Page 120 of But For You

She nodded. “I’m sorry for Mr. Michaels, who has been dismissed, and Mr. Parker, who has been barred from school grounds.”

“Okay.”

She reached out and took hold of my arm. “You and your family have been part of ours for the past two years, Mr. Harcourt, since Kola started when he was in preschool, like Hannah is now. You didn’t think twice about enrolling her with us because he was doing so well here. I don’t want that to change because of this incident, but mostly because I don’t want you to think we don’t care about your children. All the kids mean the world to me—I wouldn’t be here if that wasn’t the case—but Kola is just a jewel, and Hannah …” She started to smile. “I just don’t know what goes through that girl’s head sometimes, but I can’t wait to see her every day.”

“Thank you.”

“So, I sincerely hope we can all get past this incident and back to how things were before. That is the first such occurrence we’ve had at this school, and I can assure you that it will most certainly be the last.”

I smiled at her. “You’re adding aides to all classes, aren’t you?”

She cleared her throat. “Whatever do you mean?”

“You’ve been pushing that for a while, but the board wouldn’t budge.” I nodded, grinning at her. “I read the newsletter, and that’s a very good way to prove your point.”

She took hold of my hand. “You know I would never have chosen to have⁠—”

“I know; you didn’t want a child hurt to illustrate your concerns, but the point was certainly made, wasn’t it?”

“Oh, yes, it was.” She exhaled, releasing my hand.

Such an attractive woman in her Donna Karan suit, short and stylish haircut, reading glasses hanging on a chain, pearls, makeup immaculately applied, and her dark blue eyes locked on my face. I had found her so polished the first time we met, and the perception had never changed.

I crossed my arms. “Did Rick Jenner scare the board?”

“Mr. Jenner terrified the board. Jenner Knox is a very well-known law firm here in Chicago.”

“But it’s not even a year old,” I said, making my eyes big for her, all innocence.

She cleared her throat. “Richard Jenner might have just started his new firm, Mr. Harcourt, but we all know he was the managing partner at his old firm for many years.”

I arched an eyebrow at her.

“He’s quite intimidating.”

“Yes, ma’am, I know.”

She squinted at me. “I must say, when you applied here, you and the marshal, I did not suspect that if there was ever a problem, a man like Richard Jenner would be who I would find in my office.”

“My brother, who you just saw—did you see him?”

“He would be hard to miss.”

“Yeah, well, he watches out for me. He’s the scary one, and⁠—”

“Make no mistake, Mr. Harcourt, the scary one in this scenario has always been—and I suspect will always be—Supervisory Deputy Kage.”

I cleared my throat. “Again, sorry he yelled.”

“He had every right to.”

I reached out and squeezed her arm. “We’ll get past this.”

“Good,” she whispered. “We’ll see you after school.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I was smiling when I reached the minivan.