The Building with No Heat
Chapter 06 - The Building with No Heat
Claire remained in the hospital for three more days.
The laptop was destroyed. The hard drive had been removed before the fire, leaving only a melted shell.
But the location mattered.
Jefferson Towers was one of the buildings listed in the falsified renovation records.
It was also where Claire had met seventy-two-year-old Rosa Alvarez.
Rosa lived on the third floor with her daughter and two grandchildren. She had severe asthma, but the building’s ventilation system had been broken for months.
The foundation’s records showed that the entire system had been replaced.
Claire knew it had not.
When she was discharged, Ethan expected them to stay in one of Vivian’s secured apartments.
Claire refused.
“I’m going to Jefferson Towers.”
“You just left the hospital.”
“And someone chose that building to destroy my laptop.”
“Which is exactly why you shouldn’t go there.”
Claire looked at the bruised man beside her—the man whose signature had been forged, whose family was collapsing, and whose first instinct was still to decide where she should go.
“I spent six weeks being afraid,” she said. “I’m done letting fear make my choices.”
Ethan drove her there.
The moment they entered the lobby, they smelled damp plaster and old wiring. A yellow bucket caught water leaking from the ceiling.
Children wore coats inside the building even though it was early fall.
Rosa embraced Claire carefully.
“We thought you were dead.”
“Someone wanted me quiet.”
Rosa glanced around the hallway.
“They want all of us quiet.”
She led Claire and Ethan into her apartment. On the kitchen table sat copies of maintenance complaints signed by dozens of residents.
Every complaint had been marked resolved.
Nothing had been repaired.
Ethan studied the pages.
“I approved money for these repairs.”
Rosa looked at him without warmth.
“Then you approved money we never saw.”
“I didn’t know.”
“That sentence does not make the cold disappear.”
Ethan had no answer.
A knock came at the door.
His younger brother Ryan stood outside wearing an expensive coat and a nervous smile.
“Mother said I might find you here.”
Ryan claimed he had come to help.
Then Rosa saw the silver cuff link on his wrist.
Her expression changed.
“I saw that symbol two nights before Claire’s crash.”
Ryan stopped smiling.
May you like
Rosa pointed toward the window.
“The man searching her car wore the same cuff links.”
