1: 1

I'd barely made it back into the complex when the director dropped a dead dog at my feet.

Before I could react, she'd penned me into the middle of the plaza with a wall of security guards and residents.

Director Lambert pointed at me. "You couldn't get the parking spot you wanted, so you poisoned Mrs. Chavez's dog, and then the dog bit her grandson! You're signing this settlement today, no arguments!"

I opened my mouth to fire back, and a row of scrolling text drifted across my vision.

【She forged the surveillance footage and bought off the security staff. She's just waiting for you to deny it.】

【The second you explain yourself, the residents' group will accuse you of attempted murder!】

【They force you to hand over your school-district spot, get you evicted, and it ends with you going off a building.】

【The dog was strangled by her grandson, but you go ahead and admit it yourself, right here in front of everyone!】

【Then call the police on yourself as the poisoner!】

I raised my phone and gave a small smile.

"Fine. Yes. I poisoned that dog."

The smugness on the director's face froze solid.

Then I dialed 911.

...

"I'd like to turn myself in."

"I'm suspected of releasing a hazardous substance."

"Here's my location. There's a dog carcass on the ground that's part of the case."

Director Lambert's hand shot out toward my phone.

I stepped to the side and dodged it.

She stared, wide-eyed, and dropped her voice.

"Hester Fox, have you lost your mind?"

"We can settle this inside the community. Don't waste police resources."

I looked at her.

"Director, you're the one who said I poisoned it, and you're the one who pulled out a settlement agreement."

"There's a hazardous substance sitting in the complex. How exactly is that something you settle internally?"

The dispatcher told me not to touch the body and to protect the scene.

I said I would, then turned to Director Lambert. "Didn't you want justice?"

"The police coming to handle it isn't justice enough for you?"

She pulled her hand back and turned to Zane Lawrence.

"Clear the crowd out first. Don't let her keep making a scene."

Mrs. Chavez shoved her way to the dog's body and grabbed a hind leg, stuffing it into a bag.

"Forget it, forget it, the dog's dead already, just pay a little and we're done."

"We're neighbors. No need for anyone to end up with a record."

I planted my foot on the edge of the reusable bag.

"You can't take it."

She tugged twice and couldn't budge it, then swiped a hand up at my face.

"This is my dog. I'll bury it if I want to."

"Who are you, a dog-killer, to stop me?"

I stepped back half a pace and swung the camera on her.

"You said the dog was poisoned."

"If the poison's on the bag and it gets on your grandson, who's responsible for that?"

The residents up front scattered back at once.

Someone asked, "Director Lambert, wasn't Hunter bitten by the dog?"

"So is there poison or isn't there?"

Director Lambert pointed at me. "There is. She admitted it herself."

I lifted the phone higher.

"All the more reason to wait for the police."

Zane came over with a broom and a dustpan.

"Everybody move. A dead dog on the plaza is a health hazard."

"Let me get it into the security office first."

I hit the record button.

"Zane, the moment you touch that, I hand this video straight to the police."

"You tamper with a suspected poisoning scene, and your name goes on it."

His broom stopped, hovering over the dog's body.

Director Lambert said, "Clean it up, now. This is a community order."

Zane turned his head and looked at her.

"Director Lambert, didn't you say all you needed was for that stretch of surveillance to—"

Director Lambert snatched the broom out of his hands and threw it on the ground.

"Shut up! If you can't talk right, don't talk."

Mrs. Chavez came back for the bag again. I kept my foot on it, not letting up.

She lowered her voice. "Hester, the police can't help you either."

"You're some out-of-town single mom. What have you got to fight us with?"

"Then let the police hear it."

I turned the phone on her.

She let go, dropped to the ground, and started crying.

"Everybody look, she killed my dog and now she's bullying a poor old woman."

"If she doesn't pay for a house today, I'll die right here."

The sirens grew louder, closing in.

Director Lambert walked quickly over to Zane.

"Get your story straight on the surveillance. Say the line was down for maintenance last night."

Director Lambert's voice cut off mid-sentence, her eyes landing on my phone.

