What had happened was this. Fay Drummond, who had 30 years of school board meeting minutes and had taught many students at Greystone Falls High, had a former student named Rebecca Chai, who was now an editor at the Tennesseeian. Fay had called Rebecca. Rebecca had called Hol. Hol had spent four days in Greystone Falls talking to people.
He'd eaten at Dots three times. He'd spoken to Hector Webb. He'd reviewed public records which were public which required no cooperation from Hard Grove. The article ran Thursday morning. 12 years of influence.
How one county councilman shaped and profited from Greystone Falls. It was 5,000 words. It was documented. It named names and it cited sources and it connected the publicly available dots with the care of someone who had done this many times and understood that the work was in the verifiability. It did not mention Ray Callaway.
It did not mention any active law enforcement investigation. It mentioned Dot's Diner by name in the context of Greystone Falls as a community. Ray read it at the garage 6:30 in the morning. Coffee on the workbench. He read it twice.
Then he set his phone down and went to work. By noon, the calls had started, not to Ry. To Harrove's office, three county council members called for a statement. The register, which had run the piece about Ry 3 weeks prior, ran a response piece that was so visibly defensive it functioned as its own confirmation by 2 in the afternoon. Two of the three businesses that had canceled garage appointments called to reschedu.
Ry took both calls, made both appointments, said nothing about the article. At 3, Hector Webb walked across from the pharmacy and stood in the bay door of the garage. Hell of a morning, Hector said. Seems like Ray said. Fay called me said the council is meeting tonight emergency session.
He looked at Ry. Harrove's going to try to get ahead of it. He can try, Ry said. Hector looked at him for a moment. You're calm if I'm working.
Ry said. Hector almost smiled. Gerald Fitch would have said the same thing. He looked at the car on the lift. Then back at Ry for what it's worth.
People in this town have known some of them. They just needed something to point at. The article gave them something to point at. Ry said. Yes.
Hector straightened up. I'm going to call Earl Fletcher, man who ran against Hard Grove in 2018. He's in Chattanooga now, but he still has documentation from the investigation into his business. He's willing to talk. That's Dempsey's conversation, Ray said.
Not ours, Hector nodded. I know. I'll tell him to call her. He left. Ray went back to work.