Smoke detectors.
Electrical panels.
Extinguisher placement.
He had passed it because the visible parts passed.
That detail would stay with him later and sour in his mouth.
The visible parts passed.
The ugly truth of almost every system is that visible parts often do.
He arrived just after four in the afternoon to follow up on a permit discrepancy about emergency egress in the barn structure.
It should have been routine.
A signature.
A look around.
A correction notice.
Then home.
Instead he found Ruby standing near the swing set holding a spoon like her life depended on it.
The first thing he noticed was not fear.
It was vigilance.
She checked the house before approaching him.
Children from safe homes do not scan windows before speaking to adults.
Children from dangerous homes do.
Then came the spoon.
Jacob Reed scratched into the back in clumsy letters.
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