The legal aid office occupied a brick storefront above a discount pharmacy. Attorney Grace Chen studied the dates before drawing any conclusions. She asked Ada to identify each document, explain how she obtained it, and describe where it had been kept. Some papers were old enough to be incomplete. Others contained handwriting that needed corroboration. Grace made no promises about reopening claims filed decades earlier.
Marcus liked her caution. He had spent the night imagining Dennis being led away in handcuffs, and the thought embarrassed him now. The immediate assault was verbal and economic: a firing and a false explanation for it. The older accident was a separate matter requiring records and witnesses. Grace outlined a preservation request for the diner footage and advised Marcus to keep his medical and employment records together.
Ada described Franklin Shaw as a charming man who treated contractors warmly until their bills became expensive. She remembered Dennis as a teenager carrying folders through the office. After Franklin sold the company, Dennis managed several restaurants for the same investors. He had been unusually eager, Ada said, to keep her from speaking at the diner. Grace asked whether Ada had proof he recognized her. Ada admitted she had only his expression and his immediate hostility.
They requested archived business licenses, property maintenance filings, and the relevant occupational safety report. Marcus also contacted the business owner of Bell Street Grill, a woman named Patricia Lowry, whose email address appeared on an employee benefits notice. He sent a factual description of the choking emergency and asked that his termination be reviewed independently.
Patricia responded that she had been told Marcus abandoned his assigned station and physically interfered with a customer who refused help. She had not been told the customer could not breathe. The contradiction was significant enough that Patricia promised to obtain the footage and interview employees without Dennis present. The legal aid waiting room included a bulletin board crowded with notices about housing assistance, food distribution, and workers' rights. Ada read each notice carefully. She had experienced how difficult it could be to find help when telephone service was unreliable and transportation cost money. Marcus offered to accompany her to future appointments, but Grace suggested a volunteer advocate who could provide consistent support. Marcus agreed. He had a sister to support and a job to recover; he could not become the entire safety net for another person. Still.
Two evenings later, Rosa called Marcus from outside the diner. She had found an old brass key in a drawer marked with Harold Whitcomb's name. Dennis had ordered her to throw the entire drawer away. Rosa had stopped because a folded repair tag remained attached to the key.