by Susan Finlay
John introduced her to the rest of the board. One member, Ed Malone, she’d already met.
“Since you failed to show up at today’s Round Table Luncheon I did some checking and found out that you’ve given Midland High School a major overhaul.” John paused for effect. “Apparently, since you told Frank and Steve that you were trying to fix the school’s problems, they let you do whatever you wanted.” He gave Steve an admonishing look. “Steve is responsible for your performance, whether he’s your direct supervisor or not,” he said, his voice heavy with sarcasm.
Claire looked at Steve. She couldn’t read him, his face was a stone mask. Her attention was drawn back to John when he spoke again, “And Frank is your direct supervisor. He should be fired for this.”
“What?” Claire asked. “Are you insane?”
Steve gave her a warning look, but she couldn’t stop. She couldn’t let it go.
“He’s been a great supervisor. He’s been at Midland at least three times a week for the past few weeks, and—”
“You’re telling us he knew about all of what you were doing?” John said, waving his hands.
Claire snapped her mouth closed.
John seemed to make a decision. He stood up and snapped, “I want all of the film footage from the security cameras we installed at the beginning of October. You may leave now. After we review it, we’ll call you back here.”
Claire was flabbergasted. “What film footage? What security cameras?”
John said, “The board had a few cameras installed in case any problem arose that needed investigation.”
“I—I haven’t seen any cameras. In fact, I talked to Frank about installing cameras on my second day here.” Her forehead creased as she looked at John and then at Steve for some sign.
“Since you so aptly pointed out earlier,” Frank said, “I’m her supervisor. So why wasn’t I informed of this?”
John squirmed. “That would have defeated the purpose because you might have told her about the cameras. We couldn’t take that chance.”
Claire snapped, “Huh? You were afraid I’d inform the students so you wouldn’t catch any drug dealing? And why put surveillance cameras in now, when the school has had problems for years?”
John smirked. “Because the school didn’t have a brand new, inexperience principal before now.”
Claire’s mouth dropped open, but she regained her control and said, “So you were expecting what? To catch me doing something wrong?”
John didn’t answer. He crossed his arms and stared at her.
She was speechless. Taking a deep breath and letting it out, she forced herself to stay calm. “Where are these spy cameras?”
“I’m not at liberty to say right now.”
Oh God! Was there one in her office? She glanced over at John and to her horror everyone was staring at her with puzzled looks on their faces. Oh crap. It must have been written on her face. It was then that she realized her mouth was hanging wide open with her shock. She snapped her mouth shut, and struggled to compose herself. “I—I don’t understand. I haven’t seen any cameras. Who changes the tapes? Where are these tapes kept?”
John gave her a smug look, and said, “They’re special CCTV video surveillance cameras, small black spheres barely noticeable when placed near the top of high ceilings.”
“And you’ve recorded conversations as well? Private conversations?”
“The cameras don’t record audio. Video images are sent to a hard drive on a central computer in a locked room here in the building. The head of your custodial staff was trained on maintaining the cameras and computer.”
Hector Minosa? He wouldn’t have hidden this from me, would he? We have a decent working relationship. Why would he take part in a spy campaign against me?
John made no attempt to hide his enjoyment of this, and she could feel her anger rising.
“Hidden cameras don’t sound legal,” Claire said.
“Well, not exactly hidden but inconspicuous, you might say,” John said, and his mouth twitched ever so slightly with amusement.
Claire felt heat creeping up her neck and into her face. She dug her fingernails into her thighs trying to control her anger before she spoke again. She turned to Steve, and asked, “Did you know?”
“I did not,” Steve said. He turned and spoke to John now. “Regardless what you think, I should have been apprised of something this big. I’m not an idiot. I know there are government requirements pertaining to use of surveillance cameras in schools. What you’ve done leads me to question whether you’ve followed those requirements.”
The Vice-President of the board, Ed Malone, said, “These cameras aren’t meant to be permanent. You can call them a test. If they prove effective, then we’ll consider using them in other schools. At that stage, we’ll draw up written policy and procedure manual.
Peter Williams and Mary Hammond agreed.
“Are these cameras from your company?” Steve asked. “You’ve always said you couldn’t supply surveillance cameras to the school district, either by selling them or donating them, because it would give the impression of a conflict of interest.”
“They are neither a gift, nor a purchase,” John said. “They’re only here on loan. Like Ed stated, we’re testing them out. If we find we want to install cameras in Midland or any of the other schools, we’ll purchase them from a competitor of my company. That way, it clearly won’t be a conflict of interest.”
Steve grimaced and glanced over at Frank and then at Claire.
John said, “I’ve already instructed Hector Minosa, Midland’s head custodian, to retrieve the computer’s hard drive and bring it over here. I have it ready. We’ll hook it up to our computer system. That way, we can use multiple computers to access the videos. Peter, I need you to bring in four computers.”
Peter left the room, and Claire struggled to control her rising panic. Worry, anger, agitation, fought each other inside her and she couldn’t let anyone see any of that right now.
