She stared at the message.
Then she read it again.
Her first reaction was anger.
Her second was fear.
She did not know who had sent it.
She did not know whether the person was connected to Victor.
She only knew that the message had arrived after she gave a statement to the police.
Tasha took a screenshot.
Then she forwarded it to Evelyn Brooks, the floor supervisor.
Evelyn called immediately.
"Are you okay?"
"I don't know."
"Did the message threaten you?"
"It says I should be careful."
"Did you recognize the number?"
"No."
Evelyn paused.
"Don't respond. Keep the message. I'll notify corporate security and the investigator."
Tasha swallowed.
"Do you think it's him?"
"I don't know."
"What if they come here?"
Evelyn's voice became firm.
"Then we follow procedure. You are not going to handle this alone."
Tasha looked toward the restaurant entrance.
She had been afraid during the confrontation.
But she had been more afraid afterward, when she began wondering whether speaking up would cost her job.
She had watched Curtis get hit.
She had watched the little girl cry.
She had watched Victor turn on his own students when they questioned him.
She knew what she had seen.
And she was beginning to understand that telling the truth could require more courage than she had expected.
The police investigation moved slowly but steadily.
Sergeant Carter and Officer Bennett collected statements from the customers who had remained at the travel plaza.
The restaurant's internal cameras provided footage from four angles.
The recordings showed Curtis entering the restaurant, ordering food, and sitting in the booth.
They showed Victor approaching him.
They showed the two men speaking.
They showed Victor reaching across the table.
They showed the plate falling.
And they showed the slap.
The footage had no audio in two camera views, but the other two recordings captured enough of the exchange to establish the sequence.
The police also received three customer videos.
One showed Victor grabbing Curtis's collar.
Another captured the slap from the side.
The third began just before Victor approached the booth and continued until the officers arrived.
The most important footage came from a customer named Daniel Whitaker, a retired electrician who had been sitting near the windows.
Daniel had recorded the incident in high definition.
He had not stopped when the confrontation became uncomfortable.
He had continued recording until the police separated the men.
His video showed something the other recordings did not.
It showed Victor turning toward his students and ordering one of them to get Curtis outside.
It also showed Dylan refusing.
The recording captured the exact moment Dylan said:
"He didn't do anything."
Daniel Whitaker provided the original file to the police.
He also provided a written statement.
"I started recording because the man in the black jacket was behaving aggressively toward a customer who was eating dinner. I continued because I thought the situation might become physical. The customer did not appear to attack anyone. He repeatedly asked the other man to stop touching him."
The statement was brief.
But it matched the footage.
Victor's attorney received the evidence request on Friday.
Gregory Shaw met with his client that afternoon.
He had reviewed the publicly available video, but he had not yet seen all the restaurant recordings.
Victor arrived angry.
"Can they really use those videos?"
"Yes."
"Even the ones taken by customers?"
"Yes."
"What about privacy?"
"People recorded an incident in a public restaurant. We can discuss specific admissibility issues if necessary, but you should assume the footage will be considered."
Victor leaned forward.
"There's no audio in some of them."
"Other recordings have audio."
"Can we challenge the quality?"
"We can examine the files."
Victor sat back.
"They're making me look like a criminal."
Shaw looked at him.
"You're being investigated for striking someone."
"I made a mistake."
"Then stop describing it as something other people made you do."
Victor frowned.
"You're supposed to represent me."
"I am representing you. That includes telling you when you're making your position worse."
Victor looked away.
Shaw opened a folder.
"Did you contact any of the witnesses?"
"No."
"Did anyone from your academy contact them?"
"I don't know."
"Find out."
"Why?"
"Because if anyone is pressuring witnesses, that can create a separate problem."
Victor's expression changed.
"Nobody is pressuring anybody."
"Good. Keep it that way."
Shaw reviewed the preliminary statements.
"Dylan Mercer says you told him to get the customer outside."
"He misunderstood."
"Aaron Pike confirms it."
"They're young."
"They're adults."
Victor looked at him.
"You're believing them?"
"I'm telling you what their statements say."
Shaw closed the folder.
"Victor, this is not a training session. You cannot correct the witnesses until they give you the answer you want."
Victor stood.
"I'm not going to sit here while everybody turns against me."
Shaw remained seated.
"Then you should have thought about that before you hit someone."
Victor stared at him.
For a moment, it looked as though he might argue.
Instead, he picked up his jacket and left.
The academy was losing students.
Not all at once.
Some parents waited for more information.
Others cancelled immediately.
A few said they would continue their children's training but wanted a different instructor.
The office assistant kept a list.
By the end of the week, twenty-one memberships had been suspended or cancelled.