Chapter 14 - No One Leaves Quietly
Naomi wanted to cross the street and demand answers. Maya held her back.
"We have a witness, a court filing, and cameras," she said. "Don't give him a reason to say you threatened him."
Instead, they walked straight to the tenants. Maya read the emergency repair notice and asked for the city order authorizing immediate displacement. The supervisor couldn't produce one. Patrice called the local alderwoman's office. Mr. Bello, still wearing his Cubs cap, sat on a folding chair in front of the entrance and refused to move.
"I've lived here thirty-one years," he told a reporter. "I can wait another half hour for a real inspector."
The crowd laughed. It was the first laughter Naomi had heard in days that didn't make her ashamed.
A city housing inspector arrived and ordered the removal crew to stop pending verification of the claimed emergency. The power company confirmed there was no scheduled utility shutdown. One truck drove away before police could interview its crew.
The tenants were not safe yet, but they were back in their apartments. Naomi took that small victory home like something fragile in her hands.
At the clinic, Mara studied Isabel's footage. She paused on Pike beside the truck. "That's not his company's vehicle," she said. "It belongs to Westlake Safety."
"The fake pump supplier?" Naomi asked.
"The very same."
That evening, Daniel Sterling appeared in a television interview. He announced he was stepping down from day-to-day operations until an independent review could be completed.
Vanessa sat beside him, smiling with her hands folded. "My husband has nothing to hide."
The reporter asked whether the new subsidy vote should be delayed.
"Absolutely not," Vanessa replied. "Thousands of vulnerable families are counting on us."
Then Daniel looked directly into the camera.
May you like
"There is one thing the public should know," he said. "The old Riverside records were never complete. And I know who ordered the missing page removed."
The broadcast cut to commercials.