John looked back at Claire, who was standing in the doorway, and said, “You can go home now. We’ll let you know when we’re done viewing everything.”
She struggled to make her face a poker face, but the grin on John’s face told her she’d failed. As she left the building, she was wringing her hands and replaying the footage that she prayed no one would see.
Maybe Hector hadn’t done his job properly. Maybe he messed up and accidentally deleted some files. It was possible, but unlikely. Hector was too good at his job.
She prayed that if there was a camera in her office, they would tire of watching the videos long before they reached the scene she wished she could erase from existence.
When she got home, she called Ron at home and told him what had happened.
“I could understand why they might put cameras in the school,” Ron said, “but they wouldn’t put one in your office, would they?”
She sighed. “I think it’s very likely.” She told him about the confrontation she’d had with John at the first Round Table Luncheon.
“That’s not good,” Ron said. “Sounds like he wants to get rid of you.”
After she got off the phone, she walked next door to pick up Marcus. She gave him a bath and helped him change into his pajamas, then read him a short story and put him to bed. While running warm water into the tub in the master bathroom, she undressed and then got into the tub and tried to relax before she had to face a day that she dreaded more than a root canal.
STEVE COULDN”T BELIEVE what was happening. He’d known for some time that John had it in for Claire, but this went beyond anything he would have imagined. This was bullshit.
John said, “This is going to be a long evening. Anyone who can’t stay should let me know now. I’ll order pizzas for those staying.”
Steve wanted to leave, to show the bastard what he thought, but he needed to be there to defend Claire if they found anything questionable. He couldn’t squelch his increasing uneasiness as he
prepared to review videos. How could he invade Claire’s and her staff’s privacy in this way? She had said it didn’t seem legal. He agreed. Still, John and the other board members were his bosses. He had to follow their instructions, for now.
John split the group into pairs, each pair assigned to certain categories from the file menu. When Steve and Mary Hammond were instructed to view the videos from Claire’s office, Steve said, “She should be present while we look through these since these videos were made in her private office.”
“Her private office?” John said. “She doesn’t own the office. It’s a space that we allow her to use to do a job which we hired her to perform. We have every right to know what she does in that office.”
Steve clenched his jaw and tried to control his mounting anger, but couldn’t stay silent any longer. “What the hell? I thought you were so worried about morals, standards, rules, and ethics, John. How can you justify what you’re doing?”
“We need to know what this woman is up to,” John said. “The surveillance devices that my company makes are used by law enforcement and other institutions to investigate suspicious activity. They’re meant to protect the public. That’s what we’re trying to do here. Protect our students.”
“You can’t tell me you think Claire is doing something illegal or dangerous,” Steve said. “You’re pissed at her because Senator Reynolds forced you to hire her. This is—”
Steve stopped when he noticed Mary Hammond, standing nearby and waving her arms to get his attention. He looked her in the eye, saw a warning look, and clamped his mouth shut. Mary was arrogant and condescending, and she and Steve didn’t get along well, but he knew she was right in warning him to say no more.
This was going to be one hell of a night.
As it turned out, they were there until eleven o’clock and Steve was bone tired. Everyone else looked as bleary-eyed as he felt. John finally told them to pack up for the evening. “We’ll meet here again at eight o’clock in the morning,” he said. Steve grimaced, and he wasn’t the only one.
Well, so much for getting any of my real work done, Steve thought as he dragged himself out to his car. He was worn out and irritable. Not only did he have to endure John’s company all evening, but he was tortured watching Claire, too, because the videos made him miss her even more than he already did.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
ON THURSDAY MORNING around nine-thirty, as Claire and Ron walked out of the admin office toward the faculty lounge, Kim came running after them out of breath, calling for Claire. “Frank’s on the phone. He needs to talk to you right away.”
“He wants me to call him back right away?”
“No. He’s holding for you.”
Claire looked at Ron. “Go on ahead without me. I’ll catch up later.” She followed the receptionist back inside, then went into her own office to take the call. She sat down and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, before she picked up the phone.
“We need you to come here to Central Administration right away.”
Frank’s voice sounded strained, giving Claire goose bumps. “Is everything all right?”
“You need to get over here. Expect to be out the rest of the day, so make arrangements with Ron before you leave.”
Her heart sank. “All right,” she said. “Uh, is there anything I need to bring?”
“No. Just get here as soon as you can. ”
She could barely breathe as waves of apprehension swept through her. “I’ll be there in about twenty minutes.” Once she hung up the phone, she scribbled a quick message, grabbed her handbag, and then dropped the message off with the receptionist, instructing her to get it to Ron right away.
As she drove to the meeting, she replayed recent events in her mind. After she’d found out about the cameras, it hadn’t taken long for her and Ron to locate each one. The final one, the one she’d dreaded finding, was the camera in her office. She’d stood there in the doorway frozen, hand clasped over her mouth, staring at the tiny black sphere hanging near the ceiling in one corner. Ron had told her not to worry. But she’d seen him studying the camera and knew he was trying to figure out the angle, trying to figure out how much of the attack it might have captured.
