Texting quickly.
I could see one name.
Doug.
“Who is Doug?”
Bell asked.
Karen looked up sharply.
“Our treasurer.”
“Is he involved in this sale?”
“He approved it.”
“Was he present when the board voted?”
“Yes.”
Megan said:
“There was no vote.”
Karen snapped:
“You are not on the board.”
“Neither are you going to be much longer.”
Megan said.
I almost smiled.
Karen called Doug.
“Doug.”
She turned partly away.
“He’s here.”
Pause.
“He came home early.”
Longer pause.
“Just get here.”
Another pause.
“Bring all of it.”
She hung up.
Bell asked:
“What is ‘all of it’?”
“Association documentation.”
“Good.”
“We’ll wait.”
The cul-de-sac began filling.
Neighbors had noticed police.
Then furniture.
Then the orange sign.
People emerged onto porches.
Phones appeared.
A young woman named Chelsea, visiting her sister two houses down, started livestreaming from the public sidewalk.
Karen objected immediately.
Chelsea said:
“I’m not on your property.”
Karen said:
“You’re broadcasting private association business.”
Chelsea pointed the camera toward my sofa.
“Your private association business is sitting in the street.”
Bell said calmly:
“Everybody stay back enough that officers can work.”
Nobody argued.
Doug Henderson arrived eleven minutes later.
I checked my watch.
Occupational habit.
Mid-sixties.
Pressed khakis.
HOA polo.
Loafers.
Leather binder.
He approached with the confidence of someone who believed organization could rescue whatever he was walking into.
“Sergeant.”
He extended a hand.
“Doug Henderson.”
“Treasurer.”
Bell did not shake.
“Do you have the authorization materials?”
“Yes.”
Doug opened the binder across the hood of the patrol car.
“Board resolution.”
“Minutes.”
“Delinquency ledger.”
“Notice.”
Bell began with the meeting minutes.
April 14.
Megan laughed softly.
Doug looked toward her.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Bell said:
“Ms. Carter states no meeting occurred April fourteenth.”
Doug answered:
“It was executive session.”
Megan raised her phone.
“My photo roll says Karen was serving cupcakes at two seventeen.”
Eric Carter had joined his wife now.
He held up another phone.
“I’ve got video.”
“Same timestamp.”
Doug looked at Karen.
Karen said:
“Meeting happened after.”
Doug looked back at Bell.
“After.”
Bell asked:
“What time?”