Chapter 5 - The Heat They Said Was Fixed
Jonah had repaired broken bus doors in sleet, rebuilt engines in August heat, and once driven across the city in the middle of the night because an elderly passenger's wheelchair lift had jammed. Machinery made sense to him. A part was damaged, someone found out why, and then somebody had to pay to fix it. What didn't make sense was a building full of families being told to survive without heat while a charity displayed heating blankets behind velvet rope.
He wanted to go straight to Maple Court's boiler room. Imani wouldn't let him. “You're a bus mechanic, not the building's licensed heating contractor,” she said. “And Meredith would love another story about you breaking into something.”
Jonah held up both hands. “I'm allowed to hate this.”
“You are. You just don't get to make it worse.”
She accompanied Rochelle to a tenants' meeting hosted by a local housing counselor, Simone Harris. Simone was a Black woman with a neat braid and a binder full of blank consent forms. She explained what she could help residents document, where to request an inspection, and why nobody should sign a relocation agreement they hadn't read. She did not promise a quick legal victory. She wanted dates, photographs, communications, and names of the officials they had spoken with.
“We don't all have lawyers,” Mrs. Alvarez said.
“You don't need a lawyer to report a dangerous condition,” Simone answered. “For a lease dispute, though, get advice from someone who represents tenants before you sign away anything. I'll help you reach them.”
Imani told the room about the mark beside Bernice's name and her own forged acknowledgment. A young father asked whether the charity would punish him for speaking. Another resident said she'd already been warned that complaints were making the building difficult to manage. The fear in the room was practical. These were people with children, dialysis appointments, night shifts, and rent due on the first.
“That's why we record what happened,” Imani said. “But I won't put anybody's name online without asking. Meredith already used our names once.”
After the meeting, Darnell approached her in the hallway. He held his work cap in both hands. She felt Jonah beside her go rigid. “I told Ruthie what I did,” Darnell said. “I gave her the delivery log, my texts, and the address of the storeroom. She said the board's lawyer may want to speak with me.”
“Why tell me now?” Imani asked.
“Because your husband won't answer my calls.”
“That isn't an answer.”
He swallowed. “Because I kept waiting for somebody else to refuse. The warehouse manager. Meredith. Me next week. Anybody. And people were freezing while I waited.”
Imani looked at the cap, at the brother who had brought Laila comic books for years. “You don't get forgiveness in exchange for admitting the truth. You get the chance to keep telling it.”
Darnell nodded. “I know.”
He also supplied a new detail. Three weeks earlier a heating contractor named Allied North had inspected Maple Court and recommended taking the boiler out of service until a damaged component could be replaced safely. Peter Voss's company managed the repair project. Darnell had transported replacement parts to another property but had never seen them delivered to Maple Court. Yet the charity's campaign materials said the building's heat had been restored.
Simone encouraged tenants to provide this information to the appropriate inspectors and asked for written confirmation of the official findings. The inspection office later confirmed there was an unresolved safety problem and that the building could not simply resume heating on the basis of a landlord's assurance. Residents needed safe interim accommodation and a documented repair plan. What happened to individual leases and costs would depend on the applicable rules and facts, Simone said; she wouldn't let management settle those questions by shouting over frightened people.
That evening Jonah received a call from the bus depot. A shortened clip of his punch had spread through a neighborhood group. In it, Hal fell against the chair; the part where Hal lifted the metal post had been cut off. Jonah's supervisor said he was being placed on leave while the depot reviewed the incident. The union representative would be present for his meeting. Jonah thanked him and hung up with a face Imani knew too well.
“Tell me,” she said.
“They took me off the schedule.”
“For how long?”
“Pending review.” He looked toward Laila, asleep on Rochelle's couch with her paper sun on her chest. “I promised I'd stop taking overtime once the heating repairs were done. Now I don't know whether they'll let me take any.”
Imani sat beside him and handed over Evelyn's number. “She has the full recording. Let your representative ask for it. And when they ask what happened, tell them you were trying to stop a man from swinging metal at you after he grabbed our child.”
Jonah rubbed his eyes. “I wish I hadn't hit him.”
“I wish he'd never touched Laila.” She paused. “I understand why you stopped him. I'm glad you stopped after one punch. Now we do the harder part without fists.”
He let out a small, tired laugh. “You always know where the hard part is.”
“Because somebody keeps making me do it.”
Kendra arrived with hot chicken soup and a new piece of information. She'd been helping the board's independent treasurer compare approved bills against the pantry's delivery records, under the treasurer's supervision. Allied North had invoiced for a replacement heating component, but a warehouse slip showed it delivered to a newly refurbished event venue controlled by Peter's company. The slip did not prove who ordered the diversion. It gave the investigators something specific to check.
Imani put down her spoon. “The gala was warm because they took the part our building needed?”
“Maybe,” Kendra said. “Ruthie says don't say it as a fact yet.”
May you like
Imani looked at the steam rising from their bowls, then at the children asleep nearby. She was suddenly less interested in discovering whether Meredith had a soul than in finding out who could safely restore heat to twenty-four apartments. When Ruthie called to confirm an emergency board meeting for the following morning, Imani said she would attend. Then she asked to see the list of people who'd approved the repair invoice.
There were four names. The fourth was printed so faintly it was nearly illegible. When Jonah leaned closer, he recognized it from the signature on the city's bus repair contracts: his own depot supervisor.
