I asked what happened to Rafael’s daughter.
Mr. Soto said she had moved away with her father shortly afterward.
He remembered her first name but not the family’s new address.
“Lucia,” he said.
“Her name was Lucia.”

Chapter Ten: The Woman in the Photograph

I went back to my car and found Vivian waiting beside it.
She had no raincoat this time.
Her hands were empty, and a police citation protruded from her purse.
She asked whether I had found Lucia.
I told her I knew the girl’s name.
Vivian closed her eyes.
Then she handed me a photograph of the carnival committee standing outside the arena.
Rafael Velez stood apart from the group with a toolbox at his feet.
A younger Vivian was speaking to him.
Behind them, a little girl looked toward the camera.
I recognized her from the program.
“Why are you giving me this?” I asked.
“Because I lied when I said I didn’t know where she went.”
Vivian looked at the traffic passing the library.
“Lucia came back to Westbridge last month.”

I waited for her to continue.
Vivian said Lucia had contacted several former committee members about the accident.
She wanted the town to correct the public record and acknowledge Rafael’s warnings.
The redevelopment company had refused to delay demolition.
A former committee member offered Lucia money to leave the matter alone.
She refused.
Then the blue file disappeared from the company’s storage room.
Vivian believed Lucia had taken it.
I asked why Vivian had come after me instead.
“Because somebody told me you were working with her,” she said.
“Who?”
Vivian looked ashamed.
“I never met the person who called.”

I almost laughed at the cruelty of it.
A stranger had pointed Vivian toward my house, and she had arrived with rocks and paint.
She had chosen to frighten me before asking a single honest question.
I told her that the damage was still her responsibility.
“I know,” she said.
For once, she did not argue.

Chapter Eleven: The Public Meeting

The redevelopment company scheduled a public meeting for Thursday evening.
Its notice described the demolition as a safety improvement and promised a new recreation center on the site.
I attended with my mother, Owen, and a copy of the carnival program.
Vivian sat alone in the second row.
The room filled with residents who wanted a new facility and residents who remembered the old one.
At seven thirty, the company representative began his presentation.
He showed drawings of bright windows and a landscaped plaza.
Then he announced that demolition would proceed on Monday.