"So you know it's wrong," Hollis said.
"I can prove that entry doesn't belong to your unit. I don't know who added it."
"And the fourteen-thousand-dollar balance?"
"The base service bill includes other work that may be valid, but the unauthorized-modification penalty doesn't match the letter I found in the archive. Your father got a written closure on that issue."
Hollis looked toward the document she had photographed. "I have the letter."
"Then you're ahead of me. The manager told me not to send you anything else."
"He can't stop you from telling the truth."
Garnet was silent for so long that she wondered whether the call had dropped. Finally, he said, "You don't know what happens to people who cross the manager. My wife and I have a baby. We just bought a house."
The words struck harder than she expected. She had spent the afternoon thinking of him only as the person who pressed a button. In her anger she had overlooked the fear written across his face. That fear did not excuse what he had done, but it explained why he had obeyed. Hollis sat on the edge of her bed and spoke more quietly. "I'm not asking you to steal files or break a rule you can lawfully follow. I'm asking you to correct a charge you know is wrong and preserve the records of the hold. If you need independent legal advice, get it. Don't let anyone turn you into the one person they can blame."
Garnet exhaled. "I saved my service notes. They're part of my work record. I documented the hold before it was applied."
"Good."
"There's something else."
She closed her eyes. "What?"
"The account was flagged for manual review three days ago. The note mentions a potential collateral disposition and references a contact outside the service department."
"Collateral disposition means selling the machine?"
"It can mean several things. I don't know what they intended. I just recognized the wording because I've seen it on repossession cases."
Hollis stared at the wall where her father's cap hung. The combine was financed through a bank, not leased from the dealership. The service office was supposed to maintain it, not decide who owned it. She asked Garnet whether the outside contact had a name. He said he had not been able to see one. The manager had restricted the case, and by then the hold was already active.