The meeting continued for another hour. I explained the scans, the handoffs, and the limits of what those records could prove. The investigators asked no question I could not answer, though I wished I had different answers to give.
When we finished, Hale walked with me into the corridor.
“You handled that well,” he said.
“I sat in a chair and described a database.”
“You know what I mean.”
I stopped near a portrait. “I’m worried I missed something because of who made the parts.”
“You reported the conflict as soon as you saw the name. Your team found the mismatch before you knew there had been an accident.”
“I still knew the name.”
“You’ve spent most of your life knowing it, Maya.”
His voice was gentle. I found that harder to bear than reassurance.
“My father used to care about what went into those parts,” I said.
“He might still.”
Neither of us knew.
By the time I reached the reception, Victor and his family had gone. Ruiz was waiting near a table of untouched pastries.
“Your father looked shaken,” she said.
“He has reason to be.”
She studied me. “Do you?”
“I don’t know yet.”
Ruiz picked up a pastry and offered it to me. I took it. We stood together while the reception thinned.
She told me she had finally allowed her parents to see photographs of the damaged vehicle. Her mother had cried. Her father had gone quiet and spent an hour fixing a loose gate at their house.
“He needed something he could repair,” Ruiz said.
I looked down at the pastry in my hand. Its icing had melted against my fingers.
That evening, I returned to my apartment and took off the medal. I set it beside my keys, where I would have to see it in the morning.
Victor called at 8:17.
I let it ring. Two minutes later, he called again.
On the third call, I answered.
“Blake handled the shipment,” he said.
No greeting. No attempt at warmth.
I sat at the kitchen table. “Did you know there was a substitution?”
“No.”
“Are you certain?”
There was a long silence.
“I knew he had been negotiating lower costs,” Victor said. “He told me he’d found another approved supplier for some components.”
“Did you check?”
“I asked our chief engineer to check.”
“And?”
“She said she needed the revised specifications. Blake told me they were delayed.”
“When was that?”
“Last spring.”
I closed my eyes. Nearly a year.
“Did the specifications arrive?”
“He said they had.”
“You didn’t ask the engineer?”
“I should have.”
