about him.”
I felt a familiar ache in my chest.
“Did someone speak to him?”
“Yes. HR explained the status and gave him the reference information.”
“Good.”
Denise hesitated.
“He told me he was supposed to pay his landlord this morning. He had planned everything around payday.”
I looked down at the report.
A name.
An employee number.
A dollar amount.
A status field.
That was how Robert appeared in the payroll system.
But he was a man who had worked fourteen years at the company, who had shown up
