Chapter 51 - The Meeting With Investigator Bennett
Alex and Coach Daniels arrived at the district office exactly five minutes before the scheduled meeting.
Investigator Laura Bennett greeted them with a polite smile before leading them into a small conference room.
The atmosphere felt serious but not tense.
A laptop rested on the table beside several printed documents.
Superintendent Grant joined them moments later.
"Thank you for coming," she said.
Alex looked at the folder in front of Bennett.
"You found the account?"
"We did."
Bennett turned the laptop toward them.
"The anonymous account wasn't operated by someone trying to steal your engineering project."
Alex frowned.
"Then why leak the photograph?"
She opened another document.
"The individual behind the account believed there was an organized effort among a small online group to collect information about student engineering projects before competitions."
Coach Daniels folded his arms.
"So they leaked the image to expose the activity?"
"Not exactly."
Bennett shook her head.
"They hoped someone would notice unusual online behavior."
Alex looked confused.
"Why stay anonymous?"
"Because they were afraid no one would believe them."
The room became quiet.
Bennett continued.
"We've already interviewed the individual."
"No criminal activity?"
"None."
"No connection to Westbrook?"
"None."
Instead, the person had volunteered at several regional competitions over the past two years and had become concerned after noticing repeated attempts by unknown online users to gather photographs, design notes, and prototype details from multiple schools.
"They handled it poorly," Bennett admitted.
"But their concern wasn't entirely unfounded."
She projected another slide.
Several engineering teams from previous competitions had reported similar anonymous requests for technical information.
Fortunately, no evidence suggested organized sabotage.
Most incidents appeared to involve online curiosity taken far beyond appropriate boundaries.
Coach Daniels exhaled.
"So the investigation continues."
"Yes."
"But its focus has changed."
Alex leaned back thoughtfully.
Weeks earlier, he had imagined a single person targeting him.
Instead, the situation proved far more complicated.
Sometimes uncertainty grew because people responded in the wrong way to legitimate concerns.
Bennett closed the folder.
"We'll continue improving event security."
Grant nodded.
"And hopefully prevent future misunderstandings before they become larger problems."
As the meeting concluded, Alex realized something unexpected.
May you like
For the first time since the hallway incident, he walked away from an investigation that had answered one question without immediately creating three new ones.
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