Chapter 36 - THE MISSING ENGINEER
Late that evening, Richard continued reviewing employee records recovered from the underground archive.
Most names had already been accounted for.
Some had passed away.
Others had retired.
Several had agreed to speak with the group in the coming weeks.
Then Richard stopped.
"Helen."
She looked up.
"Do you remember Jonathan Hale?"
Helen frowned.
The name lingered in her memory before recognition slowly appeared.
"The materials engineer."
Richard nodded.
"He appears in almost every testing log."
Thomas looked over Richard's shoulder.
"He inspected metal fatigue."
Ryan searched through another folder.
"He's listed here too."
Samuel joined them.
"Why haven't we talked about him before?"
Richard tapped the employee ledger.
"Because after the company closed..."
"...he disappeared."
Daniel looked puzzled.
"Disappeared?"
Richard shook his head.
"Not literally."
"I mean there's almost no public record after that."
No engineering publications.
No professional licenses.
No retirement notices.
Nothing.
Helen looked thoughtful.
"Jonathan wasn't the kind of man who enjoyed attention."
Thomas added quietly,
"He also knew more about the prototype than almost anyone."
Daniel glanced toward the timeline.
"If he's still alive..."
"...he may remember details nobody else does."
Richard searched another database.
Minutes passed.
Then he smiled.
"I found something."
Everyone gathered around.
It wasn't an address.
It was a newspaper clipping from nearly fifteen years earlier.
A community college had recognized retired instructor Jonathan Hale for thirty years of teaching mechanical design.
Ryan pointed toward the article.
"There's a photograph."
Daniel studied the aging face.
Older.
Thinner.
Gray-haired.
But unmistakably the same man shown in the factory photographs.
Samuel looked at the article.
"He didn't disappear."
Helen smiled softly.
"He simply chose a quieter life."
Daniel nodded.
"Maybe that's exactly why he'll speak honestly."
Richard printed the article and pinned it beneath Jonathan Hale's name.
Another thread had appeared.
May you like
Another conversation waited somewhere ahead.
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