Her answer stayed with me.
People who abuse authority often understand what others cannot afford to lose.
Chapter 39: The Last Question About My Father
Daniel returned to my garage one afternoon with a small cardboard box.
He said he had found it while sorting papers at his home in Ohio.
Inside was a postcard my father had sent him during the first year after he left Pennsylvania.
The message contained no names or accusations.
It said the documents were safe and that Daniel should contact a lawyer before returning.
A second postcard, dated several months later, said that the situation was more complicated than my father had expected.
It advised Daniel not to send sensitive information through ordinary mail.
Daniel said he had interpreted the message as a warning that Victor had influence in town.
He had never answered.
I read the cards several times.
The handwriting was unmistakably my father’s.
The words sounded like him too.
He had always been careful when a problem involved someone else’s safety.
But I still wanted to know why he had hidden the envelope and kept silent.
Daniel said he could not give me an answer my father had never given him.
We stood beside the Mustang while sunlight moved across the garage floor.
I thought about the difference between understanding a person’s actions and inventing a reason that made them comfortable.
My father might have been afraid.
He might have been waiting for Daniel’s consent.
He might have believed the evidence was too weak to survive a challenge.
He might have made a mistake that he regretted.
I could not know.
Daniel said the important thing was that the documents had survived.
I told him survival was not the same as justice.
He agreed.
Then he asked whether I would have done something different.
I looked at the car and considered the question.
I said I hoped I would have found a way to protect him while bringing the evidence to the proper authorities.
I also said I had never stood in my father’s exact position.
Daniel nodded.
Neither of us pretended the answer was easy.
Chapter 40: The Decision That Changed the Street
The court issued its ruling on the towing dispute several weeks later.
The judge found that the association had not established lawful authority to remove my Mustang under the circumstances presented.
The decision rejected the claim that Karen’s general enforcement powers permitted immediate towing from my private driveway.
