Chapter 4 - There Had Never Been A Final Inspection
The permit search took less than twenty minutes.
There was a building permit for the bedroom renovation.
There was an electrical permit.
There was even an application associated with the gas work.
But the gas permit had never been finalized.
The inspector had visited once.
He failed it.
I stared at the screen.
FAILED — improper vent clearance / unapproved wall routing / correction required before occupancy.
My hands began shaking.
The inspection date was twenty-four days before Ethan died.
I asked the clerk to print the record.
Then I found the contractor notes.
The inspector had documented that the heater vent passed too close to combustible framing and did not terminate according to the manufacturer’s installation specifications.
There was another note:
DO NOT PLACE UNIT IN SERVICE UNTIL REINSPECTED.
I had lived in that house.
My child had slept in that room.
The heater had been operating every night.
I requested the permit history for the correction.
There wasn’t one.
No follow-up inspection.
No approval.
No certificate closing the gas work.
Nothing.
Then I saw the contractor listed on the permit.
Caleb Morris Heating & Mechanical.
I knew the name.
Grant had mentioned Caleb exactly once.
Not as the installer.
As the man he had supposedly fired because he was “trying to pad the renovation bill.”
That suddenly meant something different.
I called the number from the permit.
Caleb answered.
When I gave him my name, he became silent.
Then he said:
“Mrs. Keane, I’m very sorry about your little boy.”
My throat closed.
“You knew?”
“I saw the news.”
“Did you install Ethan’s heater?”
“Yes.”
“Did it pass inspection?”
Another silence.
“No.”
I gripped the counter.
“Did Grant know that?”
Caleb did not hesitate.
May you like
“Yes.”
That one word changed my husband from grieving father to something I no longer recognized.
