“Next month,” she said, “I hope we won’t need it to remind us why we’re here.”

Chapter 24I: The Sunday Call

Leah called me one Sunday afternoon and said Sophie had refused to go to a friend’s birthday party in Pine Ridge.

She was worried that classmates would ask whether her father had used his company to destroy an elderly HOA president.

The accusation came from posts circulating among several parents.

I asked Sophie if she wanted to talk, and she said she would rather come over and bake something.

We made a pan of brownies and sat at the kitchen table while they cooled.

She finally admitted she was tired of being recognized as the girl whose father owned the power company.

At school, some students called her lucky and others accused her family of bullying the neighborhood.

Nobody asked whether she had been frightened when she arrived to find emergency vehicles outside my house.

I apologized for the attention without apologizing for preserving evidence.

She said she knew the difference but wished other people did.

We discussed what she could say when classmates asked invasive questions.

She decided on a simple sentence explaining that the investigation belonged to adults and that she would not debate it at school.

I told her she could leave a conversation that became cruel.

She nodded and took the biggest brownie for herself.

Before leaving, she asked whether I had considered selling the house after the investigation ended.

I said I had thought about it on the worst nights but had not made a decision.

She said she liked the trees and our workshop, and she did not want Cynthia to determine where we lived.

Her answer stayed with me long after Leah drove her home.

Chapter 24J: The County Clerk

A resident claimed that Cynthia had filed a special utility easement giving the HOA authority over every service connection in Pine Ridge.

The rumor spread faster than anyone could locate a document.

Judith asked the county clerk’s office for the recorded instruments affecting the subdivision’s common areas and private lots.

The clerk provided ordinary public records and explained that interpretation belonged to qualified legal counsel.

Renata reviewed the documents and found no easement granting the HOA ownership of my service cable.

There were utility easements for access and maintenance, but their language identified rights held by the service provider, not by a neighborhood president.

At a public meeting Renata explained the distinction without revealing private account details.