Chapter 4 - SAY YOU REACHED IN
Claire asked whether I wanted her to reject the call.
“No. Put it on speaker.”
Scott did not ask whether I was alive. He began with money.
He said company insurance would cover surgery, rehabilitation, and part of my lost wages if I admitted I had reached into the press during maintenance. He called the video a stupid joke. He said everyone in the shop had made bad decisions under pressure.
Then he reminded me our mortgage was late.
He knew Claire had been working extra shifts since her dental surgery reduced her hours earlier that year. He knew our savings had been drained by my mother’s final illness. He knew exactly which fear to use.
“If you fight this,” Scott said, “insurance can delay everything. You could go months without a check.”
The doctor’s tablet remained frozen on Scott’s hand wrapped around my wrist.
“Why did you move the guard?” I asked.
Two quiet breaths came through the phone.
“You were making a scene over nothing.”
“And why were you recording before I touched the machine?”
His voice hardened.
“You’re confused. They gave you pain medication.”
The exam-room door opened.
Mark stepped inside wearing the same gray shop shirt from that afternoon. He held his brass shop key in one hand and his phone in the other. His face was pale, but he looked directly at the speaker.
Scott heard him breathe.
“You need to leave,” he snapped. “This is between me and David.”
Mark placed his phone beside mine.
“No. It stopped being private when you posted it to all of us.”
He explained that Scott called the crew before the ambulance reached the highway. He ordered everyone to say I ignored safety instructions and caused my own injury. He had already prepared a written statement for employees to sign.
Mark was the first person he asked.
Mark refused.
May you like
Then he opened a video file on his phone.
“David, Scott never planned to show anyone the beginning,” he said. “He already sent them a different version.”
