“A formal ethics complaint,” she said, laying the document flat on my desk blotter.

“Filed by your uncle, Gene Miller.”

I picked up the paper and skimmed the typed headings.

“Gene has no legal standing in school district business.”

“He claims you used district network terminals and county database links to run personal background searches during contracted work hours,” Principal Evans said.

“I checked public land records during my scheduled lunch hour,” I said, my voice tightening into formal counselor language.

“That counts as standard administrative research allowed under district guideline 402.”