Camille walked in just as Belle was shutting her laptop. "You look like you just read your own obituary," Camille said, dropping her bag on the floor.
Belle leaned back in her chair. "Justice in Place wants to help. Media support, legal advice, even a community forum."
Camille didn't blink. "You going to do it?"
"I don't know what I'm doing," Belle confessed. "I just know I'm tired of pretending this place is what it claims to be."
Camille poured herself a glass of water, her silence saying more than any words. She sat down across from her cousin, elbows on the table. "I don't think anyone ever asks to be the one who pushes the needle," she said. "But sometimes the needle finds you anyway."
Belle cracked a tired smile. "You sound like our Aunt Renee. She was right about most things."
Outside, the sky had gone deep blue, the kind that made street lights flicker awake one by one like nervous sentinels. The courtyard was quiet again. Too quiet.