Chapter 9 - The Man They Blamed
Luis wouldn't meet me alone, and I was grateful. We sat across from each other in Sofia's conference room the next afternoon while an investigator listened from the end of the table.
Luis had poured concrete for twenty years. After the flood, he'd hired on with Ryan to rebuild houses near his old neighborhood. He brought a folder filled with dated site photographs and a notebook of hours worked.
"They kept telling us the other crew would finish the structural work," he said. "But there wasn't another crew. Ryan asked me to cover things up before county visits. I told him no."
"What happened?" I asked.
"Diane cut my hours. Then someone reported that I stole materials." His face reddened. "I got questioned in front of my kids. I didn't steal anything."
The investigator asked for the original photographs and how they had been stored. Luis handed over a memory card in a labeled envelope and explained that he'd kept it in his work camera.
"You should have come forward sooner," I said, then immediately regretted it.
"I know." He didn't raise his voice. "My wife was out of work. My son needed medicine. I kept thinking one more paycheck would get us through."
I knew something about staying because leaving seemed impossible.
After he left, I sat with Sofia in silence. She finally asked whether I had eaten lunch. I laughed once, a small ugly sound, and admitted I hadn't.
She brought me a sandwich and didn't call it self-care. She just put it on the table.
The investigator later confirmed that materials allegedly stolen by Luis had been delivered to a storage unit rented by Calder Home Renewal. The theft allegation was being reassessed. Luis wasn't cleared yet, but somebody had finally listened.
That evening, his wife, Marisol, sent a photograph of their son holding a handwritten note: THANK YOU FOR HEARING MY DAD.
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Attached was another image. It showed a truck unloading equipment at a house absent from the six forged reports. On its side was Ryan's company logo.
Under the photograph, Luis had written: THIS IS THE SEVENTH HOUSE.
