He cleared his throat. “If you live here, you lost family or friends or both. Everybody feels the town is wounded, and a bit over eighty-five percent say that after giving it two years to recover, the wound is probably fatal. The town’s morale is at a new low and sinking. Twenty-five hundred were asked specifically if they thought it was time to leave, and two thousand and twelve said yes, and just over three hundred said they didn’t know but were leaning that way. A hundred and sixty-two said if we were going to do something about it, they wanted to put their names in to volunteer. Sort of a vigilante thing, I guess.” He held up a neatly typed sheet of paper. “Here are the names.”

“May I see that?” asked Leah.

He handed the sheet to her. “I made it for you. Keep it.” He sat down.

“Thank you.” She put it into her inner coat pocket without looking at it.

“The next issue on the police segment of the agenda is Lieutenant Leah Hawkins’s request for a sabbatical leave of absence to last up to one year. It will be spent studying the operations of a number of other police forces through on-the-job training and management studies. I propose that the city pay for her travel, living, and equipment expenses out of the federal grant for the rebuilding of the city’s police force. Any discussion?”

Donald Hall said, “How much money are we talking about?”

“For the travel and expenses, probably not that much,” said Nell Hoagland, who acted as the council’s comptroller. “I would guess it will be under two hundred thousand dollars, and the grant is for four million. She would also continue to receive her police department salary during her training, of course.”

“Thank you,” Hall said. “I’d like to second the motion.”

“More discussion?” asked Mayor Donaldson. “No? Then ayes? Nays?” He made a note on his yellow pad. “The motion passes unanimously.” Then he looked up and said, “Mr. Haymes, I believe you have a related motion?”

“Yes, I do,” he said. “What Lieutenant Hawkins might discover is that there are pieces of equipment, vehicles, weapons, surveillance, communication, or other items that will have to be part of the federal grant’s use. She might need to purchase prototypes or the services of consultants. I would like to ask that Lieutenant Hawkins be given the power to spend additional money up to a limit at her own discretion.”

“I so move,” said Linda Harris.

“Discussion?” the mayor said.

“Once again, how much?” asked Donald Hall.

Haymes said, “I propose that one quarter of the grant, or one million dollars, be at her disposal.”

“Isn’t that a little high?”