Julian had figured it out.

And more than figured it out, he had built the case, patiently and carefully, the way you build something meant to stand up under attack: water samples gathered and dated, manifests and shipping records from inside the plant, and the testimony of people on the inside who had seen what was done and were willing, at last, to say so.

That was the thing about Julian’s evidence, the thing I only fully appreciated later: it was not built on outrage, which is easy and proves nothing, but on documentation, which is hard and proves everything.

He had understood, young as he was, that against a corporation with money and lawyers and a decade of practice at making inconvenient truths disappear, feeling was worthless and proof was everything.