Melinda’s POV
The first delay seemed like a fluke.
A missing city permit, misfiled by some underpaid clerk in the downtown zoning office. It pushed us back three days. Annoying, but manageable.
The second was harder to explain — a soil safety report marked “pending” that was already approved. When we followed up, the file had mysteriously vanished from the shared portal.
Then a contractor walked off the job.
Then a materials shipment never arrived.
And by the time Carrie stormed into my office holding a folder of incomplete inspection reports, I already knew what she was going to say.
“We’re being sabotaged.”
She slammed the folder on my desk and pointed to a red sticky note attached to a printed email chain.
“I traced the project delay forms,” she said. “The ones that were submit
