“You mean I prove you're wrong in meetings.”
Her jaw tightened.
“You enjoy it.”
“No.”
Marcus shook his head.
“I enjoy not paying money I don't owe.”
“Do you understand what you've done to this community?”
Marcus stared.
“What I've done?”
“Yes.”
“You have encouraged people to question every board decision.”
Marcus almost smiled.
“That's allowed.”
“Not the way you do it.”
“How do I do it?”
“Publicly.”
“At public meetings.”
“You make residents think enforcement is optional.”
“No.”
Marcus stepped slightly closer.
“I make residents read the covenants.”
Brenda looked at him with open contempt.
“People like you always think rules don't apply once you learn how to argue.”
Marcus's expression changed.
“People like me.”
She paused.
There it was again.
A phrase hanging in the air waiting to reveal itself.
Brenda adjusted her sunglasses.
“Difficult homeowners.”
Marcus nodded slowly.
“Sure.”
“You know what I meant.”
“I know what you said.”
Brenda reached toward the hose.
Marcus raised one hand.
“Don't touch it.”
“This belongs to me.”
“It's in my backyard.”
“Move.”
“No.”
She straightened.
“You cannot confiscate my property.”
“I'm preserving the thing you used to contaminate my pool.”
Her face tightened.
“You are not law enforcement.”
“No.”
Marcus reached into the pocket of his swim shorts.
Brenda stepped backward.
“What are you doing?”
He pulled out a small waterproof remote.
Palm-sized.
Black.
Two buttons.
One blue.
One red.
Brenda stared.
“What is that?”
Marcus looked toward the pool.
“Something I installed after somebody entered my yard twice.”
For the first time since he came outside, Brenda looked uncertain.
Marcus pressed the blue button.
A low mechanical hum started beneath the deck.
Then the circulation jets activated.
Water surged across the pool.
Brenda frowned.
“What are you doing?”
Marcus watched.
Within seconds, thin streams of bright fluorescent tracing dye emerged from two return jets.
The dye itself was harmless and approved for pool leak detection. Marcus had added it to a contained diagnostic chamber after the previous contamination events, following advice from a pool engineer.
The green-blue tracer moved through the circulating water.
Then hit the yellow cloud.
Patterns appeared.
Clear.
The contamination had entered from one localized area near the deep end, exactly where Brenda's hose had been aimed.
The yellow plume formed a narrow directional trail back toward the coping.
Brenda stared.
“What is that?”
“Tracer.”
“You put chemicals in the pool?”
Marcus looked at her.
“Pool-safe dye.”
“You can't do that.”
“My pool.”
Her eyes moved upward.
A small light above the patio roof began blinking red.
Marcus pressed the second button.
The security system emitted a short tone.
Brenda looked toward the camera.
Then another camera mounted above the gate.
Her face changed.
“You're recording me?”
Marcus almost answered sarcastically.
Instead:
“Yes.”
“You don't have my permission.”
“You're in my fenced backyard.”
“Turn it off.”
“No.”
“Marcus.”
“You wanted inspection evidence.”
He gestured toward the water.
“Now we have some.”