Chương 7
"I swear."
He rubbed his jaw.
"He had one of those old plastic folders."
Adrien's eyes narrowed.
"A report folder?"
"Maybe."
"Where did he go?"
"His office."
Adrien thanked him and walked away before Denny could say anything else.
Daniel followed.
"You think Greg did it?"
"No."
The answer came too quickly.
Daniel noticed.
"Then what do you think?"
Adrien stopped walking.
"I think Greg saw something."
"And?"
"I think he was scared."
That was the part Adrien understood.
Fear made people do strange things.
Not always bad things.
Sometimes just quiet things.
The kind that became worse because nobody talked about them.
Greg answered the door after three knocks.
He looked like he had not slept.
His apartment was clean but not organized.
Different from his office.
At work, Greg controlled everything he could.
At home, he looked like someone who had run out of energy.
"You shouldn't be here."
Adrien stepped inside.
"I know."
Greg looked past him.
"Did Daniel send you?"
"No."
"Then why?"
Adrien held up the tablet.
Greg saw the screen.
His face changed.
Only slightly.
But enough.
"You found it."
Adrien closed the door behind him.
"You were in my files."
Greg looked down.
"Yes."
The honesty was almost painful.
"Why?"
Greg sat on the edge of the couch.
"I was trying to find the original report."
"Why?"
"Because I knew something was wrong."
"When?"
"The morning before the meeting."
Adrien crossed his arms.
"And you didn't tell me."
Greg looked exhausted.
"I was going to."
"When?"
"I don't know."
The answer made Adrien angry.
Not because it was weak.
Because it was real.
"You signed the reports."
"I know."
"You were my supervisor."
"I know."
"You let me walk into that room alone."
Greg looked at him.
"I thought I could fix it."
Adrien laughed once.
It was not humor.
"That sentence has ruined a lot of things."
Greg looked away.
"I found the changes."
"Who made them?"
"I don't know."
"Greg."
"I don't."
He stood up.
"But I found something else."
Adrien waited.
Greg walked to a drawer near the kitchen and pulled out a folder.
The paper inside was old.
Yellowed slightly at the edges.
"I kept this because I didn't know what else to do with it."
Adrien took the folder.
Inside was a maintenance proposal from seven years earlier.
The same project.
The same hydraulic system.
But this copy had something different.
A handwritten note in the margin.
Three words.
Not approved by engineering.
Adrien looked at Greg.
"Where did you get this?"
Greg swallowed.
"From Victoria's old office."
Adrien stared at him.
"Why were you in her old office?"
Greg did not answer immediately.
Because the truth was not just about what he found.
It was about why he had been searching in the first place.
Because the truth was not just about what he found.
It was about why he had been searching in the first place.
"I was going through old records because my name was attached to something I didn't understand," Greg said.
Adrien watched him carefully.
"Start from the beginning."
Greg sat back down.
For a moment, he looked like a man deciding whether honesty was worth the damage it would cause.
"My first year as your supervisor, I noticed something."
"What?"
"You never complained."
Adrien frowned.
"That is a strange way to start."
"I know."
Greg rubbed his hands together.
"Everyone complains at Northbridge."
Adrien almost smiled.
"That is true."
"They complain about shifts, pay, managers, equipment, customers."
"Still true."
"But you didn't."
Greg looked at the floor.
"You just wrote things down."
Adrien did not answer.
"At first, I thought that was admirable."
"And later?"
"I thought it was dangerous."
The answer bothered him.
"Why?"
"Because people like you make organizations uncomfortable."
Adrien stared at him.
"People who notice things?"
"People who notice things and keep records."
The room went quiet.
Greg picked up the folder.
"Seven years ago, when the hydraulic concern came up, Victoria was under pressure."
"Because of the contract?"
"Because of everything."
Greg opened the folder.
"The company had just lost two major bids."
Adrien looked at the old documents.
"That is not my problem."
"I know."
Greg nodded.
"But it became everyone's problem."
He pointed at the handwritten note.
"Engineering rejected this supplier change."
Adrien looked closer.
The handwriting was different from the printed text.
"Who wrote this?"
"Frank."
Adrien looked up.
"Frank Delaney?"
Greg nodded.
"He was the senior technician who trained half the maintenance department."
"I know who he is."
"Frank warned them."
"Then why was it approved?"
Greg gave a tired laugh.
"Because warnings are easy to ignore when they come from people without titles."
Adrien felt the sentence land because he had lived it.
Not as a theory.
As a routine.
"Victoria approved the project anyway."
"Yes."
"Then why did nobody stop it?"
Greg looked at him.
"Some people tried."
"Who?"
"Frank."
"Anyone else?"
Greg hesitated.
That hesitation mattered.
"Greg."
"Your report from three months ago."
"What about it?"
"That wasn't the first time someone raised the issue."
Adrien looked at him.
"What do you mean?"
Greg opened another document.
This one was newer.
Two years old.
A maintenance review.
Another warning.
Another concern.
Another recommendation that disappeared into a system.
Adrien read the name at the bottom.
Denny Harper.
His stomach tightened.
"Denny reported it?"
"Yes."
"Why didn't he tell me?"
Greg shrugged.
"Maybe he thought someone else handled it."
That answer sounded familiar.
Too familiar.
For years, everyone had assumed someone else would act.
Everyone had assumed the next person in the chain would care enough.
And the chain had quietly failed.
Adrien looked through the pages.
There was a pattern.
Not one mistake.
Not one bad decision.
A series of small choices.
Small enough that each person could explain theirs.
Small enough that nobody felt responsible for the whole.
"What are you afraid of?" Adrien asked.
Greg looked at him.
"What?"
May you like
"You have been trying to fix this quietly."
Greg looked away.
