After.
Mike tapped the screen.
"She wasn't fighting the scoreboard."
"What do you mean?"
"She was fighting the project."
Ethan looked at the broken display through the window.
"Why?"
Mike shrugged.
"That's what we need to find out."
Ethan didn't have to search for witnesses.
One found him.
At seven that evening, someone knocked on the front door.
Ethan opened it.
An elderly man stood on the porch.
His name was Walter Greene.
He lived three houses away.
"I heard what happened."
Ethan stepped aside.
"Come in."
Walter shook his head.
"I won't stay."
He glanced toward the street.
"I just wanted to tell you something."
"What?"
"Victoria has been asking about your property for months."
Ethan frowned.
"What kind of questions?"
"Drainage."
"Drainage?"
"Property boundaries. Utility access. The retaining wall."
Ethan felt a strange chill.
"Why?"
Walter looked at him.
"That's what I don't know."
He lowered his voice.
"But I know she wasn't interested in basketball."
"How do you know?"
"Because I saw her measuring the side yard."
"When?"
"Three weeks ago."
Ethan stared at him.
"With what?"
"A tape measure."
"Was she alone?"
"No."
"Who was with her?"
Walter hesitated.
"A man named Raymond Cole."
Ethan recognized the name.
Raymond was the HOA's outside property consultant.
"What were they doing?"
"Looking at the fence."
Walter rubbed his chin.
"They were talking about moving the boundary markers."
Ethan felt his stomach tighten.
"My boundary markers?"
Walter nodded.
"I didn't hear everything."
"But you heard something."
Walter looked uncomfortable.
"Raymond said something about an easement."
Ethan stood very still.
"What easement?"
"I don't know."
Walter started to leave.
"Ethan?"
"Yes?"
"Be careful."
"Why?"
Walter looked back.
"Because Victoria doesn't usually fight battles she can't win."
Then he walked away.
Ethan closed the door.
He immediately called Mike.
"We need the county property records."
"Tonight?"
"Tonight."
Two hours later, they found the original survey.
The property line ran exactly where Ethan remembered.
But there was something else.
A utility easement.
Twenty feet wide.
Along the eastern boundary.
Ethan stared at it.
Mike read the document.
"This is normal."
"Maybe."
"But look at this."
Mike pointed to the date.
The easement was older than the neighborhood.
It had existed before Cedar Creek Estates had even been built.
Then Mike opened a newer survey.
The HOA's survey.
The easement was gone.
Not crossed out.
Not transferred.
Simply absent.
Ethan stared at the two maps.
"That's impossible."
Mike shook his head.
"No."
He pointed at the newer document.
"That is very possible."
The room became silent.
Ethan remembered Victoria photographing the electrical box.
The scoreboard.
The side yard.
The boundary.
Suddenly the pieces began to fit.
Maybe the scoreboard had never been the real issue.
Maybe it was simply the excuse.
The next morning, Ethan hired an attorney.
Her name was Rachel Monroe.
She had represented homeowners in disputes with associations for years.
She listened without interrupting.
Then she watched the security footage.
Once.
Twice.
A third time.
When the clip ended, she leaned back.
"Do you have the original recording?"
"Yes."
"Not a screen recording?"
"No."
"Cloud backup?"
"Yes."
"Local storage?"
"Yes."
"Excellent."
She looked at the broken scoreboard photographs.
"Do you have the purchase invoice?"
"Yes."
"Installation invoice?"
"Yes."
"Permit?"
"Yes."
"Inspection?"
"Yes."
"Architectural approval?"
"Yes."
Rachel smiled.
"You did something very important."
"What?"
"You kept records."
She turned to the HOA notice.
"This is more interesting."
"Why?"
"The notice says the structure was never approved."
"It was."
"I know."
She tapped the paper.
"But they're not simply disputing your approval."
"What are they doing?"
"They're creating a paper trail."
"For what?"
"That's what I want to determine."
Rachel asked Ethan for every document he had.
She spent the afternoon examining them.
At five, she called.
"I found something."
"What?"
"Your architectural approval was signed by three committee members."
"Yes."
"One of them was Raymond Cole."
Ethan's stomach dropped.
"You're sure?"
"Yes."
"He's the consultant."
"He became the consultant later."
Rachel paused.
"There's another problem."
"What?"
"The HOA's current file doesn't contain the original approval."
Ethan stared at the wall.
"They removed it?"
"I didn't say that."
"What do you think happened?"
"I think we need to request the association's records formally."
Rachel prepared the letter.
It requested:
-
all architectural review records;
-
all complaints concerning Ethan's property;
-
all board communications regarding the basketball court;
-
all surveys;
-
all easement records;
-
all photographs;
-
all enforcement notices;
-
and all communications between Victoria Lang and Raymond Cole concerning the property.