At the municipal office, Eli Benton sat in a waiting room beside his older sister, Tessa.
His hands were clasped so tightly that his knuckles had turned pale.
Rachel recognized him through the glass and asked Lena whether she might speak with him if he wanted to.
Lena said the interviews would be separate and voluntary.
Eli came out after his own statement had been recorded.
“I didn’t know the inserts would do this,” he said to Rachel.
“When you refused, I told my supervisor to leave your place alone.”
“But it wasn’t left alone,” Rachel said.
“I know.”
“Who went back?”
“Another crew,
” Eli answered.
“Graham sent them after hours because he said the first group had missed several meters.”
Eli’s sister put a hand on his shoulder.
“Tell her what you saw on your phone,” she said.
Eli looked uncertain.
“I photographed my training checklist when they made me sign it,” he said.
“It had a section for customer approval, but the boxes were already marked.”
“Did you keep the photograph?”
“I gave it to the compliance officer.”
Rachel nodded.
“Good.”
Eli flinched at the word.
“I also installed two of the inserts,” he said.
“I knew the owners hadn’t spoken to me directly.
”
Tessa squeezed his shoulder.
“He’s not pretending he did nothing,” she said.
Rachel looked at the young man.
“Are you willing to help the crew find every house?”
“Yes,” he said.
“Even if it means they tell people you installed the devices?”
“Especially then.”
His answer did not undo the damage, but it gave Rachel a reason to believe the truth could become more useful than a weapon.
Lena returned with an unusual request.
She wanted Rachel to help organize a meeting that evening for residents of the affected branch.
The city would provide a meeting room, interpreters, and a utility representative.
They needed someone residents trusted to explain why everyone was being contacted.
Rachel almost laughed.
“I’m the woman with a hole beside her house and a broken pipe,” she said.
“That doesn’t make me a community organizer.”
“You’re also the person who checked on June and the Parkers without being told to,” Lena replied.
“People listen to someone who asks whether they can wash their clothes.”
Rachel thought about her job at the school theater and the rehearsals she had already missed.
She could not spend the entire week managing a water crisis.
“I’ll help with tonight,” she said.
“After that, the city needs to do its own work.”
Lena agreed.
Rachel insisted that the invitation explain the suspected unauthorized installation instead of hiding it behind a phrase like service review.
Lena crossed out her first draft and rewrote the notice.
