By noon, the story was national.
Television producers called.
Political organizations called.
Civil-rights groups called.
The police union issued a statement reminding the public that officers had an obligation to investigate citizen reports.
That statement was also true.
Carmen's next question was whether the obligation had been applied evenly.
The records clerk gave her the first batch Thursday afternoon.
Patricia Brennan had placed twelve documented calls for police response or suspicious activity over seven years.
Carmen spread the printouts across a hotel desk.
July 2019.
Suspicious Black male near residences.
UPS driver delivering packages.
December 2019.
Possible break-in.
House empty, no evidence of entry.
March 2020.
Unknown Latino male using tools at residence.
HVAC technician hired by homeowner.
May 2021.
Juveniles loitering.
Children riding bicycles.
September 2021.
Noise disturbance.
Family barbecue at 5:03 p.m.
February 2022.
Abandoned vehicle.
Resident's car parked in resident's driveway.
And the pattern continued.
Carmen did not publish immediately.
Patterns could look dramatic by accident if a reporter chose only convenient records.
She checked whether Patricia had called about white residents through other complaint systems.
She requested HOA records where publicly or voluntarily available.
She contacted people named in the police reports.
She reviewed demographic data for Riverside Oaks.
Seventy-two percent white.
Twenty-eight percent residents of color.
Every one of Patricia's documented suspicious-person or quality-of-life police calls involved a person of color.
Twelve of twelve.
That did not prove what Patricia thought.
It proved what she repeatedly did.
Carmen published the second article Thursday at 2:00 p.m.
This time, she included a table.
Date.
Call description.
Actual circumstance.
Outcome.
No editorial adjectives.
No speculation.
The table did the work.
Patricia's attorney would later complain that statistics could be misleading.
Carmen agreed in principle.
So she made sure every row linked to a source.
That evening, the Riverside Oaks HOA board held an emergency video meeting.
Patricia did not attend.
Her attorney, Richard Walsh, appeared on her behalf.