Chapter 12 - Before Six in the Morning
Rosa showed the message to Monroe. She also had a notice, dated two weeks earlier, telling tenants that their former building would be closed permanently for redevelopment.
"They told us it was just repairs," she said. "Now they say we have nowhere to go back to."
"No court orders?" Sloane asked.
"Nothing. Just letters and guards."
Elliot rubbed his forehead. "I authorized temporary relocation during inspections. I never approved clearing families out permanently."
"You signed the paperwork," Vanessa said, almost tenderly. "Don't pretend I made all your choices."
That struck harder than her anger. She knew where his carelessness lived.
Monroe asked whether anyone feared immediate harm. Rosa said tenants were still returning to collect medicine and furniture. Someone had told the contractor to empty the remaining rooms at dawn.
"It's Saturday night," Sloane said. "We'll need a housing attorney and an emergency court order."
Grace found numbers for a legal aid hotline. I called while Sloane interviewed the families. When an attorney named Nadia Chen answered, she asked for the notices, property address, names of residents, and proof that an eviction or lock change was imminent.
"Send everything you have," Nadia said. "I can't promise a judge will sign tonight, but we'll try."
Iris stood beside Rosa, holding one child's hand. "We aren't going to let them disappear you," she said.
Outside, a police car pulled into the hotel driveway with its lights off. Another officer entered to speak with Monroe. Pike's vehicle had been found three blocks away, abandoned.
"Did he leave anything?" I asked.
Monroe nodded. "A box of foundation records in the trunk. We need to determine who owns it and get legal authority before examining it."
Sloane's phone buzzed. A photograph arrived from Marian Bell, the fired bookkeeper.
May you like
It showed Vanessa and Pike at a restaurant table with a contract between them.
Beneath it Marian had written: ASK WHAT HAPPENED AT THE OLD HARBOR HOTEL.
