“This is Vance,” I said when the line picked up. “Pull the file on Richard Sterling. And prepare a writ. I’m heading to Oak Creek Elementary.”
“Right away, Chief Judge,” the voice on the other end answered.
I hung up. I walked to the parking lot. The sun was shining, birds were singing, but all I could see was the red haze of my daughter’s pain. They thought they had broken a little girl. They didn’t know they had just woken a dragon.
Chapter 2: The Reunion of “Failures”
Oak Creek Elementary was a fortress of privilege. The parking lot looked more like a luxury car dealership than a place of education. Range Rovers, Teslas, and Porsches gleamed in the afternoon sun.
And there, parked diagonally across two handicap spots right in front of the entrance, was a bright red Ferrari.
I knew that car. Or rather, I knew the type of man who drove it.
I walked into the administrative building. The secretary, a young woman who looked terrified, tried to stop me. “Excuse me, Ma’am, do you have an appointment? Principal Higgins is in a meeting with a VIP donor.”
“I don’t need an appointment,” I said, not breaking stride. I pushed open the double oak doors to the Principal’s office.
The scene inside was a tableau of arrogance.
Principal Higgins was practically bowing, pouring coffee into a china cup. Sitting in the leather executive chair behind the Principal’s desk—feet up on the mahogany—was Richard Sterling.
