He apologized for the secrecy surrounding the leather case.
Nora asked whether his family knew why he had carried Elise’s photograph for so many years.
Henry said that some of them knew and some preferred not to ask.
He explained that Elise had been the first person in his company to insist that test results should be shared with residents before executives discussed liability.
He had admired her courage and then failed to protect it.
Nora asked whether he had loved her mother.
Henry answered carefully.
He said he had loved the work they believed they were doing together, but he had not been her romantic partner or Nora’s father.
Nora had not realized she had been holding her breath until he said those words.
Her own father had left when she was four and had never returned.
She did not want another mystery about him.
Henry told her that Elise had once warned him that wealth could make people mistake their own comfort for evidence of innocence.
He said the warning had followed him for seventeen years.
Nora placed the notebook between them.
Henry opened it and recognized the names on the first page.
He identified the buildings and the engineers who had approved their filter replacements.
Then his finger stopped beside one entry.
The date corresponded to an emergency maintenance visit that the company had always claimed had never occurred.
Henry whispered that Elise had kept a record the official archive lacked.
Nora asked whether the notebook could help the families who had lived in those buildings.
Henry said it might, provided the records were verified and shared responsibly.
She told him that she would not hand it to his company for private storage.
He agreed.
When they stood to leave, Henry asked whether Nora would accept compensation for the meal.
She said the meal had been a gift and that she would not send him an invoice for it.
Henry smiled for the first time that afternoon.
He said the answer sounded exactly like something Elise might have said.
Chapter 7: Curtis Makes a Call
Curtis had spent the night searching for photographs of Henry Whitmore online.
He found dozens of articles about the company and convinced himself that Nora had staged the entire encounter to embarrass him.
He called the diner owner, Gerald Mason, and claimed that Nora had invited a powerful guest to create a public dispute.
Gerald asked why Curtis had cut her shifts.
Curtis said the matter involved sanitation and unauthorized discounts.
