"Where do they operate?"
"We're checking."
Ortiz stood.
"I want a warrant request prepared."
Mason nodded.
Then another officer entered.
"Detective, we found the truck."
"Where?"
"Behind a commercial building outside town."
"ClearWave?"
"Possibly."
They left.
Caleb sat silently.
Meredith touched his hand.
"What are you thinking?"
"That this wasn't about my pool."
"What do you mean?"
"I think the pool was the opportunity."
Meredith looked at him.
"The real target was the repair business."
Across the room, Ortiz heard him.
She turned.
"What makes you say that?"
Caleb explained.
"If someone wanted to steal money from me, they could have broken one thing and disappeared."
He pointed toward the documents.
"But the same thing happened to multiple homeowners."
"They weren't random."
"Exactly."
He continued.
"Someone created a problem, then offered the solution."
Ortiz stared at him.
"You're suggesting planned sabotage."
"Yes."
"To generate repair contracts."
"Yes."
"But that still doesn't explain Denise."
Caleb thought about it.
"Maybe she wasn't just helping her son."
The room became quiet.
"Maybe she was finding customers."
Ortiz said nothing.
Because that possibility changed the case.
Denise may not have been an angry neighbor.
She may have been part of a system.
A system that identified homeowners.
Created emergencies.
And then sold them expensive solutions.
But there was still one question.
Why Caleb?
Why had Denise personally entered his backyard?
Why had she contaminated the water?
And why had she been so confident that the police could not prove it?
The answer arrived later that afternoon.
A technician from another county contacted the police.
His name was Raymond Cole.
He had once worked for ClearWave.
And he had something to say.
Raymond told Detective Ortiz that he had quit six months earlier.
"Why?"
"Because I was asked to do things I wasn't comfortable with."
"What things?"
"Tell homeowners they needed repairs they didn't need."
"Anything else?"
He hesitated.
"Sometimes we knew about equipment failures before the customers called."
"How?"
"I never asked."
"Why not?"
"Because I needed the job."
Ortiz leaned forward.
"Did you ever see Denise Holloway?"
Raymond went silent.
"Yes."
"Where?"
"At a storage facility."
"Doing what?"
"Loading containers into Kyle's truck."
"What containers?"
"I don't know."
"What did they look like?"
"White plastic buckets."
Ortiz felt her stomach tighten.
"How often?"
"Several times."
"Did you see what was inside?"
Raymond shook his head.
"No."
Then he added:
"But I smelled it."
"What did it smell like?"
"Like the water in your case."
For the first time, the pieces were beginning to form a picture.
Not a complete picture.
But enough of one to worry everyone in the room.
And Denise Holloway still hadn't told them the most important part.
Denise sat alone in the interview room.
Her confidence had changed.
She no longer smiled.
Detective Ortiz entered with Sergeant Mason.
A file rested beneath Ortiz's arm.
Denise looked at it.
"More accusations?"
"No."
"Then what?"
"Records."
Denise folded her hands.
"I have nothing to hide."
Ortiz sat across from her.
"Let's test that."
She opened the file.
"Four pool owners report similar incidents."
Denise said nothing.
"All received recommendations for ClearWave."
Still nothing.
"All were contacted by the company soon after their equipment failed."
Denise shrugged.
"My son's business advertises."
"That's your explanation?"
"It's the truth."
Ortiz placed a photograph on the table.
It showed Denise standing outside the Carver residence.
"When was this taken?"
Denise stared at it.
"I don't know."
"June second."
"So?"
"Their pump failed that night."
Coincidence.
Ortiz placed another photograph.
Denise near the Ramirez property.
Another.
Denise speaking with the Delaneys.
Another.
Denise near Caleb's fence.
"You have a habit of appearing near properties shortly before equipment failures."
Denise looked directly at her.
"Is being a neighbor illegal?"
"No."
"Then why am I here?"
"Because your neighbor recorded you inside his backyard."
Denise leaned back.
"That recording is disputed."
"We also have physical evidence."
"What physical evidence?"
"The bucket."
Denise's expression changed for half a second.
Ortiz noticed.
"The bucket matters?"
"I don't know."
"It contains traces of the same compounds found in Caleb's pool."
Denise said nothing.
Mason opened another folder.
"We also found purchase records for industrial cleaning agents."
"Lots of businesses buy cleaning agents."
"Not in the quantities you purchased."
Denise looked at him.
"Are you accusing me of a crime?"
"Not yet."
Ortiz placed one final document on the table.
It was a financial statement.
"Why did you transfer money to Kyle Holloway every week?"
Denise's face became pale.
"My son is my son."
"That's not an answer."
"He supports me."
"Your bank records show something different."
Ortiz pointed toward the document.
"Money came from ClearWave."
"And?"
"Then you transferred portions of it into another account."
Denise stared at the paper.
"That account belongs to whom?"
She didn't answer.
Ortiz waited.
"Denise?"
Still silence.
Mason said quietly:
"Your sister?"
Denise finally looked up.
"No."
"Then who?"
She whispered a name.
"Kyle's former partner."
Ortiz frowned.
"Why?"
Denise looked down.
"Because Kyle owes him money."
"What kind of money?"
"Money he borrowed."
"How much?"
"More than he could repay."
"Why were you involved?"
Denise's eyes filled with anger.
"Because I was trying to protect my son."