And a damaged security-camera cable.
All in different houses.
All after disputes with the HOA.
Mills looked at Linda.
“How many enforcement properties are you personally handling?”
“I'm the president.”
“That wasn't my question.”
She looked away.
Martha Ellis stepped from her porch.
“I know the answer.”
Everyone looked at her.
Martha walked toward them carrying her phone.
“I was on the board until three months ago.”
Linda's eyes narrowed.
“You resigned.”
“Yes.”
“Because you couldn't handle enforcement.”
Martha ignored her.
“I resigned because Linda began creating violation lists without board approval.”
Linda laughed.
“That's ridiculous.”
Martha turned toward Officer Mills.
“I have the emails.”
Mills held out his hand.
Martha gave him the phone.
The screen showed a spreadsheet.
Twelve addresses.
Twelve homeowners.
And next to each name were notes.
Jamal Reed's name was there.
The note beside it was short.
Challenge authority. Document everything.
Jamal stared at the screen.
He didn't know whether to feel angry or vindicated.
Probably both.
Then he noticed something else.
Several of the twelve homeowners had complained about damaged property.
Martha looked at him.
“Jamal, you're not the only one.”
Linda stepped forward.
“You have no right to show confidential association records.”
Martha looked at her.
“You created the list on a shared board account.”
Linda went silent.
Officer Green slowly turned toward Linda.
“Where is your phone?”
Linda tightened her grip around it.
“Why?”
“Because if there are twelve homes on that list, and several have reported damage, we need to understand whether there's a connection.”
Linda shook her head.
“You can't just search my phone.”
Mills nodded.
“Not without legal authority.”
Linda exhaled.
For a moment, it seemed as though the confrontation might end there.
Then her phone vibrated again.
She looked down.
The preview appeared.
Garden Crest handled. Maple Lane tonight.
Officer Green saw it.
So did Officer Mills.
Linda locked the screen.
Too late.
Mills reached for his radio.
“Let's call a detective.”
Jamal looked at the damaged cable beside his driveway.
A few minutes earlier, he had thought he was dealing with an overzealous HOA president.
Now twelve addresses were sitting inside the investigation.
And Linda Mercer suddenly looked less like a neighborhood official and more like someone who had spent months keeping records she never expected anyone else to see.
By sunset, the street had changed.
Neighbors stood in small groups along the sidewalks.
Nobody wanted to admit they were watching.
Everybody was watching.
Jamal remained near his driveway while Officer Mills spoke with a detective over the phone.
Linda sat inside her SUV.
Her hands were folded tightly in her lap.
The confidence from earlier had disappeared.
Martha stood beside Jamal.
“You should know something,” she said.
“What?”
“Linda has been doing this for a long time.”
Jamal looked at her.
“How long?”
“Long enough that I stopped believing it was just about landscaping.”
Martha opened her phone again.
“There were always complaints. Fines. Inspections. Notices.”
“That's normal HOA stuff.”
“Not like this.”
She showed him another document.
Inspection frequencies.
Some properties had been inspected once every few months.
Others were inspected every week.
Jamal's property was one of the most frequently inspected.
“So she targeted me?”
Martha shook her head.
“Not only you.”
She pointed at several names.
“Look at the pattern.”
Jamal did.
Some homeowners had challenged Linda's authority.
Some had refused to pay questionable fines.
Some had complained about board decisions.
Others had simply refused to cooperate when she demanded something that wasn't in the bylaws.
Jamal looked at the list.
“What do all of them have in common?”
Martha hesitated.
“I'm not sure.”
Before she could say anything else, Detective Aaron Cole arrived.
He introduced himself to the officers and examined the situation.
He watched Jamal's footage.
Then the utility box.
Then the documents.
He asked Linda a series of questions.
Who authorized the inspection?
Where was the board vote?
Who owned the cable?
Why had the utility enclosure been opened?
Why had she brought bolt cutters?
Linda answered every question with another reference to HOA authority.
Cole finally stopped.
“Mrs. Mercer, I'm not asking whether you believe you had authority.”
Linda stared at him.
“Then what are you asking?”
“I'm asking whether anyone gave you written permission to damage that cable.”
She said nothing.
“That is a yes-or-no question.”
“No.”
The word was quiet.
But everyone heard it.
Cole wrote something down.
Then he asked Jamal for his documentation.
Jamal produced the provider installation approval.
The property survey.
The city permit.
Emails.
Photos.
Every notice Linda had sent.
He had kept everything.
Martha smiled faintly.
“You see why she hated him.”
Jamal looked at her.
“I thought she hated me because I wouldn't pay the fines.”
“No.”
Martha shook her head.
“She hated you because you kept asking her to prove what she claimed.”