Free Theodore Boone: The Scandal by John Grisham

any interest in taking such a case. It would be up to Geneva Hull to call her and inquire.
    At that point, April was involved more deeply than she wanted to be. She wished she’d never heard of Binky or Geneva Hull or Mr. London or Ms. Novak. Why should she, of all people, now know the names of three of the five teachers? She wished she’d never sent the unsigned letter. She should have listened to Theo.
      
    The Sunday edition of the
Strattenburg News
was, as always, two inches thick, with at least half of the bulk taken up by classified ads. This really irritated Mr. Boone, and he grumbled about the waste of good paper every Sunday morning. Mrs. Boone didn’t help matters by egging things on with her usual, “I can’t believe all of these classified ads.” She would wink at Theo as she said this, then they would listen to Mr. Boone start complaining. The games adults played.
    Theo rarely read the morning paper, but these days he was captivated by the news. Sure enough, the front page headline read: “Investigation Continues into East Middle School Test Scores.” The same journalist, a guy who was obviously on a mission, reported that the private investigators hired by the school board were working around the clock to finish their work. They had interviewed many of the eighth-grade teachers—there were twenty-two in all—and claimed to be making “significant progress.” However, several of the teachers were refusing to cooperate. Dr. Stoop was saying all the right things about her office’s desire to pursue a thorough examination and so on. If wrongdoing was discovered, she promised to deal with it quickly and openly. There would be no secrets.
    The article ended with some troubling words. Mr. Jack Hogan, the district attorney and chief prosecutor in criminal matters, was quoted as saying his office “was not involved at this time but watching things closely.”
    Theo read this and asked his father, “Dad, could these teachers get into serious trouble?”
    Neither of his parents did criminal work. Mr. Boone was a real estate and business lawyer and rarely went to court. Mrs. Boone was a family lawyer who handled a lot of divorces. Occasionally one of her cases dragged her into contact with the police, like the Holland mess and the charges against Pete’s father, but for the most part she avoided criminal law.
    But since both were lawyers, they never failed to comment on anything related to the law. Mrs. Boone jumped in with, “Of course not. This is a school matter, and the teachers will be disciplined by the school board.”
    And since they rarely agreed on anything related to the law, Mr. Boone said, “I’m not so sure. If it’s true, and these teachers were acting together, I can see them being charged with conspiracy. I’m not saying that’s the right thing to do, but prosecutors love a good conspiracy and they often overreact.”
    “That’s ridiculous, Woods,” Mrs. Boone said. “These people aren’t criminals. Maybe what they did was wrong, but they didn’t break any laws.”
    “I didn’t say they were criminals, but this could be a gray area. A lot of folks get burned in the gray areas.”
    Mrs. Boone shook her head but said nothing. Mr. Boone was right.
    Theo asked, “What, exactly, is a conspiracy?”
    Mr. Boone thought for a second and said, “It’s when two or more people work together to do something unlawful or illegal. Nowadays, it’s used by prosecutors to cover all sorts of bad behavior. I have a friend who’s a criminal lawyer, and he says that conspiracy is often used when there’s no clear crime involved. Would you agree, Marcella?”
    “Perhaps,” she said.
    Theo was thinking about April and her unsigned letter. If it in some way led to teachers being arrested and charged with crimes, April would never forgive herself. He knew she was reading everything in the newspaper and online, and she was probably worried sick.
    Theo said, “I’m not feeling too well. I think