“Copy that, two-four,” the radio replied. “We have the vehicle stopped at the end of the block.”

The wind rattled the glass pane of the front door.

A cold draft swept through the hallway, making Mrs. Patterson shiver.

“Let’s go inside my apartment,” Mr. Alvarez suggested. “It’s warmer than this hallway.”

“No,” Carl said. “I need to stay here. I want to see this through.”

We stood in the lobby, the silence growing heavy between us.

Every drip of water from the basement stairs sounded like a clock ticking.

The blue and red lights continued to sweep across the brick walls outside.

“What will happen to them?” Derek asked, his voice barely audible.

“They’ll be arrested,” Officer Miller said plainly. “Vandalizing a boiler in an occupied residential building is a serious crime.”

The female officer was writing rapidly in her notebook.

“It’s reckless endangerment,” she said. “Not to mention the fraud.”

Carl looked toward the street, his face pale under the fluorescent hallway lights.

“They wanted to take everything I have left,” Carl said. “This building is my wife’s legacy.”