PART THREE — THE TRUTH
“Sit down,” Daniel whispered.
“I don’t want to sit down.”
My voice sounded strangely calm.
I looked at Emily.
“Start talking.”
She glanced at Daniel.
He nodded.
Emily put the folder on the table.
“Six months ago, I discovered something at the company.”
“What?”
“Someone had been falsifying safety reports.”
I frowned.
Daniel stepped closer.
“Sarah, the company was covering up a construction accident.”
I looked at the papers.
“What does that have to do with me?”
Emily opened another file.
“Everything.”
She slid a photograph across the table.
I picked it up.
It showed a construction site.
A collapsed section of scaffolding.
A date was printed at the bottom.
My stomach dropped.
I remembered that date.
It was the date of the accident Daniel had told me about.
He had said someone had been injured.
He had said the company was handling it.
He had come home that night looking shaken.
I had held him.
I had told him everything would be okay.
I looked at him.
“You knew.”
He nodded.
“I knew something was wrong.”
“Something?”
His eyes filled with tears.
“I knew the official report was false.”
Emily continued.
“The company blamed the accident on a subcontractor. But the documents show the safety inspection had been deliberately altered.”
“By who?”
Daniel didn’t answer.
Emily did.
“One of the senior executives.”
I looked between them.
“Then why were you meeting in a hotel?”
Daniel swallowed.
“Because my company was monitoring employees.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“If they knew Emily was talking to me, she’d lose her job. And I could have been fired too.”
“So you used a hotel?”
He nodded.
“We needed somewhere private.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Private?”