I gave her a nod. "Just making use of the space, preparing for the next meeting."
Her eyes flicked to the papers, recognition dawning in the way her posture shifted. She didn't move closer, but she didn't leave either. Instead, she adjusted the bag in her arms and whispered, "She fined my kids last week for chalk on our own walkway." Her voice cracked, more shame than anger. "They cried when I made them wash it off."
That was why this had to happen in public. These weren't just notices; they were wounds—small on their own, but collective and corrosive. Claudia had built her power on humiliation, and the only way to break it was to expose her in the same forum where she ruled.
Mrs. Alvarez finally stepped closer, her eyes searching mine. "Do you think she'll ever stop?"
"She'll be stopped," I said, steady. "But it has to happen where everyone can see it."
She nodded once, clutching her bag tighter, and left through the side door. Her footsteps faded, but her words lingered. The neighbors were waiting; they didn't know how to fight, but they were ready for someone else to show them it could be done.
I turned back to the table, pulling out my laptop. With the judge's consent, I set up the software that would stream him into the meeting. The community center's projector flickered to life on the far wall, casting the blank glow of an empty screen. Soon Claudia would be standing in front of it, boasting of her authority, and then the judge's face would appear, cutting her down in front of every set of eyes she had once controlled.
I tested the feed, my reflection caught in the dark screen before the connection stabilized. The image of the courtroom seal appeared, crisp and undeniable. My chest tightened with something I hadn't felt in years: not nerves, not fear, but anticipation—the kind you feel when a case shifts from possibility to certainty.
The documents were stacked again, the projector ready, the plan clear. Claudia had no idea she was walking into a room already wired against her. Every word she spoke at that meeting would be her undoing, and this time she wouldn't be the only one holding an audience.