Judith's mouth opened. No sound came out.
"Mr. Mayor—" Garland turned to her. "Ma'am, this is Mayor Franklin Ferris. He is the sitting mayor of this city. This is his registered primary residence."
The color drained from Judith Pennington's face like water from a cracked glass. Her mouth worked but produced nothing. Her eyes darted from Garland to Franklin to the house to the neighbors. She was searching for something to hold on to, some piece of reality that still made sense.
"That's... that's not possible. He was carrying boxes. He was wearing jeans. He—"
"He was moving into his home," Garland said, "which is exactly what he told you."
Behind Judith, the three neighbors had turned to stone. Ed stared at his shoes. The woman in the blue sundress lowered her phone so fast she nearly dropped it. The man in the polo shirt took two steps backward.
"Mr. Mayor," Garland faced Franklin fully. "Has this woman been harassing you today?"
Franklin looked at Judith. She was trembling now. The performance was over. The tears were real this time, but they weren't for sympathy; they were for herself.
"She has been on this property since 10:00 this morning," Franklin said. His voice was even, measured, steady. "She demanded we stop moving into our own home. She questioned the legality of our purchase. She asked where we got the money. She told the neighbors we were unauthorized occupants. She provoked our dog by pressing against the glass, then fell on her own and screamed that I had shoved her." He paused. "Then she called you. She told you we were trespassers. She told you I assaulted her. None of it was true."
Garland wrote every word.
"Ed Cranston confirmed her story," Franklin continued. "He told her he saw me push her. I was standing five feet from the porch with my hands at my sides the entire time."
Garland turned to Ed. "Sir, is that accurate? Did you tell this woman you witnessed an assault?"
Ed's face had gone the color of wet cement. His mouth opened, closed, opened again. "I... I might have been mistaken."
"You weren't mistaken," Denise said. "You lied."
Garland looked at Ed for a long moment. Then he looked at Judith, his pen hovering over his notepad.
"Mrs. Pennington," he said, "are you aware that filing a false police report is a criminal offense in this state?"
Judith's knees buckled slightly. She caught herself on the mailbox post. "I didn't... I didn't know who he was. I was just trying to protect—"