her as intimidating, elegant, impossible to fool.
Evelyn looked older now.
“Sadi.”
“Dean Price.”
“I’m sorry about David.”
“So am I.”
Evelyn closed the door.
“He left something for you.”
Everyone became still.
Evelyn took an envelope from inside her folder.
Sadi’s name.
Harlan’s handwriting.
Her fingers trembled.
Inside was one page.
Sadi—
If you are reading this, I waited too long.
Carlo asked me to hold records until you were old enough to decide what to do with them. I convinced myself protecting you meant delaying that decision.
It did not.
It meant taking it from you.
I am sorry.
Sadi stopped.
Her throat tightened.
Roman looked away.
Harlan continued.
The books were moved six months ago after I discovered someone accessed my office.
I did not give them to Bellini.
Do not believe any document suggesting I did.
Ask Evelyn about the scholarship.
And finish what you started.
D.H.
Sadi read the last sentence again.
Finish what you started.
Law school.
Evelyn sat.
“Your scholarship was not from the school.”
Sadi laughed bitterly.
“Apparently nothing in my life is from where I thought.”
“It came through a donor fund.”
“Moretti.”
“No.”
Sadi looked up.
Evelyn’s expression softened.
“Carlo.”
“That is impossible. He died before I enrolled.”
“He created a small education trust for you.”
Teresa had never mentioned it.
“Where did he get the money?”
Evelyn hesitated.
Roman noticed.
Sadi did too.
“Dean Price.”
“From Moretti Logistics.”
Her stomach tightened.
“Dirty money.”
“Earned compensation, according to the trust papers.”
Roman spoke.
“How much?”
“Two hundred and fifty thousand.”
Sadi stared.
“That was not his salary.”
“No.”
“What was it?”
Evelyn looked at Roman.
“Whistleblower settlement.”
Roman’s face hardened.
“There was no settlement.”
“There was a private agreement.”
“Signed by whom?”
“Vittorio Moretti.”
Roman went still.
Evelyn continued.
“Carlo threatened to expose the dumping two years before the fire. Vittorio agreed to fund remediation and compensate affected employees.”
“Did remediation happen?” Sadi asked.
“No.”
“Then Carlo took the money and stayed quiet.”
Evelyn’s face changed.
“Not exactly.”
She opened another file.
The agreement had two payments.
One to Carlo’s trust.
One to an environmental remediation fund.
The second payment was canceled three days after it was initiated.
Authorized by:
Luca Moretti.
Roman closed his eyes.
Again.
Luca.
Sadi looked at Carlo’s trust.
“He kept his payment.”
“Yes.”
“That bothers me.”
“It should.”
Evelyn nodded.
“He told David it bothered him too.”
“Then why keep it?”
“To guarantee your education if he was fired.”
Sadi laughed quietly.
“He died instead.”
No one corrected her.
Mara’s phone rang.
She listened.
Her face changed.
“Roman.”
“What?”
“Arthur Bellini is at Teresa’s residence.”
Sadi stood.
“What?”
“With counsel.”
“Why?”
Mara looked at her.
“He filed an emergency petition claiming the documents in Warehouse Twelve are stolen corporate property.”
Roman laughed without humor.
“And?”
“He wants a court order preventing Teresa or Sadi from releasing them.”
Sadi grabbed her coat.
Mara stopped her.
“There’s more.”
“What?”
“Bellini’s lawyer attached an affidavit.”
“From who?”
Mara looked toward the empty shelves.
“David Harlan.”
Sadi stared.
“He is dead.”
“The affidavit is dated three days before his death.”
“What does it say?”
Mara’s voice lowered.
“That Carlo Moretti fabricated the dumping records.”
May you like
Sadi felt the room tilt.
“And Harlan swore he knew because Carlo confessed it to him.”
