Longer this time. They've been under my yard for 2 years, she said. Very quietly, I think. So, while I was sleeping, while I was watering the garden, while I was living my life 30 ft above them, I didn't try to soften that. We need to make the calls this morning.
EPA hotline, state attorney general's environmental crimes division. And I want to loop in a lawyer before we hand over anything physical. Someone who handles whistleblower cases. I know someone, she said. Daniel's old captain from the fire department.
His wife is an attorney. Environmental law. I never thought about calling her before because I didn't have anything to give her a breath. I think I have something now. Call her first before the agencies.
You want legal protection in place before you turn over that storage unit. I'll call her at 8 when the office opens. Good. Don't go back to the house alone. I'm not planning to.
A pause. Caleb. Yeah. Thank you for staying yesterday. I'll come by your sisters at 9:00.
I said, "We'll make the calls together." I made it to Westerville by 8:55. Clare's sister, Janet, opened the door. She was a few years older than Clare. Same silver dark hair, same posture, but where Clare had learned to go still under pressure. Janet looked like she managed things by moving faster.
She had a phone in one hand and a legal pad in the other. And she looked at me with the focused appraisal of someone deciding in about 4 seconds whether I was an asset or a liability. You're the yard man, Caleb Mercer. Yes. Come in.
Claire's on the phone with Margaret Hail. She's been on for 20 minutes. I followed her into the kitchen. Clare was at the table, phone to her ear, writing on a yellow legal pad. She looked up when I came in, nodded once, and kept writing.
I poured myself coffee from the pot on the counter without being asked. Janet sat across from Clare and watched her sister. The way people watch someone diffusing something complicated, not interfering. Just ready, Clare said. Yes.
Yes, I understand. The storage unit is still locked. We have the key. She wrote something. The physical materials in the yard.