The other board members looked exhausted.
Someone screen-recorded the meeting.
"We need to discuss whether Patricia can remain president while this is under review," board secretary Ellen Moore said.
Walsh interrupted.
"My client has committed no violation of HOA bylaws."
"This is not only about bylaws," Ellen replied.
"Then what authority does this board have to remove an elected officer based on media pressure?"
Another board member said, "She called police on children decorating their own home."
Walsh answered, "She reported activity she considered suspicious. Officers responded and left."
The board tabled removal pending legal review.
That decision satisfied nobody.
Patricia's supporters called it cowardice.
Her critics called it protection.
Tanya called it unsurprising.
Friday morning, Carmen picked up three years of dispatch data.
The file contained thousands of rows.
She spent most of the day cleaning them.
Priority one emergencies had to be excluded because geography, traffic, and unit availability could distort comparisons.
She focused on priority two calls involving suspicious persons, noise, welfare checks, and property concerns. Then she compared neighborhoods with similar call volume and distance from patrol sectors.
The disparity remained.
Predominantly white neighborhoods averaged approximately 4.2 minutes for matched priority-two calls.
Predominantly Black neighborhoods averaged approximately 12.4.
Riverside Oaks averaged 3.1.
A neighborhood three miles south, majority Black and served from the same patrol sector, averaged 11.8.
Carmen stared at the spreadsheet.
She did not write "the system was designed this way."
She could not prove design.
She wrote what the data showed.
Service was not being delivered evenly.
Then she called a criminologist at a state university and sent him anonymized methodology.
"Could deployment explain this?" she asked.
"Partly," he said. "But if you've matched call priority, geography, and sector, you still have a serious disparity. You need to ask whether high-call neighborhoods get more proactive unit positioning."
"Meaning?"
"If residents in affluent areas call frequently, departments may stage resources closer because historical demand justifies it. Then the quicker response validates the callers' expectation that police are always available. That's a feedback loop."
Carmen wrote the phrase down.
Feedback loop.
Saturday morning, the Tribune published the response-time analysis with charts and a map.
The story was careful.
It did not say every officer was racist.
It said equally classified service calls produced unequal response patterns, and the county could not explain the difference with existing public data.
By Saturday evening, a cable news network mentioned Riverside County during a segment on unequal public services.
Tanya watched thirty seconds before turning off the television.
Jordan sat on the other end of the couch.
"They're talking about us."
"They're talking about the county."
"Because of us."
Tanya looked at him.
"Because something happened that was bigger than us."
Jordan was quiet.
"Does that mean it had to happen to us?"
"No."
"Then I wish it didn't."
Tanya reached for his hand.
"So do I."
Sunday afternoon, Carmen received an anonymous email.
The subject line contained five words.