She explained the contradictory emails with professional clarity, then drew an elaborate flowchart on the whiteboard mapping the fraud across four countries.
“I identified thirty-seven distinct lies,” Mia reported. “Patricia was stealing from everyone and making them blame each other.”
Agent Chen stared at the diagram in disbelief. “How did you learn to analyze complex financial fraud like this?”
“I like solving puzzles,” Mia shrugged. “Numbers don’t lie, but people sometimes make them tell false stories. I learned from library books, and Mrs. Kim helps with the hard parts.”
The door burst open. Patricia Manning stood there, disheveled and panicked.
Her desperate excuses died when she saw the FBI badge, the whiteboard, and Mia.
“Patricia Manning, you are under arrest,” Agent Chen said calmly.
Patricia’s horrified gaze fell on Mia. “You! A child caught me? How?!”
“You made careless mistakes with your Korean grammar,” Mia replied with unshakable moral clarity. “You used informal language in formal contexts and left obvious digital footprints. That was really sloppy.”
As agents led Patricia away in handcuffs, Alexander sank into his chair, overwhelmed.