CHAPTER FOUR — ARTHUR’S QUESTIONS
The meeting took place in a church community room on Sunday afternoon.
Arthur sat at a folding table wearing an ordinary gray sweater and a bandage near his temple.
Leon stood by the window, while Daniel waited beside the door.
Beatrice arrived with Khloe and carried her own notes in a shopping bag.
Arthur rose when they entered.
He apologized for the trouble caused by his visit to the diner.
Khloe said her suspension was the smallest problem in the room.
Arthur nodded and invited Beatrice to speak first.
Beatrice described a scheduled pickup that never arrived and a company hotline that repeatedly disconnected her call.
She explained that disabled riders relied on precisely timed transportation after medical appointments.
She named three people who had been stranded during the previous month.
Arthur asked whether she had reported those incidents to the contractor.
Beatrice produced handwritten complaint numbers she had recorded on scraps of newspaper.
Arthur examined them without touching her bag.
Daniel compared them with a printout from the company complaint system.
Only one number appeared in the system.
The others had been marked as duplicate calls and removed from active review.
Beatrice slapped the table.
She said none of the incidents were duplicates because the passengers had different names.
Arthur asked Daniel to preserve the records exactly as they were.
Khloe asked what authority Arthur had over a company he did not directly manage.
Arthur admitted Penhaligon owned a controlling interest but operated through a board and contracted executives.
He said he could demand a review, although he could not simply declare every complaint true without investigation.
Khloe asked why he had traveled alone.
Arthur explained that two polished presentations had contradicted what community advocates told him.
He had arranged a ride under another name to observe an ordinary shift.
The bus driver had noticed him writing down stop times.
At the next depot, a supervisor had ordered the vehicle cleared for a mechanical inspection.
Most passengers were transferred to another shuttle.
Arthur and two others were directed to wait under an unlit awning.
The replacement vehicle never arrived.
His phone battery died while he searched for a public place to call from.
He fell on the icy pavement near the docks and became disoriented.
He remembered wandering toward a diner with lights in its windows.
Khloe asked about the other two passengers.
Arthur said one had been picked up by a family member.
The second was a hospital cleaner named Tomas Vale, whose whereabouts he had not yet confirmed.
Beatrice said Tomas usually worked overnight in a rehabilitation clinic.
She reached into her bag and found his number on a neighborhood contact sheet.
Khloe called it from the table.
A tired voice answered on the fourth ring.
Tomas said he had walked to a freight office where a guard let him warm up.
He had missed his next shift because he spent the following morning recovering from the cold.
His supervisor had issued a disciplinary warning.
Arthur closed his eyes briefly.
He said his office would request the incident report.
Tomas asked whether that would get him fired for complaining.
The question silenced everybody.
Khloe said she could help him arrange independent advice before he spoke to the company.
Arthur said the medical transport contract should protect people from retaliation, but he recognized that policies offered little comfort without enforcement.
Beatrice told him plainly that the riders needed a replacement service immediately.
Arthur agreed to fund temporary transportation through an independent operator while the investigation proceeded.
Khloe insisted that riders be involved in planning pickup points.
Arthur asked Beatrice whether she would help organize that discussion.
Beatrice said she would, provided he listened more carefully than the people who had written the existing route.
Arthur smiled for the first time.
Then Khloe placed a copy of Victoria’s confidentiality agreement on the table.
She asked whether Arthur had authorized fifty thousand dollars in exchange for silence.
His smile disappeared.
Daniel read the first page and swore quietly.
Arthur demanded to know who had prepared it.
Khloe said Victoria had delivered it personally.
Arthur asked whether she had accepted the money.
Khloe told him she had returned the envelope without signing.
He said he would never ask her to deny what she witnessed.
Khloe answered that his promises were not enough while Victoria remained able to make offers in his name.
Arthur accepted the criticism.
He instructed Daniel to send a formal preservation notice covering WinterBridge’s operating records and the confidentiality paperwork.
He asked Khloe what she wanted in return for her help.
She said she wanted the riders to reach their destinations safely and her sister to stop worrying about breakfast.
Arthur promised to address the first issue through the investigation.
He asked whether she would allow him to help with the second without conditions.
Khloe said he could pay her back for the meal.
Arthur laughed softly and said he still owed her a very generous tip.
She told him to start with exactly ten dollars.
He produced a bill from his pocket and placed it beside her notes.
She accepted it because this time no agreement came with it.
