I returned home to find Eileen Parrish sitting on my porch with a paper grocery bag on her knees

She had brought coffee and a loaf of banana bread because she could not think of anything else to do

I sat beside her without turning on the porch light

The street looked normal again but nothing about it felt normal to me

My garage was empty and the hooks that had held Laura s car cover swung slightly in the evening breeze

Eileen told me she had watched the tow truck arrive through her kitchen window

She had recognized the driver because he had once hauled away her neighbor s fishing boat

At the time the board had claimed that the boat violated a storage restriction

The owner had moved away before anyone learned where the boat went

Eileen had never connected the incidents until she saw Meredith standing beside my Mustang

She handed me a folded piece of notebook paper

The paper contained a license plate number and the name of a towing company

She had written both while the truck was still parked in my driveway

I asked why she had never mentioned the boat before

She stared at the street and admitted that she had been afraid

Meredith controlled the architectural committee and could make a homeowner miserable for months

Eileen had watched her fine a retired teacher for replacing a broken fence with the wrong shade of brown

The teacher had appealed and received another fine for missing the hearing

I told Eileen that fear was exactly what people like Meredith depended upon

She nodded but did not look relieved

She asked whether the officers would really investigate their own captain

I told her that the state investigator had already requested Palmer s recordings and dispatch history

That answer was true but I knew an investigation was not the same thing as a conviction

The following morning Chief Mitchell called before sunrise

He told me that Tyler was stable and that the hospital expected his wrist to heal without surgery

He also told me the Mustang had been secured inside a county evidence building

A vehicle examiner would document the disconnected brake lines before anyone attempted to move it again

I asked whether the tow driver had been interviewed

Mitchell said the driver had arrived at the station voluntarily with his company records

The driver claimed Meredith had presented a signed removal order bearing the HOA seal