Chapter 6 : I have to tell you what happened on Tuesday night, and I have to tell you why I made a decision that has cost me more than anything else in this.

The special meeting was called by Harriet Poole. Roberta Conley seconded the call. I didn't know about it until Monday evening, when Marcus forwarded me the notice. The agenda was three items: the formal review, the fine reassessment, and "matters arising from the review of the April fine ledger."

Pat Vance was still on the board. She still had the gavel. She still had the right to set the agenda for regular meetings. She did not have the right to set the agenda for a special meeting called by a fellow board member, but she did have the right to attend, and to speak, and to be a member of the body in the room.

I didn't sleep much Monday night. I kept running scenarios in my head, the way I do at work when a claim is going to get denied. What I wanted was for the meeting to be about the data. What I was afraid of was that it would be about Pat. Tuesday's meeting was supposed to be the first. It was the first time the board would have the fine ledger open with the new review in front of it, and the first time Deirdre Anson's name would be in the minutes as the regional VP who had opened the file.

At 6:45 on Tuesday night the clubhouse filled up again. More people came than had come on Thursday. Some of them stood against the back wall because all the chairs were taken. I counted at least sixty. Three of the people who came told me, at the coffee urn, that they had come because of what Karen had said at the mailbox. Three others told me they had come because of what Hal Friedman had said at the pickleball courts. Four more didn't say anything at all and just shook my hand, which I have thought about a lot, and which I want to tell you is the only thing in this entire thing that made me cry.

The gavel came down at 7:02.

Harriet Poole, sitting in her usual chair but with the fine ledger in the middle of the table now, opened with a statement, which was the first statement she had made in a meeting in four years. She said: "The board has opened a formal review of all after-hours activity tied to Lot Six and all fines that appear to be tied to that activity. The management company's regional office has opened a parallel review. The county permit office has been contacted regarding a structure at Lot Six. Mrs. Whitmore, do you want to present your file?"

I stood up.

I don't remember exactly what I said. I have the minutes, though, because Harriet wrote them down, and they run six pages, and they are the least emotional six pages I have ever been part of. I read the date on each fine. I read the corresponding pool light entry. I read the corresponding gate log entry. I read the amount. Nine fines. Four warnings. Two vacated. Two pending. One hundred and thirty-one rows.

At the end of it, I asked Marcus to read the fob-account table line for Lot 41.

He read it. Fob 091. Whitmore. Lot 41.

Then I asked him to read the fob-account table line for Lot 6.

He read it. Fob 014. Vance. Lot 6.