Chapter 6: What Gerald Knew
Mason walked out of the storage room and back into the restaurant.
Gerald was sitting at a corner table with a glass of water he hadn't touched.
A young staff member stood near the kitchen door, unsure whether to stay or go.
Mason gestured for her to leave.
He sat down across from Gerald.
"You were in the room when Derek Soll was terminated."
Gerald looked at the water glass.
"Yes."
"You took the notes."
"Yes."
"So you knew exactly what he had done.
You knew what he was capable of.
And two years later, when invoices started showing a pattern that looked exactly like his work, you said nothing."
Gerald's hands were flat on the table.
"I didn't know it was him."
"But you knew something was wrong."
Gerald said nothing.
"Gerald." Mason kept his voice level.
"A woman wrote a letter.
You deleted it.
You told her I had read it and didn't care.
Then you helped remove her from this building by signing off on a false theft accusation." He paused.
"That is not the behavior of someone who didn't know something was wrong."
Gerald closed his eyes.
When he opened them, they were wet.
"Brandon told me the supplier adjustments were approved.
He told me it was a cost-saving measure you had signed off on quietly so it wouldn't affect staff morale." Gerald's voice was thin.
"I wanted to believe him.
I needed to believe him.
My wife's treatment cost more than I made in a year.
Brandon said there would be something extra for me at the end of Q4 if I kept things running smoothly."
"How much?"
"He said five thousand.
I never received it."
"Because by Q4, Joanne had already sent the letter and you had already deleted it."
Gerald nodded.
"So you protected a scheme you didn't fully understand, helped destroy a woman who was trying to stop it, and received nothing in return."
Gerald looked at the table.
"When you say it like that—"
"Is there another way to say it?"
Gerald didn't answer.
Mason leaned forward slightly.
"I need to know one more thing.
When you deleted Joanne's email.
Did you tell Brandon you had done it?"
"Yes."
"And what did he say?"
Gerald's jaw moved.
"He said, 'Good.
Now if she pushes it further, we have grounds.'" Gerald looked up.
"I asked him what he meant.
He said that if she kept making noise, they could point to the theft accusation as the reason she was angry.
Make it look like she was a disgruntled former employee trying to cause trouble."
Mason sat back.
It was clean.
Cruel, but clean.
Remove the woman.
Discredit her motive.
Make the letter disappear.
And if she ever resurfaced, her own termination record would be the first thing anyone saw.
Except she hadn't resurfaced.
She had suffered a stroke.
And her thirteen-year-old daughter had carried the evidence to the front door of the hotel in a worn-out backpack.
"Gerald," Mason said.
"I'm going to ask you to write down everything you just told me.
Every detail.
Brandon's words.
The bonus offer.
The email deletion.
The theft accusation.
All of it."
Gerald looked up.
"Will that help me?"
"It will help Joanne Parker." Mason stood.
"Whether it helps you depends on what you write and whether it's the truth."
Gerald reached for the water glass.
His hand was shaking.
He took a small sip and set it down carefully.
"There's one more thing," he said.
Mason stopped.
"The email Joanne sent.
I deleted it from the inbox.
But I didn't delete it from the server archive." Gerald looked at the table.
"I didn't know how.
I'm not technical.
I just deleted it from the visible folder and told Brandon it was gone." He paused.
"If your IT department pulls the archive, it's still there.
Her original email.
With the timestamp.
Everything."
Mason looked at him for a moment.
"Why are you telling me this now?"
Gerald's voice was very quiet.
"Because I've been sitting here for the last hour thinking about a thirteen-year-old girl carrying her mother's evidence in a backpack." He didn't look up.
"And I'm tired of being the kind of man who deletes things."
Mason walked back to the storage room.
Carol was on her phone.
He waited until she finished.
"Pull the server archive," he said.
"Joanne's original email is still there."
Carol looked at him.
Then she smiled for the first time.
"That changes things considerably."
May you like
"I know." Mason picked up his jacket from the shelf.
"I'm going to the hospital."
