"Don't bring that any closer to the pool," he warned.
Linda lifted her chin.
"You wouldn't share your precious swimming pool with the community."
Devon stared.
"So?"
Her smile became cold.
"Then nobody gets to enjoy it."
He looked down at the security application.
The camera above his patio had captured her forcing the garden gate, entering the property, and carrying the cable toward the water. The recording was already being preserved, along with the earlier alerts from the same afternoon.
Devon opened the active emergency call he'd initiated moments earlier.
"She's still here," he said into the phone. "She's holding a damaged electrical cable beside my pool. Nobody's in the water."
The dispatcher instructed him to remain at a safe distance and avoid touching the cable.
He agreed.
Linda's expression changed when she realized someone was listening.
"Who are you talking to?"
Devon looked directly at her.
"The authorities."
She laughed contemptuously.
"Over a swimming pool dispute?"
He shook his head.
"No. Over what you're holding."
Linda took another step.
Devon backed away, keeping his phone aimed toward her.
"Drop it, Linda!"
For several seconds, she stared at him.
Then her expression twisted with fury.
"You think a camera makes you untouchable?"
Devon didn't answer.
He watched her grip tighten.
Then he heard another sound.
The wooden gate swung open behind her.
A man's voice thundered across the backyard.
"Ma'am! Drop that cable! Right now!"
Linda froze.
The damaged cable hung from her hand.
She slowly turned.
Standing inside the garden entrance was a uniformed police sergeant, his right hand raised in a commanding gesture. Another officer stood behind him, keeping a safe distance while looking toward the pool.
But it wasn't the uniform that made Linda's face turn pale.
It was the person standing beside the officers.
A woman in a gray business suit, holding a thick folder.
Someone Linda had spent the previous three weeks trying desperately to prevent from speaking with the police.
The woman looked at the cable.
Then at Linda.
And quietly said, "I told you this would happen."
Devon lowered his phone slightly.
He recognized her too.
For the first time that afternoon, he understood why the officers had arrived with more information than he expected.
Linda opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
Then the officer repeated his command.
And the HOA president finally realized that the secret she'd been protecting was no longer hers to control.
Seven months earlier, Devon Carter believed his greatest problem was deciding whether to replace his backyard fence before the following summer.