Chapter 34 - A Changed Account
Peter Lang joined the follow-up interview by phone. He sounded less confident than he had during his first appearance.
His attorney began by saying Lang had reviewed additional records over the weekend. Lang now remembered receiving a draft analysis from Victor’s office, though he still maintained that he had not been asked to conceal it.
“What did you do with the report?” Grace asked.
“I reviewed it and gave Mr. Hale a verbal recommendation.”
“What was the recommendation?”
“That he should not make a final determination based on preliminary data.”
“Did you recommend more testing?”
“Yes.”
“Did you put that recommendation in writing?”
“I don’t believe so.”
Daniel asked about the second payment.
“It was for additional analysis.”
“What analysis did you perform?”
“I compared the preliminary result to the site’s historical readings.”
“Where is that comparison?”
Lang paused. “I don’t have it anymore.”
“Who received it?”
“I told Victor.”
“Did you deliver a report?”
“I may have sent a summary.”
“Where?”
“To his company account.”
Grace asked whether he could search his email. His attorney said they would consider it.
The interview ended without a direct answer about the second report.
Charles was angry. “He remembered the file after we produced it.”
“He could have genuinely forgotten,” Grace said. “But we need the records.”
The audit team checked the company’s mail server. Victor’s account contained no message from Lang. The server logs showed that a message had been forwarded to a private email address before the company’s retention system captured it.
“Who owned the private address?” I asked.
“Lang says it was his business account,” Grace replied. “We’ve requested the original message.”
The board’s attorney warned us not to assume that Lang’s changed account meant wrongdoing. It could mean the first interview was incomplete. It could also mean someone had pressured him to hold back.
Either way, we needed evidence.
On Tuesday, Charles addressed the employees again. He told them the outside consultant had revised his statement and that the company was trying to obtain his records. Several workers looked skeptical.
Earl stood near the back. “If he changes his story every time, how can we trust what he says?”
“We don’t rely on a person’s memory alone,” Charles replied. “We compare statements with documents and independent testing.”
That answer was better than offering false reassurance.
Afterward, I walked the floor with Maria. A new vent had been installed in the maintenance shed, and the university team had placed monitoring equipment outside the door.
“Is this enough?” she asked.
“For now, it’s part of the response. We still need the long-term readings.”
“People are starting to lose patience.”
“I understand.”
“Can we post the test schedule where everyone can see it?”
“Yes. Make sure it includes the dates, locations, and who to contact with questions.”
Maria taped the schedule to the board beside the workers’ committee information. The practical details seemed to matter more than another corporate statement.
When I got home, Tessa was waiting with a box of old photographs. She had found them while helping me clear a closet. One showed me at the warehouse with Anna and Tessa when Tessa was ten. We were standing near the employee entrance, all three smiling at the camera.
“Mom used to say you always smelled like diesel when you came home,” Tessa said.
“I probably did.”
“She also said you’d promise to be home early, then get called back.”
“I did that too.”
Tessa placed the photo on the table. “You can’t fix those years.”
“No.”
“But you can choose what happens now.”
I looked at the photograph and thought about all the years I had treated work as something that needed me more than my family did.
“I’m trying.”
My phone rang. Grace said Lang’s attorney had finally sent a forwarded email. The message had been sent to Victor’s private address on October fifteenth.
Its attachment name was Exposure Findings—Final.
May you like
The email had been opened by someone at Whitmore the next morning. The sender’s name was not Lang’s.
It was Blair Whitmore.
