Chapter 3 - Six Houses
"They're forged," I told Imani Brooks, my business partner, before she had even sat down.
Imani placed six printed reports across her desk at Harbor Structural. Every page carried my professional seal, a neat digital signature, and a statement claiming that repairs to flood-damaged foundations were complete.
"All six jobs belong to Calder Home Renewal," she said. "Ryan's company."
"My husband knew I wouldn't certify work I hadn't inspected."
"Someone certified it anyway."
After a spring flood swamped Ashford, Pennsylvania, county grants helped families rebuild. Ryan joined the approved contractors, and I was proud of him.
Now Imani showed me photographs of a house on Alder Street. The front steps tilted away from the porch. A long crack cut across a basement wall.
"County inspector Ben Weller called," she said. "A homeowner complained that her floor is moving. The county started reviewing every job Ryan signed off on."
I reached for my car keys.
Imani caught my wrist gently. "June, you're injured. And if your name is on the reports, you need to protect yourself properly."
"People could be sleeping on top of these repairs."
"Which is why we're calling the county first."
We told Weller about the suspected forgeries. He opened an urgent safety review and agreed to meet us at the Alder Street house with the homeowner's permission. I also reported my stolen seal to the board and asked our software provider to freeze my signing credentials.
Before leaving, I checked the creation date of the first report. March 18, 10:42 a.m.
On March 18 I had been in Ohio, sitting beside my father in a rehabilitation clinic after his stroke. My phone contained a photograph from that morning: Dad grinning over a terrible cup of vending-machine coffee.
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For a second, relief cut through my anger. I could prove I hadn't inspected the house.
Then Imani pointed to the report's file history. "June, the signature wasn't added from your house. It came from a computer in our office."
