He recalled the farmhouse porch, Martha singing while doing housework, and Christopher sleeping with his baseball glove.

He also remembered the truth about the old road construction project.

Back in thirty years ago, Thomas had served as the chief quality inspection engineer for a major regional highway expansion.

The lead contracting firm was owned by Samuel Vance’s family, and Samuel, then a young project manager, handled vendor purchasing and subcontracts.

Thomas discovered that material invoices were being massively inflated while substandard concrete was being used on critical retaining walls.

Millions of dollars meant for public infrastructure were being systematically funneled into private off-shore accounts.