Part 13:

” The deputy looked uncomfortable. “We’ll check, but the vans usually pack up by 9 or 10.” They never found who threw the brick. Ethan spent the next day cleaning up glass and boarding up the window. Three more appointments canled. By the end of the week, his schedule was nearly empty. Mrs. Patterson noticed.

 She came over Friday evening with a casserole and that expression that meant she was going to say something whether he liked it or not. People are talking, she said, setting the dish on his counter. Let them talk. They’re saying you’re making things worse. that the that the recall would have been handled quietly if you hadn’t stirred everything up.

 The recall wouldn’t have happened at all if I hadn’t documented the failures. I know that. You know that. But people are scared, Ethan. Scared for their jobs, their investments, their pensions. Celeste Motors stock is in freefall. Retirement accounts are tanking and they need someone to blame. So they blame me. You’re easier to reach than a CEO in a glass tower. She touched his arm.

 I’m not saying they’re right. I’m saying you need to be careful. Mia wandered in, drawn by the smell of casserole. Hi, Mrs. Patterson. Hi, sweetie. I brought your favorite chicken and rice. While Maya set the table, Mrs. Patterson lowered her voice. Someone came by my house yesterday asking questions about you. Ethan went still.

 Who? He said he was a journalist, but he didn’t have a camera or recorder. Just questions about your relationship with Maya. whether you were a good father, whether you struggled financially. What did you tell him? I told him to get off my property. She met Ethan’s eyes. But he knew things, Ethan. He knew Maya’s schedule. He knew about her mother leaving.

 He knew about your DUI from almost 10 years ago. They’re building a profile, trying to discredit me. They’re trying to destroy you. There’s a difference. That Sunday, Ethan kept Maya home from church. Too many people, too many potential confrontations. Instead, they went for a drive, windows down, despite the November cold, just getting out of town for a while.

 Maya was quiet in the back seat, which wasn’t like her. You okay, Bug? Sophie’s mom won’t let her play with me anymore. Ethan’s hands tightened on the wheel. What? She said I can’t go to Sophie’s house, and Sophie can’t come to ours. Did she say why? Maya shrugged, but her voice was small. Sophie said her mom thinks you’re a bad person.

 Ethan pulled over into a gas station parking lot and turned around to face his daughter. Maya, look at me. I’m not a bad person. I’m trying to help people. Sometimes when you do that, other people get upset because they don’t understand. But why don’t they understand? How do you explain corporate corruption to a six-year-old? Because the truth is complicated and people don’t always want to believe complicated things.

 Is that why those people were at your shop with the signs? So, she’d seen them. Of course she had. Kids noticed everything. Yeah, that’s why. Are we in danger? The question hit him like a punch. No, we’re safe. I promise. Okay. But she didn’t look convinced. They got ice cream again. It was becoming a pattern. Ice cream as comfort. Ethan didn’t care.

 If ice cream made his daughter feel safe for 20 minutes, he’d buy out the whole damn shop. Monday morning brought new headlines. Kavanaaugh files wrongful termination suit against Celeste Motors. The article detailed his claims that Celeste had fabricated evidence to cover her own mismanagement, that the emails were taken out of context, that the investigation was a politically motivated witch hunt.

 Ethan’s phone rang. Celeste, “Have you seen it?” she asked. “Yeah, he’s going after both of us. His suit claims you and I colluded to frame him. that you manufactured evidence and I helped you do it. That’s insane. It’s strategy. If you can make the evidence look questionable, the criminal case falls apart. And if the criminal case falls apart, the civil cases become harder to win.

 She sounded frustrated. My lawyers say it’s a desperate move, but desperate doesn’t mean ineffective. What do we do? We prove the evidence is real. Federal prosecutors are doing their own forensic analysis of the emails and they want to interview you officially. When? This week. I’ll send you the details.

 The federal interview happened Wednesday in a nondescript office building 2 hours from Brier Glenn. Ethan sat across from two prosecutors, a woman named Sarah Chen and a man named David Ortiz, and answered questions for 4 hours. They went through his employment history, his documentation methods, his relationship with Celeste Motors.

 They examined his notebooks page by page, cross- referencing entries with VIN numbers and NHTSA reports. They asked about the 2013 engineering report, about his termination, about why he kept collecting evidence. Mr. Cross, Sarah Chen said during a break, “I’ve been doing this for 12 years. I’ve seen a lot of corporate fraud cases, but I’ve never seen documentation this thorough from someone outside the company.

 Most whistleblowers bring us a smoking gun in a hunch. You’re bringing us an entire arsenal in a decade of ballistic analysis. I just wrote down what I saw. No, you built a case methodically, carefully. Why? Ethan thought about it. Because I kept hoping someone would listen, and if they ever did, I wanted to make sure I could prove it.

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