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“It’s late,” Lorna says, hand on her hip. “You need to talk to me right now?”
“It’s kinda urgent,” I insist. “I just need to ask you a few questions.”
She relents, leaving the door open as she heads back inside. I follow, my heart pounding with anticipation. The spicy scent of curry permeates the air and my stomach growls, reminding me I skipped dinner to come here.
Jazz plays quietly in the background as she gestures for me to sit on her threadbare sofa.
“What do you want to know, Miss Bennett?” Lorna asks, her tone impatient.
“I read an article about the Haven Center's closure,” I begin, the words tumbling out. “I couldn't help but wonder what really happened.”
A shadow passes over her face. “It was a difficult time for all of us,” she admits, her voice barely above a whisper. “We poured our hearts and souls into that place, only to have it torn away from us. Six months before we closed, grant money started going missing.”
“Did the police investigate?” I ask.
She crosses one leg over another and leans forward. “The police don’t usually care what happens in a town like Caspian Springs, but the whole thing became a federal issue when the board of directors discovered that millions of dollars disappeared into thin air.”
I gasp and cover my mouth. “I can't imagine how hard it must have been for you,” I say softly.
Lorna's gaze softens at the gesture, a faint smile tugging at the corners of her lips. “Thank you, Sienna,” she says, her voice choked with emotion.
She stares at her lap. “I never got over it. When the police investigated, the money trail was hard to follow. It went in and out of the accounts of several of the staff members, including myself and the assistant director, but the money was nevertouched, so even though it looked like several of us were embezzling, they couldn’t point the finger at any one of us.”
I stare at her. “What? That’s crazy. And they couldn’t find where the money led?”
She shakes her head. “Nope. They closed the investigation at that point but the damage was done. The board of directors voted to shut everything down and I was fired for letting it happen.”
“That’s crazy! They blamed you even though you didn’t touch the money?” I ask, my voice high with emotion.
“None of us did,” Lorna says, voice rising as she squeezes her hands in her lap. “I trusted my staff. They would haveneverstolen that money.”
“Who do you think stole it?” I ask. “Or what do you think happened?”
“I’m not sure, but I know that it wasn’t any of the people who worked for the center.”
I sit back, trying to wrap my mind around this. “So I told you I was doing a research project and that’s true,” I say. “I’m working for Dr. Richard Thornton,” I tell her. “He worked at the Haven Center back in the day as well. Did you know him?”
Lorna’s expression darkens. “Rich? Oh, I knew him,” she says with a bitter laugh. “I never liked him. I can’t believe he’s still using the people of the community for his research. Or maybe I can.”
“You didn’t like him?” I ask, shocked. I wouldn’t have thought he was the kind of person to rub anyone the wrong way. I guess I’m learning all kinds of new things about him.
“Nope,” she says with a pop on the P. “He was way too eager to get involved in those kids’ lives. I thought it crossed the line sometimes. We were supposed to be there for them, but there were boundaries in place and rules to follow. He thought that since he was a volunteer, the rules didn’t apply to him.”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
Lorna scoffs. “Well, he gave the kids money all the time. And he had his favorites. Everyone could see he preferred these three brothers the most and he spent all his free time with them.”
“You don’t think he was just trying to be there for them?”
“I think he picked the kids who were the most vulnerable. I never liked him using kids in his research. Never sat right with me. It felt exploitative, not helpful. He wasn’t there to change those kids’ lives, he was there to use them to make a name for himself.”
I blink, taking it all in. “So you think he wasn’t there to give back then? You don’t think he made a difference in their lives with his research?”
“He certainly thinks he made a difference,” Lorna says with a scoff. “He had an ego the size of a planet, even when he was just an undergrad volunteer. It got worse when he became a counseling intern. I think he thought of himself as some kind of savior to the kids.”
Hearing her opinion of Dr. Thornton feels like it’s starting to fill in the missing pieces of the puzzle. “What about the funding issue? Was he ever a suspect in the whole thing?”
Lorna sighs and shakes her head. “As much as I’d love to blame him, he wasn’t even around when it was happening. He had to leave for a while to take care of his uncle who got sick. When the police were investigating, his uncle had just died so they ruled him out.”
