"South Hart lateral?"
She nodded.
He leaned forward.
"Still there?"
"Yes."
For a moment, he seemed surprised.
Then he smiled sadly.
"Thought they'd buried that old line for good."
Eliza explained the leak.
The fish.
And the documents she'd discovered.
Walter listened.
Then asked to see the 1998 sketch.
She handed it to him.
The older mechanic studied the paper for several minutes.
Finally, he pointed toward the northern gate.
"That's where the trouble started."
Eliza felt her stomach tighten.
"What trouble?"
Walter took a slow breath.
"The original system had a division structure. Water went different directions according to the operating arrangements."
She nodded.
He continued.
"When the eastern company expanded, they wanted more dependable delivery to their new fields."
He pointed toward the bypass.
"They installed this."
Eliza leaned closer.
"Was it authorized?"
Walter hesitated.
"Some modifications were approved for safety and maintenance. I don't know whether every later change was properly documented."
She nodded.
He continued.
"But the gate arrangement wasn't supposed to leave the southern line without its allocation."
Eliza felt her pulse quicken.
"Then why did it?"
Walter looked toward the window.
For several seconds, he remained silent.
Then whispered.
"Because somebody changed the way the division was operated."
Walter couldn't establish the entire history from memory.
He was careful to explain that he hadn't supervised the project.
He repaired machinery.
Other people made the operating decisions.
But he remembered receiving a service call after the Hart supply stopped.
Samuel had complained that water no longer reached the south lateral.
The company claimed the problem was caused by deterioration in the older downstream line.
Walter inspected part of the junction.
He found that the equipment was capable of directing water into the southern branch, but its operating position and the surrounding controls had changed.
He asked for the revised operating instructions.
The document he received didn't clearly match the original cooperative allocation.
He questioned it.
A supervisor told him the legal arrangements had been revised.
Walter asked to see the supporting agreement.
The supervisor said that wasn't his responsibility.
Walter eventually left the job.
He didn't steal documents.
He didn't alter equipment.
But he kept his own maintenance notes and copies of invoices he was entitled to retain.
Somewhere in his garage, he believed, there might be an old service record identifying the changes.
Eliza stared.
"Do you still have it?"
Walter smiled faintly.
"At my age, the question is whether I remember where I put it."
Raymond laughed softly.
Then offered to help search.
Walter nodded.
For a moment, he looked toward Eliza.
"Your daddy came to see me once."
Her breath caught.
"When?"
"A few years after the repairs."
She stared.
Walter continued.
"He asked whether I thought the water was really gone."
"What did you tell him?"
The older man lowered his eyes.
"I told him I didn't think so."
For several seconds, Eliza couldn't speak.
Walter looked toward the photograph she'd brought.