At 9:15 on Sunday morning, October 12th, I was sitting in the lobby of the Chico Police Department with my folder on my knees. The same way I’d sat in a hundred courthouse hallways.
Sergeant Amy Whitlock came out to get me.
She was in her forties, sharp-eyed, and she read every single page I gave her without skipping. The signed agreement. Darcy’s three Zelle memos. The notice. Dedra’s proof of service. The certified mail receipt.
Officer Bautista’s note from Thursday night was already in their system.
“You know this law better than I do,” she said, when she finished.
“I’ve watched it used badly,” I said. “I wanted to use it right.”
She nodded.
“Once the notice period ends, she has no legal right to stay. If she won’t leave, you can make a private person’s arrest for the infraction, and we’ll assist and remove her.”
“I’d rather she walked out.”
“Most people would.” She picked up a pen. “When do you want us?”
“Four-thirty,” I said. “There’s a children’s piano recital at my house at two. Eleven kids. They’ve been practicing for weeks. None of this is their fault.”
Sergeant Whitlock studied me for a second.
Then she wrote it down.
“Four-thirty. Two officers.”
When I got home at eleven, my driveway was full.
Darcy had rented forty folding chairs. She’d lined them up in rows across my living room, all facing the piano.
A bunch of yellow balloons was tied to my porch railing. And over my fireplace hung a banner in big glitter letters.
WELCOME HOME, NORINE!
On my dining table sat a stack of printed programs. On the front, under “Norine Tackett Piano Studio,” was my address.
Darcy caught me looking at them.
“Go ahead and call them, Hillary,” she said. “In front of eleven kids. You won’t.”
She was betting on my decency.
So was I. Just in a different way.
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