Garrett's eyes filled, but Nolan had no interest in using the man's tears as evidence that remorse had arrived. "You can't tell me it wasn't supposed to be like this," he continued. "You don't get to decide how much damage your lie did after you let somebody else live inside it."
"You're right," Garrett said quietly. "I knew it was wrong when I did it. I've known every day since. There isn't an apology big enough, and I wouldn't insult you by pretending there is."
Silas asked about the internal correspondence. Garrett confirmed that Pike's office had used a Meridian intermediary and that he had been paid after the accusation appeared in the ledger. He said he could identify the records and the intermediary to investigators, though he had never retained copies of the payment instructions. Then he mentioned the garage. Elias had used a closed repair property outside the county seat as a place to work privately on the documents. He had once asked Garrett to help move boxes there, before Garrett's betrayal, and afterward Pike sent people to search the property.
"They told him it was empty," Garrett said. "I wasn't there. I only know what they reported. Elias liked hiding things where you wouldn't think to look, and he never trusted anyone with all of it."
Nolan thought of the stitched pocket in the leather cut. A father who hid an address behind four words would not have stored his most dangerous records on an obvious workbench. "What's the place called?" he asked.
"Harwick Auto Repair," Garrett answered. "Closed years ago. It's beyond the old county road, past the white oaks."
Silas wrote down the location. Before anyone left, Nolan asked Garrett for the number Pike's people had supplied. Garrett hesitated, then removed a folded slip of paper from his shirt pocket and put it on the arm of the chair.
"If you call them," he said, "they'll know you've been here."
"They already know enough," Nolan replied.
He dialed the number and put the call on speaker. A man answered in a measured, impersonal voice, identifying no employer. Nolan did not ask him to.
"Tell Warren Pike that Elias Vance's son found the tape, the records, and the correspondence about Garrett Cole," Nolan said. "Tell him the evidence is going to independent authorities. We're not bargaining over whether families have a right to know what happened to them."
There was a pause. "Mr. Pike may be willing to speak about misunderstandings in these records."
"Then he can speak through counsel to the people investigating them," Nolan said. "And he can start by leaving the witnesses alone."
He ended the call. The room stayed quiet for several seconds, and Garrett looked as if the floor had shifted under his chair. Silas regarded Nolan with an expression that contained concern and reluctant respect.
"That makes the next few hours more difficult," Silas said.
"I know."
"You might have given him time to move."
"He was moving already. At least now he knows we're not coming to his house for a private payoff."