"Mr. Davison, this is Detective James Rodriguez. He's taking the lead on this case because it's gotten more complicated."
Detective Rodriguez was younger, probably in his early 30s, with an easy smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Mr. Davison, during our investigation into Ms. Newman's allegations against you, we discovered some irregularities in the HOA's financial records."
"What kind of irregularities?"
"It appears that Ms. Newman may have been embezzling HOA funds. We found several suspicious transactions, including payments to companies that don't appear to exist, and reimbursements for expenses that were never incurred. We're talking about potentially over $50,000 over the past three years."
I felt like I'd been punched in the gut. "You're kidding."
"We're not. We're currently executing a search warrant at Ms. Newman's home and her HOA office. The Financial Crimes Unit is going through all the records."
"Is that why she was so aggressive about maintaining control? She was covering up embezzlement?"
"That's our theory. People who are engaged in ongoing fraud often become very controlling and reactive when they feel threatened. Your generator situation threatened her control, which made her escalate."
"What happens now?"
"Now we build our case. I wanted to let you know because you'll likely be called as a witness if this goes to trial. Also, the HOA board needs to be notified so they can secure their accounts and assess the damage."
I called Robert Chen as soon as I left the police station. He was shocked and immediately called an emergency board meeting. By that evening, the HOA had changed all their bank accounts and hired a forensic accountant to review the books.