2: 2

The patrol car stopped just outside the plaza, and two officers pushed their way through the crowd.

I stepped forward and handed over my call log and the video of the scene.

"I'm the one who called it in."

"They're accusing me of poisoning the dog, and I admitted it. Please look into it."

"Poisoned it with what, where, and when?"

"I don't know. I never even saw the full surveillance footage."

"Since they insist I did it, please have the body and the scene tested."

Director Lambert cut in. "Officer, she just admitted it herself."

"Everyone here can testify to that."

"She can't even name the poison or where she put it."

"What evidence do you have?"

"There's surveillance."

"Where's the original recording?"

Zane kept his head down. "The lines were being serviced. Only one segment is left."

"You can see her passing by the parking spot last night."

"Passing by a parking spot means she poisoned it?"

The officer said, "Preserve the equipment and the original files. Nobody touches them."

The other officer pulled on gloves, opened the dog's mouth, then checked its neck.

Its tongue hung out, and its eyes were bloodshot.

The fur at its neck had matted into clumps.

The officer asked, "Who found the dog first after it died?"

Old Mrs. Chavez clutched the dead dog. "I found it. No need to check any further."

"Whether it was poisoned has to be tested."

"You're the owner. Are you willing to submit it?"

"Submit it where?"

"We'd contact a third-party lab."

"You'd cover the cost up front. If it meets the criteria for a case, it gets handled by the book after that."

"How much?"

"Preliminary testing and an autopsy run about two thousand. The lab quotes the exact figure."

Old Mrs. Chavez sat down on the ground, clutching the dog.

"No! You are not cutting it open."

"It was with me for two years. Hasn't it suffered enough, dying like this?"

The officer asked again, "Your grandson was bitten? Where's the boy?"

"Resting at home."

"Are there any medical records for the wound?"

"My boy's shy around strangers. Nobody's seeing him."

"This involves bodily injury. At minimum you need to provide the medical file and photos of the wound."

Old Mrs. Chavez held the dog tighter.

"There aren't any! We're dropping it. The community can mediate."

Director Lambert stepped up. "Officer, there are no casualties."

"No confirmed poison. This is just a neighbor dispute."

"Let them settle it privately. Stop tying up public resources."

I pointed at the dog's neck.

"You're not going to check the marks on the body?"

Old Mrs. Chavez shrieked, "You want to touch it again?"

"Killing it once wasn't enough? You want to hurt it a second time?"

Her son wasn't there, and Hunter never showed up either.

The officers finished logging it and left an intake number.

"The existing evidence can't prove any poisoning occurred."

"The owner refuses testing, so for now we're logging it as a dispute."

"The scene video and surveillance equipment both have to be kept."

"Report it anytime new evidence turns up."

The moment the patrol car pulled away, Old Mrs. Chavez threw the dog into the trash bin.

She brushed the dirt off her clothes.

"Even the police don't care, so what are you still putting on an act for?"

She jabbed a finger at me. "You admitted you poisoned it, and Hunter got hurt by your poison too."

"Give my family the school enrollment slot for that school-district home and we'll call it even."

"The house is mine. How am I supposed to give you the enrollment slot?"

Director Lambert produced a notice stamped with the community association's seal.

"Tomorrow you sign the residency registration and a long-term lease."

"The paperwork gets handled by an agent the community picks. You don't need to worry about it."

"And if I don't sign?"

Zane planted himself in front of me.

"The complex cameras could catch you any day."

"Your daughter still has to go to school. Don't back yourself into a corner."

I looked at the dog in the trash bin.

"Fine. I'll come sign in the morning."

Director Lambert shoved the notice into my hand.

"Be there before nine. The school's paperwork closes this afternoon. Late is your problem, not mine."

I tucked the notice away and turned to go home.

Behind me came Old Mrs. Chavez's voice. "Stella, don't switch people on me at the last minute."

"The slot was promised to Hunter."

Director Lambert lowered her voice. I only caught the last line.

"Once it's with the agent, it won't be up to her who gets it."

3: 3

At eight fifty the next morning, I walked into the community association office.

