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Epilogue
Grace and Lincoln made it to the last half-hour of the wrap party, just in time for cake and another round of cheers and congratulations. He stayed with her through the weekend, but he and Sam had to return to New York on Monday to finalize Jillian Hanover’s position on the Folio board of directors.
Grace had a lengthy phone call with Brooke, who told her she and Charlie were working on fact-checking their breaking story about Spruce shifting funds to a personal account. Not only did it appear that he was unethically diverting money to the football team, he might have been actively embezzling school funds. Stealing from the students.
Not even Spruce could wiggle his way out of hard evidence of a crime, and the independent auditors and investigators were already pursuing the case.
On her way to school on Monday morning, Grace stopped at Java Works for a toasted marshmallow caramel mocha. Max Weatherford was waiting in line, the overhead lights turning his hair the color of spun gold. They greeted each other warmly.
“Did you get my message?” Grace asked. “I can’t thank you enough for your help finding Viola.”
“She must have had quite an adventure to get all the way down to Bakersfield.” He stepped aside and indicated for her to go ahead of him in line. “It’s remarkable that she was found, but I didn’t have anything to do with it.”
“You didn’t?”
“Didn’t Atwood tell you?” Max lifted his eyebrows in faint surprise. “He drove down to pick her up. He’s the reason you have her back.”
“What?”
“Yeah, he came into the clinic a few weeks ago with this big plan.” Max shook his head with a laugh. “He had folders and everything. He even had a map and information about pet facial recognition software. It was impressive. He launched a new campaign offering a reward and had a schedule set up to contact databases and shelters in a hundred-mile radius. When we had a lead or a possible match, he’d drive to the shelter to check it out in person. If it weren’t for him, Viola might be in Mexico by now.”
“I…I didn’t know that.” Grace pressed a hand to her heart. Was it possible for her to falleven morein love with Lincoln?
“Oh, the woman who took Viola in did end up adopting a rescue cat.” Max grinned, his blue eyes twinkling. “So they also had a happy ending.”
“I’m glad they got one.” Grace returned his smile. “Thank you for everything you’ve done.”
“Sure. Just let me know if you want to bring her in for another check-up.”
He insisted on buying her coffee before heading off to the pet clinic. Grace watched him go, hoping he’d find his own happy ending one day soon.
When she got to school, she found the district superintendent, Bob Porter, waiting in her classroom. Her guard shot up.
“Morning, Grace.” He smiled, though his face fell a little when he saw her coffee. “Oh, I picked you up a latte on the way in.”
He gestured to the cup on her desk.
“Thank you.” She put her book bag on her chair. “Maybe Hank Spruce would like it.”
He chuckled. She didn’t.
“What can I do for you, Bob?” she asked tersely.
“I was hoping we could chat about recent…er, events.” His tone was light and forcibly casual.
Grace eyed him warily. Was he nervous?
“If you’re talking about my suspension, there’s nothing to say.” She set her hands on her hips. “I’m not going to resign. If you want to conduct a hearing about my performance and curriculum, by all means, go right ahead. But you’d better schedule it over the course of a few days since I’ll have a lengthy speech prepared in my defense. I will also ask quite a few people to testify on my behalf. So it could take a while.”
“A hearing won’t be necessary.” Bob fiddled with the cuffs of his suit jacket. “And I believe we were a bit…hasty with your suspension in the first place.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Hasty? Is that a new synonym forwrong?”
He gave another rusty laugh. “I admit I wasn’t privy to all that went on between you and Principal…well, soon-to-be-former Principal Spruce…so maybe we can come to an agreement.”
Grace’s heart thumped hard. “Former?”
“Hank phoned me over the weekend, announcing his intent to resign for unspecified reasons.” Bob tugged at his necktie. “But it appears as if the investigation into funding misuse should have happened sooner.”
