Elaine volunteered that she had been invited to inspect a complaint that was written before she arrived.
I showed Ortiz a utility bill with my name and the property address.
Then I showed her a short unedited clip from the visible camera.
It showed Gloria carrying the bag to the pool, but a chair partly blocked the moment when she opened it.
Gloria immediately pointed to the obstruction.
“You can’t prove what was in that bag,” she said.
She looked relieved too quickly.
I told Ortiz there was additional footage from another angle.
The deputy asked me to preserve it in its original form and explain where it came from.
I opened the recording from the birdhouse camera.
The picture clearly showed Victor putting the trash into Gloria’s trunk, Gloria entering my gate, and the contents falling into the pool.
It also showed an object I hadn’t noticed before.
A small blue envelope protruded from Victor’s back pocket while he loaded the bags.
Later, when he thought nobody was watching, he gave that envelope to Gloria.
She placed it in her purse before walking toward my house.
Ortiz watched the first clip twice.
She asked Gloria whether she wished to change her account.
Gloria said the video was incomplete and that she had been collecting dangerous waste she discovered near the pool.
Elaine asked why she had then thrown it into the water.
Gloria ignored her.
Victor said he had delivered routine yard debris to his customer and could not know how it was used.
The deputy wrote down their statements without offering either the reassurance they wanted.
She explained that the footage and the damaged property would be documented for further review.
When Victor started toward the gate, Ortiz asked him to leave his contact information.
His fingers were shaking as he wrote.
Gloria watched the same hand trembling and pressed her lips together.
For a second, I saw fear rather than anger on her face.
I had thought Gloria was the person directing the attack.
The hidden camera was beginning to suggest that somebody else had a much greater interest in my backyard.
CHAPTER 6: THE PRICE OF A CLEAN POOL
After the deputy left, I hired an independent pool technician to assess the contamination before anybody touched the water.
His name was Leon Bell, and he had maintained the pool through the last three years of Ben’s illness.
Leon arrived with testing supplies, protective gloves, and a practical expression that steadied my nerves.
He photographed the debris and documented the water condition before skimming anything.
