Part 8
Nolan felt an immediate urge to take the envelope and pull out every page. He kept his hands still.
“Then this goes to Joanna and the investigators.”
Curtis nodded. “I’m not here to ask you to excuse it.”
“Good. That comes later, if it comes at all.”
“I know.”
“Don’t change anything. Keep the originals and the copies you have. Tell them what you know, including what you signed.”
Curtis’s fingers tightened around the envelope.
“I will.”
Nolan gave him Joanna’s number and asked him to set up a formal handover through her. The documents needed to be received and recorded properly. Curtis put the number in his pocket and kept the envelope.
Neither man offered a hand.
At the steps, Curtis looked through the window again. Gusset had settled beside the old glove.
“Mateo used to say that dog had no idea when to stop trying.”
Nolan glanced back. “He’s persistent.”
Curtis gave a brief, embarrassed smile and went to his car.
Nolan stayed in the doorway until the car turned at the corner. Then he shut the door and stood in the quiet front room.
The old hard hat sat on the shelf. Pat’s photograph leaned beside it. Gusset waited on the rug, already braced to follow him into whatever room came next.
Nolan lowered himself to one knee.
For years he had measured his life against a single night overseas, one he could never go back and change. Then a puppy in a hard hat had started giving him reasons to get up in the morning, to come home on time, to laugh, to ask questions, to care about people who had been strangers a month ago.
Gusset hadn’t fixed the past. He didn’t make the bad memories go away. He was just here: alive, trusting, waiting to see what Nolan did next.
Nolan leaned in and let his forehead rest for a moment against the warm, solid head.
“You really don’t know how to quit.”
Gusset licked his chin. Nolan laughed under his breath.
He looked at the hard hat again. Across town, Mateo was still fighting his way back. There were still questions to answer and decisions to make, and people who would need each other’s nerve before this was over.
For the first time in a long while, Nolan saw that surviving hadn’t closed the book on him. It had left him people he could still choose to stand next to.
On Monday morning, Nolan waited outside Avenza while Curtis met with Joanna and investigators, accompanied by his own attorney. Nolan hadn’t asked to sit in. He watched people hurry toward the bus stop with lunch bags and work boots, making himself leave the meeting to the people conducting it.
When Curtis emerged, he stopped on the pavement.
“They have what I kept,” he said. “Including the statements.”
Nolan nodded.
“Took me long enough.”
“Yes.”
Curtis looked toward the road, then walked away.
By Wednesday, Russell had given a formal account and produced his trip log. He arrived with a battered notebook that recorded mileage, pickup times, and vehicle assignments. One retained message placed him at the northern service entrance that night. Another identified who had requested the transport.
He remembered supervisors being present. Mateo needed urgent care. Russell had driven him to the emergency department without receiving an adequate explanation of the workplace event.
“I didn’t see him get hurt,” he told the interviewer. “I want that clear.”
It was recorded clearly.
Joanna later explained to Nolan and Teresa that Russell’s records helped establish the timeline. They didn’t prove the mechanics of the scaffolding incident. They did contradict the suggestion that Mateo had merely ended his work and vanished.
Frank gave his formal statement about the sound, the restricted area, and the repairs. Owen confirmed seeing Mateo near the northern access and described the incomplete training behind his certificate.
Afterward, Nolan found Owen near the office window, turning his wallet in his hands. A small photograph of his new house showed behind the clear sleeve.
“I thought about the payment the whole time,” Owen said.
“I figured.”
“Then I thought about his sister trying to make everybody answer the phone.” He slid the wallet away. “I knew one thing she needed. Didn’t seem right to keep it.”
Nolan touched his shoulder briefly. Owen let out a breath and went to retrieve his coat.
The technical review proceeded separately. Specialists compared Mateo’s images with construction drawings, repair logs, and equipment records. A distinctive diagonal brace helped orient several views. One photograph showed irregularities in a locking assembly near an area repaired after his last shift.
Under authorized inspection procedures, they examined loose fill placed beside the foundation during the earlier work. Near its edge, they recovered a damaged metal connecting component.
It was photographed in place, labeled, and preserved.
Its design and visible features appeared consistent with a part in Mateo’s images. Simone cautioned that technical examination was still needed to establish its origin and significance.
Nolan accepted the caution. When he heard where it had been found, he remembered Gusset’s nose pressed toward the old rest area. The dog had recognized something familiar; qualified people had done the rest.
As the accounts and records were compared, Veydran’s explanation became harder to sustain. Management personnel had received safety concerns before Mateo was injured. There were serious questions about maintenance decisions, training documentation, incident reporting, and the division of responsibility among contractors.
Adrian continued to refer to established procedures. The investigators continued requesting the records behind them.
A separate examination of the city’s construction oversight files uncovered discrepancies in official confirmations. An employee was placed on administrative leave while that inquiry proceeded.
Joanna refused to turn each development into a verdict. Teresa learned to ask what had been established and what still needed checking. She also learned that a request for more information was different from an unanswered telephone.
At the hospital, she sat down with Ruth, Celia, Joanna, and members of Mateo’s care team for the next planning meeting.
Celia described his improvement. He could follow longer conversations now and participate in some daily choices. His ability to understand an international transfer still needed careful assessment. The receiving facility, consent process, and financial arrangements remained unresolved.
Teresa opened her notebook to a fresh page.
“Can he stay while that’s sorted out?”
Celia looked directly at her.
“The transfer abroad will not proceed at this stage. We’ll continue the current care plan.”
Teresa’s pen remained above the paper.
Ruth waited, then pushed a box of tissues closer.
“I had questions ready,” Teresa said, with an unsteady laugh.
“You can still ask them.”
Teresa looked down the list. For the first time, she closed the notebook without adding anything.
She called Nolan that afternoon. He set down Gusset’s food container when she told him.
“And you?” he asked.
“I may sleep until tomorrow.”
“Put it in the care plan.”
She laughed. In the living room, Gusset was trying to maneuver a rubber toy past a chair leg. He backed up, approached from the same angle, and got stuck again.
“Nolan?” Teresa said.
“I’m here.”
“Mateo was asking about Destello again…”
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