Chapter 4: What the Camera Could Prove
Margaret did not move immediately.
She stood beside the curb, staring at the security camera.
The red indicator remained lit.
She seemed almost offended by its persistence.
Officer Brooks stayed several feet away.
“Ma’am, you need to leave the area.”
“I haven’t done anything.”
“I understand that.”
“Then why are you treating me like I have?”
“I’m not.”
He gestured toward the saw.
“You were asked to put that down. You did. Now you’re being asked to leave.”
Margaret looked at David.
“This is your fault.”
David shook his head.
“No. You came here.”
That answer made her face tighten.
She pointed toward the camera.
“That thing is making me look guilty.”
David replied quietly, “It didn’t make you bring the saw.”
She opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
The distinction was difficult to escape.
The camera had not created the encounter.
It had only preserved it.
Officer Brooks asked Margaret once more to move toward her vehicle.
She took a few steps.
Then stopped.
She looked back at the artificial trunk.
“That wasn’t even the real tree.”
David nodded.
“I know.”
“So I didn’t damage anything.”
“No.”
Margaret seemed to seize on that answer.
“Then this is all over nothing.”
David looked at the untouched oak behind her.
“No. It’s about why you came.”
She stared at him.
He continued.
“If you thought the tree was a problem, you could have talked to me. You could have called someone. You could have asked.”
Margaret’s eyes narrowed.
“I shouldn’t need permission to care about a neighborhood.”
“Caring isn’t the problem.”
He glanced at the saw.
“Taking matters into your own hands is.”
For the first time, Margaret had no immediate comeback.
Officer Brooks gave her a few seconds.
Then he repeated the instruction.
“Please leave.”
Margaret finally walked toward her car.
The confrontation should have ended there.
But before she reached the driver’s door, she turned around.
Her face had changed again.
The defensive smile was gone.
The embarrassment was gone.
What remained was anger.
She walked back toward the camera.
David watched her approach.
Officer Brooks did not stop her because she remained on the public side of the property.
Margaret lifted her chin.
She stared straight into the lens.
And she asked the question that revealed exactly how she still understood what had happened.
