NORA
The Bluetooth notification sat there like a fingerprint.
New device connected: CAL.
It wasn't a threat.
It was a handshake.
A proof.
I am near you.
I can touch your phone without touching your phone.
Priya's face went pale for one second.
Then it went sharp.
"Turn it off," Priya whispered.
Maren didn't move.
"Don't," she said.
Priya blinked.
"Why," she hissed.
Maren's voice stayed flat.
"Because he wants you to scramble," she said. "And because that connection is evidence."
The officer held Nora's phone like it might bite.
"Ma'am," he said, "I can disconnect it."
Maren shook her head.
"No," she said. "We document first."
Ethan's voice was low.
"Screenshot," he said.
Maren nodded.
"Hannah," she said, "you take the photo. Not Nora. Not Ethan. You."
Hannah swallowed.
"O-okay," she said.
She lifted her phone with shaking hands and took a picture of Nora's screen in the officer's glove.
Click.
Evidence.
Nora's stomach turned.
Her phone was a body now.
A thing people handled.
A thing that could be contaminated.
A thing that wasn't hers.
Maren looked at the Bluetooth details.
"Tap it," Maren said.
The officer hesitated.
Maren's gaze held.
"Tap it," she repeated.
He tapped.
A device info pane opened.
Device name: CAL.
Pairing request accepted.
Connected at: 5:41.
Nora's stomach dropped.
5:41.
Right now.
In this stairwell.
Or in the hall beyond.
Maren's pen scratched.
Scratch.
"Signal strength," Ethan murmured.
The officer blinked.
"It doesn't show—"
"It shows proximity," Priya said, voice tight. "It shows he's close enough to connect."
Maren looked up.
"Officer," she said. "Who is stationed where."
He spoke into his radio.
"Unit two, north stairwell. Unit three, south stairwell. Where are you on that corridor cam subject."
Static.
Then a voice.
"Subject last seen passing room 214," the radio said. "Second floor."
Room 214.
Nora's chest tightened.
Aldridge's room.
Of course.
Priya whispered, "He's circling the story."
Maren's face didn't change.
She just said, "We move back to my office. Now."
They moved.
Fast, but not frantic.
Frantic was a tell.
Maren didn't allow tells.
The officer walked in front.
Ethan behind Nora.
Priya at Nora's shoulder.
Marcus with another officer, like a child being escorted.
Daniel in the middle, eyes wide.
Hannah trailing, clutching her phone like a shield.
They reached Maren's office.
Maren shut the door.
The click sounded like a verdict.
"Okay," Maren said. "Now we do three things."
Priya nodded.
"Yes," she whispered.
Maren held up one finger.
"We lock down devices," she said. "Airplane mode. Bluetooth off. But only after we document the connection."
She looked at the officer.
"Photograph the Bluetooth screen," she said. "Then toggle."
The officer obeyed.
Click.
Then airplane mode.
Bluetooth off.
The CAL device dropped.
Disconnected.
For a second, Nora felt her lungs work again.
Then her phone buzzed.
Not a vibration.
A sound.
A chime she hadn't heard in months.
A new notification.
From Notes.
Not shared notes.
Local notes.
A note title appeared.
BORING GIRL
Priya made a sound.
"Oh my God," she whispered.
Maren's eyes went cold.
"Do not open," she said.
Nora's mouth tightened.
"It's on my phone," Nora said.
Maren nodded.
"I know," she said. "And it's designed to make you look."
Ethan's jaw tightened.
"He can write to her device," he said.
Maren's voice stayed flat.
"He can try," she corrected. "We don't give him eyes."
Maren held up a second finger.
"Two," she said. "We secure Marcus. He is the script target. He will not be alone. He will not be in the workshop. He will not be on campus at six fifty-eight."
Marcus swallowed.
"Am I allowed to go home," he whispered.
Maren nodded.
"Yes," she said. "With an officer."
Marcus' eyes filled.
"Thank you," he whispered.
Maren held up a third finger.
"Three," she said. "We replace the second finalist."
Silence.
Priya blinked.
"What," she said.
Maren's gaze was steady.
"He wants a mouth," Maren said. "We give him a mouth that tells the truth."
Ethan's pulse jumped.
"You want someone to speak at six fifty-eight," Ethan said.
Maren nodded.
"Yes," she said. "On record. With officers present. With cameras."
Priya's smile turned sharp.
"We bait him," she said.
Maren's voice stayed flat.
"We document him," she corrected.
She looked at Hannah.
"Hannah," Maren said, "who is the most trusted voice in that room besides Aldridge."
Hannah swallowed.
"The president is Aldridge," she whispered. "But the one people listen to is… Hannah."
Priya's eyes widened.
"You," Priya said.
Hannah flinched.
"I can't," she whispered.
Maren's voice softened by a fraction.
"You can," she said. "Because you already came. Because you already held the evidence. Because you are already in the file."
