Chapter 4
Vivian stopped when she saw me.
“I didn’t know you’d be here,” she said.
“I brought Noah to see his father.”
Her eyes moved to the room behind me. Andre was holding the stuffed bear while Noah showed him a drawing.
Pascal stood between us. He looked uncomfortable.
“What’s in the folder?” I asked Vivian.
“Company paperwork. I came to see whether Andre needed anything.”
“He needs time to recover.”
“That’s what we want too.”
She walked toward the room. I stepped into her path.
“Please wait until Noah’s visit is over.”
Vivian looked at Pascal, expecting him to move me. He did not.
“All right,” she said. “I can come back.”
She handed the folder to a hospital staff member at the desk, asked that it be given to Andre later, and left.
Pascal stayed.
“Did you come with her?” I asked.
“She asked me to drive. I wanted to see Noah.”
“You can speak to him when he comes out. He’s with Andre now.”
Pascal nodded. He looked through the glass again.
“I’m sorry I packed his bag,” he said quietly.
I had waited to hear that since the porch. When he finally said it, I felt how much more we needed to talk about.
“Did Vivian ask you to bring that folder?”
“She said it was information about his pay and medical leave.”
“Then Leila can help him read it when he’s ready.”
A few minutes later, Noah came out of the room. He ran to Pascal and hugged his waist.
“Dad talked,” he said. “He says Captain can sleep in the hospital.”
Pascal crouched to meet his eyes. “I’m glad he’s feeling stronger.”
Noah touched Pascal’s sleeve. “Are you mad at me?”
“No.”
“Because my bag was outside.”
Pascal’s face crumpled.
“I was angry with your mom,” he said. “I packed your things when I shouldn’t have. I’m sorry you saw that.”
“Can I come home?”
Pascal glanced at me.
“I’d like that,” he told Noah. “Your mom and I need to decide when.”
I was grateful he had not made a promise for me.
After Pascal left, Leila and I sat with the folder Vivian had brought. It contained a letter offering to pay Andre’s immediate medical costs and several pages for him to sign. One said he accepted the company’s account that he had operated the platform incorrectly.
“He hasn’t even left intensive care,” Leila said.
“We won’t give this to him until we understand it.”
A hospital social worker helped Leila find an attorney who handled workplace injuries. We gave the attorney copies of the papers and told her what Andre had said about the earlier malfunction.
That evening, I called Pascal.
“The folder included a statement saying Andre caused the accident.”
“I didn’t know that,” he said.
“Vivian handed it over in front of you.”
“She told me it was help with his bills.”
“You work with the company’s accounts. Please look at what they’re asking him to sign.”
“I will.”
I wanted to believe he meant it. I also knew he had believed his mother before asking her a single question.
Noah slept at Simone’s again. I lay awake on the pullout couch, listening to his breathing from the bedroom. At midnight, a message came from Pascal.
I read the folder. You were right about the statement. I asked Mom why it was there. She said the report is already complete.
I called him.
“How can the report be complete? Andre hasn’t told them what happened.”
“I asked the same thing.”
“What did she say?”
“That the supervisor gave his account.”
Andre had said the platform failed the previous week. I asked Pascal whether he could find a maintenance report.
“My access is to financial records,” he said. “I can ask who handled repairs.”
“Please do.”
In the morning, Leila called. Andre had remembered the name of the worker who saw the earlier failure: Rosa. She worked the same late shift. She had helped him report it.
I told Pascal.
He went quiet.
“I know Rosa,” he said. “She came to my office last week asking whether a repair bill had been paid.”
“Was there a bill?”
“I told her I hadn’t seen one.”
“Can you check now?”
“I’m on my way to work.”
He promised to call when he knew more.
At noon, my phone rang. I answered before it finished the first ring.
“There is a repair invoice,” Pascal said. “It was entered into the system on Tuesday.”
“The accident was Tuesday night.”
“Yes.”
May you like
“When was the repair done?”
He drew a breath. “According to the invoice, three weeks ago.”
