Lillian had stood beside the bench holding Caroline’s hand.
For decades, the object had remained in storage while arguments about the station continued.
Now students who had never heard of the flood were helping return it to a place where families could sit.
Emily proposed a small label explaining the bench’s provenance without claiming it witnessed every event described in the registry.
Dr. Cho approved the factual wording.
Arthur asked to visit the workshop and examine a tactile sample of the wood grain.
Joseph described the repairs while Arthur listened to the sound of the tools.
Arthur said he appreciated a restoration that did not pretend the damage had never happened.
Emily recognized the remark as more than a comment about furniture.
Chapter 43: The Unexpected Witness
A former office clerk named Margaret Ames contacted Simon after seeing the preservation hearing on local television.
She had worked for Sloane Property Services during the early 1980s and recognized the description of the sealed cabinet.
Margaret said the company maintained two sets of records during the station renovation.
One set documented ordinary construction expenses.
The other listed files transferred from the city relief office for temporary review.
She did not know whether the transfers had been authorized.
She remembered being instructed to deliver boxes to the west room and return without a signed receipt.
Margaret had objected because the office usually required an inventory for every delivery.
Her supervisor told her that Raymond had approved the exception.
She wrote a note about the incident in her personal desk calendar.
When Simon asked why she had never reported it, Margaret looked ashamed.
She had been nineteen and supporting a sick father.
She feared losing a job that paid more than anything available in her hometown.
Emily asked whether she would have believed herself if she had spoken at the time.
Margaret said she did not know.
She agreed to give a sworn account of what she personally remembered.
Simon explained that memory from decades earlier should be checked against contemporary documents.
Margaret accepted the limitation.
Her calendar placed the delivery before the partition was completed.
That timing suggested the cabinet had been deliberately included in the construction plan rather than discovered accidentally.
Emily thanked Margaret for speaking now.
Margaret said she wished she had found the courage earlier.
Emily replied that regret could be a reason to act carefully in the present, not merely a sentence imposed on the past.
Chapter 44: The Paper Trail Ends
