Chapter 151: Dying Declaration
The next day, Leander was in his office gathering everything he had found out about the Abenney fire. He took it as a challenge to find out about the fire because every step he took ended up in a dead end.
His grandfather had tied all the loose ends and he never was permitted to learn about the fire.
Leander knew his grandfather did that to protect him—plausible deniability. He understood that. But he wanted to know more about the fire.
So, he went deeper in his search on the internet. They say the internet has the answers to everything. But he couldn’t find anything much about the fire except some old articles and the testimonials of those who survived the fire and the ones who lost their loved ones.
But he couldn’t get the contact details of anyone. No one had talked about something nefarious. Turns out, they received millions in compensation as they won a court case against the school.
The school?
He did not find the connection there. He got hold of the verdict of the case and looked for the reason for the fire.
The school that burnt down had a good reputation and the orphanage belonging to the church housed almost four hundred orphans. But as with many charitable institutions, the buildings were old and "not up to the modern safety standard". The main evidence provided by the plaintiff was the letter from the education department that was sent a month before the fire to the school asking them to comply with the safety standards or their license will be canceled.
The plaintiff argued that the negligence of the school board to comply with the safety standards was the reason for the fire that took the life of kids.
The school argued that they had fixed the issues and got a safety certificate within a week they received the letter. But sadly, the certificate was destroyed in the fire. Of course, the proof was destroyed in the fire that might have spread due to the negligence of the school board didn’t go well.