CHAPTER TWELVE: THE CHOICE AT THE GATE
On Thursday morning, Nora returned to the exhibition hall with Caleb and Miriam.
Paul met them at the gate.
He looked exhausted.
“Elliot has brought in another contractor,” he said.
“What for?”
“To begin demolition before the ceremony.”
“Can he do that?” Caleb asked.
“He can try.”
A truck loaded with cutting equipment stood inside the fence.
Two workers waited beside it while a man in a clean safety vest argued with Paul.
Nora approached the fence.
“Is the west corridor being removed today?”
The man turned toward her.
“Who are you?”
“Someone whose mother was inside this building during the fire.”
“Then you should stay outside the work area.”
Paul stepped between them.
“I’ve already notified the site engineer that the corridor needs an inspection.”
The man scowled.
“Elliot says it’s unnecessary.”
“Elliot doesn’t sign my safety reports.”
Nora watched Paul take his phone from his pocket.
He called the project engineer and explained that a concealed doorway might affect the demolition plan.
The workers lowered their tools.
The argument continued for nearly twenty minutes.
Finally, the engineer ordered a temporary pause until the corridor could be examined.
Elliot arrived in a black car just as the crew began moving equipment away.
He crossed the parking lot with his jaw clenched.
“Who authorized this delay?”
“I did,” Paul said.
“You’ve made a serious mistake.”
“Then the engineer can tell me.”
Elliot turned toward Nora.
“You’ve caused enough trouble.”
Nora stepped closer to the fence.
“My mother asked people to clear an exit before children got hurt.”
“Your mother misunderstood what she saw.”
“Then why are you afraid of somebody seeing it now?”
For a moment, Elliot said nothing.
Then he looked toward the workers.
“Get back to work.”
Nobody moved.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: THE WEST CORRIDOR
The engineer arrived shortly after lunch with a structural inspector and a city building official.
Nora and Caleb waited outside the fence while the team entered the west corridor.
Paul had promised to call them when the inspection ended.
The hours passed slowly.
Miriam brought sandwiches, but Nora could barely eat.
At three, Paul emerged carrying a piece of metal wrapped in a cloth.
He held it out without smiling.
“This was inside the wall,” he said.
Nora saw a damaged door latch with a deep groove cut across its face.
“Does it prove anything?”
“It proves the old hatch was there, and somebody sealed it during the renovation.”
“Can you tell when?”
“The building records should answer that.”
Nora shook her head.
“I don’t want this to become another argument over papers.”
Paul looked at her.
“Then come see the doorway.”
The inspector had cleared a safe route through the corridor.
Nora followed Paul past the green tiles and into a narrow space where the newer wall had been removed.
Behind it stood the original service hatch.
Its metal frame was bent near the latch.
A small scrape marked the point where someone had forced it open.
Nora held her mother’s thimble beside the groove.
The shapes were not a perfect match.
They did not need to be.
She could imagine Ruth kneeling in smoke, searching for anything strong enough to move the stubborn latch.
Caleb stood behind her.
“My father came through here,” he said.
Nora touched the cold frame.
“My mother opened it.”
The building official approached them.
“We can confirm this passage existed,” she said.
“We still need witnesses to establish what happened during the fire.”
Nora looked at Caleb.
“We have one.”
