Chapter 10 - The Other D.H.
For an hour they assumed the initials were a coincidence.
Derrick Hall was not the only D.H. in the district.
The payment record was old.
Six years old.
Jaylen had been ten.
Coach Lawson had worked youth basketball then, but Derrick barely knew him.
Monique kept looking at the line.
$7,500.
D.H.
“Who else could it be?” she asked.
Derrick rubbed his forehead.
“I don’t know.”
Renee stared at the screen.
“What year did DeShawn graduate?”
Derrick looked at her.
“No.”
Monique frowned.
“Who’s DeShawn?”
“My cousin.”
Renee corrected him.
“Our cousin.”
Derrick shook his head.
“It’s not him.”
“Why not?”
“Because DeShawn didn’t go to this school.”
“He went to North Crest.”
“Exactly.”
Renee turned the laptop.
“Lawson coached the regional summer program. Ellis works with multiple schools.”
Derrick’s expression changed.
Monique asked, “What happened with DeShawn?”
Renee and Derrick exchanged a look.
Derrick answered reluctantly.
“He was a good basketball player.”
“How good?”
“Division One interest.”
“And?”
“He became academically ineligible senior year.”
Renee added:
“Then suddenly he wasn’t.”
Monique looked at Derrick.
“You knew?”
“No.”
Renee made a face.
“You suspected.”
“That is not the same thing.”
“What did you suspect?”
Derrick exhaled.
“My uncle bragged that he had ‘handled’ DeShawn’s grades.”
Monique stared at him.
“And you never wondered how?”
“I thought he paid for summer classes.”
Renee said, “You didn’t want to know.”
Derrick looked at her.
She held his gaze.
Again, the family pattern.
Knowing just enough not to ask.
Derrick stood.
“I’m calling DeShawn.”
Renee shook her head.
“He won’t answer.”
“He’ll answer me.”
He did.
Eventually.
DeShawn’s voice was cautious.
“What’s up, cuz?”
Derrick put the call on speaker.
“Do you know Cameron Ellis?”
Silence.
Then:
“Why?”
Everyone looked at each other.
Derrick said, “Answer me.”
Another pause.
“That was a long time ago.”
“So yes.”
“Yes.”
“Did your father pay him?”
DeShawn exhaled.
“Derrick.”
“Did Uncle Darryl pay Ellis seventy-five hundred dollars?”
Monique’s eyes widened.
DeShawn said:
“I don’t know the number.”
“What did Ellis do?”
“Helped me.”
“With what?”
“You know.”
“No. I want you to say it.”
DeShawn became irritated.
“Why are you digging this up?”
“Because my son is suspended, and Ellis is involved.”
Silence.
Then DeShawn’s tone changed.
“Jaylen?”
“Yes.”
“Damn.”
“What did Ellis do for you?”
DeShawn finally answered.
“He got me coursework.”
“What kind?”
“Online credit recovery.”
“That’s legal.”
“The way I did it wasn’t.”
Renee closed her eyes.
DeShawn continued.
“Somebody completed most of it for me.”
“Ellis?”
“People he hired.”
“And Lawson?”
Another silence.
“He introduced us.”
Derrick looked at Jaylen.
Same system.
Same method.
Different generation.
“How long has this been happening?”
“Long time.”
“Why didn’t anybody expose it?”
DeShawn laughed bitterly.
“Expose what? Parents paying to keep their kids eligible? Half those parents thought they were buying tutoring.”
Monique flinched.
“And the other half?”
“They knew exactly what they were buying.”
Derrick asked:
“Did coaches know?”
“Some.”
“School administrators?”
“I don’t know.”
“Teachers?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where did test materials come from?”
DeShawn hesitated.
“That’s newer.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Ellis got greedy.”
The room went silent.
“What does that mean?”
“He used to help kids complete classes. Then parents started paying more. He started promising guaranteed grades.”
Derrick thought about the premium service.
Monique’s $4,800 invoice.
“What happens if people stop paying?”
DeShawn laughed again.
“You really don’t know?”
“No.”
“He keeps everything.”
“Everything what?”
“Texts. Payments. Essays. Screenshots.”
Jaylen whispered:
“Insurance.”
DeShawn heard him.
“Exactly.”
Derrick felt cold.
“So he blackmails families?”
“I wouldn’t call it blackmail.”
“What would you call it?”
“A reason nobody complains.”
The call ended ten minutes later.
DeShawn refused to provide a formal statement.
Not yet.
He had a career.
Children.
A reputation.
Derrick understood the fear.
He also hated it.
That afternoon they forwarded Lawson’s messages and the old payment chart to Assistant Principal Miles.
She acknowledged receipt.
Then nothing.
For five hours.
At six thirty, Derrick received another call.
This time from the district superintendent’s office.
A woman introduced herself as Dr. Ellen Price.
“We are opening an internal investigation into Coach Lawson’s relationship with Mr. Ellis.”
Derrick felt relief.
It lasted three seconds.
Dr. Price continued.
“However, the evidence you provided also indicates Jaylen knowingly received restricted academic materials.”
“Yes.”
“So the investigation into his conduct will continue separately.”
Derrick looked at his son.
“Understood.”
Jaylen’s face tightened.
Monique reached for him.
Then stopped herself.
Progress.
Dr. Price added:
“There is one more issue.”
Derrick closed his eyes.
Of course there was.
“Mr. Ellis contacted the district today.”
“What did he say?”
“He claims he has records showing several parents knowingly purchased academic assistance that violated school policy.”
Derrick looked at Monique.
She went pale.
“Is my wife one of them?”
“He included her name.”
Monique stood.
“What?”
Derrick put the call on speaker.
Dr. Price continued.
“He provided an invoice bearing Mrs. Hall’s electronic signature.”
Monique shook her head.
“No.”
“It describes services as ‘assessment preparation, assignment completion support, and performance intervention.’”
Monique’s voice trembled.
“That is not what he told me.”
“I understand.”
Derrick asked:
“What happens now?”
“The district cannot discipline a parent academically, Mr. Hall. But if evidence suggests fraud, theft, or unauthorized access by adults, we may be required to notify law enforcement.”
Jaylen looked terrified.
Derrick said:
“Did Ellis implicate himself?”
Dr. Price paused.
“No.”
“Of course not.”
“He claims parents pressured him for services.”
Monique laughed in disbelief.
“He’s blaming us.”
Derrick looked at the payment chart.
At Lawson’s message.
At his son.
At his wife.
The first betrayal had been simple.
Monique gave Jaylen back a game console behind Derrick’s back.
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Now a professional fixer was preparing to make anxious parents responsible for a system he had profited from for years.
And Monique had handed him thousands of dollars, her signature, and months of silence.
