Page 24 of Where Secrets Lie

It felt like a family of bees had taken up residence in Savannah’s chest as she waited in her office for Jess, Hez, and her father to show up. Confrontation wasn’t her strong suit—not with anyone and certainly not with her arrogant and strong-willed father. She’d spent a lifetime kowtowing to his wishes and demands, and old habits were hard to break.

After a longing glance at the flowers blooming in the garden outside her window, she settled in her chair before lighting a pine-and-vanilla candle. The scent filled her lungs, and the tension knotting her shoulders eased. She might as well spend the next hour doing something useful. After logging in to her computer, she called up the proof she intended to show her father. How did she segue into the topic? The cowardly part of her wanted to let Hez start the conversation, but this was her job, not his. She needed to gather her courage and do what needed to be done.

A sharp rap sounded on her closed door, and it opened before she could call out. Her father strode through and shut the door behind him with a decisive click.

She straightened and gulped back the initial bolt of panic. “Dad, you’re early. Our meeting isn’t until ten.” The library table that served as her desk didn’t feel substantial enough to protect her from the rage vibrating from her father’s fiery gaze.

He advanced toward her workspace. “I wanted to speak to you before anyone else shows up. One of Hez’s law students has been poking around the Extension School, and you need to put a stop to it. I hope you aren’t letting your sister manipulate you. Her vendetta against me is obvious—if she can’t find anything concrete to accuse me of, she’ll make up something.”

Savannah could have pointed out dozens of instances where he was at fault in the complicated family relationship, but she bit her tongue. Dad never admitted to wrongdoing, and in all her thirty-five years, she’d never once heard him apologize to anyone. “Jess isn’t involved in the investigation, Dad. Hez has been in charge of it, and he’s a man of the law. He’s not going to fabricate anything, and I see no reason to distrust the results of his investigation.”

“Well, you should have serious doubts. The rumor mill is in full swing, and I heard the leadership is considering some very counterproductive proposals. Is this true?”

“I’m not going to get into our decisions until our meeting.”

He placed both hands on the library table and glared down at her. “I did a huge favor for you, Savannah Elaine Legare.”

“It’s Webster.” Wrong move. His glare intensified, and she had to force herself not to cower.

“It’s thanks to me you’re sitting in this office. If I hadn’t intervened after you were denied tenure, you’d be begging for another job far away from Ella. Are you going to stand back and let your own father be railroaded with false accusations? I thought better of you, Savannah. I’ve dedicated my entire life to education. Surely you remember all I’ve done for TGU.”

How dare he use Ella in this battle. She struggled to tamp down the rage bubbling in her chest. “I’m grateful to you and the TGU board for entrusting me with the future of our family’s heritage. But, Dad, it’s very vulnerable. Once I started looking at our situation, it was clear something is very wrong. We have to fix things before TGU ends up in bankruptcy. I know how much you love TGU.”For what it can do for you.“I know you want me to do the right thing even if it’s personally painful to some of us.”

He rubbed the space between his eyebrows. “I trust you not to do anything we’ll both regret.” His voice vibrated with unspoken emotion. He turned and stalked over to jerk open the door. The slam that followed knocked a book over on one of the bookcases.

Savannah rose to putFahrenheit 451back in place. She’d stood up to her dad for the first time in her life. It was something her mother had never done, and Savannah had followed that example for as long as she could remember. She let that fact sink in. It felt good—really good. Until the tone of his final words sank in. It felt like a threat. What exactly did he mean?

Chapter 14

Hez tapped his pen on the glass-topped conference room table. Jess sat across from him, brown leather padfolio open on the table in front of her. Savannah occupied the seat at the head of the table. The empty chair opposite her was for Pierre, who hadn’t arrived even though the meeting had been scheduled to start five minutes ago. It was a power move, which Hez would have countered by starting the meeting four minutes and thirty seconds ago. But this wasn’t his meeting—or his father.

The hand-carved oak door swung open, and Pierre walked in. He wore a blue oxford shirt and khaki slacks, in contrast to the suits worn by everyone else. Another power move. A smile creased his tan, handsome face, showing too-perfect teeth. “Ah, there you are. I thought we were having a little chat where I could answer a few questions. I didn’t realize this was a formal meeting.” He gave a smooth chuckle as he sat. “Y’all look so serious, like a bunch of undergrads interviewing for your first jobs.”

Savannah’s smile was so tight it was almost a grimace. “Thanks for coming.” She pressed a button on a little control panel in front of her. “We’ll be recording today’s meeting, likeall official executive proceedings from now on. This meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee on University Affairs will now come to order.”

Pierre grinned and leaned back in his chair. “All right, Madam President. What’s on the agenda?”

Jess frowned, but Savannah’s expression stayed neutral and professional. “The TGU Extension School. We’re shutting down the current operation and bringing it in-house. We’ll restart it next year under all new management.”

Pierre’s grin vanished. “Only the board can do that!”

Savannah cut her gaze toward Hez. “My lawyer says otherwise.”

Hez nodded. “The university bylaws give the president broad powers to deal with ‘fraud and perfidy’ at the university.”

Pierre eyed him warily. “That’s for cases of cheating on exams and that sort of thing. Why do you think it applies to the Extension School?”

Hez leaned forward. “Because the entire thing is a fraud, Pierre. It charges exorbitant tuition for low-quality taped lectures. The profits are supposed to go into a scholarship fund, but there never are any profits. All the money is sucked up by administrative fees charged by something called Education Management, LLC. Education Management does hardly any actual work. It just takes money that should be going to the scholarship fund.” Hez fought to keep the anger out of his voice. “Most Extension School students need to take out loans to afford the classes, so they’re getting saddled with enormous debts in return for garbage degrees stamped with the TGU seal.”

Pierre shook his head. “That’s certainly not how Ellison described the Extension School when he founded it. I don’t see what any of this has to do with me, though.”

Hez folded his arms. “We know who owns Education Management, Pierre.”

Pierre looked at him stone-faced. “Do you now?”

“It took a lot of digging, but yes. You did your best to hide it, but we can prove that you, Ellison Abernathy, and Beckett Harrison founded Education Management—and that most of the profits are being funneled into your trust. The final piece of evidence came out of the probate case for Abernathy’s will.” Hez opened his padfolio and took out a letter on TGU letterhead, which he slid across the table to Pierre. “This is a formal request for the return of all unearned fees. If Education Management doesn’t comply, the university will sue.”

Pierre flicked a glance at the letter, but he didn’t pick it up. He turned to Savannah. “This is completely unacceptable.”

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