Detective Cole did not arrest anyone in the kitchen. She asked careful questions, preserved evidence, and requested access to the home router logs.
My father immediately asked whether they needed a lawyer.
“That is your decision,” Cole said. “At the moment, I am documenting what happened.”
Professor Shaw checked the time.
“Mara’s committee is waiting.”
My stomach tightened.
“Can I still defend?”
Dr. Mercer answered.
“Yes. The committee agreed to delay because we have independent confirmation that you were prevented from attending.”
I looked at Lila.
“All of this,” I said quietly, “and I still get to defend.”
The drive to campus took nineteen minutes. Professor Shaw sat beside me while university security drove.
“You all right?” he asked.
“No.”
“Good.”
I looked at him.
“It would worry me if you were.”
Then he said, “You do not have to be emotionally fine to be academically prepared.”
Those words carried me into the building.
For two hours, nobody cared about Lila, my parents, or the broken glasses. They cared whether the work held.
It did.
At 11:46, the committee chair opened the door.
“Congratulations, Dr. Voss.”
I started crying.
Professor Shaw handed me a tissue.
“You earned it.”
Later, Dr. Mercer asked me to meet privately.
“The attempted transfer was incomplete,” she said.
Relief hit me.
“So nothing got out?”
“We cannot say that yet.”
She showed me a log.
At least one compressed archive had been created from files linked to my repository the previous night. It had been downloaded to a cloud folder.
The account name was HARROW CONSULTING.
I had never heard of it.
Professor Shaw had.
“Harrow submitted a competing proposal to one of the same hospital systems last month.”
