Chapter Thirteen B: The Cost of a Rumor
On Tuesday, Priya Shah arrived with a folder and a face that suggested bad news.
Lena offered her coffee, but Priya remained standing in the kitchen.
“Your home insurer called my office,” Priya said.
“They received a report about repeated hazards on the property.”
Lena set down the kettle.
“What sort of report?”
“A private assessment request and a complaint from someone identifying herself as a community safety coordinator.”
“Celia.”
“That’s what I thought, but I wanted to check before I assumed.”
Priya opened the folder and showed Lena a copy of the insurer’s inquiry.
It asked whether the house had unresolved access problems and whether any recent injury had occurred.
“Nobody has been injured here,” Lena said.
“I know, but an insurer has to follow up on a claim of risk.”
“A claim can become a burden even when it is false.”
Priya nodded.
“That’s why I came instead of emailing you a form.”
Lena read the questions twice.
She could answer them truthfully without turning the insurer into another audience for Celia’s accusations.
She asked Priya to help arrange an ordinary inspection by an independent licensed professional.
“Not Celia’s company,” Lena said.
“I wouldn’t dream of it.
”
They scheduled an appointment for Thursday.
That afternoon, Malik came over to finish the porch railing.
He found Lena measuring the distance between the driveway and the public footpath.
“You look like you’re planning to rebuild the whole street,” he said.
“I’m trying to keep a private argument from becoming everybody’s expense.”
Malik listened as she explained the insurance inquiry.
He lowered his toolbox onto the porch.
“Do you want me to call my lawyer?”
“Not unless I need one.”
“You always say that.”
“Because I prefer to know the problem before paying someone to fight it.”
Malik leaned against the railing he had just repaired.
“There’s a difference between being calm and refusing help.”
Lena looked at him.
“I asked you to come here on the first night.”
“And you apologized three times for taking up my evening.”
She laughed despite herself.
“That sounds like me.”
“You spent years being the person other people called when something went wrong.”
“That doesn’t mean I can’t ask for help.”
“Then ask me to carry those boards.”
Lena looked toward the stack of timber beside the shed.
“Would you carry those boards?”
“With pleasure.”
They worked until sunset, replacing a loose section of railing and clearing the side yard of objects that could conceal another obstruction.
Malik insisted on leaving the gate in the same position he had found it so the officer’s photographs remained easy to compare.
Lena appreciated that he understood the difference between repairing a hazard and changing a scene before it had been documented.
As they finished, a car slowed outside Celia’s house.
A woman in a dark jacket got out and carried a large bag to the front door.
Celia opened the door before the woman knocked.
They spoke briefly and disappeared inside.
“Another consultant?” Malik asked.
“Maybe a friend,” Lena replied.
“You don’t sound convinced.”
“I don’t have to be convinced about everything I see.
”
She went indoors and made dinner.
For the first time that week, she left the front curtains open.