Director Lambert sat behind the desk. Mrs. Chavez was drinking tea.

Zane stood by the printer.

On the desk lay the Neighbor Dispute Settlement and School-District Home Share Transfer Agreement.

I switched my phone to record and slid it into the pocket of my work uniform.

Director Lambert held out the pen.

"Once you sign, the association guarantees Mrs. Chavez won't pursue this any further."

I turned to the second page.

There it was in black and white: that I had caused injury and death to a person and a pet through poisoning.

That I was voluntarily handing over the home's rental registration and school enrollment rights to Hunter, free of charge.

For a term of six years, processed through an agency called Lambert Realty.

Contact person Ray Lambert. The phone number matched the emergency contact posted on the community bulletin board.

I pointed at the last page.

"There's a sixty-eight-thousand service fee here. Why am I the one paying it?"

Director Lambert tapped the desk.

"Processing paperwork costs money. You're the one who did wrong, so of course you pay."

"Ray's your brother, isn't he?"

She flipped the agreement back to the signature page.

"It's a legitimate agency. Nothing to do with you."

Mrs. Chavez snatched up the pen and shoved it into my hand.

"Enough talk! You poisoned the dog and gave Hunter a fever too."

"One enrollment spot is getting off easy."

I didn't put pen to paper.

"And if the dog wasn't poisoned?"

Her hand froze.

I pressed on. "What if the autopsy shows its neck was strangled?"

"Or that someone choked the life out of it. Does this agreement still stand?"

Mrs. Chavez slammed her teacup down on the desk.

"Nonsense! The camera caught you, and Hunter saw it with his own eyes."

"Hunter was there at the scene?"

"Of course he—"

Director Lambert cut her off. "The boy saw the dog eating something off the ground."

"Don't drag in other things."

I opened the agreement's appendix page.

"Then add a line right here: if testing shows it wasn't poison, the agreement is void."

"All property rights returned in full."

"No."

Director Lambert pulled the appendix away. "It's a standard template. It can't be changed."

"I'm not finished."

I took out the screenshots of the debt collection notices and laid them on the desk.

"I borrowed three hundred thousand and I'm already past due. The creditor has applied for an asset freeze."

"This home could be frozen at any time."

"Whoever takes over the paperwork clears my debt for me."

Mrs. Chavez read the screenshots and pushed them toward Director Lambert.

"You didn't say anything about debt yesterday."

Director Lambert stared at me. "Where are the court documents?"

"Still on their way. If you're in a hurry, sign a freeze-risk acknowledgment."

"I can cooperate right away."

I pushed the pen in front of her.

She didn't take it.

Mrs. Chavez stood up. "I only came after you because I thought you had money."

"If you really owe three hundred thousand, I don't want the spot. Give me back what I spent."

"What money did you spend making trouble?"

"The banners, the paint, and the cigarettes for Zane—isn't that all money?"

"You even took two thousand from me and said once the spot came through we'd split it seventy-thirty."

Zane took a step back toward the door.

Director Lambert slapped the agreement down on the desk.

"Seventy-thirty with who? Keep talking nonsense and I'll stay out of your family's business."

"You're the one who said Hester's got no man behind her, that a few days of scaring would make her sign!"

Director Lambert shoved the window shut.

"This is the community association, not a place for you to throw a fit."

I picked up the debt collection screenshots.

"Are we still signing today?"

Director Lambert put the agreement away in a drawer.

"The home's situation hasn't been verified. We'll put this on hold."

Mrs. Chavez blocked the door.

"If I don't get the home, pay me eight hundred thousand."

"Produce the dog's autopsy and Hunter's medical records, and we'll talk according to the law."

She grabbed me by the collar.

"You think it's over if you don't sign?"

"I'll make sure you can't hold a job, and your daughter can't get into school."

Director Lambert sat back down and picked up the community seal.

"Hester, it's no trouble at all for the association to send a letter about your situation to your employer and the school."

I pried her fingers off one by one.

Shook her off, and walked out of the office.

Behind me came the sound of a stamp coming down.

Director Lambert said, "Tomorrow she'll learn which one is worth more."