CHAPTER TEN C: THE SCHEDULE ROOM

Denise returned to the dispatch office with investigators after the company agreed to provide access under a court order.
The room looked almost unchanged.
A faded map of Columbus covered one wall, and a cracked plastic clock hung above the printer.
Denise showed Ruiz the terminal where drivers’ assignments had been edited.
She explained that the shared login had originally been created for emergency schedule changes.
Supervisors were supposed to record who used it, but the paper log had disappeared months earlier.
A technician recovered a list of times when the terminal had been active.
Several edits occurred after Denise had clocked out.
The system also showed that the same terminal accessed patient address records shortly before unauthorized forwarding requests appeared.
The investigators could not yet prove the same person performed both actions.
They could, however, identify which employees had building access during those hours.
Denise remembered that Graham Pike sometimes stayed late to prepare billing summaries.
She also remembered Simon visiting the office after closing.
“He wasn’t an employee,” Ruiz said.
“Why would he be here?”
“Graham said Simon was helping with vehicle storage,” Denise replied.
The technician found a maintenance request authorizing Simon’s access badge.
It had been approved by one of the transport executives now under investigation.
Denise stared at the request.
“We all thought the warehouse was just where they repaired chairs,” she said.
Ruiz reminded her that the investigation would have to establish each connection separately.
Denise nodded.
She had learned to be suspicious of explanations that made a complicated process sound simple.

CHAPTER TEN D: THE DRIVER WHO QUIT

A former driver named Luis Ortega contacted Denise after hearing about the investigation.
He had resigned the previous year when the company blamed him for a missed dialysis pickup.
Luis said the dispatch system had assigned him two patients at opposite ends of the city for the same time.
When he questioned the schedule, Graham Pike told him to complete whichever route was possible and let billing correct the rest.
Luis refused to sign the completed-route form because he had not driven both patients.
The next morning, his supervisor accused him of falsifying records.
He resigned rather than sign a statement accepting responsibility.
Denise remembered the dispute.
She had believed Graham’s explanation that Luis was difficult to manage.
“I should have asked you what happened,

” she said when they met.
Luis shrugged.
“You had your own job to protect.”
“That doesn’t make it right.”
He handed her a copy of his resignation letter.
The letter described the impossible schedule and included the names of the two patients.
Denise asked whether he would give it to the inspectors.
Luis agreed, but he wanted to speak to an attorney first.
“I don’t want them turning my own words against me again,” he said.
Denise gave him the contact information for a legal aid office.
She did not promise that the investigation would restore his reputation.
She told him only that his account might help explain how the company handled drivers who refused to approve false records.
Luis folded the letter and put it back in his pocket.
“That’s enough reason to try,” he said.