He had been in his early forties when the residence closed.
“Your father drove me to a medical appointment once,” he told Caleb.
“He waited through the whole thing even though his own shift was over.”
Caleb swallowed.
“Do you remember the day you left East Harbor?”
Lewis looked toward his window.
“I remember being told a van would take us to a temporary building,” he said.
“There were seven of us listed for that trip.”
He explained that he never boarded the advertised vehicle.
A staff member had handed him a train ticket and forty dollars instead.
He had been instructed to sign a form acknowledging a relocation service.
When he asked for an address, the staff member said the other residents would receive private arrangements.
Lewis spent three nights in a station shelter before finding a short-term placement through a church.
He believed the others had simply chosen different options.
“Nobody told us there wasn’t a destination,” he said.
“Nobody told us the place on the form couldn’t legally house us.”
He had not contacted Arthur because he thought Arthur approved the closure.
“His name was printed on the papers,” Lewis added.
Arthur had not been part of the video meeting.
Mara told Caleb that hearing those words might be hard for him.
Caleb asked Lewis whether he would be willing to speak with Arthur later.
Lewis agreed, but only if an advocate attended and the conversation stayed private.
“I don’t want to be the face of anybody’s campaign,” he said.
“I have a decent life now, and it took a long time to make one.”
Caleb respected him immediately.
He promised not to share Lewis’s new surname.
Lewis studied Caleb’s face.
“Your father asked about me after I left,” he said.
“I learned that years later from somebody who knew him.”
Caleb looked down.
“He thought he failed you.”
“No,” Lewis answered.
“He was one of the few people who noticed a promise had been broken.”
The words gave Caleb comfort, but they did not erase what Lewis had endured.
One discovered survivor did not account for the remaining six.
It only proved the official list could not be trusted.
Chapter 10: The Quiet Man at the End of the Table
Of the four businessmen, Philip Whitcomb was the first to request a confidential conversation with Mara.
His attorney asked for several days to review his records.
Mara agreed without promising any immunity from investigation.
They met in a conference room with windows facing a parking garage.
