Page 56 of The Alpha's Mates

“Let me stop you there.” Dean Ames pointed to the condemned property letter from the city. “You would have gotten one from us first, then the county. Did you ever receive one from the school?”

She shook her head. “This is the only notice I received.” Bell retrieved the information Raquel gave her about it being a forgery. “But I have something I’d like to share with you, if it’s appropriate to do so in a public meeting.”

“Does it pertain to your case?”

“Yes, sir, it does.” Adrenaline and anxiousness swirled through her system. Her hands trembled while she held the information to set her sorority free.

“Then I’d like to see it.” He held out his hand.

She pushed away from the table and started for where the dean sat. Hayden gave her the thumbs-up as she delivered the documents to the man. “A source, I will not divulge her name in public, did a little digging when she noticed inconsistencies with the condemned property notice. Subsequently, two weeks later, we also received a code violation letter from the county detailing every minor and major infraction about the condition of the house.”

“I’m sorry, let me stop you there,” Dean Ames said. “If I’m to believe you, your sorority house received two notices without anyone in the college being made aware?”

Bell shrugged. “Stuff has been happening all around you, Dean Ames. You’ve been kept out of the loop, obviously. Or need I remind you of the incident with Tate Dryer and Victor Lorenz?”

He blanched. For the first time since he walked into the meeting hall, he looked chagrin. “No, I don’t need any reminders. However, I would remind you to watch your tone.”

Bell cleared her throat. “Now, where was I? Oh, yes. Now I remember. So, because we weren’t exactly sure why the college hadn’t contacted us over the letters, nor the fact I’d put in maintenance orders since the beginning of school, we took it upon ourselves to trace it. You see, Dean Ames, we were a little suspicious about the whole situation. I won’t bore you with the details of how my source found the truth. But she figured out the ink and the printer lines didn’t match any other printer for the city offices. So, she dug a little deeper. If you’ll turn to page two, you’ll see her explanation.”

There, in black and white on the results page, sat the distinct marks on the paper and the style of how the letters were presented on the pages. “You can see the city uses an industrial printer made by Xerox, and the sorority who stole the letterhead and printed the condemned property letter used an off-brand printer.”

He glanced down at what she’d presented, and, for long moments, he said nothing. “It could be a coincidence.”

“I thought about that, too.” Raquel had also checked out how many people in their small area had a printer like the one used to write the letter. “You can see on the next page, over two hundred people have that type of printer. Of those, only thirty people live within a ten-mile radius of the school. However, only one lives on the school’s campus.”

“Hmm... Laney, what do you have to say about this?” He glanced up at the girl who’d made Bell’s life a living hell since the semester began.

“She’s lying, of course. There is no way those letters came from a printer in my sorority.” She crossed her arms and pouted.

“Of course, I’m the liar,” Bell said with a small, humorless laugh. “Dean Ames, did you know Laney’s mother actually works in the county offices?”

Dean Ames sat back. “No, not at all.”

“Well, she does. Low and behold, Laney’s mother is the assistant to Barbara Halifax, who coincidentally wrote the code violations letter.” She presented the public information that anyone who looked online could find with a couple of keystrokes. “That’s when we became suspicious of the whole thing. Finding pledges, well, we’ll admit to that. We had a hard time. Though, Hill only complicated it more by swiping our invites and throwing them into the trash in the guy’s locker room. I am super grateful for Coach Gai and his help with that issue.”

Dean Ames stared at her.

“If you’re concerned, I’m sure we could call Coach Gai and he’ll corroborate everything I’ve just said regarding the invitations.” Bell tilted her head.

“No, I don’t suppose we need to bring the Coach in. Besides, I’m sure he wouldn’t appreciate me taking him off the field.” Dean Ames scrubbed his forehead as he read through Bell’s findings.

Laney jumped to her feet. Her chair slammed into the wall behind her. “This is bull crap, Dean Ames.”

“So, you won’t have a problem with security searching your house for the printer?” he pressed.

Her eyes widened. “Dean Ames, this is ridiculous!” She pointed at Bell, her eyes narrowing to slits of pure rage. “We’re not here for me. We’re here because Bell didn’t gain enough pledges.”

“A simple yes or no will suffice,” Dean Ames said.

Laney glared at her. “No. I will not allow you to ransack my home because some twit faked some evidence against me.”

Dean Ames frowned, folding his hands on the small stack of information Bell had given him. “Then I will bring you to the school’s Code of Conduct board. I am confident when they’re done with you, we will search your home. I’ll also be putting in a phone call to the county commission office to find out if the letters sent to Ms. Dryer’s house are authentic. I’d hate for your mother to lose her job because of some ill-conceived notion.”

Laney screeched in indignation. “You can’t do this!”

He grinned—not a nice one, either. It was filled with intent and purpose. One that if Bell hadn’t dealt with her father’s anger frequently, Bell would fear the Dean meant to cause harm to Laney. “Oh, but I can, and I will.” He stood and braced his hands on the table, getting into Laney’s face. The color of his eyes changed to an eerie golden hue. “Sit down, Miss River.”

She squealed in outrage. “My daddy will have your job!”

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