For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then he stepped closer.
“Sir?”
I looked up.
“Yes?”
He swallowed.
“I owe you an apology.”
I studied him.
“For what?”
He looked toward the house.
Then toward the pool.
“Because I helped her.”
My stomach tightened.
“What do you mean?”
He closed his eyes.
For a moment, he seemed unable to speak.
Then he said quietly, “I served on the association's temporary amenities committee.”
I stared.
He continued.
“She told us she'd negotiated a private pool agreement.”
He held up the paper.
“I was the person who approved the announcement to residents.”
For several seconds, I couldn't speak.
The older man lowered his head.
“I believed her.”
I looked toward him.
He continued.
“I saw a document with your signature. She said the attorney had reviewed everything.”
He swallowed.
“I didn't come to your house to steal anything. I thought we'd paid for permission.”
I took a slow breath.
His embarrassment seemed genuine.
But I needed to understand how far the deception had gone.
“How many people bought passes?”
He looked away.
Then answered.
“More than sixty households.”
I felt cold.
“How much money?”
He shook his head.
“I don't know the final amount.”
Then he reached into his pocket.
He removed a small notebook.
“I kept copies of the committee summaries.”
I looked toward him.
He continued.
“And I have questions about where the payments went.”
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then he whispered something that made my stomach drop.
“I think she's been moving the money out of the association.”
I stared.
He looked toward the gate.
Then toward the road where the president had disappeared.
“I didn't know what to do.”
I studied his face.
“Why didn't you speak up sooner?”
His eyes filled.
He took a shaky breath.
“Because my name is on some of those approvals.”
The silence between us grew heavy.
He continued.
“I thought if I admitted the documents were wrong, they'd blame me too.”
I could hear the fear in his voice.
He wasn't simply worried about embarrassment.
He was afraid that his signature on the committee paperwork might make him responsible for whatever happened to the money.
I understood.
But I also knew silence wasn't protecting anyone.
I looked toward him.
“Then you need independent legal advice, and you need to preserve everything.”
He nodded quickly.
“I will.”
I took a breath.
“And don't change anything in those records.”
He looked up.
“I won't.”
Then he asked whether he could speak with my attorney.