Chapter 58 The Investigation Yields Nothing
"Wait for me," Alexander said. "I'll be right there."
Alexander drove to the hospital and brought Max back to the room. The doctor had just exited and immediately briefed Alexander on Liam's condition.
Learning that Liam was out of danger and fully conscious, Alexander entered the room and approached his bedside. "Liam, how are you feeling? Is anything bothering you?"
In the hospital bed, Liam sat propped against the headboard, his eyes confused and innocent as he shook his head blankly.
Nothing was bothering him—just a slight cough.
Alexander sat down beside the bed. "Liam, how did you end up falling into the water?"
Liam's eyes widened, blinking in bewilderment.
He seemed to remember nothing at all, drawing a complete blank on every question.
Alexander frowned slightly. "Liam, do you remember what happened at school?"
Liam thought carefully but shook his head.
"Do you remember drowning?" Alexander pressed.
Liam shook his head again.
Alexander tried once more. "Do you remember anything from before dismissal?"
Liam continued shaking his head.
Alexander looked questioningly at the doctor.
"It might be post-traumatic stress disorder—temporary amnesia," the doctor explained. "It should clear up in time."
"Did he sustain any head injuries?" Alexander asked.
"Mr. Hayes, please don't worry. We've given Liam a thorough examination and he's completely fine. He can be discharged at any time."
Liam stared blankly at Alexander, clearly remembering nothing. He didn't even seem to understand why he was in the hospital, his expression silently asking, Why am I here? Am I sick?
"Home," Liam said softly, tugging at Alexander's sleeve.
He didn't like hospitals. He wanted to go home.
Seeing that Liam truly couldn't remember anything, Alexander stopped pressing him. He decided to take him home and wait for Jeremy's investigation results.
Alexander stood and addressed the doctor. "Please prepare the discharge paperwork. We'll be leaving tonight."
The doctor hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Certainly. I'll handle that right away."
...
Meanwhile, at Windsor Academy's security office.
The lights had burned all night.
Jeremy, his eyes bloodshot with exhaustion, reviewed the school's surveillance footage frame by frame.
Windsor Academy's security system was comprehensive, but there were still blind spots where coverage was incomplete.
Unfortunately, those missing sections contained crucial information.
The footage showed Liam in his classroom during dismissal time, packing his bag. A teaching assistant had come in once to help organize his belongings and tried to take his hand to leave.
But Liam insisted on staying behind, apparently waiting for someone—probably Max.
Suddenly, he seemed to hear something and ran out of the classroom toward the end of the hallway.
The hallway cameras showed that a few minutes later, Liam was running urgently in a specific direction before disappearing entirely from the monitored areas.
Switching to the aquatic center cameras, the main entrance showed no one entering or leaving until the incident occurred.
But Jeremy learned that the aquatic center had more than one entrance. There was another access point that few students knew about, typically reserved for maintenance staff.
This was puzzling.
How Liam had gotten to the aquatic center and ended up drowning remained completely mysterious.
Jeremy asked repeatedly, "Is all the surveillance footage here?" He worried that Windsor Academy might have edited the recordings to avoid liability after Liam's accident.
The security personnel assured him, "Everything is here."
"Understood," Jeremy said.
He stood and called Alexander.
"Mr. Hayes, I had Windsor Academy staff pull all surveillance footage from before and after the incident. I didn't find anything suspicious."
"Did you discover how Liam ended up at the aquatic center?" Alexander asked.
"No," Jeremy replied.
"I see."
"Mr. Hayes, I'll continue investigating this matter."
Even if Liam had gone to the aquatic center on his own, Jeremy was determined to find supporting evidence.
Regardless of whether this was an accident or intentional, Windsor Academy bore responsibility for such a serious incident that nearly cost a child's life.
After hanging up, Alexander walked to the bedroom door.
Tonight, Liam was sleeping with Grace and Max. Grace had taken a bath and then pulled Liam into bed with her. Since he'd nearly drowned, she was worried about his nighttime coughing fits. Grace gently rubbed his chest, concerned he might develop a lung infection.
But since the doctor had declared Liam out of danger, it should be fine.
Grace had stayed awake all night caring for Liam.
However, she wasn't the only one who'd been up all night.
As soon as Jeremy left the school, someone in the security office immediately called the Thomas family.
Amelia answered anxiously. "What's the situation? Is the Hayes family pursuing this?"
The security officer replied, "Mr. Hayes sent his assistant to investigate, but fortunately, we'd already deleted the key footage beforehand. They didn't uncover anything."
After the incident, because of Liam's extremely privileged status, Windsor Academy had immediately begun investigating and reviewing surveillance records.
The footage had shown Mason leading Liam to the aquatic center.
Mason was Amelia's younger son.
Although the two children never appeared in the same camera frame, by comparing timestamps across different cameras, it was clear that Mason had said something to Liam in the hallway that made Liam anxiously run in Mason's direction.
Mason ran ahead with Liam chasing behind—the two children heading toward the aquatic center one after the other, but it didn't look like playful behavior.
Mason had entered through the maintenance access that staff had forgotten to lock, with Liam following him inside all the way to the aquatic center.
The aquatic center's cameras also had blind spots, so they couldn't capture the full picture of what happened inside.
Afterward, Mason had emerged alone, and then Liam was discovered drowning in the pool. What exactly happened in between remained unknown and unrecorded, but the incident was clearly connected to Mason.
When Amelia learned this information, she was terrified that the Hayes family would trace it back to her. She immediately ordered the staff to delete the surveillance footage.
If the Hayes family discovered that Liam's accident was related to Mason, it would implicate the entire Thomas family—and that would spell serious trouble!
After handling the cover-up, Amelia returned home and tried to act normal, but she couldn't sit still.
Mason also seemed guilty, rushing straight to his room when he got home and uncharacteristically focusing intently on his homework. Despite Amelia's repeated questioning about what had happened at the aquatic center, Mason refused to say a word.