Chapter 4

A reporter raised the company’s enlarged copy above the barriers before I reached the closed mall entrance. My signature stretched taller than my body beneath the word PASSED, while former coworkers and neighbours stared from behind the metal rails.

“They changed the date and the result,” I said. “That is not the page I signed.”

A company statement crawled across the portable screen: Rachel Bennett invented a failed inspection after the fire to protect her career and shift blame to the junior inspector she had trained, Owen.

“Why blame Owen, Rachel?” a reporter called.

I pulled the pressed-through sheet from…