Chapter 4 - The Cable
"You shouldn't have brought me a dead man's notebook," Tessa Moreno said.
She stood outside a boat-repair shop in National City, a streak of grease across one forearm. Her hair was cut close at the sides, and she wore a blue work shirt with the shop's embroidered logo. A forklift beeped somewhere behind the fence.
Leah held out the notebook without opening it. "Caleb asked me to."
"Caleb asks too much of people."
"He thinks you saved his life."
Tessa looked away. "That doesn't mean I want to spend the rest of mine proving it."
At last Tessa read the page. Her thumb stopped over the word cable.
"A tether line snapped during the evacuation," she said. "I tied my harness to a length of retrieval cable from the aircraft. It kept Caleb against the raft long enough for your helicopter to find us. Aaron was helping me. When the wreck shifted, the cable went taut. He let go before it dragged the others down."
"That detail isn't in the inquiry summary."
"I told the board. It wasn't relevant to the mechanical failure, they said."
"Did Graham know?"
"He was in the debrief room. He told me I had performed well and should rest. I believed him. Then a magazine called him the man who saved us. He never called to correct it."
A gust rattled the metal sign above the shop. Leah felt anger rise, hot and simple. Tessa's eyes warned her not to mistake anger for usefulness.
"What do you want?" Leah asked.
"I want my work to be mine. I don't need a medal. I need the next woman who tells the truth to be believed before she leaves the service."
Leah pulled a plain card from her pocket. "I can explain how to submit a records-correction request. An independent veterans advocate can help too. I won't put your name on anything unless you say yes."
Tessa took the card but left the notebook with Leah. "Aaron's mother should get that. It was his."
As Leah turned, Tessa said, "There's another thing. I never signed a release for the foundation. Last month they sent a fundraiser with a picture of my hands holding Caleb. My face was cropped out."
"Do you have it?"
"My boss has a copy. They asked him to sponsor the dinner."
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Attached was an image of the raft, cropped so that only Graham's name appeared beneath it. At the bottom, in tiny print, was a licensing credit: Photograph provided by Shoreline Media under agreement dated May 2020.
Leah's throat tightened. Shoreline Media was run by Graham's wife, Diane.
