Grace suggested we contact every affected worker personally.
Daniel agreed, provided we describe the investigation accurately and make no promises about criminal charges.
For the next four hours I called people I had known for years.
One was furious.
One cried.
Two thanked me for explaining.
A painter named Tina Beck asked whether I understood how much shame it took to tell her landlord a contractor had not paid.
Her question stayed with me longer than every accusation.
I could not make their suffering disappear through a successful lawsuit.
I needed a plan that addressed the damage while the lawyers examined its cause.
That afternoon we created a separate protected payment schedule using short-term financing approved by our bank.
I put my remaining truck equity into the guarantee.
Grace said I did not have to risk everything.
I told her the workers had already risked more than they could afford.
She said that was not a sustainable answer.
She was right, and I would learn the cost of ignoring her warning.
Chapter 23: A Visit to Mercer Drywall
Luis introduced me to a different supplier whose name had become central to the case.
Mercer Drywall operated from a narrow industrial lot beside a rail line.
Its owner, June Mercer, had inherited the company from her father.
She showed me a wall covered in photographs of crews standing in front of finished buildings.
Several faces belonged to people I knew.
June said the missing payment had forced her to delay replacing a damaged truck.
The old vehicle broke down on a delivery, which cost her another contract.
She had not included that loss in the original claim because she was embarrassed by how precarious the business had become.
Nora and Daniel explained that not every consequential loss would be recoverable.
June listened, then asked what she could do to make the remaining employees safer.
We discussed direct verification of bank instructions and a common system for confirming payment receipt.
She asked for the proposals in writing.
As I left, she showed me a letter her father had written when she joined the business.
He had told her that a company’s most important asset was the ability to look a worker in the eye after payday.
She said she had kept the letter above her desk for twelve years.
I told her my father would have liked him.
She laughed and said they probably would have argued about everything except wages.
We returned to the lot a month later to help repair shelves damaged by a leaking roof.
