Chapter 2 - The Name on the Fence
Claire did not speak for several seconds.
Then she took a step away from him.
“Works with you how?”
“Business partner.”
“The redevelopment?”
“Yes.”
The word landed harder than an excuse would have.
She looked at the brushes, the chair, the orange notice tucked beneath a tin of black polish.
“You knew.”
“I knew about the project. I didn’t know anyone was demanding money from vendors.”
“But you knew we were in the way.”
“The plan I approved included space for existing vendors.”
“Did anyone ask us where we wanted that space?”
Daniel opened his mouth.
Closed it.
Claire gave a short, humorless laugh.
“There it is.”
“I should have asked.”
“Yes.”
A customer approached, sensed the tension, and continued walking.
Claire barely noticed.
“Was that why you kept bringing money?”
“No.”
“Were you trying to soften me up?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
He looked toward the people moving around them.
“It’s personal.”
She picked up his business card from the edge of the stand.
Then she placed it in his hand.
“So is this.”
He accepted it.
For a moment, she thought he might try to explain himself again.
Instead, he said, “I’ll make sure you get the name of an attorney who doesn’t represent me.”
“Through Maya,” she said.
He nodded.
After he left, Claire sat on her father’s stool and discovered she was angrier than she had been at Nolan.
Nolan had never pretended to be anything pleasant.
Daniel had listened.
He had remembered how she took her coffee.
He had asked about Ben as though her answers mattered.
Now she could not tell which parts had been real.
The next morning, metal fencing appeared along the western edge of the square.
A banner stretched between two posts.
JEFFERSON FORWARD.
Below the cheerful lettering were architectural drawings of glass storefronts, decorative trees, and wide pedestrian spaces populated by people who seemed to own nothing heavier than a shopping bag.
Claire searched for the second arch.
Her stand was gone from the drawing.
So was Maya’s cart.
So was Mr. Ellis’s newspaper kiosk.
Near the bottom of the banner, in smaller print, she found the name.
MERCER CIVIC PARTNERS.
She stared at it until a city truck stopped behind her.
Nolan stepped out with two workers.
“Morning, Ms. Bennett.”
“No.”
He lifted his eyebrows.
“You haven’t heard what I’m here to say.”
“I’ve heard enough.”
He held out a second notice.
Temporary suspension of operations.
Effective immediately.
Claire read the first paragraph twice.
“On what grounds?”
“Outstanding compliance concerns.”
“What concerns?”
“You’ll have an opportunity to discuss that during review.”
One worker moved toward the supply box.
Claire put herself between him and the stand.
“Don’t touch it.”
Nolan’s expression sharpened.
“Interfering with city personnel won’t help your application.”
“What application? You have my application.”
Maya hurried over.
Then Mr. Ellis.
Then Theo Walker, who sold coffee near the courthouse steps.
The workers stopped moving.
Nobody shouted.
Nobody touched anyone.
But the space around Claire filled with people who had watched her grow up.
Mr. Ellis took out his phone.
“What’s your name?” he asked Nolan.
“It’s on my identification.”
“Good. Hold it still.”
Nolan stepped back.
“This isn’t necessary.”
“Then neither is taking her equipment,” Theo said.
After several tense minutes, the workers attached a suspension notice to the stand and returned to the truck.
Nolan remained behind.
“You’re making this harder than it needs to be,” he told Claire.
She looked at the five-dollar price painted beneath the footrest.
“I think you came here planning on that.”
By noon, every vendor beneath the arches knew.
By three, six of them had received calls about new compliance problems.
At four, Maya handed Claire a folded sheet of paper.
“Tessa Reed,” she said. “Small-business attorney. She can see us tonight.”
“Who found her?”
Maya hesitated.
Claire looked away.
“Daniel.”
“He gave me three names. I called all three. Tessa answered.”
Claire almost refused.
Then she looked at the notice covering the front of her father’s stand.
Pride could keep her from accepting a secret payment.
It could not be allowed to keep her from asking a public question.
That evening, Tessa spread the vendors’ papers across a library meeting-room table.
She read quietly while everyone waited.
Finally, she looked up.
“How many of you were asked to pay a fee that doesn’t appear on these forms?”
Five hands rose.
Maya lifted hers last.
Tessa set down her pen.
“All right,” she said. “We have somewhere to start.”
Outside the library, Daniel stood beside his car.
He did not enter.
May you like
Through the windows, Claire saw him answer a call.
This time, he did not smile.
