The repair bill had been nearly eighteen hundred dollars.
Then the replacement pump failed.
A technician had found strange metal fragments inside the intake system.
At the time, Caleb had blamed bad luck.
Now he wasn't so sure.
Officer Marcus Lang returned from speaking with Denise.
"She denies entering your property."
Caleb stared at him.
"There's video."
"She says the video doesn't prove what you think it proves."
"She's standing beside my pool."
"I know."
"She broke my equipment."
"That's what we're investigating."
"And she poured something into the water."
"I know."
Caleb looked toward Denise's house.
Behind the curtains, he could see a silhouette.
Denise was watching them.
Then the curtain closed.
Marcus turned to Caleb.
"Come to the station and give us a formal statement."
Caleb nodded.
He did not yet know that the pool was only the beginning.
He certainly did not know that by the end of that morning, police would discover four other homeowners with remarkably similar stories.
And none of them would understand why Denise Holloway seemed to appear whenever their pool problems began.
Until the police station finally connected the names.
At the Oakridge Police Department, Caleb sat in a small interview room while Detective Lena Ortiz reviewed the initial report.
She entered carrying a thin folder.
"Mr. Norton?"
"Yes."
"I'm Detective Ortiz."
She sat opposite him.
"I've seen the video."
Caleb nodded.
"Then you know what happened."
"I know what the video appears to show."
Caleb leaned forward.
"She was in my backyard."
"Tell me everything from the beginning."
So Caleb did.
He explained the first pump failure.
The replacement.
The second failure.
The strange debris.
The anonymous complaints about his pool.
And Denise's repeated insistence that he should hire her son's company.
"What's the company?" Ortiz asked.
"ClearWave Pool Rescue."
"Owned by her son?"
"Kyle Holloway."
Ortiz wrote the name down.
"What exactly did Denise say?"
"She said her son specialized in emergency repairs."
"Did you hire him?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"I already had a technician."
"Who?"
"Walter Bell."
"Reliable?"
"Very."
Ortiz nodded.
"Did Denise ever become angry because you refused her son's company?"
"Not openly."
"That's not what I asked."
Caleb thought for a moment.
"She became colder."
"How?"
"She started complaining about everything."
"Such as?"
"The fence."
"The pool lights."
"The shrubs."
"The drainage strip."
"The storage shed."
"Anything else?"
"The smell of the pool."
Ortiz looked up.
"When?"
"Before the second pump failed."
"Interesting."
Caleb frowned.
"Why?"
"I didn't say it was important."
She closed the folder.
"Tell me about the anonymous complaint."
"Someone told the neighborhood association my pool was a health hazard."
"Did you receive a violation?"
"No."
"Did the association inspect it?"
"Yes."
"Result?"
"They found nothing."
Ortiz nodded slowly.
Then the door opened.
Sergeant Harold Mason stepped inside.
He carried several folders.
"Lena."
She turned.
"What happened?"
"We have another report."
Ortiz looked at the folders.
"Another one?"
"Actually, four."
Caleb felt the temperature in the room change.
Mason placed the first folder on the table.
"June third. Carver residence."
He opened it.
"Pump damaged. Pipe cut. Contamination discovered the next morning."
Second folder.
"Delaney residence. June twenty-second. Similar equipment damage."
Third.
"Ramirez residence. July sixth."
Fourth.
"Harris residence. July nineteenth."
Caleb stared.
"What do these have in common?"
Mason looked at him.
"That's what we're trying to determine."
Ortiz opened the reports.
"Did ClearWave work on them?"
Mason nodded.
"Every homeowner was contacted by ClearWave shortly after the incident."
Caleb felt a chill.
"How shortly?"
"Within forty-eight hours."
"That's impossible."
"Why?"
"Because nobody knew about my problem when Denise first recommended her son's company."
Ortiz looked at him.
"Are you saying Denise knew before you reported it?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"I don't know."
Mason removed four business cards from the folders.
All carried the same blue wave logo.
ClearWave Pool Rescue.
Caleb stared at them.
"This is a coincidence."
Ortiz didn't answer.
Mason did.
"Maybe."
He opened another document.
"The Carvers say Denise visited their house the day before their pump failed."
Caleb's mouth went dry.
"Why?"
"She told them their equipment sounded wrong."
"That's exactly what she told me."
Mason looked at him.
"And the Ramirez family says Denise warned them their pool was attracting insects two days before their equipment failed."
Caleb leaned back.
Suddenly, memories that had seemed meaningless began connecting.
Denise standing near his fence.
Denise asking when he planned to replace the filter.
Denise knowing the exact day the second pump failed.
Denise appearing at the mailbox whenever repair technicians arrived.
At the time, Caleb had assumed she was simply nosy.
Now it seemed different.
"Where is Denise?" he asked.
"Still here."
"She hasn't left?"
"No."
"Why?"
"She came voluntarily."
"She claims I'm harassing her."
Ortiz sighed.
"She filed a complaint against you."
Caleb almost laughed.
"For what?"
"False accusations. Harassment. Property disputes."
"After she destroyed my pool?"
"She says she didn't."
Caleb rubbed his forehead.
"What about the video?"
"She's challenging its authenticity."
"How?"
"She says the footage may have been manipulated."
"That's ridiculous."
"Maybe. But we still verify evidence."
The door opened again.