Elena asked whether there was evidence of that threat.
Nora showed a message that Preston had sent from his personal number.
It did not mention theft directly, but it promised that disloyal managers would find Chicago a small town.
Elena explained that the message could support Nora’s account when combined with sworn testimony.
Hector then arrived carrying a folder of his own pay slips.
He had come because he feared the holiday overtime credited on his statements had not appeared in his deposits.
Claire moved closer to make room for him at the table.
For the next hour they compared schedules without assigning blame to people not yet heard.
By closing time they had found discrepancies in several weeks of payroll.
They also discovered a different kind of record.
The kitchen had been credited for meals supposedly delivered to a senior residence that had closed two years earlier.
That fact gave the investigators a place to start rather than another rumor to repeat.
CHAPTER 8: 8. The Address That No Longer Existed
Margaret drove to the address listed on the community meal invoices and found an empty building with plywood covering its windows.
A faded sign identified it as the Lakeview Senior Annex.
The city had closed the annex after a pipe failure, and a chain barred its service entrance.
Margaret photographed the front door and then visited the housing department to verify the closure date.
The clerk supplied a public notice showing the building had been vacant for more than twenty months.
The invoices described weekly deliveries across that entire period.
Margaret felt the kind of anger that sharpened her concentration rather than clouding it.
She called Maya Chen and requested the underlying vendor documentation through the formal review process.
Maya said the company would cooperate and asked for the request in writing.
Meanwhile Claire applied for a position at a neighborhood hospital cafeteria.
The supervisor, Denise Kaplan, read her resume and asked about her interrupted nursing studies.
Claire explained that she hoped to return to school when Nathan finished high school.
Denise offered an interview without discussing the viral video.
At the interview Claire described food safety procedures, difficult customer interactions, and the importance of protecting guests’ dignity.
Denise asked how she would handle someone unable to pay.
“I would follow the written charity meal policy,” Claire replied.
“If there wasn’t one, I would ask management to establish one instead of quietly making hungry people disappear.”
Denise studied her for a moment.
