Chapter 5 - The Hearing
By January, the harbor redevelopment proposal had become a public fight.
Residents wanted jobs and repaired seawalls.
Fishermen wanted access to the docks.
Developers promised both, along with restaurants, apartments, and a waterfront promenade that looked beautiful in drawings.
Northline’s damaged workshop sat in the middle of the proposed site.
Nora received three purchase offers in eleven days.
Each was higher than the last.
Each required a quick decision.
She sent them to Mara and continued restoring boats.
Meanwhile, investigators compared the red ledger with project invoices.
Leonard Voss had recorded actual vessel movements because he was responsible for engines, fuel, and crews.
Those ordinary notes contradicted claims worth millions.
Loads billed but never hauled.
Disposal trips that never happened.
A workboat listed as operating while its engine lay dismantled in a repair yard.
The ledger was not the entire case.
It was the loose thread that showed where to pull.
At the public harbor hearing, Nora sat beside Molly with a folder on her lap.
She had agreed to speak about the attempted acquisition and the consequences for local businesses.
She would not discuss evidence the investigators had asked her to keep confidential.
Across the room, Victor Rourke spoke with three men in expensive coats.
Sabine stood beside a display board showing the proposed promenade.
When she saw Nora, she smiled.
Nora felt the old wound.
Then she noticed Sabine was wearing no bracelet.
A city official called the meeting to order.
For forty minutes, presenters described opportunity.
Then Nora’s name was called.
She approached the microphone.
“My business employs twelve people,” she began. “We restore working boats, historic launches, and vessels people depend on for their income.”
She described the fire without speculating about who had caused it.
She described the pressure to sell.
Then she asked for independent scrutiny of the remediation claims before the city made further commitments.
A man near the back raised his voice.
“Isn’t your company under investigation for fraud?”
The room shifted.
Nora recognized him from one of Victor’s project photographs.
She opened her folder.
“My bank restricted our credit after receiving a complaint about an invoice we did not create. We supplied our records. The restriction has now been lifted.”
She held up the bank’s confirmation.
The man sat back.
Sabine approached the second microphone.
“With respect, Ms. Whitcomb has a personal history with the Rourke family. It may be affecting her interpretation of ordinary business discussions.”
Nora felt Molly move beside her.
She remained still.
“My personal history doesn’t change the date on an invoice.”
A murmur passed through the audience.
Sabine’s smile thinned.
“Nor does an unfortunate romantic disappointment prove misconduct.”
Nora looked directly at her.
“No. Documents do.”
The room became quiet.
Nora returned to her statement.
She finished by asking that existing businesses be included in decisions concerning the waterfront.
Then she stepped away.
Outside, reporters waited beneath umbrellas.
One called her name.
Another asked whether she was pregnant with Cassian Rourke’s child.
Nora stopped.
There had been no public announcement.
Only a handful of people knew.
Sabine emerged through the doors behind her.
For one brief second, their eyes met.
Nora understood.
Molly stepped between her and the cameras.
“No questions about her private medical information.”
In the car, Nora’s hands shook so badly she couldn’t fasten her seat belt.
Molly did it for her.
“You did well.”
“They’ll make it about that.”
“Some will.”
Nora stared through the wet windshield.
At sixteen weeks, her pregnancy had become another thing strangers could use to explain away her competence.
Her phone vibrated.
Cassian.
She answered.
“Did you tell her?”
“No.”
“Did anyone around you know?”
“My mother. My attorney.”
“Find out.”
“I will.”
Nora swallowed.
“I’m tired of finding your world inside every safe place I make.”
He said nothing.
For once, he understood that an apology would not be enough to fill the silence.
That evening, the local paper published its hearing coverage.
Above Nora’s photograph, the headline read:
BOATBUILDER QUESTIONS HARBOR PROJECT AS RECORDS FACE SCRUTINY.
May you like
For the first time that day, she could breathe.
Someone had listened to what she actually said.
