"I wasn't planning to."
"Don't talk to the HOA."
"Why?"
"Because if they're building a case, every conversation is evidence."
Daniel looked at the four cameras.
"What should I do?"
"Keep recording."
"That's it?"
"For now."
Then Rachel asked:
"Do you still have the syringe?"
"No."
"The vial?"
"No."
"Then we need something better."
"What?"
"The person who ordered it."
Daniel looked at the footage.
Someone had supplied Victoria.
Someone had prepared the paperwork.
Someone had paid Northstar.
And someone had been outside the fence.
Caroline Webb.
Daniel called Marcus.
"I need to know everything about Caroline."
Marcus was silent for several seconds.
Then he said:
"You're going to want to sit down."
Caroline Webb had been HOA treasurer for eleven years.
She was quiet.
Polite.
Always perfectly dressed.
The sort of person nobody suspected.
But Marcus had kept copies of financial records.
Daniel discovered payments to companies that barely existed.
Consulting fees.
Environmental assessments.
Legal expenses.
Security contracts.
All connected to properties that later changed ownership.
Rachel examined the documents.
"This is enough to ask questions."
"Not enough to prove fraud."
"Correct."
Daniel frowned.
"Then what do we need?"
"Intent."
They needed proof that the HOA knew what it was doing.
That night, Daniel received an anonymous email.
No subject.
One attachment.
A photograph.
It showed Caroline Webb meeting Elliot Vance in a parking garage.
Timestamped two nights before Victoria entered Daniel's property.
The sender wrote only:
LOOK UNDER THE POOL HOUSE.
Daniel stared at the message.
Rachel immediately told him not to go.
"Someone wants you to find something."
"That's the point."
"And they may want you caught finding it."
Daniel waited until morning.
Then he searched the pool house.
He found nothing.
But Camera Four had recorded something unusual.
At 11:38 p.m., a shadow moved behind the pool equipment.
Daniel zoomed in.
Someone had entered the pool house.
Not Victoria.
Not Caroline.
A man.
He stayed inside for four minutes.
Then left.
Daniel checked the previous night.
Same person.
Same time.
He wasn't searching.
He was planting something.
Daniel called the police.
Then Rachel.
They entered the pool house together.
Behind an electrical panel, they found a small black device.
A recording unit.
Rachel examined it.
"This isn't yours."
"No."
"Someone installed it here."
Daniel felt sick.
They were being watched.
Then the device's memory card revealed something.
A conversation.
Victoria's voice.
Caroline's voice.
And Elliot Vance.
They were discussing Daniel's property.
Victoria said:
"What if he refuses?"
Elliot replied:
"Then we make the property uninhabitable."
Caroline asked:
"How?"
Elliot answered:
"Water contamination."
Daniel closed his eyes.
They had it.
But the recording continued.
Victoria asked:
"And the cameras?"
Elliot laughed.
"Let him record."
Daniel looked at Rachel.
The final sentence played.
Elliot said:
"Four cameras only give you four angles."
Then another voice entered the conversation.
A woman's voice.
Calm.
Cold.
"Unless you know where the fifth camera is."
The recording ended.
Daniel stared at the device.
Rachel whispered:
"Who's the woman?"
Daniel didn't know.
But he was about to find out.
The police initially treated the recording cautiously.
Digital evidence could be challenged.
The defense could claim it had been edited.
Rachel knew that.
"We need the original device," she said.
They sent it for forensic analysis.
While waiting, Daniel inspected every inch of his property.
Four cameras.
He knew every one.
But now there was a fifth.
Somewhere.
He found it two days later.
Inside a birdhouse.
It wasn't his.
It faced directly toward the pool.
Daniel called the police.
The hidden camera was still transmitting.
Someone had been watching his backyard live.
The police traced the signal.
It led to a rented office twelve miles away.
Inside were photographs.
Hundreds.
Daniel.
His daughter Emily.
His neighbors.
Marcus.
Even Rachel.
There were maps of Oakridge Estates.
Property values.
Water surveys.
Purchase offers.
And a board showing eleven homeowners.
Ten had sold.
Daniel's name was the final one.
Next to it was a red question mark.
Then they found something else.
A photograph of Eleanor Bell.
Taken thirteen years earlier.
On the back was a handwritten note:
SHE KNEW TOO MUCH.
Marcus nearly collapsed when he saw it.
"My daughter."
Rachel asked:
"Who rented this office?"
The lease belonged to Northstar Environmental Services.
But Northstar's owner was a shell corporation.
The true beneficiary was Vantage Core Systems.
And Vantage Core had a board member named Margaret Vale.
Daniel searched the name.
His stomach tightened.
Margaret Vale was the chairwoman of the regional water authority.
The person responsible for approving water access.
And she had previously served as legal counsel for Oakridge Estates.
The conspiracy was no longer local.
It reached into county government.
Daniel looked at Rachel.
"How far does this go?"
Rachel answered honestly.
"I don't know."
Then her phone rang.
It was the forensic lab.
They had recovered deleted files from the recording device.
One file contained a meeting from thirteen years ago.
Eleanor Bell was in the room.
Victoria was there.
Elliot was there.
Margaret Vale was there.
And Eleanor was holding a report.
She said:
"If you proceed, you'll destroy the aquifer."
Margaret replied:
"Then perhaps you should consider what happens if this information becomes public."
The recording ended.
Marcus covered his face.