Oh god, are you calling the police?” he scoffed. “Go ahead. The Chief of Police is my golf buddy. We play every Sunday. He’ll laugh you out of the station.”
“I’m not calling the police,” I said. “I’m just checking the time.”
But I wasn’t. I tapped the screen of my phone. It was recording. It had been recording since I walked in.
“So,” I said, looking at Richard. “Just so I’m clear. You are admitting that your son pushed Lily? That he caused her bodily harm on purpose?”
“I’m admitting that my son asserted his dominance,” Richard corrected arrogantly. “It’s a dog-eat-dog world, Elena. If your daughter breaks easily, that’s her fault. Max is a leader. Leaders break things.”
“And you,” I turned to the Principal. “You are witnessing this? You are hearing a parent confess to his child assaulting a student, and you are doing nothing?”
Principal Higgins wiped sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief. He looked at Richard, then at the donation plaque on the wall with Richard’s name on it.
“I… I didn’t see anything,” Higgins stammered. “Kids play rough. It’s… it’s just horseplay. No need to ruin a young man’s future over an accident.”
“An accident?” I repeated. “Max just said he did it because she was in his way. He just shoved me.”
“He’s a spirited boy!” Richard yelled. “Stop trying to entrap him! You’re pathetic, Elena. You were pathetic in law school, dropping out to… what? Get knocked up? And you’re pathetic now.”
“I didn’t drop out, Richard,” I said. “I transferred. To Harvard.”
Richard paused. He blinked. “What?”
“And I didn’t get ‘knocked up’. I started a family after I made partner at the firm. But that’s irrelevant.”
I held up the phone.
“What is relevant is that I have a confession. From both of you. On record. Admitting to assault, negligence, and—” I looked at Richard “—intimidation.”
“You can’t record me!” Richard lunged for the phone. “That’s illegal! I didn’t consent!”
