CHAPTER THIRTEEN: THE TRAINING SESSION

The library session began on Saturday morning under a sky full of low clouds.
Twenty-three volunteers arrived carrying notebooks, coffee, and umbrellas.
Anika welcomed them and explained the schedule.
Trevor led a practice exercise about interpreting questions without adding personal opinions.
He asked one participant to pretend she was speaking at a city hearing.
Another volunteer translated her words into Spanish.
The first attempt changed a complaint into a polite request.
Trevor stopped the exercise.
“You made her sound less angry than she is,” he said.
The volunteer looked embarrassed.
“I thought I was helping.

”
“Your job isn’t to make her easier to hear,” Trevor answered.
“Your job is to make sure they hear what she actually says.”
A woman near the back raised her hand.
“What if the person says something we think is unfair?”
“Then we interpret it accurately,” Trevor said.
“And the people listening decide what to do with it.”
He was answering another question when the door opened.
A man in a gray jacket stepped into the room.
Trevor recognized Gordon Pike immediately.
Pike looked at the volunteers, then at the sign-in desk.
“I’m here on behalf of the neighborhood,” he said.


Anika walked toward him.
“This is a reserved training session.”
“I only need the attendance list.”
“You can’t have it.”
Pike smiled without warmth.
“I’m trying to prevent a misunderstanding.”
“Then leave,” Anika replied.
Pike took one step forward.
Trevor stood beside her, but he did not touch the man.
“You heard her,” he said.
Pike studied Trevor’s face.
“You must be the fellow with the mailbox problem.”
“I’m the instructor,” Trevor said.
“And you’re interrupting.”
A library security officer appeared in the hallway.
Pike turned and walked out before anyone had to escort him.
The room remained silent for several seconds.


Then Anika returned to the front.
“We have fifteen minutes before the break,” she said.
“Let’s use them.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: THE COST OF A LIST

The inspectors interviewed Anika that afternoon.
Pike’s visit confirmed that somebody still wanted the names of people attending public meetings.
The investigation had already uncovered several contracts between Pike’s business and local property management firms.
The firms had purchased what Pike called community risk reports.
The reports assigned vague labels to residents who filed complaints or requested accommodations.
Some of those labels had been based on information obtained from redirected mail.
The inspectors did not tell Trevor which companies had bought the reports.
He learned from a public statement that the investigation was expanding beyond one neighborhood.
The statement also urged residents to review address-change notices and report suspected interference.
Trevor read it twice before sharing it with Mara.
“Evelyn wasn’t collecting mail just to satisfy her curiosity,” Mara said.
“She was helping somebody sell suspicion.”
“We still don’t know what she understood,” Trevor replied.
“She understood enough to open my envelope.”
“Yes,” Trevor said.
“And she needs to answer for that.”