Seven complaints accumulated over several months. They had different subjects but repeated phrases and copied descriptions. Harlan placed them in chronological order and drew a line beneath the signature block on each. "She's shopping for an agency that will believe her," he said. "She may not even care which allegation sticks. She cares that each one makes you spend another morning explaining why you have the right to be here."
"And each agency gets one more reason to distrust whoever calls," James observed.
"That is the danger," Harlan agreed. "Next time somebody in that neighborhood smells smoke or hears something genuinely concerning, we don't want public officials assuming it's another neighborhood performance."
James had developed an appreciation for the ordinary people caught between Patricia's ambition and her consequences. One was Nora Pemberton, the association's secretary. Nora had moved into Palmetto Crest after retiring from a public library system. She lived alone, kept a small garden of native flowers, and attended board meetings with the determined expression of a person who read every agenda packet. She was not loud enough to challenge Patricia effectively in public, but she made careful notes. She was the only board member who routinely asked that changes to spending be reflected in the minutes.
Nora first approached James at a hardware store. He was choosing screws for the gate hinges when she recognized him from Patricia's presentation photographs. For a moment she looked as though she might retreat. Then she walked over with a packet of light bulbs in her hand and introduced herself.
"I'm on the Palmetto Crest board," she said. "I hope you don't think everyone over there agrees with the letters you've been receiving."
James set the box of screws in his cart. "I try not to judge an entire group by its loudest member."
Nora looked relieved and embarrassed at once. "I voted against the last assessment increase. I also asked why we were discussing land we don't own. Patricia said the association's attorney had already cleared it, but I haven't seen any opinion from an attorney."
"You should ask for one," James said.
"I have. More than once."
He did not invite her to become an informant or ask her for confidential records. She was a neighbor trying to understand her responsibilities, not a resource to be exploited. He gave her Harlan's office number and suggested that she seek independent advice about her rights to review association records. She thanked him and returned to her shopping. The conversation lasted less than five minutes, but James remembered the tremor in her voice when she mentioned Patricia.
At the next HOA meeting, Patricia projected photographs of Whitfield onto a screen beneath the title Boundary Concerns: Protecting Our Community Character. The first image showed the barn from a distant trail. The second showed Duke and Pearl grazing. The third showed the live oaks along James's private drive. Patricia described the estate as a nonconforming agricultural holdout, a source of potential water contamination, and a threat to consistent market values.