Nadia looked toward her.
For several seconds, she seemed moved.
"We're going to find out who created that document."
The investigation widened when auditors examined the city's contract with Greenway Civic Maintenance.
The company had been established seven years earlier by a businessman named Victor Harland.
Victor was forty-nine, charismatic, and unusually skilled at navigating municipal procurement processes. He previously operated a landscaping business, then expanded into code-compliance maintenance after learning that cities sometimes hired private contractors to address legitimate nuisance conditions.
The business grew rapidly.
Greenway provided vegetation removal, debris cleanup, sidewalk clearance, and certain property-maintenance services under municipal authorization.
Much of its work was legitimate.
Crews removed fallen branches after storms.
Cleared vegetation obstructing sidewalks.
And assisted residents who voluntarily hired them for maintenance.
But the company's billing structure created incentives that required careful oversight.
Some contracts paid a fixed fee.
Others paid for completed enforcement-related jobs.
And the special residential visibility initiative allowed reimbursement for documented corrective work meeting defined criteria.
The financial team discovered that Greenway's revenue from Briar Glen had increased dramatically during the previous two years.
The number of reported visibility violations also increased.
That wasn't automatically suspicious.
New development and changes in vegetation could create genuine problems.
But several details raised questions.
Certain neighborhoods received far more notices than comparable areas.
A large percentage of cases involved elderly homeowners or properties recently transferred through estates.
And many residents who disputed the notice were eventually referred to the same contractor.
The auditors began comparing completed work reports with photographs and property records.
They found inconsistencies.
Some addresses didn't match the inspection photographs.
Some billing records lacked adequate documentation.
And several alleged violations appeared to concern landscaping entirely within private property boundaries.
Victor Harland learned about the review through a contact at the city.
He was sitting in his office overlooking a commercial landscaping yard when his phone rang.
The caller was a municipal administrator named Thomas Bell.
Bell was fifty-seven, wore expensive suits, and had spent more than two decades working in local government.
He supervised several property-compliance programs and helped coordinate the visibility initiative.
Victor answered casually.
The administrator's voice sounded tense.
"The state is asking for the original inspection files."
Victor sat upright.
"Willow Street. Oakridge. Several others."
For a moment, Victor remained silent.
Then asked whether the auditors had requested the subcontractor records.
Bell hesitated.
Victor closed his eyes.
He knew the significance.
The invoices were one thing.
The original work records could show when photographs were taken, which employee submitted them, and whether the conditions actually existed.
He asked who was leading the review.
Bell gave him the name.
Victor frowned.
Then Bell mentioned something else.
"The woman Mercer arrested is connected to the state oversight office."
"She's the director."
For several seconds, the room was quiet.
Victor looked toward the window.
A crew truck was moving through the yard.
Workers loaded ordinary landscaping equipment.
Nothing outside suggested a crisis.
But Victor knew the business was entering dangerous territory.
Because the investigators weren't merely asking why a sergeant kicked roses.
They were examining the records used to justify the entire enforcement program.