Once she arrived at Central Administration, she raced inside and after a few inquiries, she was directed back to the board room. The receptionist said everyone was already there and she should go right in. Pausing outside the door, she closed her eyes. Take a deep breath. Don’t let them bully you, no matter what.
She reached for the door knob, thinking she was ready. The muffled voices she heard drifting through the heavy door rattled her and made her hesitate. She took a deep breath and let it out, opened the door, and walked into the room.
“Have a seat, Claire,” John said. His face was red and stern.
Looking away from him, she perused the other faces but couldn’t read their expressions. It took all her effort to get her legs to cooperate. She finally made it over to a chair next to Frank, who was sitting with Steve, and sank into it. She tried to sneak a look at Frank, hoping to catch his eye, but he was looking down at the pad of paper in front of him. Probably pissed at her. Why else would he avoid her gaze?
She didn’t say anything. She didn’t know what to say, and she couldn’t trust her voice at this moment. John didn’t have any trouble speaking, though.
“I’m sure you’ve figured out why we called you here. We didn’t watch every video, and those we did watch weren’t watched in detail, but we saw enough.” He paused for dramatic effect, his accusing gaze riveted on her as he waited for her reaction. She was frantic inside, but she was determined not to give him the satisfaction of seeing how upset she was. Still watching her, he said, “We were impressed with your most recent assemblies. Without audio, we had to use our imaginations. It wasn’t too difficult to see you, or at least your faculty and guest speakers, have affected the students and faculty in a positive way, but . . . ,” here he paused again, and the look on his face turned somber. His eyes bore down on her and her breath caught in her throat. “We have some extremely serious problems with you, despite your attempts to fix the school.”
Her body went rigid and she tried not to look directly at anyone.
“I don’t even know where to begin, Claire. You’ve broken so many rules. You changed the school’s curriculum and added these assemblies without getting approval from this board. You added lighting to the building after your request was declined, and you made other changes to the building without approval.” He paused to catch his breath, then continued. “You allowed hundreds of people to work on the building. That’s a liability to this school district. If someone had gotten hurt, we could have had lawsuits to deal with. We have a district-wide maintenance department for building improvements, but you didn’t use them. They’re bonded, licensed, and insured.”
“I tried to get the district’s maintenance department to make the improvements,” she said. “They wouldn’t. They said they wouldn’t step foot in Midland. Told me it was too dangerous. I tried to tell them it was different now, but—”
“It was too dangerous for them. So instead, you decided you’d bypass them and put parents, students, and teachers at risk. We can fire you for that alone.”
“First off, if it was too dangerous for them at Midland, which I do not agree was the reason, how is it not too dangerous for the faculty and the students themselves? Look, it was something that everyone was excited about, including the students. If I can say so, this was a great idea in many ways. It’s created a bond between students and faculty, and even the parents, and made them proud of themselves and their school. I’m sure they’ll be more likely to take care of it now that they’ve put a bit of themselves into it and it was a good start toward making the school less dangerous. I do apologize, though. I didn’t think about the liability aspect.”
“And the additional lighting?”
“I thought the board didn’t authorize it because of the cost.
It was something I felt strongly about, so I paid for it myself, out of my personal funds. It was a gift to the school.”
“Of course you didn’t bother to find out why the request was denied. You presumed you knew.”
Claire squirmed. She didn’t have an answer.
“What about the assemblies?”
“I didn’t know I needed approval to hold assemblies as it falls under my purview as the school’s principal, especially since Steve and Frank—” She snapped her mouth closed. She’d already gotten Frank into trouble once.
John leaned back in his chair, looking silent and deep-in-thought. The room fell quiet. Then he said, “The state has requirements regarding curriculums. What do you think your Senator Reynolds would say if he knew you weren’t adhering to them? Hmm?” He stared straight at her and lifted an eyebrow.
Claire bit her lip and stayed silent.
“No answer, huh? Don’t you know there are state education standards?” John said. “Midland High School is a low-performing school, and has been for years. Those kids need more classroom lessons, not less. You’ve taken away precious time from their schoolwork, and you didn’t think it mattered? You thought your own agenda was more important?”
Claire flinched at his words and the harsh tone of his voice. However much she despised him, she couldn’t deny he had a point. She’d started out with the assemblies because she’d needed to make the school safe for herself. But that had changed once she’d become familiar with the students and faculty. They’d become her first priority.
She cleared her voice and then said, “Yes, the students needed more classroom lessons, but without motivation, without hope, without desire to learn, and without appropriate controls and order, all the classroom lessons in the world are a waste of time. I knew that I needed to reach them and get them motivated and enthusiastic first, then the lessons would be more effective and valuable. I began the assemblies intending to supplement the class work, not take away from it. If you look at our recent test results in almost all of our classes, you’ll see that grades are actually beginning to improve.”