Chương 5
I said nothing.
“She controls the approval on three outstanding maintenance invoices,” Reeves continued.
“He says she threatened to cancel his contracts with the association.”
“Fourteen grand bought his silence?”
“For a few minutes.”
“That’s enough.”
“Apparently it stopped being enough.”
“The message?”
“I think so.”
“You traced it?”
“Prepaid number.”
“So Wes?”
“Could be.”
“Ask him.”
“We did.”
“And?”
“He denied sending anything.”
I looked at my phone.
“Believe him?”
“Not yet.”
“Where is he?”
“With Ortiz.”
“Diana?”
“Still missing.”
“She lives four streets over.”
“Her car isn’t there.”
“Husband?”
“Out of town, according to a neighbor.”
“Work?”
“She doesn’t have an outside job.”
There was something in the way he said it.
“What?”
“We got into the first batch of HOA financial records.”
“How?”
“Board treasurer volunteered them.”
“Who?”
“Martin Keene.”
I knew the name.
Retired accountant.
Small man, enormous straw hat, always walking a gray poodle before sunrise.
“Why would Keene volunteer anything?”
“Because he says Diana locked him out of the association accounting portal last month.”
That was new.
“Why?”
“He questioned reimbursements.”
“What reimbursements?”
“Private security equipment.”
The chain on my porch seemed to reappear in front of me.
“What kind of equipment?”
“Portable cameras.”
“That’s not private security equipment.”
“Depends how you use them.”
“Anything else?”
“Locks.”
I stopped moving.
“How many?”
“Forty-eight over the last year.”
“Forty-eight padlocks?”
“Different sizes.”
“For what?”
“Invoices say access control.”
“The HOA doesn’t control forty-eight gates.”
“I know.”
I looked back at Emma.
Her eyes were closed now.
The cartoon remained paused on the rabbit with the pie.
“Reeves.”
“Yeah?”
“You said Cole told you there were other compliance holds.”
“Correct.”
“How many?”
“He gave us three names.”
“Residents?”
“Yes.”
“Adults?”
“Yes.”
“Any reports?”
“None with us.”
“Why not?”
“He says people were afraid of fines.”
I almost dismissed that.
Then I remembered fourteen thousand dollars.
People made ugly bargains for less.
“What did she do to them?”
“We’re still interviewing.”
“Tell me what Cole said.”
“Robert.”
“Tell me.”
Another pause.
“One man was locked inside the pool enclosure after closing because he refused to remove a patio storage box from his yard.”
“That’s false imprisonment.”
“If it happened the way Cole says.”
“The others?”
“A woman says Diana chained her golf cart to a light post with her purse still inside it and refused to release it until she signed a violation acknowledgment.”
“That’s property.”
“I know.”
“And the third?”
Reeves did not answer.
My stomach tightened.
“Who?”
“Martin Keene.”
“The treasurer?”
“Yeah.”
“What happened?”
“According to Cole, Diana locked Keene in the HOA records room for almost two hours.”
I stared at the wall.
“When?”
“Last month.”
“Why?”
“Because he found something in the books.”
“What?”
“We don’t know yet.”
“Ask him.”
“We can’t.”
“Why not?”
Reeves inhaled slowly.
“Because nobody can find Martin Keene.”
I looked at Emma before answering.
Her eyes were still closed, but the muscles around them had tightened.
She was listening.
“Go somewhere private,” I told Reeves.
“I already am.”
“I’m not.”
I stepped into the hallway and pulled the glass door almost shut behind me.
A nurse passed with a tray of syringes and gave me the kind of glance people give uniforms in hospitals, curious but careful.
“Tell me exactly what you mean by nobody can find him.”
“Keene’s wife says he left home at nine this morning.”
“For where?”
“HOA office.”
“Did he arrive?”
“His car did.”
“And Keene?”
“No confirmed sighting.”
“Cameras?”
“The exterior camera at the office has been offline since yesterday afternoon.”
“Convenient.”
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Turn every bad fact into proof.”
I leaned against the wall.
“Fine.”
“The maintenance records show the camera lost power during irrigation work.”
“Wes?”
“His company.”
There was a pause.
“But Cole says he didn’t touch the electrical box.”
“Who did?”
“He says Diana told him she’d handle it.”
I closed my eyes.
“Where is Keene’s car now?”
“Still at the HOA office.”
“Phone?”
“Off.”
“Last activity?”
“His wife says he texted her at ten twelve.”
“What did it say?”
“Running late.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
“Location data?”
“We’re working legal process.”
I nearly laughed at myself because I was about to ask him to skip it.
Nineteen years.
Nineteen years telling deputies that bad warrants ruined good cases and impatience was the criminal’s best friend.
Now every lawful delay felt personal.
“Did his wife report him missing?”
“She has now.”
“Was she worried before?”
“She says he disappears into paperwork for hours.”
“That sounds like Keene.”
“You know him well?”
“Not well.”
I pictured the gray poodle instead of the man.
“Enough to know he walks that dog at five forty-five every morning like the Constitution requires it.”
Reeves grunted.
“His wife said the same thing.”
“Any medical issues?”
“Nothing significant she disclosed.”
“Enemies besides Diana?”
“She said no.”
“Money problems?”
“Unknown.”
“Affairs?”
“Robert.”
“I’m asking what you’d ask.”
“And I’m asking it.”
I stared through the glass at Emma.
She opened her eyes and gave me a suspicious look.
I raised one finger.
One minute.
She held up two.
Two minutes.
Even now she negotiated.
“Call me when you find Keene,” I said.
“I’ll call you when I have something you’re allowed to know.”
“I am still sheriff.”
“You’re still the victim’s father.”
“My house is involved.”
“Exactly.”
I hated him a third time.
“Keep Ortiz away from Emma unless the doctor clears it.”
“Already planned.”
“And Reeves.”
“Yeah?”
“If Diana calls me—”
“Don’t answer.”
“I was going to say I’ll record it.”
“Texas is one-party consent, but don’t play investigator.”
“I know the law.”
“Then act like it.”
He hung up before I could.
I went back inside.
Emma had turned the cartoon off.
“You were longer than two minutes.”
“I’m a public servant.”
“You’re bad at serving.”
“Apparently.”
She studied my face.
“Is the dog man missing?”
I sat down slowly.
“You heard that?”
“You don’t whisper very quietly.”
“He may be.”
“Did Mrs. Harrington chain him too?”
May you like
“I don’t know.”
“You keep saying that.”
