Immaculate

Thomas Drew

Ok, a couple of things tonight.... Coleton is fictional, I have no idea if it really is a small town in Alabama or not, but I needed a fictional place, not a real one.

And.... I've forgotten the other thing.... If I remember I'll edit it later.

Out of likes as usual. But as always I love all your comments and likes.

Oh, yes, I remember now, what Mr Blackbourne thinks about South Carolina's school funding system is real apparently according to the research I did earlier. So are the figures he uses. :)

Ok, hope you all enjoy this one...

Mr Blackbourne's POV

"It just means that for the time being, we can't have her staying with us or coming over to the house too often, if at all," I told Sean. He looked as unhappy as I felt over that idea, but it would have to be done to protect her.

"Those Yaks are looking more and more agreeable," he said morosely. He straightened the pile of paperwork he had brought into the room to mark.

I was beginning to agree with him.

"We just need to figure out exactly what he's up to," I murmured. Initially our suspicion had been on the football team. He has far too many signed up for the teams, most of which never even got to play. My first thoughts had been an insurance scam, but we could find no physical link between him and the insurance company. The school never actively saw any money and the insurance could only be claimed if he was submitting claims. Nothing had shown up yet. I wasn't ruling it out though, just because we had yet to find a link, didn't mean there wasn't one.

"I sat down with the nurse and we've gone right through her supplies and we've submitted a detailed report and claimed for what's needed," he murmured, flicking his pen in his fingers.

"Should be interesting to see what comes back," I replied. I was more inclined to think that Hendrick was dipping his fingers into lots of pies, or funds. But proving it was going to be difficult. South Carolina has one of the nation's most complicated public school funding systems and I was almost certain he was abusing it. The school was in a mess, but his funding would be no different than any other school. Allocation of funds worked out to be about $12,400 a pupil, with funds coming from State, Local and Federal, plus anything else he could get from other sources. It was finding out how that money is being spent that is difficult, but I was almost sure that was where we were going to find the discrepancies.

A knock on the door brought my head up. My only other student had arrived. I called out for him to come in.

I watched as Thomas Drew stepped into the room, carrying a battered violin case and looking everywhere, than at me or Sean. He wore a faded Chicago Bulls hoodie with baggy, unremarkable jeans. His converses were worn and old. His hair was lot like Nathan's in colour, stuck between a reddish brown as if his body couldn't make up its mind which it wanted. He was as tall as I was, but he was lanky and there was very little muscle to him. His eyes were hazel, his face long and angular with a constant frown line between his eyes. I had yet to make eye contact with him and I was beginning to suspect that there was a lot of guilt under his shaky composure as well as something he was actively hiding.

"Good afternoon, Mr Drew."

"Sir, Doctor." He nodded in my and Sean's direction and then shifted along to the chairs and placed his bag on one. He drew out his violin and while the case was battered, the violin was in exceptional condition and quite old. He obviously took great care of it and that was a point in his favour. This was to be my second lesson with him. His first lesson showed me that he had the potential to be an excellent violinist, his technique needed improving, posture, etc, but his accomplishments with the notes were good.