And our daughter sat beside us describing a school project with the excitement she'd shown before the incident.
For one evening, I let the paperwork wait.
The financial investigation eventually reached the former president's electronic records.
The appropriate authorities obtained access through lawful processes, and the association cooperated with requests concerning the sanitation program.
I wasn't involved in gathering those records.
I didn't have special access.
And I didn't try to obtain information through the new president that I wasn't entitled to see.
But later proceedings revealed several communications that helped explain what happened.
The former president and her brother had discussed the cleanup program repeatedly.
Some messages concerned legitimate maintenance work.
Others dealt with disputed violations, homeowner resistance, and the amount of money the company could expect from certain jobs.
Several communications showed the former president taking an unusually direct role in deciding which properties should receive emergency inspections.
One message referred to homeowners who questioned the association's authority as obstacles to efficient enforcement.
Another discussed increasing pressure on repeat violators.
Then investigators identified the exchange connected to my backyard.
The day before the dumping, the former president had instructed the contractor to prepare an emergency pool-remediation work order for my address.
The company entered the estimate.
The association's old payment system showed a corresponding preapproval.
Then, on Saturday afternoon, shortly before throwing the garbage bags, the former president sent a message to a contractor contact.
It said the condition would be ready for inspection shortly.
That was the message captured indirectly in the new president's recording.
The reply confirmed that the crew was available.
For several seconds, I couldn't speak when I learned about it.
I thought about the former president standing beside the clear pool.
Looking toward the house.
Checking her phone.
Then lifting the first garbage bag.
The timeline was unmistakably troubling.
The work had been arranged before the garbage appeared.
The supposed emergency was described as imminent before it existed.
And the woman who authorized the cleanup had personally created the condition requiring it.
That was no longer merely an argument about neighborhood standards.
It was evidence supporting a much more serious inquiry.
The investigation also uncovered problems with the association's approval records.
The sanitation contract appeared to have been approved at a meeting attended by board members who later disputed being present.
Electronic signatures were questioned.
Meeting minutes contained discrepancies.
And certain payment authorizations lacked documentation showing that the required approvals had occurred.
The former president maintained that the board had delegated emergency spending authority to her.