I showed them the false email and the predating complaint.
The room went quiet.
The engineer moved the meeting to the following month and ordered independent verification of the building’s safety systems.
She stated clearly that no final approval had been granted.
That decision protected the city but did not explain why the older Bellwood records had become dangerous again.
After the meeting, I found a message from Lorraine’s lawyer requesting a conversation.
She was willing to speak with an investigator present, and she specifically asked for me to attend.
Munroe arranged a recorded interview at the county station.
I arrived at one in the afternoon and saw Lorraine through the glass partition of a small conference room.
She looked smaller than she had on my sidewalk.
A bruise darkened her own wrist where she had apparently struck the edge of my jacket button.
I wanted to ask whether she had slept.
Instead I sat across from her and waited.
Her lawyer explained that Lorraine understood she had no right to attack me and that the interview would not erase the offense.
Lorraine looked directly at me.
I owe you a terrible apology, Nathan, she said.
I didn’t answer.
She folded her hands and admitted she had planned the confrontation.
She said a man working for Voss had warned her that if she turned the recording over, Paul would lose his job and face accusations of theft.
They had shown her photographs of Paul entering the library basement.
Then they showed her a picture of Isabel standing outside Maren’s house.
Lorraine believed the men were following both women.
She said Paul had made one promise she could not forget.
He told her that if she gave him Warren’s recording, nobody else would be bothered.
I asked why she didn’t call the police.
I called, she said.
I called three times over six months.
I told different dispatchers that people were following my friends and that someone was trying to remove old equipment.
Each time they asked whether a crime had occurred.
I had no proof I could safely surrender.
Her lawyer reminded her not to characterize the response without giving investigators the dates.
Lorraine produced a list of her earlier calls.
She was not claiming every dispatcher had ignored her.
She was describing a fear that grew while she waited for action.
I asked why she chose me.
She said I had helped Warren repair the porch light the year before his death.
