"I agree that would be strategically and morally difficult. But we still need to preserve the claim."
"Preserve it. Don't use it like a club against families."
"Then tell me what you would accept."
I thought about my grandfather's deed, my dead fish, and children carrying bottled water through a parking lot.
"A permanent legal agreement. The subdivision recognizes the water rights. They fund monitoring. They contribute to restoration. They cannot interfere with the lake without written permission. And nobody ever gets to pretend again that my property belongs to the HOA."
Rebecca nodded.
"That is a settlement framework I can defend in a courtroom without feeling dirty afterward."
The government investigation did not move as quickly as residents wanted.
People imagine that once a crime appears obvious, officers simply arrive with handcuffs. Real investigations are slower. Clearwater employees had to be interviewed. Financial records had to be subpoenaed or obtained lawfully. Environmental samples required chain of custody. The HOA's decision-making structure had to be reconstructed from minutes, emails, texts, and bylaws.
The delay terrified Vivian.
She began making mistakes.
The owner of Clearwater Solutions was a man named Derek Thompson. His company had performed legitimate pond treatments for years and had professional liability insurance precisely because chemical applications can create enormous risk when clients provide bad information.
When Derek realized the lake was privately owned and spring-connected, he hired counsel and cooperated.
He produced the work order, payment record, application logs, product information, and the messages sent by Vivian describing an urgent algae bloom on HOA-controlled water.
Then he produced an audio recording.
Two days after news of the contamination reached Willow Creek residents, Vivian had called Derek late at night. North Carolina law permitted him to record a conversation he was party to, and he did because the call made him nervous.
Her voice on the recording was controlled at first.
She asked whether Clearwater could "simplify" its file to avoid confusion. She suggested that the work order be treated as a preliminary estimate rather than a completed application.
Derek refused.
Then Vivian offered him $10,000 if the company could no longer locate documentation connecting her personally to the authorization.
Rebecca listened to the recording once and took off her glasses.
"That is the kind of evidence lawyers pray opposing parties never create."
"Bribery?"
"Potential witness tampering or obstruction issues, depending on charging decisions. The prosecutors decide. We preserve it and stay out of their way."
Vivian also hired a private investigator.
His name was Rick Patterson, no relation to Jim Patterson from the environmental office. Rick specialized in domestic disputes, insurance investigations, and corporate background checks.
For several days, I noticed the same dark sedan near job sites where my solar crew worked. Then customers began receiving strange questions about whether I used unlicensed labor, padded invoices, or had financial problems.
I called Rebecca.
"Document, don't confront," she said.
So I documented.
Then Rick made the mistake of trying the doors of my truck while it sat in a hardware-store parking lot.
I was inside buying conduit fittings and saw him through the front window. He looked around, pulled one handle, moved to the passenger side, and tried another.
I called local police.
The responding officer reviewed the store's security video, took my statement, and questioned Rick. He claimed he was verifying a vehicle identification number for an investigation.
That explanation did not justify trying locked doors.
He was cited and later faced licensing scrutiny for operating outside professional boundaries.
I did not celebrate.
I added the report to the binder.