The Registry clerk certified my copy of the housing notice the following morning.
I also received the full minutes from the board's last closed session. The clerk wouldn't tell me how long it had taken to locate them. She only pointed to the date stamped on the cover.
I read the minutes at a table in the archive. Maura's motion appeared on the fourth page. She had proposed offering Elias temporary housing in exchange for access to his maps. The motion had been approved.
The minutes did not say she had promised him an accord. They did not say she had planned to make me part of the arrangement.
I couldn't prove what she had intended. I could prove what she had done.
I showed the minutes to Elias.
He read them twice. "She knew the board wanted the maps before she brought me here."
"Yes
