Pauline asked her to explain what she wanted without assuming that the documents had been deliberately destroyed.
Nora described her mother’s report, the revised testing summaries, and a list of apartment buildings whose addresses had changed after a city rezoning.
The clerk listened until Nora stopped talking, then drew a square around one old parcel number.
She said three separate addresses had once belonged to the same property before a developer divided the land.
Nora had been searching by modern street names, which explained why several inspection entries appeared absent.
Pauline led her to a public terminal and showed her how to follow an old parcel through every subsequent subdivision.
A record appeared for an inspection requested six months before Elise resigned from Whitmore Industries.
The entry did not include the inspection report, but it included the name of the person who ordered the visit.
Nora recognized the surname because it appeared in her mother’s handwritten notes.
She asked whether the missing report proved somebody had taken it.
Pauline shook her head and explained that older records had been damaged by flooding in a basement storage room.
That ordinary explanation disappointed Nora more than an accusation would have, because it offered no villain she could confront.
Pauline told her that truth often required accepting a disappointing answer before finding a useful one.
She printed the public index and stamped the date of Nora’s request across the bottom.
Nora paid the copying fee from money Beth had left in an envelope on the kitchen counter.
On the bus home, she noticed a second name beneath the inspector’s signature.
The person listed as the property representative was not employed by Whitmore Industries.
It was the name of a neighborhood maintenance contractor named Owen Fletcher.
The coincidence with her son’s first name made Nora smile briefly, but the printed address beneath Fletcher’s name gave her a more practical reason to keep the page.
His workshop was still operating on the south side of Chicago.
Chapter 9B: The Workshop Behind the Tracks
Owen Fletcher’s workshop sat between a tire shop and a closed upholstery business near the elevated train.
A hand-painted sign advertised furnace repairs, appliance parts, and emergency plumbing calls.
Nora approached the counter carrying a photocopy, ready to leave if the older man wanted no part of her questions.
A woman in green work clothes looked at the name and said her father no longer climbed ladders but still visited every Wednesday.
Nora returned two days later with Beth, who insisted that she should not question strangers alone while the company dispute remained unsettled.
