Chapter 6 - The Report Nobody Wanted
Arjun Desai requested a meeting through Meera on Monday morning.
He managed maintenance at Rowan’s Old Harbor warehouse and had spent the storm directing crews away from live equipment and rising water. He arrived with a folder, a tired face, and the careful posture of someone worried that honesty might cost him a paycheck.
Caleb asked whether he wanted an employee representative present.
“Already arranged,” Arjun said. “She’s downstairs.”
“Then let’s wait for her.”
When everyone was seated, Arjun opened the folder.
Months earlier, he had reported obstructions in a drainage channel serving Rowan’s yard. Water backing up there could worsen flooding along the neighboring rear properties. An engineering contractor had recommended corrective work.
The work had been deferred.
An email in the file read: Hold major expenditure pending acquisition and site clearance.
Simon had approved the deferral.
Caleb read the exchange, then the inspection photographs, then the estimate. The amount was less than the launch event budget for the redevelopment proposal.
“Who else received this?”
Arjun pointed to the distribution list.
The property director. Operations. The project team.
Not Caleb personally.
That distinction offered less comfort than it once would have.
“Has anyone asked you to remove these records?” Meera asked.
“Not directly. I was told not to complicate the damage review with old maintenance issues.”
She wrote down the exact words and requested preservation of the original files.
An independent engineering assessment would need to establish what the blocked drainage had contributed to the damage. The shop’s roof already had problems. Nobody could honestly attribute every loss to one cause.
But the possibility that Rowan had worsened the flooding could not be treated as a public-relations inconvenience.
Caleb authorized immediate corrective work where safe and an outside review reporting to the board’s audit committee. Meera notified the relevant insurers and advisers.
By afternoon, Simon was in Caleb’s office.
“You’re opening us to claims.”
“The damage may have opened us to claims.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Unfortunately.”
Simon put both hands on the desk.
“You approved a project that required assembling these properties. You approved the cost controls. Don’t pretend I invented the business.”
Caleb felt the words land.
“No. I approved the incentives that made rushing look like competence. That belongs in the review, too.”
For the first time, Simon looked uncertain.
Hannah heard about the assessment from her father’s insurance adjuster. She called Meera, asked who represented Rowan in the matter, and obtained the contact details for Elliot’s adviser.
Then she called Caleb.
“Were you going to tell us?”
“Through the people handling the claims, with the actual records. I didn’t want to give you an incomplete explanation personally.”
“There’s always a reason information arrives late from your company.”
He closed his eyes.
“You’re right to be angry.”
“Please stop being reasonable for one second. My father’s sleeping on my couch. I’m calling customers about clocks we can’t safely reach. I don’t have room to admire how well you take criticism.”
He let the silence stay.
Then he said, “What would make the next step clearer?”
“A complete report. Through our adviser. No private assurances.”
“You’ll have it when it’s ready.”
“And no asking me to trust you while I wait.”
“All right.”
After hanging up, Hannah sat on her kitchen floor. She missed the man from the vending machines. She wanted him to be separate from the company causing so much pain.
He wasn’t.
Recognizing that felt like losing something she had not yet allowed herself to have.
Elliot found her there and lowered himself carefully beside her.
“I should have told you about the bills.”
She leaned against his shoulder.
“Yes.”
“Would an apology help?”
“It would be a start.”
May you like
He nodded. They sat together beneath the kitchen clock, listening to its inexpensive battery-powered tick. For once, neither tried to improve the sound with an explanation.
The next morning, Elliot called his accountant himself. Hannah listened from the hallway as he asked for the tax arrangement in writing and admitted which expenses he could not meet. His voice shook, but he finished the conversation. When he hung up, she brought him coffee without asking for a report. He had spent years protecting her from facts. She could stop protecting him from using them.
