Nobody saw Darlene leave. When Trevor stood up with the tally sheet, her chair was simply empty, and her note cards were lying on the seat. My paper, with her handwriting on it.
* * *
The new board met for the first time at Marisol's kitchen table. It rescinded every fine on my lot and restored my pool access, which I will never use. It refunded the twenty-five dollars for the trash cans, plus nineteen cents interest, by check, signed by Hal. Gus took the minutes in pencil. The board also wrote to Dr. Mehta, on letterhead, to say that the plants in question were kenaf and that I was "a resident in good standing whose conduct has been exemplary throughout." He framed it and hung it in the lab next to a facsimile of the Magna Carta. I've asked him to take it down several times. He refuses.
The civil suit took longer. In November, Bev filed against Darlene personally for defamation per se, which is what Idaho calls falsely accusing someone of a crime, and for intentional infliction of emotional distress. She also sued the association over the fines and over a board that had let its president use its letterhead as a weapon. The association's insurer settled in February. It covered my legal fees and my damages, and it agreed to a new written policy: every violation notice now needs a recorded majority vote and has to go out through the management company, never by hand and never in blue ballpoint capitals. I didn't ask for that last part. Marisol added it anyway.
Darlene settled in April, two weeks before her deposition. I can't say for how much. I can say that it included a written retraction, which is still pinned at the top of the Larkspur Commons Neighbors group: I made false statements about Ms. Pruitt and her plants. I knew they were untrue. I apologise to Ms. Pruitt and to this community. It was the shortest thing she ever posted, and it got four hundred and nine reactions. Hal Brennan replied with a photo of his arborvitae.
The criminal case ended in March with a plea. The felony was dismissed, and she pleaded guilty to possession and to the false report. Bev said that was about right for a first offense with a good lawyer, and that the felony had done its job just by being on the page. The sentence was a year of probation, a fine, a substance evaluation, and eighty hours of community service, which Judge Ochoa assigned to the Boise River Greenbelt cleanup crew. Lucía's friend's mother runs the crew, and according to her, Darlene spent most of those hours pulling invasive weeds along the riverbank with county-issued gloves and a long-handled grabber. She was very thorough, apparently. She had a real talent for spotting things that didn't belong.
* * *
The Fisks put their house on the market in May. Breathtaking sunset views of the Owyhees! said the listing, which was true in May, because I hadn't planted yet.
Rick came down the hill on moving day, a cold, bright morning. Darlene had already gone ahead to a rental in Meridian with Duchess. He stood at the bottom of my driveway with his hands in his pockets, the way Gus had a year earlier, and looked at my mailbox. The lavender had come back thick and silver-green.
"I should have said something a lot sooner," he said. "Back with the letters. Back with the pole." He shook his head. "She wasn't always like this. Those daycare kids were crazy about her. Then it closed, and she had all that time and nothing to put it in, and she stopped sleeping, and she couldn't stand anything she couldn't control." He looked up. "That's not an excuse."
"No," I said. "But it's an explanation. I deal in those all day."
He held out his hand, and I shook it.