There.
Partially hidden against her thigh.
A capped syringe.
Not a medical emergency injector.
Not something she had any legitimate reason to bring over a locked residential fence.
A clear liquid moved inside.
The homeowner’s stomach dropped.
He had spent months believing the HOA president was petty.
Vindictive.
Entitled.
Maybe dishonest.
Until that moment, he had not believed she was dangerous.
He reached the pool steps.
“Stay away from the water.”
The woman’s expression hardened.
“Don’t tell me what to do.”
“This is my property.”
“I am conducting an emergency community inspection.”
He climbed onto the deck.
He wore only black swim trunks.
Water streamed from his shoulders and down his chest.
He did not move toward her.
Instead, he backed toward the patio table where his phone lay beside a folded towel.
The HOA president noticed.
“You’re not calling anyone.”
The homeowner picked up the phone.
“That depends on what’s in your hand.”
Her fingers closed tighter around the syringe.
“What are you talking about?”
He stared at it.
“That.”
She looked down.
Then gave a small laugh.
“This?”
“Yes.”
“It’s a water-treatment sample.”
“Then why did you climb my locked fence with it?”
She said nothing.
The homeowner unlocked his phone.
The HOA president stepped toward him.
He raised his free hand.
“Stop.”
She did.
Maybe because his voice had changed.
Not loud.
Not panicked.
Firm.
The homeowner glanced toward the patio ceiling.
A tiny security camera sat beneath the eave.
The HOA president followed his gaze.
Her face changed.
Only slightly.
He saw it.
And suddenly, he understood why she had come through the far fence instead of the gate.
She knew about the obvious doorbell camera.
She did not know about the new cameras.
For eight months, the HOA had been trying to make his pool disappear.
At first, the fight seemed ridiculous.
His house was one of the older homes in the neighborhood, built before the current homeowners association had been reorganized under new management.
The pool had existed for nineteen years.
Permitted.
Inspected.
Proper setbacks.
Current county records.