Chapter 13 - A Door That Still Wouldn't Open
Sonia called the fire prevention office before we drove anywhere. By noon an inspector and a housing advocate were on their way to River Court. I stayed with Noah while Priya accompanied Cora to give the inspectors copies of the old complaints.
They found a chain across the rear stairwell door. The manager claimed it was only used after office hours, when the apartments were occupied. A mother on the third floor showed an inspector where she'd complained the week before and had been told not to question security policy.
The fire department ordered the obstruction removed immediately and required additional inspections before the building could continue operating normally. Families were offered help finding temporary places to stay. I was relieved that adults had taken action, and furious that parents had needed to fear for their children to get anyone's attention.
Beatrice's spokesperson called the inspection political retaliation. On television, a host asked whether Holly Mercer had made River Court unsafe by frightening its residents. I turned off the screen before Noah heard his name again.
Sonia told me not to confront the foundation directly. She was coordinating with investigators who needed unaltered records and independent witnesses. We spent the day assembling dates: Lena's notebook entries, Calvin's requests, Cora's email, and the dates on the falsely completed inspection form.
That evening, Rusk's lawyer contacted Sonia with an offer to discuss the night of the fire. His client, the lawyer said, wanted immunity for an unrelated security violation before providing documents.
"Does that mean he knows more?" I asked.
"It means he's deciding whether telling the truth costs less than keeping quiet."
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I was hanging Noah's drawing back on the refrigerator when he noticed the picture from Juniper House. "That man," he said, pointing to Rusk in a newspaper photo, "he wasn't at the blue door when Mommy yelled. He was talking on a little black radio somewhere else. The other man had the chain."
Until that moment, we'd all been looking at the wrong pair of hands.
