Chloe in Willowmere

At Marco's Bakery, the three of them sat around a small table with cold coffee and harder questions. Chloe had relayed Gerald's request — to speak at the hearing in support of the heritage designation — and the silence that followed was not the forgiving kind. Detective Park was the first to break it, arms crossed tight, reading glasses pushed up on his forehead, ticking off three previous projects where Gerald Hooper had experienced what he called 'sudden changes of heart,' each one leaving a community poorer than it started. Harriet Bloom removed her wire-rim glasses and polished them slowly on her green cardigan, saying she would not dismiss the man but she would not endorse him either; sixty years of living had taught her the difference between hope and evidence. Through the bakery window, Gerald stood on the sidewalk in his too-tight grey suit, clutching his folder, waiting. Chloe looked from one to the other and said, quietly, that they should let him speak. Trust was in short supply in Willowmere these days. She was spending it carefully.