The smell of fresh paint and sawdust clung to the air like proof of progress.
It felt good, real good, to see the place coming together.Brick by brick, piece by piece, we were claiming Madison.Quietly.Steadily.And so far, we hadn’t had any pushback.That should’ve been my first clue.Peace never lasted.
The knock on the door was sharp.Three firm raps.Not the kind of knock that saidneighbor with a pieorAmazon delivery.It was official.
I raised a brow at Swift and headed toward the front door.
I pulled the door open and found exactly what I expected.
A man in a stiff blue windbreaker stood with a clipboard clutched in one hand and the city emblem on his chest.Behind him were two cops, one tall and bored-looking, the other already sizing me up like he wanted to write a report about it.
“Can I help you?”I asked, voice flat.
“Morning,” the windbreaker guy said.“I’m Harold Denton with the Madison Department of Licensing and Inspection.I’m here about the work being done on this property.”
“It’s a renovation,” I replied.“Nothing outside the law.”
He clicked his pen and scribbled something on the clipboard.“You filed for a basic occupancy permit, but what we’re seeing here qualifies as commercial development.Extensive structural changes, new electrical, plumbing—we’ve got reports of major modifications.”
“You’ve got reports?From who?”
He didn’t answer that.Just flipped a page.
“You don’t have the right permits, and without those, all work must be suspended effective immediately.”
I didn’t move.“You showing up with cops is how you do business around here?”
The taller cop shrugged.“Standard protocol when revoking site activity with suspected code violations.”
Bullshit.
“You hear that, Swift?”I called over my shoulder.“We’re suspected of...what was it again, Denton?”
“Code violations.”
Swift walked up beside me and wiped his hands on a rag.“That’s funny.We’re pretty damn good at following rules when we want to.”
“And right now, we are,” Hodge said, appearing behind us like a fucking shadow.He stood there, arms crossed, face unreadable.Exuded thatdon’t fuck with meenergy like a damn cologne.
Denton cleared his throat.He wasn’t totally rattled, but he wasn’t entirely comfortable either.
“I’m not here to debate,” he said.“Just here to inform.If any work continues before the permit situation is resolved, there will be citations, fines, and possibly criminal charges for willful violation of municipal law.”
“What part of the work is the issue?”I asked.“We didn’t move the bones of this place.Just cleaned it up and made it usable.”
“The city received complaints—”
“From who?”Swift interrupted, voice sharper now.
Denton glanced at his clipboard.“That’s not public information.”
“That’s a convenient answer,” I muttered.
“Regardless,” Denton continued, trying to keep the upper hand, “as of now, you are ordered to cease all construction activity until further notice.I’ll leave a formal notice taped to the door.You’ll find all the appeal procedures there.”
He turned, motioned for one of the cops to follow, and walked back toward the cruiser parked half on the curb.
“So that’s it?”I asked the other officer who lingered.“We just sit on our hands and wait?”
