Chapter 15 - The Price of One Vote
Harriet Wells looked sick when Maya showed her the payment record.
"Mr. Barlow," she said. "He told us he supported the project because traffic would be routed away from the school."
The money hadn't bought the entire trust. It had bought a lie about a vote.
At a special board meeting, Barlow admitted Nolan had offered him a consulting contract. He insisted he hadn't understood the lender papers were forged. Maya recorded his statement with permission and passed the relevant documents to investigators.
"You knew the path belonged to the neighborhood," Harriet said. "You knew children used it."
"I was thinking about my retirement," Barlow replied.
"That's the problem," she said.
The trustees rejected Nolan's proposal and voted to require an independent review of any future easement request. For the first time in days, Mark breathed without feeling a weight on his chest.
But Nolan had one more way to punish him. An anonymous email reached Mark's employer claiming he had misused company funds to pay for a family property dispute. Mark met with his supervisor and showed the fraud report, lawyer correspondence, and records of his travel.
"You should've told us someone might try this," his supervisor said.
"I was ashamed," Mark admitted. "Not of the truth. Of how long I ignored warning signs."
His supervisor promised a fair review. She also told him to go home to his family.
That evening he found Sarah and Sophie baking cupcakes at June's kitchen counter. Sophie had drawn a tiny lock on every paper wrapper.
"For keeping the bad stuff out," she said.
May you like
Mark was about to answer when Harriet called again. Her voice shook.
"Nolan's work crew is at the back lane. They're moving the fence right now."
