He also said that he feared losing the health insurance that covered his wife’s treatment.
Hannah did not excuse his choices, but she recognized that his records could establish who had authorized the monitoring.
Nolan produced a small notebook filled with dates, license plate numbers, and initials.
On one page, he had written the words loading dock and Thursday.
The note referred to a meeting between Charles and a regional contractor named Victor Sloane.
Victor owned a trucking company that stood to benefit from the original distribution project.
He had been angry when Arthur suspended the development.
According to Nolan, Victor promised Charles that the community objections would disappear once a few residents understood the cost of opposing the project.
The statement did not establish who had left the photograph, but it gave investigators a reason to examine Victor’s activities.
Jonah learned about the interview through Hannah, who warned him not to confront anyone.
He said he had no intention of confronting a man who might threaten a school bus.
Still, he found himself staring at the loading dock behind the diner long after closing.
He remembered how often delivery drivers had arrived with incomplete invoices.
He remembered Dennis insisting that nobody write down the names of suppliers who paid in cash.
Those memories had seemed like ordinary corners cut by a struggling business.
Now Jonah wondered whether the corners had been cut for someone else’s benefit.
He opened the old delivery binder and began reading from the first page.
Interlude Twenty-One: A Number Beneath the Grease
The binder smelled of fryer oil and damp cardboard.
Most pages contained handwritten quantities, but several had been altered with correction fluid.
Jonah held one sheet against the kitchen window and saw the shadow of an earlier entry beneath the white paint.
He photographed the page and sent it to Hannah.
The altered entry listed a shipment that had supposedly arrived at Bellweather Diner on a Sunday when the restaurant was closed.
The supplier’s number matched a company on Elena’s list of questionable contractors.
Hannah instructed Jonah to stop examining the records and preserve the binder.
She reminded him that evidence could be weakened by well-intentioned handling.
Jonah wrapped the binder in clean paper and placed it in a locked cabinet.
When Dennis arrived the next morning, he immediately noticed the missing folder.
He demanded to know who had moved his property.
Jonah told him the records had been secured for the wage investigation.
