Several children shouted that they should ask the principal.
Others suggested looking at the playground or asking the custodian.
Owen said they should also check the date on the work order because a repair completed last year would not fix a problem reported yesterday.
Nora praised his reasoning without turning him into the center of the lesson.
She explained that different sources could answer different parts of a question.
At the end, a girl named Tessa asked whether a document could tell a lie.
Nora said people sometimes wrote things that were mistaken, incomplete, or deliberately misleading.
She told the children that reading carefully meant asking who made a document and what evidence supported it.
The teacher thanked her and said the lesson would help students with their history projects.
Owen walked beside Nora afterward, carrying the pretend work order like a certificate.
He said some classmates thought her job sounded like detective work.
Nora told him that most days involved quiet tasks such as labeling folders and checking dates.
Owen said quiet work could still matter if it helped someone keep a playground safe.
Nora squeezed his hand and realized she had stopped worrying about whether her new title impressed other people.
Chapter 10I: The Question Claire Could Not Answer
Claire asked Nora to review a draft public statement announcing that Whitmore Industries would provide funds for an independent historical records program.
The statement praised Elise’s integrity but described the company’s response as a failure of communication.
Nora underlined those words and asked Claire why the statement avoided the finding that Elise’s report had been deliberately revised.
Claire said the legal department preferred language that would not imply conclusions beyond the current review.
Nora asked whether that preference had been applied to every sentence or only to those describing the company’s conduct.
Claire looked at the draft for a long time before admitting she had not questioned that distinction.
She promised to return to the legal team and ask for language that reflected the actual evidence.
Two days later, Claire brought a revised version that acknowledged the suppression of Elise’s findings and described the records that supported the conclusion.
Nora appreciated the change but asked who had approved the original misleading language.
Claire said she had approved it after reviewing a summary prepared by counsel.
The admission surprised Nora because Claire had consistently seemed different from the executives who had ignored Elise.
Claire said she had spent years trusting that professionals with impressive titles were protecting the company by protecting its integrity.
