Chapter 5

The hearing room was the size of a closet. A long table, four chairs, a water pitcher, a clock that ticked too loud. Walter sat with Cassie on one side. Deke sat on the other with his clipboard and his laminated county ID swinging on its lanyard. Nadine Voss sat at the end, a folder in front of her.

The board chair was a retired farmer named Emmett Shaw. He asked Deke to present the county’s case.

Deke talked fast. Unsound structure. Unsafe. Proper notice. He said the appeal was frivolous. He said the board always sides with the county.

When he finished, Emmett Shaw turned to Walter. “You have anything to say, Mr. Prine?”

Walter set his phone flat on the table. “Forty-one seconds,” he said. “January sixteenth. Two fifteen.”

He pressed play.

Deke’s voice filled the room. “Tell Ray this one’s clean by spring.”

The man in the Kubiak jacket appeared on the sidewalk. Deke never crossed the threshold. The timestamp glowed at the bottom of the screen.

Deke’s face went red. “That’s AI. He faked it.”

Emmett Shaw leaned forward. “Mr. Rowntree, read the date on your report.”

Deke looked down. His mouth opened. Nothing came out.

“Read it,” Shaw said.

“January sixteenth,” Deke whispered.

“And the time?”

“Two fifteen.”

“And the box that says interior inspection completed?”

Deke didn’t answer.

Nadine Voss opened her folder. She laid down three purchase records. Three condemnations. Three lots. One buyer. Kubiak Construction.

“I flagged Mr. Rowntree’s files in November,” Voss said. “I couldn’t act without a live complaint. On December twenty-eighth, Mr. Prine called the annex to ask why 206 and 210 were being torn down without proper notice. That call gave me standing.”

Cassie’s head turned. Walter kept his eyes on Deke.

“On January fourteenth,” Voss said, “I filed an appeal for 214 Bell Street in Mr. Prine’s name. I did it to preserve the file. I did it because I knew what Deke was planning.”

The room went silent. Deke’s ID swung gently against his chest.

Emmett Shaw looked at the other board members. They voted three to nothing. The order was reversed. All four files were reopened.

Voss stood and held the door. “Turn in your truck keys before noon,” she told Deke.

Deke walked out. His boots were loud on the linoleum, then quiet.

Walter and Cassie drove home. The house was still there. The orange paper was gone from the door. But in the mailbox was a plain white envelope with no stamp.

Inside was a photocopy of the clipboard list. Four Bell Street addresses. Three ticked. And a fifth line, in the same pen Walter had never seen before.

PRINE - 214 - HOLD.