The DEQ investigator stepped closer.
“Manipulated how?”
“Samples taken from clean wells got labeled as wells inside the plume.”
Nobody moved.
Caleb asked, “Who ordered it?”
“I don't know.”
“Yes, you do.”
“No.”
Ellison's voice sharpened.
“My father never gave me names.”
“Why?”
“Because he was scared.”
“Of a developer?”
“Of losing everything.”
Caleb understood that.
Not enough to forgive it.
Enough to understand.
Ellison continued.
“Gerald threatened to go public.”
Linda covered her mouth.
“What happened?”
“They made a deal.”
“What deal?”
“I don't know.”
Linda stood.
“You keep saying that.”
“Because I was seventeen.”
The anger went out of her.
Ellison continued.
“I heard arguments. I saw papers. I knew my father hated himself near the end.”
Caleb looked at the concrete.
“Why was the access sealed?”
“Gerald insisted the vault couldn't be destroyed.”
Everyone looked at Linda.
Ellison continued.
“He said someday somebody would need the original instruments.”
The environmental investigator whispered, “Chain of evidence.”
Caleb understood.
Gerald hadn't preserved a vault.
He had preserved proof.
CHAPTER 7: THE CURRENT THAT SHOULD NOT EXIST
The mystery of the forty-seven volts remained.
That bothered Caleb more than the historical scandal.
Old contamination was terrible.
Old lies were worse.
But electricity meant somebody had connected something recently.
He kept returning to that.
The county engineers finally agreed.
They traced the blue conduit from the vault tunnel.
It ran north.
Not toward the street.
Toward a modern telecommunications cabinet behind the neighborhood pool.
The cabinet belonged to the homeowners association.
Linda stared.
“No.”
Delaney looked at her.
“What?”
“That cabinet was installed eight years ago.”
“Who authorized it?”
“I was on the board.”
Caleb turned.
“Of course you were.”
She ignored him.
“It was supposed to be irrigation controls and security cameras.”
The engineer looked at the diagram.
“Somebody used the old underground conduit as a pathway.”
“For what?”
“Low-voltage power.”
Caleb nodded.
“That explains the forty-seven.”
Linda looked angry again.
“At who?”
The HOA records answered that.
Installation contractor:
Carroway Property Services.
Caleb stared at the name.
Linda went completely still.
“Carroway?”
Delaney looked at her.
“Relative?”
“My son.”
Caleb felt the story twist again.
Linda shook her head.
“No.”
She pulled out her phone.
Called.
“Evan.”
She put it on speaker.
A man's voice answered.
“Hey, Mom.”
“Did your company install the pool security cabinet?”
Pause.
“Years ago.”
“Did you use an old conduit under my property?”
Longer pause.
“Why?”
Linda closed her eyes.
“Evan.”
“Mom, what's going on?”
“Answer me.”
“I don't know.”
“Do not lie to me.”
Caleb looked away.
Evan exhaled.
“We found an underground chase.”
“Found how?”
“Dad showed me.”
Linda sat down.