When that explanation failed, he accused me of secretly controlling the finances all along.
His accusations might have sounded convincing if the documents did not contradict him.
The former employees who submitted affidavits also provided testimony.
One was our former kitchen manager, Thomas Reed, who had worked beside me for eleven years.
He remembered the night of the fire.
He remembered seeing me enter the kitchen after a gas smell had been reported.
He remembered Victor telling us that the restaurant could not close because a large private event was scheduled for the following evening.
Most importantly, he remembered Victor instructing employees to keep quiet about the contractor’s warnings.
Thomas had saved a copy of a message Victor sent him the day after the fire.
It read:
Do not discuss the gas line with anyone outside the company. We will handle this internally.
That message did not, by itself, establish every disputed fact about the fire. But it supported the evidence that Victor had known about the installation problem and had tried to control what employees said afterward.
