Chapter 4 - The Veteran at the Kitchen Table
Nora wasn't allowed to investigate the contracts. Nothing prevented her from visiting her father as his daughter.
She drove to El Paso that evening after informing her supervisor she would take ordinary leave. She carried no government files. At Samuel's kitchen table, she put her own phone facedown and waited while he brought out a folder held together with an aging rubber band.
"I didn't tell you everything," he said.
"Then start there."
His disability compensation had been delayed after a routine review requested additional information. A neighbor suggested Patriot Path Benefits, promising to help him find an accredited representative. The woman who arrived was pleasant, wore a veteran-support pin, and listened patiently to his stories. He'd trusted her before she opened the clipboard.
"She said no fee until money came through," Samuel said. "Then she asked me to refer three other veterans. Said it would get them seen faster."
Nora studied the documents he chose to show her. One page looked like an ordinary consent to contact him. Another authorized release of medical information to a business whose printed name appeared in smaller letters than the patriotic logo. An attached witness certification identified Nora West as someone who had watched him sign.
"Did she sign for you?"
"No. I signed. She gave me forty dollars for gas and said it was a thank-you for the referrals. I should've said no."
"Forty dollars doesn't explain my name."
"No. But I was ashamed I'd dragged other men into it. I didn't want you finding out."
Nora's first impulse was to promise she could fix it by morning. She had grown up watching him fix anything with his hands. This was something she could not repair with a wrench or a commanding voice.
"I need you to keep everything," she said. "And please don't answer any more calls from that company until we've found someone properly accredited to advise you."
He nodded, then stared at the paperwork. "If they used my claim to hurt other people—"
"We don't know that they did. We know the signature line is wrong. We start there."
At the door, he caught her arm.
"You always wanted to be the one who stood up in front of the room," he said. "Just don't forget who has to stand beside you afterward."
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Outside, Nora found a voicemail from Colonel Ruiz. The security team had determined that Nora's account was used from a workstation she could not reach from El Paso. That helped, but it raised a worse question.
The workstation was assigned to the base's civilian contracting liaison, Nell Dorsey. Dorsey had filed a complaint accusing Nora of tampering with the same contract records.
