The room changed.
Victoria's face became rigid.
"What about it?"
"Who owns it?"
"It's a private contractor."
"Who owns it?"
"That's irrelevant."
"Then why has the HOA paid it $1.8 million?"
Murmurs spread through the room.
Victoria slammed her gavel.
"Order."
Daniel continued.
"Why does Blue Ridge share a bank officer with three other HOA vendors?"
"Mr. Brooks, you're making accusations."
"I'm asking questions."
"You're disrupting this meeting."
"No."
Daniel looked around the room.
"I'm trying to understand where our money went."
Someone in the audience applauded.
Then another.
Victoria looked furious.
Suddenly, the door opened.
Two federal agents entered.
The room fell silent.
Victoria stood.
"Who are you?"
One agent showed identification.
"Victoria Crane, we need to speak with you."
She looked toward Daniel.
Then she smiled.
"You."
Daniel said nothing.
The agent continued.
"This isn't an arrest."
Victoria's smile disappeared.
"We're requesting records."
"What records?"
"All financial records related to Blue Ridge Consulting."
Victoria's hands began to tremble.
For the first time, the woman who had controlled the neighborhood looked afraid.
Victoria was questioned for three hours.
She admitted signing contracts.
She admitted approving emergency spending.
But she denied knowing about the transfers.
Then investigators showed her the bank records.
Her expression changed.
"Thomas did this."
"Your husband?"
Victoria nodded.
"He told me the vendors were legitimate."
"Did you receive money?"
"No."
"Did you benefit?"
"I didn't know."
The investigators didn't accuse her.
They asked questions.
Eventually, Victoria admitted something important.
Thomas had created the vendor network.
He had convinced her that the HOA could save money by using companies he recommended.
Then he disappeared.
But the payments continued.
Victoria had been too embarrassed to admit she had been manipulated.
So she covered mistakes with more contracts.
Then more.
Until the system became impossible to explain.
"What about the glass?" investigators asked.
Victoria denied it.
"I didn't do that."
But security footage showed her entering Daniel's yard.
She finally confessed.
"I wanted him to stop."
"Why?"
"Because I was afraid."
"Of Daniel?"
"No."
She looked down.
"Of Thomas."
The investigators exchanged glances.
Thomas Crane was still controlling money.
And he was still free.
The glass wasn't his idea.
But the network intrusion was.
Thomas wanted Daniel's files.
Because those files could expose everything.
And he was willing to do almost anything to stop that from happening.
Federal agents located Thomas's last known residence.
Empty.
His car was gone.
His phone had been discarded.
But Daniel discovered something investigators hadn't.
Thomas had made one mistake.
He had used the HOA's own contractor network to pay for a storage unit.
Daniel found the transaction buried inside an invoice.
The storage unit was three states away.
Agents searched it.
Inside were computers.
Hard drives.
Contracts.
Fake invoices.
And photographs.
Hundreds of photographs.
Daniel's house was among them.
So were other homeowners.
Victoria.
Board members.
Former residents.
Anyone who had challenged the HOA.
Daniel stared at one photograph.
It showed his pool.
Taken from outside the fence.
The date was three days before the first piece of glass appeared.
Thomas had been watching him.
Then investigators found something else.
A list.
Names.
Addresses.
Amounts.
Beside Daniel's name was a note:
HIGH RISK — DO NOT CONFRONT DIRECTLY.
Daniel stared at it.
Then laughed bitterly.
"They were afraid of me."