Outside, a young man who worked for the library approached me.
He said he had been angry when he heard the renovation might be delayed.
Then he said he was glad somebody had asked for the truth instead of a convenient villain.
His words stayed with me longer than Patricia’s speech.
Chapter 43: The Repair Estimate
The independent structural assessment found that several Ridgeway connections required further testing.
The city temporarily closed one stairwell and moved two departments to other floors.
Engineers did not announce an imminent collapse or declare the entire building dangerous.
They identified specific deficiencies and recommended a staged repair program.
The distinction mattered to me because I did not want fear to replace facts.
A local columnist nevertheless published a headline claiming my father’s warning had exposed a building ready to fall.
Simone advised against responding publicly until the official report was released.
I followed her advice, although it felt like swallowing nails.
The final engineering report confirmed that certain anchors did not meet the specified performance criteria.
It also concluded that repairs could be completed while most of the complex remained in use.
My father had not been imagining the problem.
He had identified a real defect, and the defect had been concealed instead of addressed.
I read the report twice before calling my mother.
She listened while I explained the findings.
Then she asked whether the people who worked there would be safe.
I told her the city had a repair plan and independent oversight.
She said that was what my father would have cared about first.
After we hung up, I went into the garage and found his old measuring tape.
The yellow blade was bent near the end, and his initials were scratched into the case.
I placed it beside my drafting pencils.
I wanted to remember that the point of uncovering a defect was to fix it.
Chapter 44: The Witness Nobody Expected
A former Clearline technician named Owen Bell contacted the investigator assigned to the camera case.
He had seen a news report and recognized the model described in the civil complaint.
Owen said he had installed devices for Clearline but had refused one assignment after learning it involved a private residence without the occupant’s permission.
He had not installed my camera.
He did, however, recognize the service ticket number on the invoice Patricia submitted.
The ticket belonged to a batch of devices configured for remote access by a Halden Development account.
Owen provided the configuration records he still lawfully possessed.
Investigators used those records to seek additional data from the service provider.
The resulting access logs showed multiple sessions during the weeks before my failed municipal bid.
