Noah Kept Saying Someone Had Been Inside His Room — Then Ethan Played the Security Recording and Rachel Recognized Him
Chapter 7 — Two Inspection Reports
The next morning, Ethan helped Rachel request archived city records.
The Maple Street file still existed.
Inside was an electrical inspection certificate.
Status:
PASSED.
Inspector:
MARTIN COLE.
Signature at the bottom.
But Samuel’s recording said Martin denied signing it.
They located Martin through a retired municipal employees directory.
He was seventy-six now.
When Rachel showed him the certificate, he stared at it for several seconds.
“That isn’t my signature.”
Rachel felt cold.
Martin still had old inspection notebooks.
He found the Maple Street address.
His original note said:
FAILED — PANEL REPLACEMENT REQUIRED.
Date:
Eight days before the fire.
Ethan looked at him.
“Then how did a passed certificate get into the city file?”
Martin shook his head.
“I reported the failure.”
He remembered receiving a call from David Vale afterward.
David complained that replacing the panel would delay other work.
Martin refused to change the result.
Two days later, the system showed the property as approved anyway.
Martin assumed another inspector reinspected it.
But the final document still carried his name.
“Did you report that?” Rachel asked.
Martin looked ashamed.
“I mentioned it to my supervisor.”
“Then?”
“Nothing happened.”
Rachel stared at the old failed-inspection note.
Her father hadn’t imagined the problem.
The dangerous panel had been documented.
And someone had replaced a failed inspection with an approval.
