For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then she asked Judith who the man was.
Judith hesitated.
"A contractor."
"His name?"
"Grant Keene."
Brianna looked toward the recording.
Then toward the side gate.
"Why were you entering Mr. Mitchell's property at that hour?"
Judith's expression tightened.
"Official maintenance."
I looked at her.
"At 1:17 in the morning?"
She ignored me.
Brianna asked whether the board had authorized nighttime access.
Judith repeated that she was HOA president.
The officer calmly returned to the question.
And Judith couldn't produce the requested authorization.
Finally, she said Grant had been conducting an urgent boundary inspection.
Brianna asked why he was carrying an archive case.
Judith stared.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then answered.
"That's not what the case contained."
The officer nodded.
"We'll need to establish that."
I told Brianna what Hannah had noticed.
The blue case had entered the side yard.
We hadn't seen it carried back out.
And we were concerned that something might have been left near the shed.
Brianna asked whether I'd checked.
I shook my head.
"No. I didn't want to disturb anything after seeing the recording."
She nodded.
Then asked whether I was willing to allow a limited inspection of the relevant area.
I agreed to the specific search after discussing its scope.
The officers documented my consent and approached the shed.
Judith remained near her SUV.
For several seconds, she watched them.
Then she began speaking rapidly into her phone.
I couldn't hear everything.
But I caught one name.
Grant.
My stomach tightened.
Brianna and Michael examined the area behind the shed.
Near the foundation, partially concealed by a folded piece of old landscaping fabric, they located a blue rectangular canvas case.
It was roughly two feet long.
The fabric was dusty.
A white paper tag hung from one handle.
Brianna photographed its position before moving it.
Then she called for additional personnel because the item was directly connected to the competing accounts of a reported theft and possible planted property.
I watched from several yards away.
My hands were trembling.
The case looked exactly like the one in the video.
Judith's phone call ended.
She stared toward the shed.
For a moment, her face became almost white.
Then she turned and hurried toward her SUV.
Brianna called after her.
"Mrs. Whitcomb, we still need to finish documenting your statement."
Judith stopped.
She looked toward the case.
Then toward me.
And I saw something in her expression I'd never seen during an HOA meeting.