Chapter 18

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA

“Mr. Harper, I understand you think this is important, but I’m sure this could wait until regular school hours,” Headmaster Pendleton says into the phone.

Michael grips his iPhone, takes a cleansing breath lest he finally tell the pompous head of the Academy what he really thinks of him. “I’m sorry for calling so late. But as I said, there’s a level of urgency here.”

The headmaster must hear something in Michael’s voice, because he pauses, then says, “What can I do for you, Mr. Harper?”

“There’s a situation with the kids I thought you should know about.”

“A situation,” Pendleton repeats.

“A serious bullying incident.”

“I see.” His tone is calm, the response of a man who’s heard many affluent parents claim their kids were “bullied,” which probably involved only slights such as not being invited to a birthday party or sleepover. “Is everything all right with Taylor?”

“It’s not about Taylor. Well, not directly but—” Michael stops himself. Decides to get to it. He pulls up the video Taylor sent him, sends it to the headmaster’s phone.

“I’ve just sent you a video that is making the rounds with the kids.”

There’s a long quiet as Pendleton pulls up the clip. Michael can only hear the video in the background, but he’s already watched it so many times, he can follow what’s happening.

It’s a house party. Teenagers chattering and sipping from red Solo cups. Then a voice cuts through the music. One of the kids tells Anthony O’Leary that Isabella, Taylor’s best friend, wants to make out with him. She’s in the back bedroom.

Anthony goes into the room, the jostling phone camera following after him. The music quiets as the door closes behind him.

The lights go out. Then there’s an unusual sound, like a large roll of tape or cellophane being stretched, the kind when movers wrap your furniture. There’s the sound of a struggle.

“What are you—Stop!”

More unusual sounds.

Then the light clicks on.

Anthony O’Leary’s on the floor. He’s wrapped in plastic, like a mummy or a burrito. He’s flopping around, trying to free himself.

Someone says, “He’s a fucking seal,” and there’s a boom of laughter.

“Get the seal his dinner,” a voice says.

Anthony keeps moving, struggling futilely to get out of the plastic.

Then sardines from tins are thrust at him, splatting against the plastic, hitting him in the face, the only part of him not covered.

Then one of the boys, his back to the camera, starts urinating on Anthony.

The scene is more grotesque because of all the laughter in the background.

The phone line goes quiet. Like Pendleton is digesting what he watched.

Michael finally says, “Taylor says that this isn’t the first time. That Anthony O’Leary has been bullied since his first day.”

“Was Taylor involved?” Pendleton asks.

“She says no. But it’s her circle of friends. She says she told them to lay off.”

Pendleton clears his throat. “The video doesn’t show anyone other than the O’Leary boy. And this doesn’t appear to be on school grounds.”

Michael shakes his head, pulls up the video on his own phone, finds the section. “Watch it again. At thirty-seven seconds in. Look at the reflection in the mirror.”

In the last nanosecond of the clip the camera catches a mirror hung on the bedroom wall. Four kids’ faces are shown, three with mouths open, laughing. Among them, the governor’s daughter, the attorney general’s son, a billionaire’s daughter… and Taylor.

There’s noise on the other end like Pendleton is finding the clip. There’s a heavy sigh in the receiver now. “I knew I should’ve never admitted someone from that family to this school.”

“That’s your takeaway?” Michael says.

“This is a sensitive matter. It has to be handled discreetly.”

On this much, they agree.

“There’s something else you should know,” Michael says.

Another long silence. Michael imagines Pendleton standing in his nightclothes, looking like the portraits of Academy Men that fill the halls of the school.

“Shane O’Leary came to me because his son has been upset. It’s only a matter of time until he finds out or gets hold of this video and—”

Pendleton cuts him off: “That’s why I said we need to be discreet.”