Chapter Eighteen: The Person Behind the Flyer

Curtis arrived just as Marcus and Andre reached the parking lot.
He was still wearing his work boots, and a smear of dust marked one sleeve.
“Did I miss the fireworks?” he asked.
“You missed a vote,” Andre said.
“That’s usually worse.”
Curtis listened as they explained Harold’s admission.
Then he asked a question neither man had considered.
“Why was the vacant house on that bulletin in the first place?”
Marcus remembered the cleaning crew, the unsecured back door, and the children who had briefly sheltered inside.
“Harold said it was a safety concern,” he replied.
“That doesn’t tell us who reported it,” Curtis said.
“Maybe somebody had a legitimate reason.”
Marcus nodded.
“Then we should let the city determine what happened there.

”
They separated beside their cars.
On his drive home, Marcus noticed that the streetlight at the entrance to Willow Bend was working again.
A city truck stood beside the pole, and a worker was lowering a hydraulic lift.
The ordinary sight made him unexpectedly hopeful.
At home, Nia was sitting at the kitchen table with a large sheet of poster board.
She had written the words CLAIM, EVIDENCE, and CONSEQUENCE in three columns.
“It’s for debate club,” she said when Marcus asked.
“We’re doing an exercise about statements people repeat without checking.”
Marcus looked at the blank space beneath CONSEQUENCE.
“That’s a difficult column,” he said.
“It’s the easiest one,” Nia replied.
“People have to live with what somebody else says about them.”
She pointed to his phone.
“Did the meeting fix the bulletin?”
“They voted to correct it.

”
“Did Mrs. Collins apologize?”
“No.”
Nia wrote something on her poster.
Marcus did not ask what it was.
He helped her trim the edges of the paper and then heated leftover food for dinner.
Later, a message arrived from Tasha.
She had spoken with the housing liaison, who wanted to clarify a rumor circulating about the vacant house.
Some residents were claiming that the children found there had been brought into the neighborhood by strangers.
Priya had confirmed only that the children had been connected with appropriate services and that the house was being secured.
She could not disclose their family circumstances.
Tasha wanted Marcus to know before somebody attached the rumor to his birthday guests again.
Marcus called her instead of replying by text.
“Please don’t send me the rumor itself,” he said.
“I don’t want to become another person passing it around.”
“I was hoping you’d say that,” Tasha answered.
“But there’s a board meeting tomorrow about who gets access to the neighborhood alert system.”
“That sounds overdue.”
“Harold is asking residents to submit photographs of suspicious activity.”
Marcus stopped beside the refrigerator.
“After tonight?”
“He says the problem was presentation, not the reporting program.”
Marcus looked toward Nia, who was still working at the table.
“Then tomorrow we need to discuss the program,” he said.