For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then she said, "There's also an electronic approval document carrying their names."
I took a breath.
"Have they confirmed whether they signed it?"
"Both dispute it."
I looked toward the window.
That was a serious development.
A poorly managed contract was one problem.
An agreement supported by records that falsely represented who approved it was another.
The new president continued.
"We've referred the discrepancies for independent legal review."
I nodded.
"Good."
She hesitated.
"There's something else."
I waited.
"The work order for your pool wasn't merely scheduled. It was attached to a preapproved emergency payment request."
I stared.
"Before she dumped the garbage?"
"Yes."
I took a slow breath.
"How much?"
She was quiet for a moment.
Then she answered.
"Eighteen thousand six hundred dollars."
I closed my eyes.
The exact amount printed on the notice the former president shoved against my chest.
The work order had been created before the garbage appeared.
The payment request had been entered before the emergency existed.
And the woman who controlled the process had personally created the condition she planned to use as justification.
For the first time, I stopped wondering whether the incident was merely an outrageous act of retaliation.
I began understanding how it might fit into a deliberate financial scheme.
I didn't sleep much that night.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the former president standing beside the pool, swinging those garbage bags into the water. I heard the impact, remembered the purple-pink reflection of her blazer against the clear blue surface, and thought about the invoice she'd prepared before setting foot in my yard.
The more I considered it, the less her actions resembled a spontaneous outburst.
She had arrived with two tied garbage bags and a wheeled trash bin.
She had brought a printed violation notice containing the same amount as the preapproved work order.
And a contractor associated with her family had been scheduled to arrive shortly afterward.
That didn't establish every aspect of the scheme by itself.
Investigators still needed to determine who created the records, what communications occurred, and whether other people had knowingly participated.
But the evidence was no longer limited to a dispute over neighborhood rules.
It suggested that someone had attempted to turn deliberately created damage into an expensive service contract.
And I couldn't stop wondering how many people had paid similar bills without ever learning where the supposed emergency came from.
On Monday morning, I met with my attorney.