He admitted that their relationship had ended during the legal fight because Clara refused to support either brother without seeing the documents.
Mason respected that decision more than Arthur seemed to expect.
Clara agreed to meet Denise and Mason but asked that Arthur remain outside.
She opened the door wearing paint-stained trousers and an expression that reminded Mason of his mother.
“You have Elliot’s eyes,” she said.
“People keep saying that,” Mason replied.
“Then people are paying attention.”
Clara showed them an envelope of letters exchanged with Elliot after the cooperative sale.
Elliot had been trying to identify the person who prepared the vote tally, not merely the person who signed the purchase.
“He thought the wrong meeting was being treated as the final vote,” Clara said.
“The cooperative held a discussion in January and a legal vote in March.”
“Which one did Warren use?”
“The January attendance sheet.”
She pointed to a page bearing a dozen signatures, including those of people who had spoken against selling.
“Someone attached those names to an approval that hadn’t happened.”
Mason asked why she had not spoken publicly.
Clara sat very still.
“I tried,” she said.
“Warren’s lawyer told the newspaper I was confused and threatened to sue the school where I worked.”
“So you stopped?”
“I stopped speaking in places he could intimidate.”
She opened a drawer and produced carbon copies of letters she had sent to the cooperative’s attorney.
Each letter requested an independent count.
None had received an answer.
Mason thought of his father’s cassette.
The documents were not dramatic on their own, but together they showed people asking the same question again and again.
Clara walked with them downstairs and asked to see Arthur.
He was waiting near the florist’s display of white carnations.
For a moment neither sibling spoke.
Then Clara said, “If we’re doing this, we tell the whole story, including the mistakes we made.”
Arthur nodded.
“That is what Elliot wanted.”
“No,” Clara replied.
“That is what he deserved.”
Chapter 15: The Wages Mason Earned
While reporters followed the property story, Mason’s unpaid wages remained a simple question that nobody wanted to answer.
The Mariner owed him for three shifts, plus tips that had been pooled and recorded under the restaurant’s own rules.
Victor initially claimed that paperwork needed to be reviewed.
Tessa helped Mason submit a written wage demand and keep the response.
His former coworkers began calling privately.
A dishwasher said Victor sometimes delayed final paychecks whenever employees left without giving notice.
