Page 52 of Wired Strong

Ka`ula’s habitual frown remained. He turned to the security guard. “No one enters or leaves that room,” he said.

“Yes, sir.”

Ka`ula turned back to Raveaux. “Well?”

“I really would like that cup of coffee,” he said.

Ka`ula led him to the staff lounge where a Keurig machine stood ready to brew a variety of pods.

The headmaster’s stiff attitude seemed to wilt as he entered the breakroom and no other staff were there. He shut the door and leaned his forehead against it. “I can’t believe it’s a student,” he said. “This is going to look very bad to the board. To the community.”

Raveaux chose a French roast pod and inserted it into the machine, positioning his mug beneath the spout and pushing down the handle. “I believe we will find that something is going on with this kid that made him siphon the money. We already had a tip that his mother was acting odd; maybe he has some motive that we don’t yet understand. Quite frankly, should word get out, a student hacking your system and embezzling from the general fund is better for the school than someone on the board or a staff member.”

Ka`ula stared out the window, and Raveaux joined him. The view was lovely: rolling lawns, a tidy tennis court, and an Olympic-size swimming pool filled with students playing water polo, surrounded by mature coconut palms. “You might be right. In a way, this could be a compliment to the school.” His gloomy expression began to brighten as he considered how to spin the news. “We cater to the ‘best and brightest’ of Hawaiian children. This young man must be both.”

“The situation will need to be kept as quiet as possible—from what I understand, that is what the board wants,” Raveaux said. “Once we determine if the boy is the hacker, we plug the holes he’s made, and you get your money back. The school leadership can discuss what, if anything, needs to be prosecuted—and thus, potentially become public knowledge.”

“The student’s folder is at my receptionist’s desk,” Ka`ula said. “As soon as we identified him in the lab, I had my secretary make a copy of it for you. You and your team can take the file back to study. If Leede hasn’t been able to get him to talk, we can pull in some more pressure on his mother, and try that angle.”

“Excellent plan.” Both men doctored their fresh cups of coffee, and returned to the headmaster’s office.

Leede and Conrad were leaning close, talking, when Ka`ula opened the heavy door. They straightened up, but appeared to have become friends. Leede straightened her bright orange jacket and pushed her glasses up her nose. “Conrad, here, has a grave injustice that he would like to see rectified.”

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Raveaux

Raveaux fixedhis gaze on the boy as Conrad leaned forward with a sudden burst of anger, setting his elbows on the desk in front of the headmaster. “I do have a grave injustice I would like to see rectified—the racist admissions policy of this school!”

Ka`ula’s lowered brows shot up in surprise. “We are following the dictates of the Kama`aina Trust: that the Kama`aina Schools support the children of Hawaii.”

“There have been many challenges to that wording.” Conrad said. “And I, for one, think it’s racist.” He sat back, crossing his arms over his chest. Once again, his spine curved into the shape of a sullen teen.

Leede cleared her throat delicately. “I think that what Conrad is trying to say, is that he has . . .”

“I can hear with my own two ears what he has to say,” Ka`ula retorted. “I fail to see how a kid’s opinion on our school’s policies has anything to do with the matter at hand.”

Leede cocked her head in that birdlike way. “Conrad, perhaps you need to explain a little further to Dr. Ka`ula.”

“Explain what?” Ka`ula growled, when the boy remained stubbornly mute.

This was going nowhere fast.

Raveaux addressed the young man before him. “Did you have anything to do with the bookkeeping problems that Kama`aina Schools has experienced?”

A sly smile curved the boy’s mouth. “I plead the fifth on that.”

“This office is not a court of law in which you get to plead the fifth on anything,” Ka`ula said. He seemed to rein himself in with an effort. “Kama`aina Schools serves the best and brightest of Hawaii’s children. You seem to be one of those, young man. Perhaps you would like to tell me more about why you feel that the school’s policy is racist.”

“Because the trust specifies the ‘children of Hawaii’ but it doesn’t say children of Polynesian blood!”

“I fail to see why you are upset about that, when you’re benefitting from that policy,” Ka`ula replied.

The boy clammed up again.

Ka`ula threw his hands up in the air. “Maybe we should just let the FBI get involved after all.”

Conrad’s eyes flew wide, and Leede made a gesture with her hand. “Perhaps it’s time to call the boy’s parent. She might be able to shed some light on the matter.”

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