"The management office."
"Name someone."
She did not.
Gareth closed the folder and handed it directly to Ruiz. "I need it preserved. I also need it noted that I advised Stonebridge Ridge in writing not to enter, seize, file, or take possession of this property without further legal review."
Marissa stared at him. "You are supposed to be representing us."
"The association, yes. I am not going to lie for you."
Duncan said nothing. He had spent enough time around investigations to know when a scene had moved beyond the point where additional pressure was useful. People under stress often filled silence with truth, partial truth, or contradictions. Gareth had just created exactly that silence.
Ruiz asked him to forward every written warning he had sent Marissa regarding Duncan's property. Gareth agreed. He also asked for separate counsel before giving any detailed statement about privileged communications, and Ruiz respected that line.
Duncan returned to his office while the evidence technician photographed the damaged latch. A pry mark ran down the metal filing cabinet. The desk drawers had been opened. Personal papers had been shifted, including insurance records, customer contracts, and a sealed envelope containing family documents that had no possible relevance to any association claim.
He checked the two external hard drives first. Both were still present. One had been disconnected. The other had been moved but remained plugged in. He did not touch either until the technician photographed them.
"Anything obviously missing?" Ruiz asked from the doorway.
"I cannot tell yet."
"Do not inventory alone tonight."
"Agreed."
"You have business records here?"
"Yes. Customer contracts, payroll records, vendor pricing, tax documents, some employee information."
Ruiz looked toward Marissa through the glass. "That matters. If they accessed confidential business material, we need to document exactly what."
Duncan nodded. The invasion bothered him more in that moment than the restraints had. Being physically detained had been immediate and visible. A searched office was different. It left uncertainty behind. He would have to ask what had been seen, copied, photographed, moved, or misunderstood, and some of those questions might never get complete answers.
By six that evening, the warehouse had become a formal scene. The federal deputies departed with Trent because his arrest belonged to a separate case. Jonah stayed long enough to make sure Duncan had no medical need and then left when Duncan insisted the property matter remain local.
"You sure?" Jonah asked quietly near the gate.
"Yes."
"You were restrained after they took your federal credential."
"And they are preserving that conduct. If there is a federal offense, the appropriate people can decide later. I am not turning my job into leverage over a civil dispute."
Jonah glanced at Marissa, who was speaking in low tones to Gareth twenty feet away. "You know she is going to tell everyone you used the Marshals Service to intimidate her."
"Then the timeline will correct her. Trent called us. I did not."