Chapter 4 - THE SCHOLARSHIPS THAT BOUGHT CHILDREN.
Ethan had never told anyone that Alice kept her mother’s old notebooks.
His wife, Sarah Cole, had worked as an accountant for the Whitmore Children’s Foundation before dying in a highway collision.
Price claimed Sarah had stolen donor records and that Alice recently asked questions about them.
“My wife reported missing money,” Ethan said. “Your office called her unstable.”
The sheriff answered, “Families like the Whitmores fund hospitals, schools and half this town.”
Maria replied, “Workers fund this town. The Whitmores put their names on it.”
Locker 214 belonged to the abandoned train station beside the bridge. Inside, Ethan found Sarah’s notebook, a prepaid phone and photographs of children from low-income families standing beside luxury cars.
Each child had received a Whitmore scholarship. Each family later lost housing, custody rights or settlement money.
Alice had written one sentence across the final page:
THE SCHOLARSHIPS ARE BUYING GUARDIANSHIP.
The prepaid phone rang.
Ethan answered.
May you like
Alice’s frightened voice said, “Dad, do not trust Sheriff Price.”
Then the call ended with a train horn in the background.