Hannah's hands shook.
"What do I say," she whispered.
Maren looked at Nora.
Nora's mouth tightened.
No more out loud.
No more confession.
Just facts.
Nora spoke, flat.
"Say there's an extortion attempt," Nora said. "Say there's a staged script. Say the dean's office is investigating. Say do not circulate. Say if you got a link, forward it."
Hannah's eyes filled.
"Okay," she whispered.
Priya's phone buzzed.
A message from Director Vasquez.
Priya read it silently.
Then looked up.
"She's coming," Priya said. "Vasquez is coming to Whitmore. Now."
Maren nodded.
"Good," she said.
And then Maren's desktop pinged.
An incoming email.
Subject line:
SECOND FINALIST CONFIRMATION — DRAFT
From:
Professor Aldridge.
Maren stared at it.
Then she looked at Nora.
And for the first time, Maren's voice carried something that wasn't just procedure.
It carried anger.
"He's still writing the script," Maren said.
Ethan's jaw tightened.
"Can we use it," he asked.
Maren's eyes flicked to him.
"Use what," she said.
Ethan nodded at the email.
"His draft," he said. "If he's sending it, he's leaving a trail."
Maren's pen moved.
"Yes," she said. "We forward it to Vasquez. We forward it to campus safety. We do not reply."
Priya's smile turned sharp.
"I want to reply," she whispered.
Maren didn't look at her.
"I know," she said.
Maren clicked the email open.
She didn't flinch.
She read like a judge.
Then she slid her monitor slightly so the officer could see without touching the keyboard.
"Photograph," Maren said.
The officer did.
Click.
Ethan leaned in just enough to see the first line.
Not content.
Framing.
Aldridge had written it as if it were already true.
As if it were already confession.
As if he were doing them a favor by drafting their guilt.
Priya whispered, voice tight.
"He's going to send this to the scholarship office," she said.
Maren nodded.
"Yes," she said. "And now we can show that he planned it."
Nora's mouth tightened.
"What about Cal," Nora asked.
Her own name in that Bluetooth pane had felt like a hand on her throat.
Maren's gaze stayed steady.
"Cal is the delivery," she said. "Aldridge is the amplifier."
Ethan's stomach turned.
"And Daniel," Ethan said.
Daniel flinched.
Maren's voice stayed flat.
"Daniel is the scapegoat," she said.
Daniel's breath broke.
Priya's voice softened by a millimeter.
"You're going to be fine," she said, like she hated that she meant it.
Daniel nodded, not believing.
Maren looked at the officer.
"I want a formal escort for Marcus now," she said.
Marcus blinked.
"Now now," he whispered.
"Yes," Maren said. "Before he gets another message."
Marcus stood.
His hands shook.
Priya stepped closer.
"You're not leaving alone," she said.
Marcus nodded.
"I know," he whispered.
The officer gestured to the second guard.
"Walk with him," he said.
The guard nodded.
Marcus looked at Nora.
He tried to smile.
It came out wrong.
"I didn't ask for this," he whispered.
Nora's voice was flat.
"I know," she said.
Marcus left.
The door clicked.
The room tightened again.
Hannah swallowed.
"What if he's in the building," she whispered.
Maren's voice stayed calm.
"Then we catch him on camera," she said. "And we keep you from becoming his mouth."
Hannah's eyes filled.
"I don't want to talk in front of everyone," she whispered.
Maren's gaze softened by a fraction.
"Then we don't make it a speech," she said. "We make it an announcement. Two sentences. No drama. Just a stop sign."
Priya nodded.
"A stop sign with teeth," she said.
Ethan's phone buzzed.
Not email.
A text.
From an unknown number.
Ethan didn't open it.
But the preview was enough.
BORING BOY.
Nora's stomach dropped.
Because now it wasn't just her.
Cal was naming them.
Writing them.
Turning their survival strategy into a joke.
Maren saw Ethan's face.
She didn't ask.
She just said, "Show me."
Ethan held the phone out without unlocking.
Maren read the preview.
Her eyes went hard.
"He's in the corridor again," the officer's radio crackled.
Maren didn't move.
"Where," she asked.
The radio replied.
"Second floor. Outside room 214."
Room 214.
Again.
Aldridge's room.
Ethan felt his pulse slow.
Because it meant one thing.
Cal wasn't just near.
He was orbiting Aldridge.
And seven was getting closer.
Maren looked at the clock.
5:47.
Seventy-three minutes.
She looked at Nora.
"Do you trust me," Maren asked.
Nora's throat tightened.
Trust was a luxury.
But procedure was a tool.
Nora nodded once.
"Yes," she said.
Maren's voice stayed calm.
"Good," she said. "Then we're going to do something you will hate."
Priya's eyes sharpened.
"What," she asked.
Maren said it.
"We're going to invite Aldridge to a documented meeting with Vasquez," she said. "And we're going to see who shows up with him."