Chapter 8 - The Prosecutor’s Name
Ruiz stared at the screen without touching it.
"I was fourteen when that account was active," she said.
Bishop verified her birthdate.
The account had been created under a stolen identity years before she joined the Justice Department.
"It's a warning," Daniel said.
"Or a way to make the evidence look poisoned," Ruiz replied.
She recused herself from direct custody decisions and asked an independent special prosecutor to review the case.
I respected the choice.
Nathan would have called it weakness.
Ruiz called it how institutions were supposed to work.
A federal cyber team traced the false account to a private contractor maintaining Northbridge's identity systems.
The company supplied credentials to public agencies nationwide.
The scandal was no longer just a hidden military operation.
It was a method of impersonating officials on demand.
Meanwhile, Chad Kensington's attorney announced that all four students were victims of an unfair media campaign.
He described Nora's injuries as an 'unfortunate altercation.'
My daughter read the statement on her hospital tablet.
She pushed it away so hard the nurse caught it before it hit the floor.
I sat beside her.
"You don't have to read what they say," I told her.
She wrote, THEY WANT EVERYONE TO THINK I'M LYING.
"I know."
I wanted to promise that the world would believe her.
I couldn't.
I promised instead that I would help her speak in whatever way she chose.
At a protected interview, she wrote down the sequence of the assault.
Chad had hit her first.
Brantley blocked the exit.
Wyatt kept lookout.
Preston held her wrists.
A contractor ordered them to find the drive, but the boys continued after Nora said she had left it elsewhere.
Her statement was precise.
She crossed out words whenever the interviewer made an assumption.
She would not let anyone rewrite her story.
The investigators collected medical photographs and took additional witness statements.
Then a lawyer representing the Kensington family demanded that Nora's records be sealed under a private settlement.
The offer was twelve million dollars.
Nora read the figure and wrote a response.
NO.
When the lawyer asked whether she understood what she was rejecting, Nora added one more sentence.
MY FACE IS NOT THEIR RECEIPT.
The next morning, Preston's protective detail found his room empty.
On the pillow was a bloodstained hospital bracelet.
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The patient name printed on it was Maya Chen.
