Smaller.
He started walking toward the lake.
Higgins caught his arm.
“Sir, don’t go out there.”
“That’s my boat.”
“The mud isn’t safe.”
“My boat.”
The yacht, worth around eight hundred thousand dollars, was no longer simply damaged.
It was structurally ruined.
I wish I could tell you I felt sympathy.
I did not.
I also did not laugh.
Richard had laughed when my bridge collapsed.
I refused to become him.
The investigations lasted months.
State environmental authorities reviewed the dredging.
Dam-safety engineers modeled the altered shoreline.
County officials searched archived permits.
Federal agencies became involved where regulated waters and unpermitted excavation potentially overlapped with applicable environmental rules.
The Reserve HOA discovered something its members had apparently never understood.
Richard had pushed marina expansion aggressively during his presidency.
Contractors had deepened access so larger boats could reach private docks.
Some board minutes referred vaguely to “channel enhancement.”
Other discussions happened outside formal meetings.
Invoices were routed through development-maintenance accounts.
Nobody wanted responsibility once regulators started asking questions.
The HOA’s original lawsuit against me collapsed quickly.
Once the deed rights were verified and the state itself ordered continued drawdown for safety reasons, their claim that I had unlawfully emptied the reservoir became far harder to maintain.
Their yacht-damage claim became worse.
My lawyer obtained photographs.
Videos from the holiday.
Passenger recordings.
One video clearly captured Richard approaching the bridge while people onboard shouted.
Another captured my voice from shore:
“You won’t clear the bridge!”
Then the engines rose.
Richard’s claim that the sun blinded him became difficult to reconcile with his continued acceleration.
Deputy Higgins’s initial report came under review too.
Why had he characterized the collision so quickly as a civil boating accident?
Why had no sobriety inquiry been documented?
Why had his outside paid work for Reserve events not been disclosed in the report?
Higgins was not charged with a crime.
But the sheriff’s office prohibited him from working future private security assignments connected to parties involved in incidents he might later investigate.
His supervisors issued discipline for his handling of the scene.
He stopped chewing gum around me after that.
The temporary order preventing me from rebuilding the bridge was dissolved.
Then the financial consequences reached the Reserve.
Regulatory penalties, remediation obligations, engineering expenses, environmental mitigation, and related costs climbed into the millions.
The state ultimately assessed penalties and required corrective work that the HOA estimated at roughly $4.5 million before private litigation and insurance disputes were even counted.
Residents revolted.
I could hardly blame them.
Many had purchased homes believing the HOA leadership was protecting property values.
Now their lake was drained.
Their boats were stranded.
Their association faced enormous repair obligations.
And evidence suggested marina modifications had placed the reservoir system at risk.
An emergency HOA meeting was called.
I did not attend.
I was not a member.
One resident sent me the minutes afterward.
The motion to remove Richard Covington as president passed unanimously among eligible board members.
Unanimously.
The same man who had spent two years speaking for the Reserve walked out without the title he had treated like a crown.
Richard fought.
Of course he did.
He blamed contractors.
The board.
The developer.
Regulators.
Me.
He claimed the entire disaster resulted from a vindictive old man exploiting an antique deed.
Then more records surfaced.
Emails showing he had pressured contractors to create deeper marina access.
Messages complaining that residents with larger boats were “paying premium money for inferior water access.”
One email said:
Find a way to get the depth we need. I don’t care about bureaucratic delays.
That sentence became expensive.
His yacht insurer denied major portions of his claim after investigators examined the collision, the vessel’s operation, and the conditions surrounding its grounding.
His attorneys negotiated.
His finances became increasingly strained.
Eventually, Richard listed his Reserve property.