The next morning, his lawyer told him that reporting the visit had been the right decision.
“Nobody has to threaten you in explicit words for a contact to deserve documentation,” she said.
“Will they arrest him?”
“I don’t know.”
“I can’t even tell if he intended to frighten me.”
“You don’t have to decide that.”
Hayes sat with the telephone against his ear.
“I used to think the worst part of telling the truth would be telling it once.”
“And now?”
“Now everyone wants to know whether I mean to keep telling it.”

Pierce’s visit did not remain an isolated issue for long.
Two other employees reported being approached by former colleagues who urged them to withdraw cooperation or soften their recollections.
Investigators recorded each complaint separately and examined whether any contact violated the court’s safeguards.
Young received a concise briefing without the names of witnesses who did not need to be identified to her.
She asked what protective options were available.
The answer included designated reporting channels and clear instructions that no individual should confront a suspected intimidator alone.
She approved additional outreach to employees and residents who had already agreed to cooperate.
She did not announce an emergency or send armed officers to every door.
The work required careful decisions rather than gestures intended for cameras.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: THE MEETING AT SIX

The transportation committee meeting began in a high school auditorium because the municipal conference room could not hold the crowd.
Parents stood along the walls with children in winter jackets.
Workers in uniforms occupied the back rows because their shifts ended too late for them to find seats.
Marisol sat beside Ruth and her brother Thomas.
Nia Palmer had offered to help speakers organize their comments, but she refused to turn the meeting into a substitute trial of Richard Sterling.
“Stick to what the route means and what the report actually shows,” she told them.
“Nobody here has to prove the whole federal case tonight.”
At six fifteen, committee chair Leon Mercer tapped the microphone.
“We are here to consider temporary adjustments to the eastern corridor service.

”
A man near the aisle shouted that temporary changes often became permanent.
Mercer asked the audience to let speakers finish.
Then he invited Meridian’s consultant, Paul Vick, to explain the proposal.
Vick displayed a slide covered in red dots.
“Our analysis identifies persistent vehicular obstruction at these locations,” he said.
“Bus diversions would reduce conflicts until safer access points can be established.”
Ruth raised her hand.
“How many of those dots were actual blocked intersections?”
“We used official police data,” Vick replied.
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Mercer reminded Ruth to wait for public comment.
Vick advanced the slide.
A red dot appeared on the street where Marisol’s van had been parked.
Marisol stood so quickly her chair struck the floor.
“That is my car.”
Vick looked startled.
“Ma’am, please wait.”
“You put my car on a map and called it a danger to buses.”
Nia touched her elbow.
“You’ll get the microphone.”
Marisol sat down and stared at the red dot until it disappeared.