Chloe in Willowmere

It was Rosie who found it — at 7:42 in the morning, pigtails still damp from the rain, stopping at the garden fence on her way to school. She mouthed the words slowly: Bluebell Properties LLC. Proposed 14-story mixed-use tower. By the time she sprinted down Hawthorn Street shouting for Marco, half the neighborhood had already gathered at the fence, reading the yellow notice in troubled silence. Chloe stood among them, her blue notebook open, writing down every word. Within twenty minutes the garden had drawn a crowd it had never needed to summon. And Detective Park, who somehow always materialized where trouble was taking root, had already opened a file. "These things," he told Chloe with complete seriousness, "always start with permits."